by Ali Parker
Layla
“Please just stay here, okay?” I unbuckled as we got to the house. “Please. If I need you, I’ll text you.”
He sat in stony silence, staring out the window as if he hadn’t heard me.
“Jayce, please. This isn’t what you think it is.” I opened the door. “Just wait here and if I text you—”
“You better text me if something happens. I’m serious as a heart attack, Layla.” He whipped around and gave me a stern look.
“Okay.” I climbed out of the Jeep and jogged toward the house, drying my tears and trying to think through what I could do to keep him in the truck and my dad in the house. Having either of them come face to face while my dad was drunk was a tragedy waiting to happen.
The sound of something breaking caused me to jog up the stairs and walk into the house without being stealthy at all.
“Layla?” my mom cried out as she curled up tightly on the couch.
“Daddy?” I lifted my hands as my father moved back from the couch and turned to face me.
“What is she doing here? Did you call her? Did you think she could protect you?” He turned to face me, and whoever he was, he wasn’t the man that raised me, the one that picked me up when I fell and tucked me into bed. The monster in front of me barely looked like my dad.
“You need to calm down, Dad. Let me get you something to eat and we can talk about softball. The season starts up this next week. Are you planning on coming to my games?” I took a step toward the kitchen as he took a step toward me.
Fear raced through me as I glanced down to see a thick strip of leather in his hand. “Who called you? Tell me now.”
“No one called me.” I took a step back as he took another step toward me. The snarl that came out of him made my blood run cold. “Where’s my dad?”
“Layla, go. Get out of here. I told you to call the cops, not to come—” My mother screamed loudly as he turned and jerked his wrist, causing the belt to snap out and pop her in the legs.
“Dad!” I moved toward him, not thinking.
He turned and flicked his wrist, sending the belt toward me, but someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me out of the way.
“Oh, fuck no you didn’t, Mr. Roberts.” Jayce moved around me and grabbed the belt as my father popped it again.
I watched in horror as he punched my father twice in the face and took him down to the floor.
“I knew something was up.” Jayce glanced up at me. “Call the cops. Now.”
“No. Don’t. Please.” My mom scrambled off the couch, her nightgown torn and showing the top of her bruised breasts.
“Mom?” I moved toward her, helping her back on the couch as bile rose up in my throat.
“Call the cops, Layla.” Jayce pressed his forearm down on my father’s throat as he thrashed beneath him.
“Please don’t. Please.” My mom gripped my shirt tightly, crying through her swollen eyes as she begged me. “Just put him in bed and take all of the liquor. He’ll be okay in the morning.”
“Momma,” I murmured, lost to the pain of indecision. To listen to Jayce would be the right thing to do, but I knew what it would mean for my mom. Maybe I could take her in, beg Jayce to let her stay with us until things settled down.
“Please, Layla. Please.” She pulled at my shirt. “Please. We’ll get him some help. We can start with helping him.”
I glanced up at Jayce as a sob left me. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Call the goddamn cops. Now.” He was furious. The anger burned across his face and scared me. Was he capable of turning into a monster at a moment’s notice too?
“I can’t,” I whispered and stood up, picking up my mom and walking her back to the bedroom. I got her in bed and kissed her forehead. “We’ll get him some help. Get some rest and go see your friend, Milly, tomorrow, Mom. She can help with your wounds.”
“Okay, baby. I will. I promise.”
I pulled the covers up to her throat and walked from the room as she cried softly behind me. I locked the door from the inside and closed it.
Jayce was standing by the door with one hand on his hip, the other pressed to his forehead. He turned as I walked toward him.
“Why the fuck didn’t you call the cops?”
“You don’t understand.” I glanced down at my father’s lifeless figure and walked out of the house toward my Jeep. “Find another way home. I don’t need this from you.”
“No. Get in the Jeep. I’m just worked up.”
“So is he.” I turned and crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m stuck with him. I’m not stuck with you.”
“Layla.” His voice softened immediately, causing a flood of emotion to attack me.
“Please don’t.” I lifted my hand to keep him away and turned, walking toward the passenger side of the truck. I got into it, buckled up, and shifted to face the window. I could hold my tears for a few more minutes. At least until we got back to the apartment.
I half expected him to say something to me, to berate me further when he got in the Jeep, but he didn’t. The silence on the drive back to campus calmed me a little, but it wasn’t going to take much, and I would be on the edge of breaking in half again.
Embarrassment rolled over me in thick waves. Of all things to feel, it was the cheapest, the most ridiculous of all my emotions, and yet it was the one that pressed down on me the hardest. No one knew how bad it had gotten, not even Aubrey.
Now Jayce had stepped into the very worst of it.
What would he think about my family? Would he understand that it was the liquor and not my father? Did I really believe that?
He parked beside the apartment and turned the truck off, sitting there for a few seconds as I continued to stare out the window.
“Layla, why didn’t you tell me?” His voice was nothing more than a hoarse whisper.
“Goodnight, Jayce.” I got out of the truck and walked up to the apartment as a nasty cocktail of emotions swirled in the pit of my stomach.
I had no clue if he said anything else or tried to stop me because the sound of my own grief filled my ears. After unlocking the door to our apartment, I walked to my small bedroom, locked the door, and stripped. I put in my ear buds and turned my music on high before crawling into bed and crying harder than I could ever remember crying before.
What had happened to my family? To my mom and dad, who weren’t perfect, but were working their shit out. What happened to them? What was happening to me?
Who the fuck left a drunk man on the floor to possibly die and his wife in the bedroom down the hall, beat up and bleeding?
Maybe he wasn’t the only monster in the family tree. Maybe I was one too.
The beating on the door finally died down after a little while, and from what I could tell, Jayce gave up and went to bed.
“Good,” I mumbled against my wet pillow. I figured I’d pack up my stuff in the morning and find somewhere else to live. Going back home was a possibility, and one I needed to consider. If I wasn’t going to go against my mother’s wishes and call the cops on my father, the least I could do was try and protect her.
I tossed and turned in the bed for another hour before finally getting up and putting on pajamas. There was no way in hell I was going to be able to sleep with everything that had happened.
My phone had three messages from Aubrey and one from my mom, thanking me for taking care of her.
“Did I take care of you?” I tossed my phone onto my bed and ran my fingers through my hair. There had to be an answer to all of this madness that everyone could live with.
“What if it was Aubrey? What would you do?” I paced the floor as tears burned my eyes. I was so damn tired and weary from fighting myself. I knew what to do. Why the hell wasn’t I able to do it?
“Because I love him,” I whispered through my tears. “He’s lost in his madness and he deserves for someone to help him.”
But did he really?
I tugged at my hair, driving m
yself half mad with the conversation switching back and forth in my head. I needed Aubrey, but she was probably asleep. I checked my phone again and realized that the last text was only ten minutes before.
I texted her quickly. You there?
Nothing.
The sound of water running from somewhere in the apartment left my pulse spiking. Was Jayce up? Did I care if he was?
“Yes,” I whispered and tossed the phone onto the bed again. He wasn’t just my love interest. He was one of my best friends too. He always had been.
How many nights as a kid did he sneak out with me and Aubrey, wrap houses with us, snuggle down into Aubrey’s bed, and tell ghost stories? He wasn’t just the man I wanted between my thighs. He was my best friend, the closest thing I had to a brother, no matter how jacked up it seemed in the bigger picture.
He was mad earlier because he loved me. Like family.
I opened the door and stood in the darkness for a minute, trying to decide if I wanted to chance it with him. I didn’t want another fight on my hands, but I needed someone to hold me, someone to remind me that tomorrow would be better.
“Lay?” His voice was soft as he stood at the other end of the hallway in his sleeping pants. “You all right?”
I glanced down at my feet as sadness pulled me under a tidal wave. I shook my head as a sob shook my whole body. By the time I started to sink toward the floor, he caught me.
“It’s all right. I’m right here, okay?” He picked me up and carried me down the hall as I clung to him and let myself cry like I would around Aubrey. He was the closest thing I had to her.
“I don’t know what to do. I’m so scared to lose him and to lose her and—” I tucked my face against his neck as another sob wracked me.
“Shh, we’ll figure it out tomorrow. Come let me hold you, okay?”
I continued to cry, unable to help myself. I had nothing left to cover up my lie. He’d seen it and come face to face with it.
“I’m sorry you had to see it.” I clung to him as he moved us onto his bed.
“I wish you would have told me. We’ve been friends since we could walk, Layla.” He lay down and turned on his side, pulling me flush against him as I wrapped myself around him.
“I’m so embarrassed and scared and hurt and terrified. I can’t be me in this situation. I can’t walk in and fix it, kick its ass and save the day.” I tucked my face against his neck again and breathed in deeply, finding peace for just a moment in his arms.
“No more talking, okay? Just lay here and try to get some sleep. I got you now, and I’m not going anywhere, okay?”
I nodded but refused to believe his promise. It was too good to be true, and when the semester was over, he would leave.
It was just the way things would turn out. I needed to prepare for the worst—for reality.
Chapter 11
Jayce
I laid in the bed for what seemed like forever that next morning, just watching her sleep. She wanted peace in her life, and now I knew why. Reaching out, I brushed her hair back from her face and forced myself to stay in place.
How easy it would have been to pull her close and promise her that peace she was after, but it wasn’t something I knew how to give—or find for that matter. My own life was a constant struggle to keep anxiety at bay.
After fighting with myself over waking her up with a few soft kisses that would be out of place, I finally got up. With the fridge stocked up, I knew I could at least make her breakfast and show her that I cared—a lot.
There was something cathartic about cracking the eggs and frying the bacon. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I liked it. Was it because I was doing something special for someone that I loved, or just the simple act of cooking?
“Hey. Someone coming over this morning for breakfast? Because I can grab my stuff and head to the gym. I don’t want to get in the way.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the sound of her voice. She was dressed in a cute pair of pink pajamas, her hair was disheveled, and her makeup was a wreck. Somehow, she was stunning and cute all at the same moment.
“Breakfast is for you.” I smiled and turned back to the stove, not quite sure how to start the conversation about the night before. I wasn’t sure we needed to.
“Oh.” She walked into the kitchen and stopped beside me, reaching up to turn the burner heat down a little. “I’m going to shower and change. I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Take your time.” I glanced over at her, wanting to say a thousand things but leaving my words unspoken.
“Jayce…” She glanced down at her hands. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.” I reached over, took her hand, and pulled it toward my lips, kissing her knuckles a few times. “We’re family, Layla. I’m here for you, okay?”
“Yeah. I’m glad.” She squeezed my hand and walked back down the hall.
I glanced down at my erection and rolled my eyes. “Really, right now?”
By the time she walked back into the kitchen, I had breakfast on the table and was just starting to pour us cups of coffee.
“I didn’t know you cooked.” She took her mug from me and walked to the table.
“I didn’t know I did either.” I laughed and sat down, trying hard not to stare at her like I wanted to drag her back to my cave and make her scream my name. “I watched my mom and dad cook a lot growing up.” I shrugged. “I guess some part of those memories helped me learn how to cook.”
“Maybe so.” She took a sip of her coffee and let out a long sigh as she sank down into her chair and gave me a sweet smile.
“I’m sorry I blew up at you last night. I got scared in the middle of all of that, and I just let my emotions get the best of me. I shouldn’t have done that.” I shook my head, honestly feeling like shit for brow-beating her in the middle of her almost getting physically hit by her father.
“No. It’s okay.” She reached for a piece of bacon. “I haven’t really told anyone what’s going on because honestly, it’s embarrassing. I know I should call the cops, but my father would lose his job, and my mother has nothing. He’d go to jail and she would be out on the streets.”
“She could come stay here with us, Lay. There are lots of other options. Us doing nothing isn’t the only one.”
“Us?” She smiled and took another sip of her coffee.
“You know how I feel about you. You’re my sister’s best friend. I’ve cared about you since we were kids. Kinda hard not to, you know?” I hated the shyness that swept through me, but it was Layla. My dream girl.
“I know the feeling all too well.” She sat up and reached for the plate of eggs. “Let’s change the subject. I’ll think things through, and we’ll figure it out, but I need to let it go for now. I’d stay in my room crying all day if I let myself think about how bad it’s gotten for too long.”
“I get that. Let’s talk about how you’re going to singlehandedly save my college career and help me pass Chemistry this year.” I gave her a boyish smile. It had to be the same as batting my eyelashes, or so I hoped.
Her eyebrows lifted as she glanced up. “Oh, am I? I almost like the sound of this.”
“Good. I think it’s a great ego booster for anyone who can pull off this nearly impossible feat.” I grabbed a piece of toast and started to butter it. “You think you’re up for the challenge?”
“Hmm.” She put her finger over her lips. “What exactly do I get if you pass?”
“The joy of knowing that you helped me graduate college on time? The accolades of our family and friends for being a hometown hero?” I was reaching.
“Not enough.” She shrugged and took a bite of her bacon.
“All right, what do you want then?”
“I don’t want to cook, but I will clean.”
“Easy enough. I’ve obviously got this cooking thing down.” I wagged my eyebrows, quite proud of myself.
“And for every test you pass, I want a date.” She leaned back in her chair and pinned m
e with a sexy smile.
It took me a few seconds to process her words, but for some reason, I couldn’t comprehend their full meaning.
“Like, you want me to set you up on a date with someone?” Angst rolled around in my stomach. There was no way in hell I was setting Layla up with anyone I knew. She belonged to me or should have by then.
“No, silly.” She shook her head. “Never mind.”
“No. Tell me what you mean. You wanna go on a date with me?” I forced myself not to cringe. Why the hell would she want to go on a date with me? I’d been after her our whole lives and nothing, not even a kiss other than New Year’s, which was when it was expected.
“Seth and I broke up a while back, and I miss going out.” She shrugged as her aggression bled out and something softer took its place. I loved both sides of her like crazy.
“Layla, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go without me passing a test.”
“No.” She jerked her gaze back up to me. “I want this to be fun. A challenge. I’ll work hard to help you pass Chemistry, and you reward me with a fun date when you get a good grade.”
I laughed. “I guess that works. I’m not sure who’s going to be working harder on the grades, you or me.”
“Good. Then it’s set.” She smiled and picked up her fork. “It’s been lonely without Seth, but he’s just not my type. He’s all talk.”
“All talk, hmm?” I wanted to know what the bastard did wrong to make sure I didn’t do it too. Not that we were dating dating, but going on a date was definitely the door opening a little.
“Yeah. It’s probably too personal to talk about over breakfast, and with you.” She laughed and shook her head. “Forget I said anything about him.”
“All right, so what’s on your schedule for today? Wanna ride up to the bookstore and get our books for this semester?”
“I already got mine, but we can go get yours. I don’t have any place to be today.”
“Awesome. I’m going out to see my folks tomorrow. My mom has this thing with Sunday dinners like you don’t know.” I let my eyes move across her beautiful face as her expression softened. “You can come with me if you want.”
