The Pain That Grows Us

Chapter Thirty-Two

"You can't just leave, Jason!" Talia shouts, shoving Jason in the chest.

He looks down at her anger in his eyes and a flicker of something else. He adjusts his grip on the duffle bag in his hands before side-stepping her and making his way towards me. I don't know what I just walked in on, but I don't want to know. My eyes glance over his shoulder to Talia who is begging me with her eyes to stay where I am, blocking the only way out of our room.

"Fucking move, Jack." Jason barks, and there is that spark that I have been waiting to see in him.

"Don't think so." I grab him by his shirt collar and lift him off the ground like he doesn't weigh anything. I walk him towards his bed until I can throw him onto it.

"Who the fuck do you think you are." he yells at me, scrambling off the bed throwing a punch, barely missing my jaw.

"I am fucking Jack Hathoway," I snap, punching him in the face. His head snaps back blood trickling from his nose, "Don't fucking test me Jason, you might just end up dead."

Glaring at me he slowly sits up with his hand holding onto his nose. I drop the bag I brought with me to the floor as I hear Talia open up drawers behind me. What the fuck has been going on here while I have been gone? Max didn't mention anything about Jason acting like this, neither has Ryan.

"Get the fuck out of here Talia, I already told you I am leaving." Jason says looking around me, his hand starting to leak blood, I didn't mean to break his nose.

"Why?" Talia scoffs, "So you can drink without feeling guilty? I don't fucking think so." She shouts, I turn in time to see her throw a bottle half filled with alcohol at the wall.

The glass shatters going everywhere, the brown liquid making a mess on the floor and the wall. She holds up another bottle and throws it at the wall as tears stream down her face. So, the perfect boy isn't so perfect after all. I glance at Jason who is staring at the wall as another bottle hits it.

"Why am I not fucking enough? Why can't you just fucking love me the way I love you?" Her voice breaks, a sob making its way through her body. "I fucking love you, and it isn't enough. I am sorry for that Jason. I am so fucking sorry."

She falls to her knees, hands covering her face as she sobs. I shouldn't be in here, this is a private moment. I need to get out of here and let them figure this out for themselves, but I can't find the strength to walk away. If Ruby was still alive is this what would have happened to us? Would it be Ruby on the floor begging me to choose her, while I am ready to throw my hands up and tell her she doesn't understand? I fucking want to believe that I wouldn't walk from her like Jason is trying to walk away from Talia.

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Jason has been sitting in the metal lawn chair that is barely considered a chair for the last three hours. He is staring at the fucking tree that has held my gaze one too many times. His hand still covered in blood is dangling over the side, almost touching the rough cement. Talia lets out a deep sigh next to me, staring out the window over the sink with me.

She stopped crying an hour ago, but my head is still pounding. If I was a better person and these were normal circumstances I would be blaming myself. Telling myself that I should have been here, and I should have seen the signs of him slipping back into old habits. But I am not a normal person, and these are not normal circumstances. So I can't blame myself. He is still considered an enemy, after all.

"I should have seen the signs sooner." Talia mutters to herself, "I knew he was struggling. I just didn't want to see how..."

"I thought your father was supposed to stop things like this from happening." I comment, voicing the thought that has been going around and around in my head.