Chapter Eleven
James
Following the robotic instructions from my phone’s navigation, I pulled into the nearly-deserted parking lot. Under the glow of the Walgreens Pharmacy sign, I spotted Jenna’s SUV and pulled up next to it.
Jenna stepped out of the driver’s seat as I killed the engine.
She looked worn-out, almost haggard. Her pretty face was red and reflected the glow from the store windows where tears had fallen down her face.
Her blonde hair was tied back in a messy bun, but half of it seemed to be escaping the claw clip as loose strands floated around her face in the cool breeze.
“It won’t start,” she said, making eye contact over the car as I stepped out.
“I have cables in…”
“Please,” she interrupted. “I just want to go home. Jack can deal with the car in the morning.”
I gave a quick nod, and Jenna opened the back door.
“Come on, sweetie, Uncle JR is here to take us home.” Jenna lifted a half-asleep Lindsey out of her booster seat.
I hurried around to unhook the booster. Fortunately, it was pretty straightforward and only took me a minute or two to secure in the back of the car.
Once Lindsey was secure, Jenna grabbed her purse and a plastic shopping bag out of the SUV. By the time I pulled out of the parking lot, Lindsey was asleep.
Within a few blocks, Jenna broke the silence. “Thank you, JR. I couldn’t get ahold of Jack. He’s working late at the garage trying to finish up some cars for the mayor. Lindsey started running a low fever and I just thought I’d…”
Her voice broke as a fresh wave of tears began streaming down her face. She sniffled. “I’m sorry. I thought things were gonna get easier with you working at the shop, but now Jack is working more than ever, and I’m not handling it.”
“Raising a kid is hard, Jenna. You’re doing an incredible job with Lindsey.”
She scoffed and then sniffled again as she turned her face away. “No, I’m not. I’m barely holding on as it is. What happens when…” She stopped herself, and I caught a glimpse of her worrying her bottom lip between her teeth in the reflection of the window. “I’m pregnant.”
“Oh, I um… I didn’t know.”
She finally turned to face me as I stopped at a red light.
Once I glanced over and our eyes met, the rest of her resolve melted, and a fresh stream of tears began to roll down her cheeks.
With a trembling bottom lip, she whispered, “No one does. You’re the first person I’ve told.
I just… I didn’t think it was gonna be this hard, you know?
He told me that, with you moving in and helping at the shop, that he’d be around more.
I guess that was a crock of shit because he’s at the shop, and here you are. ”
She went back to staring out the window before quickly turning back. “No offense. I’m not like a slave driver, or anything. Simply pointing out the fact. I can’t do this shit alone, JR. I feel like I’m drowning as it is. What am I gonna do with Lindsey and a newborn?”
I just nodded, trying to buy enough time to come up with something. Especially since we finished up all the county vehicles and the Mayor’s fleet yesterday. I’d finished the last work truck and signed the service slips myself.
“It’s my fault, Jenna,” I lied. “I’m kind of dealing with a situation myself. I needed to take care of something, and Jack is covering for me.”
“Oh, God. It’s not the cops, is it?”
“Funny you should ask. The guy I’m in love with is engaged to another man.
A dangerous man who he wants desperately to get away from.
That’s what we’re trying to get done, but it’s complicated because his boss is Avery’s father.
The father and this clown are apparently very close, which is one of the reasons Avery is in the situation that he is. ”
“Oh, wow,” Jenna replied, sitting up in her seat a little straighter and wiping at her eyes. “What is…” she paused. “Avery, is it?”
I nodded.
“What is Avery going to do? Can you go to the police? You said he’s dangerous. Has he put his hands on him?”
“That’s the thing, Jen. Avery’s father is the chief of police, and his fiancé is a detective.”
“Let me make sure I have all the facts here. This has to do with the letters, right?”
“That’s how we met. He started writing me letters as part of some school pen pal project.
It must be 100 or more letters over the course of my time.
We were supposed to be together when I got out.
And that’s what he wants, but he was kinda forced into this relationship with the cop.
He’s house-sitting for his parents while they’re out of town, and when they get home, he’s gonna explain to them that he wants to leave.
Avery is hoping they will let him move back in with them. ”
“Oh, man, I don’t know. That’s prickly. Cops tend to shield their own.”
“It’s his son, though. And he’s being abused. That guy is a power-hungry psycho, Jenna. Avery has to get away from him.”
“I completely agree. I’m not sayin’ it’s right, but it’s a fact.
My cousins are all in law enforcement, along with my uncle up in Wichita.
All three of those boys should have had charges for one thing or another, yet they come out clean as a whistle every time.
Avery needs to be careful. You need to be careful. ”
The sensors at the edge of the driveway went off, illuminating the front of the house from two separately-mounted security lights. The sudden change in light woke Lindsey up, and she began to fuss.
“I know, sugar. We’re home now. We’re gonna get you inside, take some medicine to make you feel better, and then go nighty-night.” Jenna turned to me. “You coming?”
“Nah, I’m gonna head down to the shop and see if I can help get your husband home any sooner.”
Jenna gathered the half-asleep little girl into her arms, securing her purse and shopping bag around her wrist. She paused before closing the door. “Thank you, JR. For the ride. Please don’t say anything about what we talked about to Jack. I’ll tell him soon, I just… I just need some time.”
“Of course.”
***
My thoughts spun faster than my tires as I navigated dark, deserted side streets and alleyways in silence, save the dull hum of the older engine.
Surprise turned into even more confusion as I pulled up next to Jack’s work truck parked outside the shop’s rear entrance. Knowing that he’d lied to Jenna, which was unlike him, I didn’t expect him to actually be there.
When Jenna had mentioned him working late to finish a work order that I’d already completed, I’d figured he was having an affair. But that was so not Jack. He loved Jenna; had since we were kids. So what was going on?
I got out of the car, not bothering to lock it, and made my way towards the employee entrance. The rolling doors were all closed up tight, but I could see that both sets of overhead lights were on through the shop windows.
I turned the handle, but it wouldn’t budge.
Cursing under my breath I quickly fished the shop keys out of my pocket.
Once I’d finally opened the door, I came face-to-face with a very nervous-looking Jack.
He was halfway through the shop, headed towards the door.
He must have heard me fumbling with the lock.
He stopped dead in his tracks and groaned. “Goddammit, JR. You scared the shit out of me.”
I tried to keep my expression as neutral as possible. “Expecting someone else?”
“No, no. I… ugh, I just didn’t know who it was. And it’s late. You know the crackheads in this neighborhood.” Jack finished his sentence with an awkward chuckle as he raised his hand to scratch at his bearded chin.
After a longer-than-normal lull in the conversation, I opened my mouth to ask him exactly what the fuck he was doing. Maybe we had some sort of sibling telepathy going on, because he finally spoke.
“I thought you were spending the evening with Avery.”
“I was… until Jenna called me in a panic because the SUV wouldn’t start, and she couldn’t get a hold of you.”
“Wait, what?” Panic melted all over Jack’s face, covering every feature as he turned away from me and jogged across the shop to grab his phone off the work bench. “I thought she was in for the night; what the hell happened?”
“Lindsey started running a fever, and she needed to get to the pharmacy. When she came out, the car was dead. She couldn’t get you on the phone, so she called me.
I got ‘em home safe and sound.” Jack sighed in relief and plopped his ass down on the workbench.
“That’s when I found out that you had to work late to finish up that county job I completed this morning,” I continued.
Jack half-smiled. “Yeah, I know. It’s just a big contract, so I wanted to double-check everything.”
“You know, Jack… there’s always been something that one of us is naturally good at and the other one, not so much. Do you know what I’m referring to?”
Jack didn’t respond. In fact, he didn’t even look at me.
“Right, so, you’re the worst liar on the planet Jack.” My tone had turned sharp, and that bolted Jack’s attention. He stood up from the bench.
“Look, JR—”
I instinctively took a step closer to him before stopping myself. “What the fuck is going on, Jack? What did you do?”
“I’m trying to survive!” he exploded. “Fuck, JR. You think it’s easy running all this and keeping payroll clearing? I have to do something, or we’re all gonna be out on the street!”
I felt lightheaded. “What is something?” I asked. “Dirty parts? You in with a gang?”
“I’m not affiliated, or anything!” he said quickly. “I just strip the cars and keep the parts that they don’t want. They want the catalytic converters; stuff like that. The exhausts and other parts, I keep and use in the shop. No money gets exchanged. Nobody gets hurt.”
“Nobody gets hurt?” I repeated dumbly. “You’re processing stolen cars, and you’re trying to defend yourself?”
“You don’t need to get uppity about it,” he scowled. “It’s helping pay your salary too, man!”
A flash of white-hot rage coursed through me faster than I could contain it.
I drew my right arm back and threw everything I had into connecting my knuckles with the side of my brother’s face.
I barely registered the pain in my hand as my skin split.
Jack’s wail split the night as he hit the concrete of the shop floor.
“Fuck!” He grabbed the side of his face with his hand as he winced.
I lowered myself till one knee hit the ground, grabbed a fistful of Jack’s greasy, tattered t-shirt, and pulled him up until we were nose-to-nose.
“Four years!” I screamed in his face. He squeezed his eyes shut as my spit peppered his cheeks.
“JR…” he pleaded.
“Shut the fuck up,” I yelled, shaking him back and forth before continuing.
“Four fucking years. No college, no graduation party, nothing! Night after night in a frigid prison cell. For you. For Jenna! For that beautiful baby girl! You were wearing my hoodie the night you knocked over that gas station, and I took the fall! All for you to be doin’ dirt on the side?
I was thrown away by our entire family, our parents especially, because of what you did.
I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my fath—” I stopped myself before my voice could break.
I let his shirt go with a shove, causing him to fall back and slam against the floor. “I could fucking kill you, Jack.”
I walked a full circle of the garage, my vision blinded with rage as I tried to clear enough space to come back to my body. Jack stayed on the floor where I’d dropped him, following my movements with wide eyes.
“JR…”
“Shut the fuck up,” I interrupted, but my voice had lost most of its previous poison.
“I handed you a Get Out of Jail Free card, brother. Literally. When you came rushing to me in tears after you’d robbed that station.
You were scared for your life, worrying about Jenna and her pregnancy; what Mom and Dad were gonna think…
and I was so fucking stupid. I looked up to you.
I had it in my mind that your life was worth more than mine.
I was just some faggot that would eventually be thrown away, anyhow.
I didn’t want one mistake to ruin your entire life, so I took it. All of it. I…”
The building frustration and hurt was suddenly too much, and I stopped mid-sentence to slam my fists down on the worktable with a thunderous crash as bolts and other small parts scattered, clanking down to the concrete floor.
“I’m not doing it again, Jack.” The words came out even and steady.
“Four years ago, I didn’t think I had anything to live for.
With Avery, that’s no longer the case. The only person I care to protect is him.
You better clean this shit up and get your fucking life together, because if I catch any heat from this shit, I’m gonna start singing like a canary.
And if that happens, you and I both know a few dirty car parts are gonna be the least of your worries. ”
I turned around in time to see Jack flinch. “I can’t even look at you.” He stayed where he was and didn’t offer anything else as I walked out.