The Long Haul

Chapter 29

Alex heard Jay call out for her to stop once more - only this time the voice didn't sound so distant. After a quick glance behind her, she realized he was gaining ground and there was no way she'd make it to the train station. Quite literally running out of options and having no actual plan, she decided to take a sharp left and duck into a narrow alley between two buildings.

Just as she was feet away from exiting the dimly lit area onto the other street, strong arms wrapped themselves around her torso, and she and Jay went crashing to the ground in a tangled mess of limbs. Alex let out a sharp groan when her body struck the hard cement, without realizing that Jay took a much harder hit on the ground. He was a pro at tackling people and knew just how to turn his body so he'd take more of the blow than the other person.

When the teen caught her breath again, her head snapped toward her brother who was pinning her to the ground with his hands pressed against her shoulders and a knee hovering just above her chest, preventing her from getting up.

Jay was seething, his anger barely contained as his eyes burned with fury. He couldn't believe it - of all the places in Chicago, his sister was here. Rage simmered beneath the surface, not just because she'd snuck out without a word, but because she had the nerve to run from him. However, beneath the anger was something else: disbelief. He was stunned to find her in this part of the city, stunned that she'd slipped away after their seemingly normal morning, and even more stunned that she was now fleeing from him like a criminal.

He remained silent as his mind couldn't untangle the complex web of emotions quick enough. Luckily for him, his sister never had a shortage of words.

"Get the fuck off me!" she yelled, attempting to push his arms away to no avail.

"What are you doing here, Alex?" Jay demanded without moving an inch.

His head was spinning right now, completely off its axis and into another space of orbit. Deep down he knew that there would only be one reason that his sister would be this far from home, in this neighborhood. But why this neighborhood? Why today? Why now? His heart still refused to believe it. Yes, she pulled one over on him before when he'd refused to believe that she'd skip school and lie to him about the debate team. His sister was a pain in the ass and an occasional liar, but there was no way...no way she was out here...buying drugs.

Not after all the progress they'd made.

"I said get off me!" Her arms flailed all over in an attempt to get him to comply.

"What the hell were you doing on that street?" His voice cracked momentarily, revealing the underlying panic, before he was able to get it under control again.

Alex's mind raced, spinning out of control as she lay pinned to the ground by her brother. How had it come to this? Caught buying drugs, with Jay towering over her, fury and disbelief etched on his face. But surrendering wasn't an option - not for her. She couldn't just give in, not when every instinct screamed to fight back.

Because deep down, she knew she was wrong. And that terrified her even more.

So, her usual defense mechanisms came into play. The wall went up around her, and anger and dark sarcasm came to her rescue. She couldn't admit she was wrong, that she was vulnerable.

"It's a free country. I can go where I want."

Jay increased the pressure on his hands ever so slightly. "Answer the question. What were you doing?!" There was an underlying tone of desperation that he quickly tried to hide.

"You're hurting me!" she yelled loudly, for no reason other than to draw in some attention. However, after the chaos a few blocks over, there wasn't anyone around.