All Thanks to Him

Chapter 5

Jake's POV

*Leading up to the fight*

I was already pissed with Ken for being an ungrateful prick towards my mother, who does everything in her power to keep everyone happy. I guess you can't please someone like him. But after Ken accused me and Tess of sleeping together, I was boiling over, I started seeing red. I know Tess is my step sister now and even though she is here every other weekend, I have never had a conversation more than us introducing ourselves when our parents first got together. Then the occasional nods when we seen each other at dinner, so where he got that we were sleeping together was beyond me.

Tess was screaming at her father at this point but he deserved it. I saw her father stand up and charge at her. Tess was instantly out of her chair too and was preparing herself for whatever her father was going to do to her. I knew her father had hit her before but I never really knew how bad and I have never seen it actually happen, just her getting off the floor and Ken storming away. I felt bad for her, she truly deserved a better father.

Before I could even give it a second thought, I got up and ran over to where Tess and Ken were and knocked Ken on his ass. It was surprisingly easy, I expected more of fight, but I guess he only beats on the weaker people, ones that he knows won't fight back. I kept hitting him, even though he wasn't giving me a fight back. I think I was doing it for all the times he had done it to Tess. I turned to where all of the noise was coming from, my mom and Angelia had tears covering both of their faces, but Tess seemed calm. I took that as approval to keep hitting Ken. I felt Ryan come behind me to try to get me off of Ken, but it was a loss cause because he was weaker than me and I felt like I needed to continue. I needed to continue for my mom, who took all the verbal abuse and for poor Tess, who always took the physical abuse. I continued until I heard the sirens. I was ready when the police entered the house, and I left with them without a fight.

...

We arrived at the police station maybe 20 minutes later and they put me in a holding cell, its exactly how you would imagine it, cold and pretty lonely. I didn't mind though, it gave me time to cool down. I could hear my moms voice, she was talking to the sheriff about getting me released tonight instead of tomorrow morning like they had originally planned. After 30 minutes of my mom and the sheriff going back and forth, I was being released. I guess it helps the my mom's father, my grandfather, was once a well respected cop before retiring.

My mom hugged me as soon as they unlocked the cell door, which was more than fine with me because I was still freezing from being in that room.

"You did what you thought was right, Tess and I are grateful," she whispered into my ear then pulled away from the hug. I was surprised by what she said because I was scared that she would be disappointed in how I handled it, not for stopping Ken from hitting Tess, but for continuing to hit him after it was clear that he wasn't going to fight back.

*30 minutes later*

We returned home and the house was clean again, I guess everyone cleaned while we were gone. Which is really good because I would hate for my mom to do all of it by herself later.

Tess was the first person I seen when I entered the house, we exchanged smiles and I nudged by her, hopefully she catches that I was joking around with her and doesn't take it personal. I go to the living room and lay flat on the couch and close my eyes, I'm so tired by this point. I guess laying punches into someone takes a lot out a person. I closed my eyes and listened in on what everyone was saying.

"I am so sorry that you guys had to see everything unfold like it did, and I'm also extremly sorry to both Jake and Tess for being accused of something so ridiculous then having to fight him off like that. If I would have gotten up and got his beer, we wouldn't be in this mess," my mom said before crying. Did she really think this was her fault? I'm the one that said something that made him angry, not her, she did everything right. I was going to tell her how none of this had anything to do with her, but Tess spoke up first.

"There is nothing that you could have done to prevent it from happening. There was always going to be a fight for him to start, I promise you that none of this is your fault. If anything, it's all mine, I shouldn't have spoken up, I should've just let him go on," Tess finished. What is it with all of these women trying to take the blame of something i started? Tess didn't do anything wrong either, she stuck up for herself. Honestly, Tess should've said more to her father, she should've joined me and kicked his ass too. She has never done wrong to her father, he is just an abusive asshole that does nothing but drink beer and live off of my mother.

I didn't know what else to do other than tussle her hair and gesture for her to come sit on the couch with me. She smiled and thanked me then sat down at the end of the couch. She was still smiling, she looked happy. It's probably due to the fact that she will probably never have to go through getting beat from her father again. I was happy for her, she deserves all the happiness she can get and I hope she sees that.