Beyond Trust

Part 49

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"Jayden. You're here." I say.
"Not because I want to. I need to tell you something important, now." he lowers the gun then gets in my car. "Take us somewhere to talk."

As I'm about to get in Tristan grabs my arm.

"You're not going with him." he growls.
   "Get your goddamn hands off me! I'm going with him no matter what." I retort.
"You're really getting in the car with an armed man?!"
    "Now you suddenly care for my safety? You've been ignoring me for 2 weeks straight. You didn't give a damn about me! Why don't you go back to those girls you love fucking so much since you'd rather be with them than me."

"I haven't fucked anyone since our night in Georgia Joslyn." he growls.
   "So you've been kindly inviting them over these past weeks for tea?"
"Joslyn, I know your mad at me for avoiding you but–"
   "Now it's Joslyn to you, huh? I'm done with this. I'm leaving."
"I'll follow you."
    "Do as you please." I release my arm from his grip then get in my car.

"Where're we going, big sister?" Jayden asks.
"Meeting Lloyd for lunch at this diner." I answer.
"We need alone time, don't you think?"
"Jayden I love you but I know you wish me dead as we speak."
"Fine."
~•~•~•~•~
"Wow, I haven't seen you since you were like 10." Lloyd says to Jayden.
"Yeah, 9 years ago you took off with my sister and she never looked back."

I understand why Jayden is acting this way. He feels I abandoned him. Nine years has gone by since I left and I made no effort to even look for him. I always told myself I would when I'm stable with a nice paying job and an apartment but now it's too late. I just got an apartment this week and I have a good job. Oh great, now I definitely have no excuse.
I look behind me and see Tristan at a booth looking at us. Oh god, I cursed out my boss. I let out a sigh then turn around. I need to apologize to him.

"Come back home with me." Jayden says out of nowhere.
"What?" Lloyd and I say together.
"Our mother is dying. She wants to see you. As much I hate seeing you again, I'll do anything for her."
"Jayden.. I can't.."
"You said you love me, right?"
"I do but–"
"If you love me like you claim you do, you'd do this one thing for me."
"Jayden that's asking too much. Don't you remember what she did to me? All those years Jayden."

"Yet you left me alone. What if she harmed me? You left to protect yourself even though we needed you. Luckily, she changed. She isn't like that anymore. After you left she never drank, smoked, or gambled. She's a good woman and a great mom."
"She took the most important thing away from me besides you. I'll never get to hear my dad's voice or laugh ever again. He'll never get to hold me or cook with me. He missed all my graduations. And he'll never get to walk me down the aisle. Don't you understand how hard that is for me?"

He goes silent.

"Please Joslyn. Please come see our mom." he lowers his head and his voice cracks. I can tell this goes against his whole character. Jayden doesn't seem like the type to beg. He's grown so strong and I missed it all. If this is what it'll take for him to someday forgive me, so be it.
"Fine, I'll go but I need to talk to my boss first."

He lifts his head and smiles but quickly drops it. The rest of the lunch is filled with light conversation with Lloyd but silence from Jayden. At the end of the lunch, Jayden asks for my address and tells me he'll be staying with me until I go. I have no arguments, I'm actually glad to have my little brother under the same roof as me again. I let them leave before me and I give Jayden the keys to my car. I don't feel good about letting him take a cab to my house but I don't want him to wait up for me as I talk to Tris. When they both leave I walk up to Tris. Before I could say anything he gets up and signals for me to follow him.
   When we walk out the diner, cameras flash like crazy and people are asking us so many questions. We ignore them and get into Tris's car. He drives us to his house instead of mine but I don't say anything. Once we get in I immediately start apologizing.

"Tristan I am so, so sorry I talked to you like that. I didn't mean to curse you out. That was unnecessary and inappropriate, I was letting all my feelings out on you and you didn't deserve that. If you fire me I'd completely understand. It will never happen again."
    He grabs my shoulders then pulls me into a hug.

"You worried the hell out of me." he whispers. "I do need to punish you for speaking to your boss like that."
   "I completely understand. I deserve any suspension you feel–"
"I'm coming with you."
   "What?"
"You're going back home, right? This is your punishment. I have to accompany you."
"Tristan I–"
"Do you have any idea what you just put me through? He had a gun to your head and I couldn't do shit about it."
"I'm sorry I worried you and thank you for not hurting him." he tightens his grip around me.

"Next time he has a gun to your head, I won't hesitate to disarm him. I don't care if he's your brother or not."
    "He's a good kid, he's just been through a lot. We both have."
"I've got to get to the club. I'll drop you home."
     "Okay." I agree.