Moments In Between ( Book 2)

Chapter 12: Seeing Double

"Mark, if you don't hurry, I'm leaving your ass behind!"

He does not answer, and it is pissing me off. I got to rehearsals late the other day and Tulla grilled my ass for it. If I show up late for the wedding, I can not imagine what she will do. Mom and the others have already left, with Jordan being the best man and all. They all got up and left for the church two hours ago. I like my sleep and locked my bedroom door after mom made the first attempt to wake me. Mark stayed behind to make sure I would get up.

"Mark!" I bang on the door. He should not even be locking the bathroom door. What if something happens to him in there?

"Mark!"

The door opens, and Mark peeks out. "What?"

I glare at him.

"Shit, sorry, my headphones were in."

I push open the door. The counter is filled with bloody tissues.

"Jared."

I ignore him and walk away.

"Jared, come on, wait up."

I will punch his dumb ass to a pulp if I stop. He knows he can't keep things like this to himself. I take a deep breath. Calm down, Jared.

"Jared bro.."

"Mark, shut up already."

"I just thought..."

"It's been three years, Mark. When are you going to believe that we care about you? When are you going to see that you have people here that love you?"

He hangs his head. "I don't want you guys to worry about me."

My anger dissolves. Mark likes to pretend that he is always okay because he thinks that is the right thing to do. "Too bad, we will, you're not alone, bro"

"Sorry, man."

"Come on, let's go."

 I throw my arm around him, and we head out to the car. I love my brother, but I will beat him senseless the next time he pulls a stunt like that. I know it is not his fault why he's like that. He did not have it easy growing up. It's gonna take Mark some time to change, and I guess I have to help him out a little more with his trust issues. His mother used to beat him and treat him like crap. I met his mother once. She busted my lip. Thinking I was Mark. She tried to haul me to her car, but my mom stopped her. That was an epic catfight. My mom put her in her place. After that, we got the truth out of Mark. Turns out that first day I met him, he had run away from home two weeks prior and slept in Random places, including the park, abandoned buildings, and public bathrooms. And he did it for six months until we found out. It broke my heart, and I knew I could not let my mom send him away after that.

He thought Mom would have sent him back to her. But she took matters into her hands, had that witch jailed, and adopted Mark. May I say that she was wearing Superman's cape when she delivered the adoption news that very day.

Just to be safe, I take Mark to the hospital. It is nine-thirty. The wedding starts at one, and we are supposed to be there by eleven, Tulla's orders.

My concern for Mark is eating away at my soul, and since he refuses to tell me how long this has been going on, I have to get him checked out. He should not be losing any blood. I hate hospitals but they also save lives more or less. His check-up reveals that the problem is his medication. He has to stop taking them until his appointment in two days. As mad as he is, I know he will thank me later.

*****

We arrive at the church just a quarter past eleven, and Lady Tulla is having a cow about it. One thing I am most happy about is no more Tulla. She is good for the money, but she has too many rules and orders for us to follow. I am never hiring a wedding planner. If I have to send my fiancé to a wedding planning course, I will. We are not hiring for one period.