The Fighter

Chapter Thirteen

"Stop it," I tell him and he shakes his head at me while continuing to glare at my little brother.  "He's a late bloomer, D, you can't fault him on that."  His glare turns toward me and I start to back away some, seeing how serious he is, and put my head down.  "Sorry."

"Shit, Darlin', no."  Two hands grab my face and pull it to look up at Damien who now carries a worried expression.  "Not at you, okay?  Not at you."

"Stop glaring at him."  He shakes his head and I frown a bit.  "Please, you're scaring him."

"I'm sorry," he says and both Jackson and Bear begin to choke on their drinks and I raise a brow.

"Did he just," Jackson asks in a high-pitched tone while slapping the still coughing Bear on the back as he nods.  "Holy shit, never thought this day would come."   I tilt my head to the side as Bear clears out his throat.  "He doesn't apologize...about anything, so him apologizing to you is something new for all of us."

I nod and Damien scratches the back of his head while looking slightly guilty.

"That," he says pointing at Jackson, "is not entirely true.  I apologize to Addy."

"She's your daughter," Bear says with one last cough and Derek laughing at him.  "She doesn't count."

"Hey dad," we look over at Addy and Jake to see both of them covered in whipped cream and I smile broadly, "can I have a couple of napkins?"

"Sure kiddo," he says holding out a couple of napkins toward Addy.  "How did the two of you get whipped cream all over your face?"

"She did it!"  "He did it!"  They both pointed at each other and I can't help but laugh at the two of them.

"Sis," he says with a whine in his voice, "why?"

"Because I can," I say with a smile on my face.  "Besides, I still want to know how you two--"

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!  By God, is that my little Junebug and my favorite teenager?!"  Daisy, a kind-spirited country-born woman in her late forties with greying red hair and the well-loved body of any well-fed woman, comes out of the kitchen behind the diner bar and holds both her hands on her hips in mock surprise.  She's got flour on her forehead and hair falling in wisps around her face from the bun upon her head, the black apron shows the mess of the latest batch of whatever goody she made this morning and she quickly takes it off as to not get any on Jake.

"Daisy," Jake yells out to the older woman before getting up and running towards her.  Daisy catches Jake halfway and she squeezes him tightly.  

"Good Moses, how big you've gotten," she exclaims while holding a hand on top of Jake's head.  "I swear that you've grown three inches since the last I saw you!"

"You saw me last week," Jake laughs and I smile at their interaction.  Ever since I found this small diner a few years ago, Daisy has treated us much like her own especially since she lost both of her sons at the age of five along with her husband when she was twenty-six.  She didn't look at two kids trying to find something to eat with pity, but instead, she smiled warmly and gave us both a pile of pancakes which Jake plowed through.  I am pulled out of the memory when Damien squeezes my shoulder and I realize that I have crossed my arms over my chest protectively while rubbing the necklace my brother gave to me.

"Daisy," Jake pulls back and looks over at the table, "June brought her boyfriend today."

"He's not my boyfriend."  Without missing a beat, everyone tells me the same thing.

"Yet."

"Fuck you."

"Language, Darlin'," Damien says with a kiss to the side of my head, "there are children here.  Derek doesn't need to be around that type of language."