9. Jack #2
I yank my arm out of his grip and stare at him, pouring every drop of burning hatred I have into my glare. I glance at my father, quick, instinctive, but he isn’t even looking at me anymore. He’s just staring quietly into his coffee.
Fucking coward.
“You need to leave,” I say quietly, poisonous, meant only for them.
Ray just smiles, lifting his mug and taking a slow, unbothered sip, his eyes never leaving mine.
“Oh, Jackie, we’re just here for coffee.
But you know, Jackie… a boy with a messed up face like that shouldn’t be running a business where people look at him.
It’s unseemly. Makes people wonder what kind of trouble you’re mixed up in.
Maybe it’s time you let us take you home, clean you up, and put you back where you belong.
Your father’s been lonely, and it’d break his heart if anything worse happened to this pretty little café of yours while you’re busy playing tough guy. ”
His words slide under my skin like oil, coating everything, suffocating. My stomach twists. My ribs throb. The room tilts.
He’s not threatening me. He’s threatening everything I built. Everything that finally felt safe.
And he’s doing it with a smile.
“We could even find you a nice girl. Some little fling to settle you down.” His smile is lethal.
Dangerous. “Get you married, make you a proper life, and put an end to this little phase of yours. I mean, this is enough now, Jackie. We cannot have a faggot in the family, Jackie. It’s really time to grow up and stop this nonsense. ”
My body locks, my heart slamming a frantic, terrifying rhythm against my ribs as I listen to him dismiss everything I am as a meaningless distraction, implying that I can change who I am, that I’m disgusting.
His words cut straight to my core—a suffocating threat wrapped in family obligation.
Just standing here, the sheer weight of that terror threatens to swallow me whole, dragging me right back under.
Forcing my leaden feet to move, I turn my back on them, walking blindly toward the counter to clean up a mess I didn’t even make
* * *
Half an hour later, my breathing has settled slightly, and my heart is no longer threatening to slam out of my chest when I hear a knock on the top of the counter. I turn with a smile, ready to greet a customer, but my body jolts at the sight of the two men standing there, watching me.
“We’re heading out, Jackie. Have to say, it was good to see you,” Ray says, pulling out his wallet. He taps his card once I’ve rung it up and turns to walk away. “Was really good to see you.” His smile is cunning as he leaves.
The door bell rings as he leaves, but I can’t look away from my father. My body won’t move, stuck in the invisible hold he still has over me, still controlling me with just a look.
“You know, Jackie…“ My dad’s voice pulls me from the shock of the tip, “…just so you know, you can play independent all you want, hiding behind espresso machines and your security friends.” Dad’s voice is smooth, almost bored.
“But a stray dog always comes back to the porch where it was fed. Especially when it realises the leash was never actually removed.”
I see the old proprietary look in his eyes. The man still thinks he owns me, who still thinks he has a say in my life. Even though I ran; even though I disappeared, now that he’s found me, he thinks he can take back that control. And the thought chills me straight to the bone.
I can’t go back. I won’t.
I see someone move close to my father and hear them speak, but my words won’t come, stuck in my throat.
“Jack?”
My body recognises that voice before my mind does, and it turns slightly toward it.
“Jack,” the voice says again.
Silas.
My head turns to him, but I don’t really see him, not fully, not through the fog choking my vision.
I look back at my father just as his head turns toward Silas.
“Can I help you?” My dad says, his voice slick, like oil.
Silas doesn’t answer. He just watches him, deathly silent, and I see the exact second he recognises a threat. His eyes snap back to me.
“Jack? You good?” he asks.
I don’t speak, I can’t. I’m fighting just to stay upright, trying with every fibre in my body to keep from collapsing into a sobbing mess on the floor. So I hold onto the only thing keeping me standing right now: Silas.
Silently, I plead with him to see what’s happening. To see the fear in my eyes, and I watch his body change the moment he does.
He turns to my father, his voice quiet, deadly. Dangerous.
“I think you need to leave.”
My dad watches Silas, assessing him. His eyes move down Silas’ body, then back up to his face, and Silas’ gaze shifts slightly to the men behind my father.
My father’s smug smile falters for a fraction of a second, his eyes darting as he realises the space around him has quietly narrowed. Deck and CJ have flanked my father, boxing him in with a heavy, deliberate, and entirely unyielding presence.
A cold wave of dread washes over me as the full weight of my uncle and father being in Campbell River crashes down.
They have brought their war to my doorstep, thinking they hold all the cards, completely blind to the fact that they’ve just walked straight into a lion’s den—and I’m the one trapped right in the middle of it.
Dad clearly decides to not fight today, and he stands, adjusting his jacket, and his eyes meet mine. He taps a finger on the counter. “It was good to see you, son.”
He turns to leave, but Silas blocks his path. Silas remains silent as he straightens to his full height, towering over my father, who looks between the three men.
Silas stares at my dad, not saying a word. His body is locked in on the threat, my father. His silence speaks louder than anything he could say. Silas has gone from concerned to lethal, to the predator, and he hasn’t even spoken a word.
Then I hear CJ scoff.
I watch him step up to my dad, and he leans down, his voice low and final.
“Stay the fuck away from him.” There’s no room for argument in his tone.
My dad lets out a bark of laughter, pushes his way through Silas and Deck, and moves toward the door. He turns back, and the words he leaves me with knock the air out of my lungs.
“I’ll see you again, Jackie.” He smiles at me and walks out the door.
Me.
I collapse to the floor.