Love Is A Battle Field (Fourth Part of "Love In The Spotlight") MJ Fantasy

Chapter 5: Pot

Zoe's POV

I paused for a second to keep from hyperventilating. After calming down as much as possible, I opened the car door and stepped out. I approached the house in fear, afraid that something had gone terribly wrong.

The door was already open when I got to it, so I walked right inside. Michael's housekeeper, Patti, greeted me.

"Miss Zoe, good to see you!"

"Hi, Patti. Do you know where Michael is?"

She smiled and patted my shoulder sympathetically. "Of course, I'll take you there now."

The look of pity she gave me made me nervous. "Is everything alright? Did he get hurt? Michael wouldn't tell me what was going on over the phone..." I questioned as I followed behind her.

"He did not get hurt. I will let Mr. Jackson explain the rest to you."

I sighed as I jumped to the worst possible conclusions. We stopped in front of Michael's office and Patti gave me another pathetic smile before walking away.

Not even thinking to knock, I barged into the office. I saw Michael sitting on a couch next to Junior, who's face was laced with guilt.

I rushed over to them. "What's going on? Are you okay?" I asked as I dropped my purse to the ground before kneeling in front of Junior. I took his face in my hands and felt a rush of relief that he wasn't hurt.

"Oh, baby... You had me worried sick..." I said softly.

He pulled away from me and put his head down. "I'm sorry, Mom..." He mumbled.

I wrinkled my eyebrows. "Sorry for what?" I questioned, standing up and sitting next to him. When he didn't respond, I looked to Michael, who seemed to be fuming with anger. "Michael, what's going on here?"

He glared at Junior. "Tell your mother." He said sternly. Junior kept his head down and refused to speak. "Tell her!"

"Tell me what? What the hell is the problem?"

"He asked go to the zoo today, but he didn't go to the zoo. He climbed a tree and hid there... He had everyone panicking for no reason."

I turned my attention to Junior. "We've talked about things like this before. You have to tell us where you're going to be at all times." I scolded him.

Michael snorted. "Oh no, the worst part isn't that we didn't know where he was. The worst part is what he was doing in the tree. Would you like to explain to her what the guards found you doing?"

At this point, Junior was completely covering his face, curled up into a ball like a toddler.

Michael dug into his pocket and slammed something down on the table. "THIS is what he was doing."

I looked at the table and my eyes almost bulged out of my head. "Oh my god, Junior!" I exclaimed.

Sitting on the table was a half smoked joint and a small bag of weed.

"Where did you get this shit from?" I shouted. No response. I grabbed his arms and held them so he couldn't hide his face. "Answer me right now, dammit! Where did you get it from?"

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend about that?" Michael spat.

Already enraged, I turned to him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged. "I just think he might know, since everyone in your house knows more than you do."

"Michael I am not trying to hear your shit right now." I snapped. I stood up and pulled Junior up with me. "Come on, you're coming with me. You think you want to be a pothead? You think that shit's cute?"

Michael stood as well and held on to Junior. "He's staying here."

My eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

"I'm not letting him go home with you until you come to your senses and kick Brandon out."

"Michael, we just found out that our son smokes weed... Brandon has nothing to do with this..."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

My jaw dropped. "Are you implying that Brandon gave him the weed?"

"I'm implying that I don't want that son of a bitch near my kid."

"You're ridiculous... Junior, let's go." I ordered.

"He's not going with you. You don't know how to discipline him..."

"And you do?" I scoffed.

"Well I'm not going to just sit around and scream at him like you and your dumbass boyfriend..."

I rolled my eyes. "Scream at him? Really, Mike? You're kinda reaching now..."

"I'm not reaching. Brandon yells at you when your mother isn't around, doesn't he?" He asked Junior.

Tremendously annoyed, I waited for Junior's answer, which is most definitely going to be a no.

"You don't have to keep it a secret. Tell her the truth." Michael urged.

"So you're coaching him now?" I snorted.

Michael scrunched his eyebrows. "Wow... You're actually so blinded by this idiot that you can't see the pain he's causing your own son..."

"The only person causing my son pain is whoever gave him those damn drugs, which I will find out very soon."

Michael shook his head with a disgusted look on his face. "Tell her, Junior. She will believe it if it comes from your mouth. Tell her what you and Heaven told me."

Once again, Junior remained silent.

"Hmmm.... Next time you should probably make sure he knows the script beforehand... I can't believe you're doing this... Are you really so jealous that you're trying to make your kids lie to make Brandon look bad? I mean I thought you of all people would be against false accusations..."

I saw the shock on his face and I internally cursed myself. That was too low, Zoe. Too low.

"Junior, go to your room. I'll be up there soon." Michael demanded. Junior left the room, silently of course, and Michael turned to me. "Listen, all feelings and differences aside, you need to pay more attention to how Brandon treats Junior. He verbally abuses him, Zoe. Calls him dumb and ugly and weird... And these are things that both of the kids told me. Heaven said that Junior plays with her at your house because Brandon won't yell at him if he's with someone else. Now how does it make you feel that your son has to hang out with his little sister to keep from getting picked on by a man that you brought into their lives?"

I shook my head. "Brandon would never-"

"But he did, Zoe! Don't you hear what I'm saying to you?"

I sighed. "I don't know..."

He threw his hands in the air. "Oh my god! You think the guy can do no wrong! Even when the truth is staring you right in the face you choose not to believe it! Do the math! Junior is always acting weird, he doesn't like Brandon, and he's been lying a lot... Are you really stupid enough to believe that he put these problems on himself?"

"I don't want to hear anymore of this bullshit." I said, standing to leave the room.

"Bullshit? Your son's pain is bullshit?"

"No! Everything you say is bullshit! You probably didn't even really catch him smoking pot! It's just another detail in your stupid story..."

His eyes widened. "Why the fuck would I make that up?"

"I don't know and I don't care. I'm leaving..."

"Fine! But just know that I will never leave my kids under your care again! And I'll take it to court if I have to!"