The Devil You Know

Chapter 32: I Can't Go With You

I walked in the door, it wasn't too late this time, but something told me to come home. I saw Pop with an alcohol bottle in the living room, I knew he'd start again. I walked quietly past him and up the stairs, thanking God that he didn't notice. I wandered into Jades room first, locking it behind me and looking at the two girls who sat silently on the bed looking out the window. I walked up to Jade.

"Did he hurt you?" I whispered, she turned and looked at me, shaking her head and hugging me. Naomi was holding Jades hand supportively, something was wrong. "Are you lying to me?" One eyebrow rose and Jade shook her head again. I sighed and walked out, making my way to Ma's room.

There she was, laying in Tommy's arms and crying. Tommy was angry, so fucking angry, he looked over at me. I sat down next to Ma and held her hand, her face was beat up badly. I pulled her into my arms and hugged her. Tommy stood up, fists clenched and he stormed out of the room, I knew exactly what he was doing.

"Tommy.." Ma rasped, she knew too. I ran after him, down the stairs and into the living room. His fists were clenched and he walked straight up to pop, throwing a hard punch at his face.

"TOMMY STOP!" I yelled, and I heard Jades room door open, the two girls came running and so did Ma. Tommy ignored me and Pop went to hit him, Tommy dodged it and hit him in the face again.

"YOU KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF OF HER" he went to throw another punch but I grabbed him and pulled him back, he was breathing heavily and fighting against my grip to get at the old man.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TOMMY?!" He came at him but a a stepped In front of us and he hit her instead, Tommy let out an angry scream, fighting against me harder. To my surprise Naomi ran in front of Ma and shoved pop back as hard as she could, he stumbled into the table and fell over.

Jade and Tommy helped Ma into her room and Naomi and I followed behind, locking the door and hoping to God he wouldn't try to get in. Jade hugged Ma, holding her and they were both crying. Tommy was pacing angrily, adrenaline running through his veins. Naomi stood there in shock but walked up to Ma slowly, examining her wounds. She took out some cloth and alcohol from her bag and gently cleaned the wounds on her face. Ma held Naomi's wrist gently and looked at her face.

"You're alright, Molly" Naomi spoke, her voice cracking as she tried to push back the tears. "You're ok" I stood there in shock, we couldn't keep pretending that it was going to get better.

"Brendan" Tommy cleared his throat and looked at me "we're doin it, we're goin'"

"Where?"

"Washington" he looked at the floor. Jade looked up at us, Ma had talked to us about it, but not her, and we didn't think it would come this early, she was still young, still had so much to do. I thought about Tess, I couldn't leave her, I couldn't and Jade... I had to take care of Jade.

"Tommy, we-"

"Don't you dare bail on us now Brendan, mom needs you, I need you, you're my big brother" he walked up to me now, looking me in my eyes. I didn't say anything, I just held his gaze. "So what, what you're choosing the old man and- and the girl?!" He spat, looking at me like I was disgusting.

"It's not like that Tommy-"

"THATS EXACTLY WHAT IT IS" he growled, raising his voice, Ma wasn't saying anything, Jade was looking at us angrily and Naomi was in shock. "You know what, you're full of shit Brendan, I'm taking Jade, and Ma and we're going."

"If Brendan's staying so am I" her little voice spoke up Tommy turned on his heel and looked at her, so did i, she was always closer to Tommy, but she decided to stay here with me. "I can't leave Naomi either" Tommy looked over at Naomi who stared at him with tears in her eyes, he turned back to Jade, not being able to look at her.

"You... Excuse me?" He said, a little shocked "Jade I know he's hitting you too, and you want to stay here with him?!" She looked away, not letting go of Ma's hand. "You guys are disgusting" he shook his head and looked at me "what are you doing Brendan? You were supposed to stick  to the plan, we talked about this SO long ago, and now you wanna bail, get the fuck outta here" I opened my mouth to speak but Tommy wasn't gonna listen. "GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE" he yelled, pushing me out of the door, he looked at Jade. "Beat it." He said a little softer to her, but just as angry, she stormed out and into her room, Tommy slammed the door in my face, Naomi still in there tending to Ma's wounds.

I went into jades room and saw her crying on the bed. I climbed onto her bed and pulled her into my arms. She sobbed into me. "They're not really leaving are they?" She sobbed into me. I wanted to tell her no, I wanted to make her happy but I could feel the tears in my eyes as well.

"I don't know, Jade I don't know" I held her in silence, kissing her head over and over.