Winter Love (Book Two)

11 | Lessons In Not Messing With a Judoka

JESSE'S POV

I feel hot. Like I'm burning from the inside out. The anger, the sheer fury begging me to peel off the heavy jacket I have on, even though the temperature outside the car could freeze my balls off, I still can't help but feel like the clothes just cling to me weirdly. Everything is just too tight, and considering what I'm going to do to those two, being constricted by clothing isn't the best option.

I pull up on the side of the road, ripping my jacket of in record time, leaving myself in an old sweater that did very little in keeping the cold away, but that's the least of my worries. I rush out of the vehicle with Colby hot on my tail, heading straight for the front door. And without knocking, I swing the door open, stopping Jack's mopping as he stares right at me with wide eyes, before sighing in relief:

"Why'd you open the door like a fucking cop? You fucking scared me man" he smiles, which just worsens the burning flame of fury and resentment in me. "The party doesn't start for another two hours, so you can help out with moving the furniture in the family room." I ball my fists, my jaw tightening as every fibre of my being begged me to pounce. I could always get the answers I seek later...

"Oh!" he scoffs, "I don't know why it took you so long to respond to my messages cause I know you've probably been looking for this, we know how important it is to you," he says, walking a bit further down, opening the hallway closet "so when we saw it on that kid, we had to take it."

My blood runs cold and all the colour surely has drained from my face...my father's jacket. The jacket I gave Sami, in Jack's hand...

...and then all I see is red. From being stationary in that one spot by the door, to planting myself on top of Jack after I drove my shoulder into his midsection, lifting his feet up before dropping him on the hardwood floor, landing with a satisfying thud. And from there, it just rains fists, to his temple, to his mouth, to his eyes, every place that my fist could touch, it touched but it still didn't make me any better: "Why'd you do it? Why did you key Felix's car and punch Beau? Why'd you take this from my boyfriend?"

"It was Zack!" Jack screams through the punches, the blood that now falls from his nose forcing me to change my tactic and use my elbows instead of my fists. "We're sorry" he adds shakily, his eyes momentarily rolling to the back of his head. I've made my point but I'm far from done with him.

I yank him forward with his short blonde hair: "tell me. Tell me everything you know."

"It-it was your sister that came to us with all the information t-that you were seeing that boy. Zack d-didn't like that so he just...you know? But I wasn't involved I swear, it was Byron, Pete and Marcus." His whole explanation succeeded in doing one thing, and that's piss me off completely. His words just opened my eyes to the pain Sami must've felt, being cornered by five or six guys who had a good eighty pounds over him. How helpless he must've felt having to hide all of that from me, because they somehow made him believe that I was just using him. So with one final blow to Jack's face, I leave him laying on the floor, rushing up the stairs where distant thuds and shouts could be heard, and the closer I got - Zack's scream was unmissable: "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

I kick the door open, only to see Colby in his infamous spider position. One of his legs draped over Zack's throat, the other draped over his chest, the culprit's arm clasped in his hands as he pushed his hips up, hyperextending Zack's elbow, while twisting his wrist, his intention being breaking the other boy's arm. And as I focused my attention, Zack's naked body was not only bruised, but his other arm also lays limply by his head...Colby's gonna break both his arms...

And a sickening pop snaps me out of my momentary daze, his loud cry confirming that Colby had indeed broken both his arms. "If you ever touch my brother again, I'll rip both your arms off your socket and beat you up with them" he spits, before looking at me: "look at what this sick bastards was jerking off to before I walked in" he throws what I assume to be Jack's phone my way, catching it effortlessly and playing the paused video, and the moment it started playing, my knees damn near buckle, my stomach tightening in disgust at the lengths Zoe was willing to go to to prove a point:

Sami's pictures floating by, one after the other in a slideshow, accompanied by an audio of him moaning my name...and tears just swell in my eyes in response.

How much did Sami have to endure while I was gone?

How much suffering did he take in silence...?

"You...you make me sick" I spit, the bloodied boy who still laid unmoving on the floor, closing his eyes with a startle, as if he expected me to do something to him. But no, he isn't worth the effort.

A part of me tempts me to spit on him, show him just how much he disgusts me, but the more rationale part of me argues otherwise. That may very well be a sexual desire of his and I don't want him to get any pleasure from this, so I just slip his phone in pocket, "tell your minions that I better not see them, cause if I do, I'm gonna run them over" I add, before seeing myself out of his bedroom, descending the stairs exhaustedly, the adrenaline that accompanied the anger now long forgotten, it's place now taken by sadness. Oh, Sami.

I pick my leather jacket off the floor, not even bothering to look at Jack who was now on his phone, probably letting their guests know that for the first time, a Jack and Zack party was getting cancelled.

*****

Pulling the car to a stop outside Sami's home couldn't have felt any scarier. Scared of what this revelation might do to us, scared of how he'd react when he finds out I know the secrets he's been hiding, while he's been suffering on his own, in silence; but no ounce of fear could deter me from walking out of my car, and heading to the short gate - that always seemed to give Sami a problem, but was a little too lenient on me.

After shutting the gate, the vacant driveway comes into view, covered in a thick layer of snow, letting me know that it's been a little while since his mother left, which inadvertently provides us the opportunity to iron out our problems in private...

I clutch the leather jacket closer to my body, willing myself to take a step forward and just get this over with. Rip the bandage off, grit your teeth and hope you'll be able to take the pain as it comes, my subconscious says, as I tap my foot on the floor to match the quick pace of my heart, before taking that one step and knock on his door.

The contact between my injured knuckles and the cold door has me pulling my hand like I dipped it in boiling hot water, trying to shake off the pain to such an extent that I couldn't hear as him as he came closer to the door, swinging it open. And as soon as he sees me, his eyes resemble saucers, pure shock caked on his face.

"Hey" I greet softly, the violent flutters in my chest pushing me closer and closer to the edge of just blurting out those three words I regret not saying four months ago, cause had I said them, maybe he would've known not to believe those morons. Maybe he would've been reassured of his position in my life, his place in my heart...

...but his eyes had already dropped onto the jacket in my hands, the jacket I'd draped over his shoulders before I left, and in this moment, it all dawns on me. I need to let him know that I'd drape my most prized possession over his shoulders for as long as I can because I'm in love with him. I love him...

And seeing the tears he's certainly been holding in since the last time I saw him, rush down his face like floodgates had been opened - is enough to melt any tension accumulated over the past weeks between us, leaving way for his true emotion to shine, as he walks towards me slowly, crossing the threshold of the door and into my awaiting arms, his head resting on my chest, right where it belongs.