The Bad Boy's Sister

Chapter 8 - Can a Guy Give a Girl a Break?

"Sam?" Jace calls as I run in the house, away from the car.

"Just go away, Jace," I growl, throwing him the stink eye. "Don't you think you've done enough?"

He opens his mouth to say something, but I just run in, not listening to what he has to say. My eye is aching and I need some ice pronto. Some pain pills sound lovely, too.

I throw my backpack up toward my room and then turn back to go get a snack when Cody pops out of nowhere from around the corner of the hallway.

"Ah, hey, little sis," Cody smirks, patting my head like a dog. "What's up?"

"Like you've ever cared," I snap, pushing his hand away. He tries to touch my head again, but I shove my way around him and run down the stairs toward the kitchen. He looks surprised and starts to follow me, which has me even more irate.

"I've always cared, princess. But you never seem to notice the good things in your life, so I shouldn't be surprised that you weren't aware. Maybe you should start paying better attention to your surroundings. Also, nice eye."

"Maybe you should buzz off, dipsquad. I would say thanks, but that would probably hurt someone's pride" I say, watching in my peripheral vision as Jace comes in the door with his backpack slung over his shoulder. He glances up at where Cody is standing right behind me, bothering me.

"Nah, I don't think I will. I want to hang out with you. We haven't spent time together in a long time," Cody persists. The ignorant fool obviously hasn't seen the look on Jace's face or he'd back off immediately.

"That's because you don't care," I say, grabbing a peach from the fruit shelf and walking toward Jace, whose nostrils are flaring angrily. I smile to myself, feeling very satisfied with how I handled my sorrow excuse of a brother.

"Cody, leave Sam alone," Jace hisses as he continues to send death glares toward Cody. "You have no business to hurt her anymore."

This stops me in my tracks. Say what?

"I never have, you lying little twit," Cody snaps back at Jace, taking a daring step toward him. I'm still in the middle of the two, so I quickly stand my ground, facing Jace.

"Jace, come on, he's not worth it," I say, frowning. I knew they had a bad relationship, but this stand offish crap is a bit concerning. "Don't let him make you so mad, okay?"

"Come at me, Jace. I'm not scared of a little pimp like you," Cody says, making my jaw plunge open. A grown man in his twenties should not be threatening like little boy. Let's act our age, shall we?

"Cody, stop!" I yell at him. "You are acting like a little kid and you're causing this family more grief than you've ever caused happiness. You made it so Casey doesn't even want to be here anymore and now you've sank so low that you're threatening your own brother. That bothers me, that bothers Mom, and it bothers the rest of us. Now please, for the sake of us all, go find your wife and do something productive, because threatening Jace is not productive. Grow the freak up."

Cody and Jace are giving me the exact same expression when I finish my speech and now they're not saying a word. I furrow my eyebrows and bolt out the kitchen in frustration, pushing Jace with me. I don't want to deal with this anymore. Cody sighs and turns to leave, looking very angry while Jace looks calmer once I start pushing him. I take a bite of my peach and get him out of the room long enough to push him into the couch. Once the action is done, I leave to go to my room. I'm surprised he doesn't protest, but I keep leaving regardless. Boys and their stupidity, my word...

I finish my peach in the kitchen and throw the pit away in the green waste bucket. My mind is buzzing about everything. Ever since Jake moved in and Cody decided to visit for a while, my life has gotten extremely weird and unpredictable. That's saying something for me to think that because my life is normally unpredictable with Jace around, but it's been much worse. Cody has turned into the biggest brat around, my brother is at war for his title, and I'm just the cute little girl in the middle of all this.