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Chapter 54 - Broken Family

Saturday

It was Brooklyn's birthday and the day Jess was heading back to Jack's hometown with him to celebrate it.

Nervous, was the one word that described her feelings. She was beginning to question why she had even agreed to come in the first place.

Not only was it going to be weird to be alone with Jack, she also wasn't sure how Corey was feeling about it. He'd shrugged it off as though it was fine when she told him but the tone in his voice showed that he was extremely insecure over the situation.

However, she was desperately trying to push all of the worry aside and think of the little boy who would be buzzing with excitement on his own important day.

...

As Jack walked through the front door, Brooklyn did not waste any time in running down the stairs and charging right at him. His small arms wrapped around his brother's leg before Jack lifted him off his feet.

"Hey birthday boy! Did you miss me?" He grinned, placing a gentle kiss to his head.

As Brooklyn began nodding with excitement, his eyes then drifted to Jess who was stood behind him. It took only a few seconds to recognise who it was before he produced a smile so similar to Jack's.

"It's you!" Brooklyn shouted causing both Jess and Jack to laugh. "Jessica."

"Hey! Happy birthday." Jess reached forward to trail her thumb over his cheek.

"I'm five now."

"Really? Wow! You're so grown up!"

The excitement across this little boys face was absolutely beautiful. He managed to show so much appreciation for every minor thing that he was presented with and having both Jack and Jess here today was an important one to him.

"Where's dad?" Jack then asked and Jess instantly filled with nerves at the thought of meeting his dad. It was crazy enough that she had travelled with him to his family home so that was definitely another step up.

"In there." Brooklyn pointed before being put down and walking off with Jack and Jess following.

As Jack entered the living room, he was filled with not only frustration but also embarrassment as his dad sat with a bottle of alcohol in his hand while surrounded by many more. It was currently 11am in the morning and he had definitely started earlier than this.

"What the fuck?" Jack bit as he stormed over to his dad and pulled the bottle from his hand.

The man clearly was not sober as it took him a little too long to react. He stared into space before looking down to his now empty hand and then up to Jack.

"Hi son."

"What is this?" Jack held the bottle up and his dad, who went by the name Dan, just frowned at him. "It's Brooks's birthday and you're sitting here drinking this shit."

Jess stood back as her heart began to shatter at the scene in front of her. When meeting Jack, he gave off an idea that he had everything figured out but now coming into his family home and seeing this, she realised it was far from that.

"I warned you I'd be over. I told you to get ready."

There was no hiding Jack's embarrassment as he was doing everything he possibly could to avoid Jess' gaze. He'd purposely sent Dan numerous texts to not only remind him about Brooklyn's birthday but also that he wouldn't be coming over alone. He'd hope that his dad would have taken both of those things as a good enough reason to get himself up and ready rather than continuing to engage in the dangerous habits he did on a daily basis.