Take Care of Her

Big Brother

I wake up to Addie jumping on me.

"Auntie! You stole my bed!" She yells in my face, and I wince and blink my eyes a few times to get rid of the blurriness. I look around and see that I, in fact, stole her bed. We must have fallen asleep as I was reading.

I sigh heavily and grab Addie in my arms, "Well, you weren't complaining when we were sleeping, lady." I give her a bunch of kisses, and she giggles loudly. "What do you want for breakfast?" I ask, stretching as I sit up. I was still in my clothes from yesterday and would need a shower.

"Pancakes!" She yells, running out of the room.

"You're such a momma's girl!" I yell after her. Only her mom likes pancakes; I find them soggy and disgusting. Getting up anyway, I follow after her in the kitchen to find Jan already making pancakes. "Morning," I mumble to her, grabbing a strawberry she had cut up. She turns around with a spatula in hand, and I never thought she looked more like a mom.

"Morning, I moved your stuff to the guest room. Go shower and change. I have a feeling Justin will be here soon. Tyler told me last night that he told him." I could feel my eyes widen at the news. Justin is either going to kill Aiden or kill me. I don't know which one I was more scared of.

I pop another strawberry piece in my mouth before rushing to the guest room. Grabbing some fresh clothes and my shower stuff, I head to the attached bathroom. I pause when I look at my face. Some of the redness has gone away, but now it's turning purple, and almost in the shape of a hand. Justin is for sure going to kill me.

I quickly shower and throw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I'd only be looking for houses today, so I didn't need to look spectacular. When I come out of my room, I head to the kitchen and sit on a stool at the island. Jan places a plate in front of me and continues to cook/clean. Addie was playing at her feet. I try to eat what's on my plate, but my appetite is not there.

My stomach is in nots about Justin's arrival. And just when I thought I needed to call him, the front door busts open, falling off its hinges. Addie jumps, but then continues to play like this is a regular occurrence.

I hear Jan sigh. She turns to the door and looks at Justin, face in pure rage.

"Could you have at least knocked? That's the third door..." Jan mumbles, annoyed about having to replace another door. Justin ignores her, stalks right up to me, and grabs my chin, moving my face so he can see it.

"Why didn't you call me?" He grounds out, clenching his teeth so hard I was afraid he'd shatter them. I hear a soft sigh behind him, but I was unable to see who it was as he was holding my head still.

"I didn't think I needed to. I told him if he touched me again, I would." I explain softly, trying not to anger him anymore. There was only one other time I've seen him this angry, and he went to jail for a few years. He glares at me, taking in my face. He lets me go and backs up.

"I'll buy you a new door, Jan, I'll have it put in today." A voice says behind Justin, I look around Justin to see Noah. Justin's best friend is really like another brother to us. "Yikes, Jenn, you do not look good." He says, walking up to Justin, Justin turns to glare at him.

"Gee, thanks, Noah, great seeing you too." He shrugs his shoulders,

"I never said it wasn't great seeing you," he responds before heading further into the kitchen to take some bacon that Jan was cooking. She swatted at his hands and motioned for him to sit next to me. He does as he's told, and she brings him a plate.

"Uncle Justin!" Addie yells, running up and hugging his legs. She must have just realized he was here. He bends down and picks her up, hugging her.

"Hey, kiddo, why don't you go play in your room? We, adults, have to talk." She nods, and he puts her down. She rushes to her room. He then turns his attention to me. "Where is he?"

Before I could answer, I heard a sigh and a "Could you just open the door like a normal person?" Tyler walks in dressed in a nice black suit, shaking his head at the mess of a door. He then nods to Justin, "Don't worry, I took care of it." He smirks, and I notice his lip is split.

"Why didn't you call me sooner?" Justin says, turning to Tyler. Tyler shrugs and continues to fail to tie his tie.

"Figured I would do it for you, since you probably don't want to go to jail again." Jan walks over to Tyler and does his tie for him. He smiles down at her softly.

"You don't know me, don't make decisions for me!" He erupts, his face red. I swallow, looking between the two. They've never fought and usually got along well, so this was unusual.

I understood, though, while I was busy taking care of Jan, Justin was busy taking care of me. He went to jail for me, and I know he'd do it again in a heartbeat. I do the only thing I can think of, I walk over to him and hug him. He pauses, staring down at me.

"I'm really glad you're here," I whisper into his shirt, tears flowing freely. I feel him wrap his arms around me. Justin has always been my safe space, the only person I was willing to cry in front of, and confess things I would never have before. "I was so scared, but I didn't want you to go away again," I explain, it being muffled in my shirt. I hear footsteps, and I don't bother to look. More than likely, Noah or Jan cleared the room. They know how I feel about expressing my emotions.

"Oh, kid," he whispers. He pulls me away from him and crouches down so we are the same level. I swipe at my tears angrily, causing my bruise to throb. "I know I can't help my anger, but I need to be there for you. Especially when you're scared." He touches my bruise softly, his eyes angry. We have the same dark brown eyes, but he got our father's looks. Tan with dark brown hair.

"I'm really sorry," I whisper and wrap my arms around his neck. He pulls me to him and holds me while I cry.

"I know you, Jenn. What's the plan? You probably were thinking non-stop about what's next," He says softly. I pull away from him and sit back down; he does the same. Drying my eyes, I laugh dryly.

"Yeah, I have to find a house to rent today so I can get all my stuff out of his house. I was going to ask Tyler to help with the divorce paperwork, though I'm sure he's already completed it. Then I'm going to move on." Justin looks at me and sighs. He nods his head slowly.

"Sounds like a plan, I'll have Noah go with you today to look at houses, I have business at the office to take care of." Giving him a look, he holds up his hands, "has nothing to do with Aiden, I promise." I nod again, sighing.

"Noah!" Justin shouts, and Noah comes into the room on his phone.

"Alright, thanks," He hangs up and looks between both of us, "Door will be here within the hour." He explains, giving us his bright smile.

"Thanks, I need you to be with Jenn today," Justin says. Noah looks at me in shock.

"I-"

"I need you to be with Jenn today." He says slower, saying every word purposely. Noah frowns and looks to me, and I just shrug my shoulders.

"Okay, what are we doing?" Noah says in defeat that he knows he can't go against Justin.

"Finding a house, I've got things to do, but I'll check in later," Justin says, standing. He pulls me to him, my head hitting his chest. He kissed the top of my head. "It'll be okay, kid, I'll make sure of it." He lets me go as I nod and walks away without looking back.

Noah sighs and looks to me, shaking his head. "We have to wait for the door; I can't leave Jan here without a door and Tyler at work." I nod my head, understanding his worry. I walk to the living room and plop on the couch face up. Noah comes over and sits on the other couch with me.

"Are you okay?" He asks me softly, and I don't look at him as tears start to fall my face.

"No," I whisper, closing my eyes.