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I snort because no, that's not happening. But Janey laughs. It's a hard, brittle sound. It sounds wrong coming from her. She's sunshine, dimmed by the asshole on the ground.
"Of course, you'd think that. But you try it, and I'll be bringing charges against you for assault."
Good girl. I relax a little more as she stands up for me. I don't need it. I have eight very large brothers, as well as an army of lawyers at my disposal. Plus, you know…billions.
His face turns mean again. "Oh, no. You're not going to do that. Not unless you want to end up in the hospital again. Maybe I should give Dr. Grant a call. Let him know you're having...episodes again."
Janey's face pales, her skin looking nearly see-through. There is so much I don't understand right now.
"You can't do that," she says, voice shaking.
"Oh, but I can. Who else is going to look after you, Janey, if not your brother? We're family. It's my job to keep you safe, isn't it? Even if it's from yourself."
The rage roars to life again. Brother. He's her brother, and he treats her like this? He needs to die. That seems like the most logical solution. And I'm happy to do it. Janey darts in front of me, making me snarl at him, over her head, in frustration. Her hands plant on my chest.
"Please, don't. Can we just go? Maybe you could give me a ride..." Her voice trails off as I snap my gaze to hers.
“Where, Janey? Where do you plan on going? I would really like to know." Her face crumples and her chin drops to her chest. I'm the worst person on the planet. Probably in the galaxy.
"Get your purse," I say quietly, nudging her toward the booth behind us. She looks between her brother and me, then nods and moves away. I only have a second, so I need to make it count.
I step over to her brother and loom over him, just out of reach of his feet. More than once, I’ve been taken down by a hook to the leg, so I've learned my lesson well.
I let my eyes roam over him, not bothering to pick an expression. I let everything I'm feeling toward him show on my face. "You are a pathetic excuse for a brother. Whatever you have planned. Whatever it is you think you're going to get out of this situation, you're wrong. There is nothing here for you except a deep hole in the middle of nowhere."
His chuckle this time is thin. He swallows and squares his shoulders. "You don't get it, big man. She's my sister. We're family. And I'm the one responsible for her. She knows what'll happen if she doesn't come through for me. So you go ahead, leave with her. She'll come running back to me as soon as she can. She has to, you see, or things will go very bad for her."
His eyes move past me. I feel Janey at my elbow, but I don't take my eyes off him. I’m conscious of Janey’s wide eyes as I speak.
"That's where you're wrong. Things are done going bad for her. Any rights you think you have? They're gone. You're nothing to her."
I take her arm and guide her in a wide circle around him, shoving open the door. But I hear his parting words, and I know she does too.
"We're blood, asshole. No boyfriend can trump blood."
The door scrapes shut behind us, and Janey shivers from head to toe. I pick up her coat from where I dropped it, but the material is icy cold, all the heat from the seat warmer long gone. I put it in her hands. She fumbles with it, trying to open it up.
She doesn't need to.
I unzip my coat and shrug it off, draping it over her shoulders. I hold the two sides shut with one fist over her breasts and pull her gently to the van. Keeping an eye on the diner door, I get her settled, click her seatbelt in place, and jog around to the driver's side. My ears ache from the wind, and I'm angry all over again that Janey's been walking around without her coat. I’m angry about a lot of things, but right now, that’s the most pressing one.
I slam my door and start the ignition, pulling away from the curb quickly, needing to put as much distance between Janey and her fucknut of a brother as possible. The silence in the van is heavy, the tension nearly visible. I don't calm down until we're a few blocks from home. Pulling off onto a tree-lined street, I send a quick message to our family text thread, then drop my phone in the console and turn to her. She's tucked herself so far into my coat, only her eyes are visible. She's looking at me, eyes wide and wary. Fuck.
"Janey," I say, blowing out a breath. "You have a fuck of a lot of explaining to do."
7
JANEY
"You have a fuck of a lot of explaining to do."
I've never heard Jonas swear. His words echo Marks from a few minutes ago. But where they made me angry coming out of Mark's mouth, Jonas's face is so full of fear and hurt that I can't even be mad. I'm still shaking from the scene at the diner. Or maybe it's the cold deep in my bones, though Jonas's coat is going a long way to thawing me out.
My head's still spinning with the speed he got us out of there. One minute we're in the diner, and what feels like a second later, we're here, in the dark, just the two of us. I don't know this man. The kind sweet puppy is nowhere to be found. Instead, I'm faced with a wolf. I have no idea how to handle this version of Jonas.
"I don't know where to start," I say, trying to buy time. I don't want to tell this story.
"Start anywhere. I don't care. As long as you talk to me. Please, Janey." The confusion and hurt on his face are painful to look at. I hate that I hurt him, but a small part of me feels less alone, knowing that he cares.
