Raising The Jarvis Twins

Raising The Jarvis Twins {7}

                                                                                ***Ben’s POV***

                I knocked on Chris’s door and he opened it with Shawn standing guiltily behind him. “Hey Ben. How are you?” Chris asked and I glared. “Fucking fabulous,” I grumbled. “My one son gets bullied and my other son swears like a sailor and fights like monster.”

                Chris shrugged. “Eh. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.” I rolled my eyes and held my hand out to Shawn. He timidly took it and stepped out of Chris’s house.

                “Dad, Chris wanted me to tell you that you wouldn’t have these problems if you would just wrap it before you tap it. What does that mean?” I sighed. “It means you should never repeat anything your Uncle Chris says.” I shot him an annoyed look and he smiled pleasantly.

                “BJ, I’m like a Buddha or some shit. Everything I say gets quoted on Facebook. That’s when you know it’s legit.” I face palmed myself. “What the hell Chris. Why am I still friends with you?” “Because I watch your brats for free.” He reached out and ruffled Shawn’s hair.

                Chris started laughing and I gave him a confused look. “Remember the time I was watching them and this one found an open condom in my room and I told him it was a balloon? The dumbass believed me. Oh god I love your kids BJ.”

                Shawn sighed. “Dad, I never understand what Uncle Chris is talking about!” “Good! I’d be worried if you did Shawn,” I said and shook my head at Chris.

                “You know what’s sad Chris? Shawn, Type, and this Jason bastard. All 10 years old, and swearing like we did when we were Jey’s age. It’s just messed up,” I said, knowing I was a hypocrite. Still, it just felt wrong to listen to little kids swear like that. I only did it because my mom never taught me better. I swore, sure, but I at least had the decency to reprimand my children when they did it.

                “Well, thanks for watching the brat Chris.” Shawn pouted. “No problem BJ. Anytime. As long as I’m not busy passing along my many STDs to my girlfriend.” We both laughed at that, surprised we hadn’t caught anything from all our years of sleeping around as teens.

                I waved and pulled Shawn into the car. I remained silent as I drove and he fidgeted, scared. Good. The silent trick. My mom used to do that to me when I was younger. It usually meant I was in for a huge beating when we got home. In this case though, it just meant I was going to scream at Shawn until my voice was gone.

                We got to the house and went into the kitchen where Ali was waiting, a neutral expression steadily held on her face. “Shawn,” she said simply as he sat down at the table. “Before you scream at me, I was just trying to protect him,” Shawn said quietly.

                “WELL YOU DON’T FREAKING FIGHT! YOU TELL US!” I exploded. He was not going to guilt me out of this. Yes, I was proud of him for sticking up for his brother. But beating the shit out of 3 kids wasn’t going to stop the problem. It was only going to make it worse. Now they hated Shawn and they were going to go after Shane even more just to get back at Shawn.

                Shawn winced. “I just wanted to protect Shane! He’s too embarrassed to tell you guys!” he cried desperately. “Shawn, then why didn’t you tell us if you knew?” Ali demanded furiously. “I…” he paused, not having anything to say. “I don’t know,” he said at last, looking down at the table.

                I felt anger coursing through me and clenched my fist. “Shawn, you don’t fucking fight!” I screamed. “Ben, please…don’t swear,” Ali whispered. “Please.”

                I ignored her. “You tell us because we can fucking handle it! God dammit, I warned you that if you swore, you wouldn’t sit for 3 weeks. And I warned you that you’d be in deep shit if you bullied anyone. I classify this as bullying. Stand up.”

                He started shaking. “STAND UP!” I barked. He stood. “Bend over.” He bent. I stormed over and pulled my arm back. He started shaking more. “Stop moving!” He stopped. I let my hand fly forward and smacked his ass so hard that my arm crackled and my hand tingled.

                He let out a whimper of pain and Ali slapped a hand over her mouth.  Tears sprang to Shawn’s eyes and he started shaking again. I let my hand smack him again. Tears started rolling down his face as I hit him a 3rd time.

                I stood up, Shawn still bent over. I began to unhook my belt. I’d teach him to disobey me. Fuck, when I was through, he’d never disobey me again. Never.

                “Ben!” Ali screamed and shot up. She shoved me away from Shawn. “Stop it! Stop it!” She shoved me again and I stumbled back a little. “Shawn, honey, go upstairs. We’ll finish this discussion later,” she said, emphasizing that we would only talk.

                Silently sobbing, Shawn limped away from us and out of sight. “Why didn’t you let me finish that Ali? God dammit! He needs to learn to listen!” I exploded. “Ben…please stop,” she whispered. “That’s not discipline. That’s cruel. Spanking is discipline. Whipping is abuse.”

                And suddenly, I was the one who was shaking. Ali led me over to a chair and I weakly dropped into it. “Oh my god Ali,” I whispered. “Derik used to whip me. He didn’t even have a reason. He just did it. He would whip me and Jeydyn. You…you saw him do it once.” She paled. “Yea Ben. I did.”

                I slowly stood up and she hugged me tightly. “It’s okay Ben. You lost yourself for a moment. You love Shawn. You won’t hurt him,” she whispered. “But I thought the same thing about Shane,” I choked out and felt myself wanting to cry. Oh shit. I never cried.

                She held me tighter and I hugged her back now. She leaned up and pressed her lips to mine. I kissed back fiercely and gently ran my hands up and down her back.

                “Daddy?”

                We broke apart and looked at Shane. He was shaking and his good eye was watering. “What Shane? What’s wrong?” I asked gently.

                He took a shaky breath and blinked back his tears. “I-I-I w-want you to h-hit m-m-me,” he whispered.