A House Full of Brothers

Chapter 33

  Before a word could be said I had slammed the door in his face. The face that looked nearly identical to Alex's.

  "Who was it?" Jackson asked skeptically as he stood up and put the controller down to make his way to the door.

  "Are you okay?" Cole asked when he saw my eyes starting to water.

  "It's dad." I nearly whispered. That made all heads turn. Jackson walked even faster to the door but now he looked more protective and angry than he did inquisitive.

  "Brooklyn, go upstairs." Justin ordered and stood behind Justin who had yet to open the door.

  "That's not fair." I scoffed and narrowed my eyes that were cleared of tears and filled with rage.

  "It's not gonna be some happy family reunion. There's gonna be screaming and yelling and I'd rather not have you in the middle of it." Justin took a step forward as he pointed at me.

  "Well I'm still apart of it, Justin." I crossed my arms.

  "Brooklyn, go upstairs. Now." His eyes and voice were stern but I could feel the weakness that withered beneath the surface. I let out a scoff but still turned around and went upstairs.

  I sat on my bed for only a few seconds before Blake emerged through the door only to see my small frame fuming as my knee bounced in anger.

  "You know they're doing it to keep you safe, Brooklyn." Blake tried to make sense of the situation.

  "Oh, safe from yelling? I'm able to hear yelling from upstairs, it doesn't save me from anything." I spat out while refusing to look anywhere but at the wall in front of me. Blake sat next to me and was about to add to his previous statement but was cut off when the door slammed and chaos began. 

  I couldn't hear my father's voice but all of the boys were screaming and it wasn't hard to decipher what he said by context.

  "Oh, you're sorry? Were you sorry for the last twelve years too?" I heard Cole's usually quiet voice boom through the house.

  "Too much for you? You left a bunch of children to care for their dying mother! You're wife!" Jackson's voice flowed into my room and my angry exterior faltered and I found my eyes watering once again. Blake pulled me into his side and rubbed my back.

  "If I stayed all of the money would have been spent on alcohol! I hated myself for leaving you guys and I hated myself for being too weak to step up. I knew I'd hurt you guys even more than if I left!" I heard the nearly-forgotten voice yell.

  That was when I broke and let the tears fall. Not at the words, but at the voice. The voice that used to read me bed-time stories. The voice that would chase me through the house when playing small games of tag. The voice that would ring through the house at eight o'clock and send me running down the stairs to hug the man that every little girl needed in their life.

  Blake pulled my body into his lap and tried swaying on the bed to relax me but my mind was racing and my breathing was staggered.

  "Nothing hurts more than having no one!" Chase snapped back and I heard how broken he was, he was only a year older than me when this all happened. "All I knew was my mom was dead and my dad was gone! You left 6 children and a dying woman in the hands of two 16 year old boys!"

  "I went into rehab for Christ's sake!"

  "For twelve years?" Justin scoffed loudly.

  "For ten. Then I was arrested for tax evasion and then as of last month I was sentenced to three years in prison. I came to say goodbye and finally explain myself." I heard my father's voice break. I shoved myself away from Blake and rushed down the stairs.

  "You're going to jail?" I gaped.

  "Brooklyn, I told you to go upstairs." Justin scolded.

  "Shut up. I also deserve to know where my father went for most of my life and why he's back!" I yelled at Justin.

  "And we'll tell you but through a screaming match isn't the way to do it, Brooklyn!"

  "If you don't want me to figure out purely because of the fact that you guys are screaming, then stop screaming!" I tried so hard to not scream so I could avoid the hypocrisy but I couldn't. Justin took a deep breath to try and control his anger but Jackson 'resolved' the issue himself.

  "Blake, please take Brooklyn out of the house for a few hours. We'll text you when things calm down." Jackson said softly to the boy I didn't even notice was behind me. My mouth fell open and my eyebrows raised. 

  "I'll be back when I want." I spat and pushed my way past Jackson as well as my father while Blake chased behind me.

  I stood by Blake's car until I heard the car unlock, then I threw the door open and got in angrily before slamming the door behind me.

  "Calm down, Brooklyn." Blake spoke softly. I glared at him.

  "You've had girlfriends and have a sister, you surely can't be stupid enough to not know that telling a girl to 'calm down' only adds more fuel to the fire." I remarked with the shake of my head.

  "Do you want to go get ice cream?" Blake was trying so desperately to get me to relax and I felt bad for being so mean but I couldn't help myself, so I decided that being quite would be the best bet. I shook my head softly.

  "Can we just go watch a movie or something at your house?" I kept my voice low to stop any wavering and unwanted yelling.

  "Of course." Blake tried to give me a smile but I only looked away, still embarrassed with my behavior and still stressed and upset with the added drama in my family.

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