Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Ink
W hen I pulled up to Reina’s, I could hear her and Johnny yelling, and I sighed. Ever since she’d gotten involved with Jordan, it was all they did. And while I hated to say it, her actions were what caused the rift between them.
“He got arrested , Reina!” Jordan barked at her, his voice easily carrying through the open front door.
I rushed up the porch steps. Johnny was still in his jacket, his hair disheveled from whatever girl he’d just been spending time with. In the past few months since Reina and Jordan had gotten together, Johnny had gone further off the rails, fucking any girl who’d spread her legs for him, only to walk away right after like they didn’t even exist. He’d changed, but I couldn’t really blame him.
His entire family was falling apart, and he’d lost his rock. The one person who was supposed to always be by his side as they navigated their dysfunctional lives together.
Who knew what that was like better than me?
“What did you do?!” Reina yelled at him. “You did something! I know you did! You just couldn’t leave us alone!”
Johnny fucking exploded. I rushed forward as he crowded her personal space, putting myself between them. He was seething as he glared at me, his chest heaving. His body was vibrating with rage. “Not now, brother,” I told him quietly. “Go take a breather.”
He clenched his jaw. I kept my eyes steady on his, blocking Reina from him. He sucked in a deep breath and shook his head before he spun on his heel and walked out the front door, slamming it behind him hard enough to shake the walls and make the picture frames rattle. I turned to face Reina. Her make-up was smeared on her face, and her glasses were pushed to the top of her head.
“Reina, your brother didn’t do anything,” I told her quietly. “I’m the one who called and told him he went to prison.”
“I don’t believe you,” she sobbed. “He left me a note. Even if he did go, he was framed .”
Fuck; he’d done a damn good job of brainwashing her. I knew he had, but I didn’t think it was this bad. She was so blind to who he really was, and it was fucking eating me alive.
I wrapped her up in my arms, holding her tightly as she sobbed. I hated that I was consoling her over this, but I couldn’t let her suffer by herself. Every part of my being rebelled against leaving her alone.
“I gave him my virginity, and he left,” she cried. I tensed at that news, but I didn’t say a word about it. “I can’t believe he just left me a stupid note,” she cried.
He’d snuffed out her light, just as I knew he would. And it just made me hate him even fucking more.
The only explanation I had was that he’d been tipped off about the possible arrest; he knew something might happen, but the idea of pussy from underage girls was too good to pass up. Reina hadn’t been enough. I’d seen the news article, seen the charges he was hit with.
He was trying to keep a clean slate with Reina in case he got out in time and could woo Reina off her feet again. And judging by how much he’d already fucked her up, I knew he’d be able to.
I was just hoping that I had enough time to strengthen her against him. But it would take time—time I wasn’t sure I had—because not only did I need to be careful about how I went about things, I had to make sure I didn’t ruin our friendship along the way.
Talk about being between a rock and a hard fucking place.
I led Reina to the couch, and I held her for the longest fucking time. Even after her father came home from work, I continued to hold her. Her mother even made an appearance, but she only took one look at Reina, shook her head, and disappeared back into her room. It didn’t take a genius to know what happened.
The guy we all warned her against had finally broken her heart, and she refused to believe he went to prison for something he actually did.
This poor girl was starved for love and attention, and she took it from the first person who showed it to her.
It was a fucked up, sad situation.
And I was beginning to regret not making a move on her first. Maybe I could have saved her from this bullshit.
I was putting her to bed when Johnny finally came back home, looking marginally calmer. He leaned against the door frame to her room, his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were bloodshot, a clear sign he was high. It was something new he’d started doing after his sister basically pulled away from him, shutting him out of her life.
“We’ve got to fix this,” he said quietly as I pulled the blankets over her.
I nodded in agreement, following him out of her room, quietly shutting her bedroom door behind me. “Gonna be hell to do it, though,” I warned him as we walked back into the living room.
Johnny sighed and dropped into the recliner that Reina normally sat in, leaning his head back. He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. In a way, I guess he did. He’d always taken care of Reina—that much I had come to know. And now, he felt like he failed her. I knew he was thinking about all of the ‘what-ifs’. What if he’d forced Jordan to stay away instead of trying to talk sense to Reina? What if he’d never allowed me to his house in the first place so Jordan never knew she existed?
“Do whatever you’ve got to, Ink,” he told me, looking over at me. I steadily regarded him, waiting for the but that I could hear in that sentence, “but don’t make a move on her, you hear me?” Ah, there it was. “Your brother already fucked her up, came in here, and ripped her away from everyone—even Mom. I’m not running the risk that you accidentally fuck her up, too.”
I gritted my teeth, but I knew and understood where he was coming from, so I wasn’t all that pissed about it. I just hated that Jordan was once again fucking up another area of my life.
But I wouldn’t break the bro code, and I wouldn’t risk hurting Reina more than she already was.
“I’m going to help her,” I told him. “And I hope like hell that when he shows back up—because he will —she’ll be strong enough to say no to him.”
Johnny nodded in agreement, but he didn’t look like he had much faith in his sister. I didn’t either—not right then—but I was hoping that with time, I could help her stand on her own two feet.
But even as I hoped for that, I knew it was going to take a fucking miracle.