I've Never Cried

Chapter Twenty-Nine - "Don't Give Me That Bullshit"

"I've Never Cried"

Chapter Twenty-Nine

'Don't Give Me That Bullshit.'

Joe's POV

When we were younger, Nick and I fist-fought; a lot. It would be over everything: who broke my action figure, who tore apart Nick's baseball cards, who popped one of Nick's guitar strings. At the end of the day, though, we'd always made up, because as much as we couldn't stand each other, we couldn't really function without one another.

The biggest fight we'd had was when I was twenty and Nick was seventeen.

Miley Graham. A junior at my alma mater.

The beautiful, blue-eyed, perfectly toned, five-foot-seven, one-hundred twenty-five pound goddess. She was sexy, and smart, and a complete slut. Nick was madly in love with her; he chased her for two years. So when he finally got her, I basically ruined it for him.

I regret it now, but back then, I didn't care about anyone. I was the typical douche bag that would do anything and knock anyone in my way down to get what I wanted. I'd already lost my virginity to a drunk party girl, so sex was not a chore. I didn't love Miley. I didn't want any relationship with her. I just knew that she was easy, and that was all I needed.

Miley paid Nick a surprise visit one day, popping up at our front door unexpectedly. But Nick wasn't there. He'd left to change the oil in our Mom's car.

So it was just Miley and I there, standing in the doorway, alone, probably for the next two hours.

Something took over me.

"Oh," she'd said in surprise when I'd told her the news. Her perfect little smile began to drop, but she pulled it back up quickly, biting her lip and peering up to me, flirtatiously.

"Well," she twirled her hair, "Can I wait for him here?"

When I'd agreed, she allowed herself in, crossing her sexy legs when she sat on the couch. She tugged on her white shorts, and fixed her tank top. I just watched her, nearly splitting the inside of my lip with my grinding teeth.

"So," she giggled, noticing my stare. "What do you wanna do while we wait?"

I wanted this girl so badly, I just had to take her. I took my place on the couch, right beside her.

"I can show you his room," I offered, in an obvious effort to get her upstairs. Miley agreed quickly, and I allowed her up the stairs before me, catching a nice view of her ass.

"Wow," she whispered when she saw Nick's walls lined with dozens of guitars and stacks of sheet music. Lyrics were everywhere; the carpet was covered in papers. "He's really passionate, isn't he?" She turned around quickly, nearly bumping her forehead into mine. She didn't look away, but her breathing was heavy, and I could tell that the surprise had turned her on.

"Sorry about that," I whispered, my hands sliding onto her firm sides.

She kissed me first, I will admit. But after that, it all was on.

I had her against the wall, on Nick's desk, on the floor, and on his bed. We were wild together; she'd bitten me plenty of times in plenty of places.

When we were both spent and sprawled across the floor, and our screams became silent, an awkwardness fell over us.

She ended up leaving before Nick even got there, but I knew he'd find out, eventually.

When Nick found one of Miley's bracelets on his bed, and added together the bite and claw marks covering my body, he knew.

He didn't yell, or even acknowledge that he was angry. He just told me that he knew, and broke it off with her the next day.

But I knew Nick.

And I knew he would crack.

Eventually.

--------------------

This was the moment.

"Give me two reasons why I shouldn't beat the living shit out of you, right now." His voice began to raise in anger. Nick jumped up from his seat, flipping the table and spilling the hot coffee everywhere. I stood immediately as he charged toward me,

"Nick, I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to happen-," Out of nowhere, Nick grabbed my shirt, whirled around, and slammed me into the wall behind him. It hurt my head terribly, and I grunted in pain, but I kept my eyes on him.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Joe. It doesn't matter if it was supposed to happen. What matters is that it did. You were supposed to help me, but you didn't. Instead, you sat around playing 'Dad' all day, and had sex with my ex girlfriend." He released my collar then, forcefully. "I can't even fucking stand to look at you right now."

As I took a second to recollect myself from the physical damage he had inflicted upon me, Nick began to calm himself. It were as if he wanted to cut me a break and let me explain myself, so I quickly took advantage of the opportunity.

"Give me a chance to talk to you." I pleaded once I'd caught my breath. "Just let me explain all of this." He didn't seem to be listening to me at all. He had his back to me, but I could see that his chest was heaving and that his fists were clenched far too tightly.

"How could you do this to me?"  He whispered, turning to me. I felt a knife slice through my heart. Demi had said the exact same thing. It hit me like a ton of bricks. "Does the word 'brother' mean anything to you?"

When his eyes reached mine this time, he looked devastated. The knife in my heart wedged even deeper.

"I-I'm, I'm sorry, Nick."

"Does Demi know?" He asked. This question actually surprised me, as I didn't think he cared enough in that moment to ask about her. Hearing her name, though, my heart sank again. I nodded at him, breaking our eye contact and gazing at the floor beneath my feet.

"I really broke her heart, Nick." I was sure that I'd broken his too, but I didn't feel that it'd help much to remind him.

Nick nodded slightly, his anger slowly dissipating.

For a moment, I thought he had accepted all of this and quickly moved on. But I was quickly proven wrong, as he reared back his fist and knocked me out cold.

JJDL

*****How are you guys liking the story so far?*****