Heated Lies (Jiara)

My Game, My Rules

JJ practically skipped onto the doorstep. The door was open, so he pushed his way past the frame and into the living room. Luke lay passed out on the couch, which made his son roll his eyes.

"Luke!" He called. It only earned him a frustrated grunt. "LUKE!"

And the man was up, accidentally kicking an empty beer bottle to the floor. JJ did flinch, but he still had an unmoving glare occupying his features. His near confident movement kept him energetic.

"You wanted me here, what's up?" He spoke coldly.

This was something Luke had never heard before. It definitely angered him to the point of white hot rage, but he could tell JJ was only acting that way based on their positions. He wouldn't have spoken that way if he didn't have leverage.

"Hey, son."

JJ shook his head. "I'm barely that."

And then Luke regained his grip. "Enough of that bullshit. Sit the fuck down."

JJ paused, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants. He finally obeyed, listening to the springs creak as he joined his father in the couch. His guard had loosened by doing so.

"I've been thinking about our relationship as father and son..." The older man began. He attempted to put a hand on his sons shoulder, but the boy flinched.

He kept his hand there anyway, choosing not to acknowledge the way he could feel the JJ's growing heart rate. He wanted scoot away from Luke, just a little, to regain composure. He was starting to lose balance.

"Have you...?" JJ swallowed thickly, eyes darting to the door for the third time. "And what have you gathered?"

"I haven't been doing that well..." His father admitted.

For the while, JJ was extremely tense. This felt like a trap. He was waiting for the punchline, gripping his thighs and clenching his jaw. His eyes were soft, hell bent on the intent of his father.

He wasn't sure how to reply. Luke had scooted even closer, arms outreached. This is what made his heart drop.

"I'm sorry, J. I could've been better."

His eyes glistened immediately, and he turned away to press his palms into his vision. His cheeks were burning. The last thing he wanted the man to see was him crying.

"Hey, come on. Don't cry."

Trying not to, bitch

That only made things worse. It wasn't like JJ could accept his comfort. Was it even real? Then stronger arms were surrounding him, suffocating him. If he didn't know the damage those same arms could do, he would've reciprocated the action.

"I love you. JJ, don't forget that."

JJ started to break a little after that. His hands trembled against his father's back, letting short controlled sobs bounce off the walls of the room. Then he was pulling away, struggling to breathe.

"Why now?" He sounded mad about it, continuing to frown at his father through his tears. "You wouldn't give a damn if there wasn't jail in the equation."

Luke bit his tongue, and his eyes widened. That was almost a sure fire sign that things would get violent. JJ quickly glanced at his hands, which weren't in fists for once. He sighed, not entirely letting himself relax, but halting his instinctive direction toward escape.

"I want to fix things. This isn't about jail."

But it was. Some part of JJ knew that, but the other three quarters of him wanted to believe the change he was seeing. He'd already seen Luke react differently than normal. Usually, JJ would already be on his way back with more cuts for Kie to clean.

"Dad?" His voice broke, and Luke was surprised to feel a small tug in his own chest at the sound. "I can't do this again. You gotta give me some sort of explanation... I-I can't even trust you. Not even now."

This did make him feel guilty again. For once, Luke really was telling the truth over text. He was sober, and it made him feel terrible. That's when he decided to speak on something close to both of them.

"Your mother." He deadpanned. "I'm more mad at her than anything I could be pissed at you about. I blame you because..."

He seemed to think, while JJ was squeezing a pillow to his left so tightly he thought it might explode into puffs of white. They'd never spoken about Laura. Bringing her up meant immediate turmoil in the past.

"Because I'm here."

Luke nodded, almost hating the way that sounded. "She didn't want either one of us. She was afraid of taking care of you. I wanted... want to hurt her. I guess some part of me figured I could do it through you..."

JJ looked up at him. "What...?"

"JJ, our lifestyle was her greatest fear." Luke sighed, "It wasn't your fault."

JJ shook his head. "Man, you're tripping. What kind of drugs did you take this time?! You're not even making sense."

"I'm sober."

"No, you're not!" The boy was yelling now, pulling at his shirt to cool down the mixture of emotion he was feeling. Luke watched him shove a random bottle of pills conveniently placed on the coffee table. "You'd never apologize! Not unless there was something in it for you! You're a selfish, narcissistic, asshole of a father! You can't switch up on that, too!"

The look in Luke's eyes... One that JJ knew all too well. But it extinguished as the capsules coated the floor like beads.

"I don't want to hurt you."

JJ stood, backing away from the man. "Jesus, you don't think it's a little late for that? You just told me you did. Vicarious revenge through me? You're that pathetic? Most parents move on! Where's my fake ass step mother? You never even looked for a replacement!"

"You can't replace Laura, you fuck!" Luke stood as well, anger nearly getting the better of him. "I'm trying to work with you! You want to fight me! This is what I mean when I say you're useless! I try to do the right thing, but you're too fucked to accept the difference!"

"So it's my fault I've grown accustomed to my fathers addictive ways?" JJ lowered his voice. "I'm done taking the fall for you. You only look out for you. As soon as Shoupe says you're in the clear, I'll be patching up wounds all over again!"

"JJ-"

"No, shut the fuck up, Luke!" He growled, literally shaking with intense rage. "You ruined your life! You don't get to ruin mine! Game over!"

Well Luke finally reverted back to his defaulted reputation. His fist collided with the boy faster and harder than any other time he'd done it before. JJ stumbled backward, laughing this time.

"Oh, there he is." He was spitting blood. "Been waiting on that, dad."

This is where the book gets extremely dark. Next few chapters will be sad i won't lie. ☹️ i'm living through JJ's breakthrough...