Jodee

Chapter 3 - Tension

The bell rang again, letting me leave my final class of the day and head towards my parking lot where my brother and his friend always picked me up.

I was still very bummed that I didn't get to go to the mall with my friends for some fun after school. Jess talked my ear off about it all through Spanish class and all the things they were going to do and stuff like that. She didn't mean to make me feel bad and I didn't really, but I was still sad that I would miss out even if I would be able to go to the next one. 

I saw Ace almost immediately as he was parked right at the front of the parking lot with is black Rolls Royce that he seemed to love so much, not that I knew much about cars or anything really. But that car was the only one Ace drove around and Caleb was always raving about it and all of the stats on the car which is the only reason I know the name. 

I opened the passenger side door, stepping into the car and muttering a small "hi" to my brother before putting on my seatbelt as Ace sped away, with not any response to my former statement. Not that I expected any. Ace was Ace after all, always is and always will be.

Ace was quite a scary guy, I had to admit with his tall 6'4 frame, not to mention the muscular body he seemed to always have without trying and the tattoos that littered most of his upper body and some on his lower. I wasn't sure if Ace went to the gym or worked out to get his toned muscles but it would make since with how much he is away all of the time.

My brother looks very different from me which is why not a lot of people realize that we're siblings right away. He's insanely scary at even a first glance and I look like you could crush me with a twig. Well, maybe that's exaggerating but I do kinda just look shy and somewhat like a nerd. Someone who won't get into a fight or even talk back. My brother though, he looks like he could crush you with his pinky and that he gets into fights all the time. 

I think we look so un-alike because he gets most of his looks from our father and me, my mother. I'd only seen a couple pictures of her but I knew what my father looked like and I didn't look like him so I had to look like her.

I have thick chestnut brown ringlets that framed my face and fell part way down my back, but Ace has thin, straight, jet black hair that falls into his eyes when not styled properly. I know that Ace and Caleb like my hair because Caleb says so and Ace will sometimes absent-mindedly play with it, but not many people liked having or had curly hair at school so sometimes I could get teased about my hair. Not that I needed or wanted any more reasons for kids to tease me more than they already did. 

I personally, like my hair way better than Ace's but something I will forever be jealous of is my brother's bright blue eyes. And when I say bright I mean electric, it was like they glowed. With the color being so vibrant and the little gold flakes that swam in the water of his eyes. Everyone was mesmerized by his eyes, including me.

Instead, I am stuck with plain brown eyes, not too dark, not too light, just in the middle, middle and boring. But they did match nicely with the many freckles that littered my face. Yet another feature of mine that made me un-intimidating and still look like a child, not older. 

But it didn't really care about how Ace or I looked. Not right now, not in this moment. I cared about something else that would not let me forget it, no matter how hard I tried. 

"Ace?" I questioned, suddenly, pulling myself from my thoughts to say the thing that had been nagging me this entire day.

Why didn't he let me hang out with my friends?

Usually Ace and Caleb love it when I go hang out with my friends because I'm very shy so they were worried that when we first moved here I wouldn't make a lot of friends, if any, but I proved them wrong! I liked to say that I could be friends with anyone, so long as they stick around long enough to learn who I truly am.

"Humm?" My brother hummed in response, his voice so low and quiet you could barely hear him.

"W-why wouldn't you let me hang out with my friends after school?" I questioned, facing in my car seat to see my brother.

I was a little scared at first when I started speaking because this was a bold move, but I knew that there was no going back now. I need my question answered. 

I saw Ace's grip tighten on the steering wheel and his jaw clench, but I didn't say anything about it. Ace was always making a lot of actions with his body to make up for not talking.

"Ace?" I questioned again softly.

Still no response.

"Are you just not going to respond?" I questioned, getting a little annoyed. "Ace!" I finally broke, raising my voice just a little because I wouldn't dare yell at my older brother.

My brother sighed: "I said no, that's that," He responded slowly and gruffly, not taking his eyes off the road for a second and barely moving his lips.

"You can't just say that!" I exclaimed, throwing myself back in the chair dramatically, huffing. "Jesus! It's like you think you control everything, that you get everything," I bit back at him.

I scoffed, chuckling slightly as the anger within me broke loose. I was so worked up over this whole thing because Ace is never that huge of a role in my personal life, never interfering. But he thinks that he can just disappear for a while and then come back and take away something I really wanted to do, like truly and genuinely wanted to do.

I threw my hands up in the air in dramatics and waved them around to get my point across. "Cause you know? What would anyone do without big better-than-everyone-else Ace. What would I–" I tried to continue but was cut off.

My wrist was grabbed harshly by my brother sending my other arm into my lap as my head snapped towards the angry man in the vehicle. A gasp was in my throat ready to break loose as Ace's grip on my left wrist got stronger, making imprints of his hand on me.

Ace was leant over towards me, no longer looking at the road, his eyes sharp and his chest heaving up and down in big breaths of anger.

"Let's get one thing straight," Ace's deep voice cut through the air like a knife – a very sharp knife. "When I tell you something, I expect you to listen, not fucking question it or complain. You got that?"

I was paralyzed in fear by my brother and his stern words along with his threatening tone.

"Understand!" Ace barked, clenching my wrist even tighter making me wince.

I nodded my head quickly and fast up and down before finding my voice: "Y-y... y-yes ... I-I um ... I u-understand," My voice shook at how scared I was as I responded to my older brother.

Ace looked at me a second longer before letting go of my wrist. I didn't see what he did next because I immediately went back into my seat, pressing myself as far as I could against the door to get away from my brother.

Silent tears ran down my face like water that had just broken past the flood gates and was now flowing freely and fast, wanting to be everywhere and never stop. I watched the road go by in silence, the only sound heard was small hiccups that came from me every once in a while. My hand was rubbing the wrist my brother had grabbed so harshly, trying to calm the fire in it down.

I just want to be home.