Jodee

Chapter 39 - Next Steps

ACE POV

A few days after my sister gave her statement at the police station Caleb and I had a meeting with Stephens to discuss what the next steps were going to be.

Now that Jodee had told a social worker who will relay the information to the judge what she wanted the outcome of this trial to be, all that needed to be done was to set up a court date and then the custody battle would really begin.

I hate to admit it, but I'm scared right now, really fucking scared. I'm scared of losing to my father and of the things from my past I'm not ready to face yet, that Tobais might bring up in court. But most of all, I'm scared of losing my baby sister.

My entire life Jodee has been the only factor that made me want to be better, she made me want to be a better person, made me want to find a better environment for myself. She's the only reason I believe that I deserve better. She made me see that there was hope in the world and a chance for life to get better. That's one of the reasons I fought so hard to move her across the country to California — so she could have a chance at a better life. And so Caleb and I could as well.

Losing my sister would absolutely crush me. I honestly don't think I'll be able to live without her.

I don't remember much from my first eleven years of life — before Jodee was born. I remember bits and pieces here and there, but definitely not as much as a young twenty-five year old like myself should. I know part of that is because I went through so much trauma that my young mind suppressed it so now I don't remember. Another factor was that I suffered so many head injuries from my father that there are lapses in my memory. But I think a big part of it is because my life didn't really start until my little sister was born — it had no meaning before her.

If my baby sister gets taken from me I don't know how I'm going to go on. If she's gone, everything that I do and that I have done my entire life would be for nothing.

Which is why I can't let Tobias take Jodee. And I won't. She won't leave.

I'm not only fearful of what it would be like for myself and my best friend, but what it would be like for Jodee. Jodee's a pretty sensitive young girl that requires love and attention for her to be comfortable and be able to thrive in this world. Our father is one of the things that draws her back. Even now that he's been out of our lives for seven years, he still haunts her. If Jodee was taken away from me and placed in the custody of our father, I don't know how she'll cope.

The only good thing is that this fear inside me about pretty much everything right now fuels me.

I learned long ago that you can either rule by fear or rule by respect. In any situation those are the two factors. Within my gang, I rule by respect (with a little bit of given fear as we are an illegal gang). But for myself, personally, what drives me is fear. If I'm scared of the less preferred outcome I'll fight even harder for the preferred one. Which means I'll fight like hell to stay with my sister and then some.

"Let's go." I told Caleb.

I was just getting home and came into the living room to see my two siblings on the couch watching some movie. Jodee was in the corner of the couch, curled up against the cushions with a blanket wrapped tightly around her. Caleb sat on the other side of the sprawled out with his shoes on the couch and eating from a bowl of popcorn which he was spilling all over the place.

I dropped a quick kiss on my sister's head muttering a hello before looking up at Caleb with a serious expression on my face to tell him that we had to go now.

Caleb looked up at me, confused for a second, before looking at his phone and the time and getting up straight away, brushing all of the popcorn off of himself and onto the rug.