The Devil You Know

Chapter 34: You're Really Leaving

He rolled down his window, looking at me with hard eyes, Ma shook behind the steering wheel. I stared at him for a moment. "Tommy please... Please-"

"I can't stay, look at her!" He nodded his head towards Ma. "They can do whatever they want but I'm not letting her stay here."

"You don't need to leave the state, Tommy, you can go to Philadelphia-" He shook his head.

"Need to get her as far away as possible." I covered my mouth, trying to prevent crying, but there were tears in my eyes that threatened to spill over. His eyes softened and they scanned my face, as if he wanted to ask me to come with him.

"They need you... Tommy I need you..." His mouth opened a little and he just looked at me, he pushed himself out of the window, his hand grabbed my head, his fingers tangling in my hair and he pressed his lips against mine roughly. I stood there in shock, closing my eyes and kissing him back. He pulled away, looking at my face, nodding at me and sitting back in the car, closing the window. The car drove off, and disappeared into the distance.

I turned back to look at Jade who was sobbing on her knees, holding herself as if she was falling apart. Pop stood in the doorway of the house, looking at his kids, then at me, then down the road, knowing he had lost his wife and his son. I ran to Jade holding her in my arms as she screamed, I tried my best to hold my composure. Brendan pushed past pop, running to me and Jade and holding us for a second before he picked her up and brought her inside, I followed behind slowly, she needed me here right now more than ever, this was not supposed to happen, he wasn't supposed to leave us.

Jade didn't talk, she cried into her pillow and Brendan rubbed her back slowly. I sat at the edge of her bed staring at my hands. The tears sliding silently down my cheeks, there was a gaping hole in my chest and I couldn't look at Jade without feeling like I could've done something. Pop was gone, he left and we didn't know when he was coming back, we didn't care, it was all his fault.

It was almost four in the morning now, and none of us had fell asleep. Jade stopped crying, but she held her knees silently. Brendan had gone to his room but I knew he was on the phone with Tess. I stood up and Jade looked up at me, puzzled.

"we're going to my house, you can't stay here" she nodded, packing her bag as I walked to What was now just Brendan's room and knocked, he gave me permission to enter and I did. Brendan laid on Tommys bed, phone in between his shoulder and ear and he looked at me. "Can I take Jade to my house? Try to get her mind off..." I trailed off and Brendan nodded, standing up and pulling me into a hug and then walking with me back into Jades room. He hugged her tight and her arms wrapped around his waist. He kissed her head and walked us to the door. We slid on our jackets and shoes and began walking.

It was cold and we walked close together in attempt to stay somewhat warm. I wrapped my arm around her as we walked and she did the same, we didn't talk much, but we didn't have to, I just wanted to be with her so she didn't feel so bad. We walked into my house quietly, the lights were on, I knew both grandma and Joel were awake.

"NAOMI BLACK WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN" Joel bellowed stomping from the living room and straight to me, grandma came out of the kitchen wearing her cute pyjamas. Grandma notices Jade immediately and took her from my arms, taking her into the living room and holding her. Joel looked at them and then back at me, one eyebrow raised, confused. "What-"

"Tommy left, Joel" I breathed, putting my stuff down and rubbing my face stressfully, I thought about the way he kissed me, I thought about how close he was to my brother and how much we cared about him.

"He always leaves, he'll come back" Joel chuckled but his smile faded when he saw I was upset.

"No Joel, he took Molly, they're leaving the state... Brendan and Jade were supposed to go but they didn't want to, Tommy took her and left" Joel stared at me shocked... Tommy was his best friend, the only person he really talked to anymore. We walked into the living room together and looked at Jade, grandma was holding her as she sobbed.

"Shhh, honey bee" she hummed, soothingly, Jade sniffled and held onto grandma who looked so sad to see her this hurt. "Go take a nice, hot shower I'll make you some tea" Jade nodded and headed upstairs. Grandma looked at me, walking up to me and hugging me, she knew how I felt about Tommy, she knew the second she saw him. I cried into her, Joel looked confused, I guess no one told him. After a bit, he took me from grandmas arms and held me even though I wasn't crying anymore, he just held me. "So, he left with Molly then?" I nodded, Joel was running his hands through my hair. He smelled like dad used to, I guess he used the same cologne and it made me cry again.  Grandma sighed sadly, heading to the kitchen to make some tea.

Joel looked at me, probably wondering why I was crying, maybe I'd tell him later but right now all I could think about was the pain Jade was feeling, and wondering if Ma and Tommy were going to be ok on their own.