My Brother's Best Friend -VS- My Abusive Ex.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Where is he,” Joe asked looking more furious than I’d ever seen him, and that was saying a lot since I’d seen him mad many times before. He looked in my direction and came running towards me. “What did he do to you,” Joe asked looking as though he could’ve busted into tears at any moment. Neither Traeh, Eric nor my father tried to stop them since they were in shock of him actually having the nerve to just walk in the house. All I could think about was how he was mad Aiden hit me when he’s also hit me.

“I’ve had worse,” I told him.

He froze. I guess he didn’t expect me to say anything about him and his faults. “I-I… I didn’t mean to though.”

“He didn’t mean to either. In fact, his fist wasn’t meant for my face at all. You always aimed for me.”

“I’m sorry Case,” Joe said. “When I watched him hit you it looked horrible. I don’t want for other people to look at me and see what I saw in Aiden in me. What can I do to make it up to you?”

“Turn yourself in.”

“You want me to go to prison?”

“No, but I want you to get what you deserve. If that’s prison then I’m sorry but I know that what I want is for you to turn yourself in and guarantee mine and my family’s safety from your hooligan friends.”

“I was never gonna hurt any of you.”

“Well, look at what happened to Kim! You hurt her whether you meant to or not.”

“I didn’t do that. Bret did that. He said if he let her go without a scratch that our plan wouldn’t work. Plus she kneed him where the sun doesn’t shine and he wanted revenge.”

I laughed and said, “That does sound like Kim, but it still doesn’t help that you let him hit her and beat her like she’s a piñata. Could you not watch Aiden hit me once on accident, but you could watch Bret beat Kim senseless on purpose?”

“I didn’t watch.”

“He tried to stop him,” Kim whispered. “He told Bret to stop but he’s bigger, stronger, and told Joe to mind his own. He tried Case.”

I looked at Joe and felt a tug on my heart. He had tried to save Kim from Bret but not once had he ever stopped himself from hitting me. Was I not important enough to save? Both Joe and my brother apparently favor Kim over me. Maybe I should leave and let them have her. I was jealous and I knew I was thinking about this in an irrational way but I couldn’t help it. Wouldn’t anyone else feel the same? I mean it’s not every day your brother offers to throw you to the wolves for a girl he just started dating. If it hadn’t been for my dad, Aiden and Traeh being here and keeping me here I probably would’ve left. I could’ve gone to Joe and gotten myself killed and Eric would’ve been too busy with Kim to care. I was beginning to resent her for that, but I knew I shouldn’t. It was wrong of me to resent her for something she had absolutely no control over.

I guess I had paused too long or something because Joe asked if I was okay. I just nodded and tried to breathe, which was getting to be extremely difficult. “Thanks for trying Joe, but I still want you to do what I asked. I don’t want to feel like a prisoner in my own home.”

“If I go you most likely won’t ever see me again. The police will give you a restraining order to keep me away if I ever get out. I don’t want to look back and say I gave up the woman I love. I want to be able to look back and say that I fought for the woman I love.”