The Heist
Chapter 1
His back was being pushed against the wall. Two strong hands wrinkled his t-shirt. "You little shit!" Jasper Harrison was snarling into Jack's face with deadly intent in his eyes.
Jack's back was a mess of bruises already and he feared Jasper wasn't even getting started yet.
"You thought I was gonna let you walk off with the cash?"
He hit Jack across the jaw and knocked him off his feet. His heart was hammering. Another punch whipped his head back.
"After I did all the work?" Jasper was screaming, but Jack doubted anyone would lift a finger to stop him. Jasper scared most of the other kids. "Worthless fag," He kicked and hit Jack squarely in the ribs.
"Ahr!" Jack curled in on himself when a jolt traveled through his chest. The accompanying crack and shortness of breath warned him he might have a cracked rib. His hands were shaking and tears were running slowly down the corners of his eyes.
"You think your brothers are gonna save you?" Jasper braced against the wall and kicked again. "You think I'm scared of Bobby Mercer?" He kicked again. His rage seemed to escalate with every kick.
Jack scrambled for purchase, but was forced down again. Suddenly Jasper's friend cried out. "Company!"
The beatings stopped and left Jack with a hideous, rasping breath. "You better get me that money or this'll seem like a fuckin' picnic." He hissed.
Jack curled in on himself and tried to push against the wall for escape. "Please-"
A departing kick was followed by receding footsteps. Then quiet. The room seemed a little colder suddenly. The adrenalin, pumping through him, left and changed to shivers of cold and shock. He scrambled up the wall and limped out of the old factory.
The frigid air outside only spurred on his desire to get home. He just wanted to crash without a third degree from his mom or brothers.
The house was silent.
Had it not been for the lights in the living room Jack would've doubted anyone was home. He keyed himself in and locked the door behind him. With cautious steps he slipped off his boots and snuck into the living room. The kitchen lights were on as well, but no sign of life. "Hello?"
He cursed himself silently the second he spoke.
"Jack? That you?" Angel's voice floated from his bedroom.
Shit! "Uh, hi…" Jack frowned. How the hell was he gonna hide his injuries from Angel? His face was bleeding, not to mention the fact that his ribs were so sore he couldn't stand straight.
"Why you home so late?"
Jack hobbled into the kitchen when feet thumped on the stairs. "Where's mom and the guys?"
"Mom got a call from a friend outside of town. Said she'd be back tomorrow afternoon. Some kid got in trouble. Jerry's out with Evander and lord knows where the hell Bobby's at," He rambled, coming to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. "Jack?"
"In the kitchen." Jack closed his eyes a cursed silently again. "Angel there's something I gotta tell you-"
"What the…" Angel's eyes became as wide as saucers when they hit his younger brother's. "Jack, what the hell happened to you?" He didn't sound mad.
He wouldn't, Jack thought that's more Bobby's forte. "I think I'm in trouble, man." Jack curled in on himself against the counter in an attempt to look contrite.
"No shit," Angel grabbed his chin and raised his head. Jack winced. "Who the hell did this to you?"
"This guy-" He ripped out of the grasp and looked down. "I'm in trouble, Ang."
"Yeah you mentioned." Angel spent a few more seconds trying to meet his brother's eyes before he made a decision. "I'm calling Ma."
"What? No!" Jack flinched forward when Angel dove for the phone. "Don't call her. She'll just call the cops."
Angel froze with his brother's hand on his arm. "And there's a reason I don't want Ma to call the cops, right?" Jack looked down and again looked so small Angel didn't know whether to hug him or slap him. "Right?"
"I got mixed up with a couple of bad guys-"
"Dammit, Jack!" He whirled around and sighed dejectedly at the ceiling. "Shit!"
"I know, I'm sorry. But just please don't call mom, alright. I don't want her to know about any of this."
"Well I gotta call somebody, man," Had Jack asked him to kill the bastard who'd hurt him, Angel felt pretty sure he'd have done it. He knew he'd have done almost anything for his new kid brother. It was just his good fortune Jack didn't know that yet.
Jack stretched his lips and huffed. He wasn't sure how to handle the situation. Never having been in one, being the main reason. Also he just didn't handle stress very well. At all. "I dunno. Bobby, maybe?"
"Great, you got a phone number?" Angel rested a hip against the kitchen table and crossed his arms. He could tell Jack was miserable. Shaking and darting his eyes to and fro. The kid had been shocked, that was for sure. Feeling like he was quitting, Angel sighed and gestured his brother closer. "Here, sit down, man." He moved to the fridge and pulled out a soda. "You think you can drink this?"
Jack nodded jerkily. "Yeah. Why?"
Angel sighed again and picked up the first aid kit from under the kitchen sink. "Sugar helps with the shock,"
Jack cracked the lid and sipped carefully. His chapped lip exploded in pain as the carbon dioxide hit the open wound and started to bubble.
Angel was watching him while digging through the little box of Band-Aids and iodine. "You're wheezing." He said quietly.
Jack nodded without looking up. "Yeah… he kicked me in the ribs."
"Shit," Angel knew how to handle cuts and bruises, but broken bones and vulnerable little brother's was still unchartered territory, with Jack relatively new to the Mercer household.
But Jack was quick and waved a hand in dismissal. "I don't think it's serious. Just the shock from the kick. It feels better already," It didn't really, but Jack wanted for all the world to not go the hospital.
Angel continued to stare at him with those soulful eyes. Jack felt the shaking simmer down to a mild tremor. The soda really did help. "We're calling Jerry." Angel was up and dialing the phone before Jack could squeak.
"Hey, Jer- Yeah…. It's Jack, man- He's with me…. dunno. Look, I need you to stop dickin' around and come home…. Because I said so, man! - I already told you, I don't know…." The room went silent as Angel listened to his older brother's instructions. "Yeah…. Okay, alright." He glanced back. "Yeah, I'll see you soon." He sighed and turned around.
"What did he say?"
"He asked if I knew who did it," Angel sat back down, tapping the lid of the first aid kit nervously. "Ya know he's gonna ask again when he gets home. What am I gonna tell him?"
Jack winced and shrunk into the seat. "I got involved with Jasper and his crew."
"Who?"
"This kid from up town. Palmer Woods."
"Palmer Woods?"
"Yeah," Jack nodded dejectedly.
"What the fuck is a rich kid from Palmer Woods doin' in the backstreets of Detroit?"
Jack glanced up miserably. "If I tell you, you promise not to tell Ma?"
Angel nodded carefully.
"He's dealing with that guy from Junction."
"Jimmy Buffalo?"
"Yeah,"
"So what, you're dealing drugs now?" Angel's eyes took on a decidedly hurt look.
"I-" Jack took a deep breath and immediately regretted it when his chest hitched. The deep wheeze and resulting gasp made Angel leap to his brother's side.
"We gotta get you looked at, man." His voice raised an octave as his hands carefully guided Jack from his chair to the living room couch. "C'mon. Sit down." Angel got the med kit and sat across from his baby brother on the coffee table. "Get your shirt off,"
"Ang-"
"Now. C'mon, move."
He'd be an excellent general. Jack begrudgingly pulled his hoodie and t-shirt off. When the shirt hooked on his shoulders a ferocious hiss escaped him. Angel instinctively leaned forward and helped him pull it off.
"Shit," His brother's chest was a mass of black and blue bruises. He was breathing irregularly and with a nasty wheeze on every intake. "That little bitch!" Angel's face took on a nasty resemblance to a snarling wolf as he surveyed the damage.
"It's nothing,"
"It is to me, Jack,"
Jack looked up with mild surprise in his eyes. Angel caught it and looked awkwardly down.
"Just because we're not blood don't mean you're not family. Families look after each other."
Despite himself Jack blushed. He'd never been protected before. Not like he was by his new brothers. Never loved like he was by them. He'd only been with Evelyn Mercer a year and was still getting used to calling her 'Ma'. But his brothers. That was becoming a constant Jack never thought he'd have. "You're such a pussy-"
"You kiss Ma with that mouth?" A loud, charismatic voice interrupted. "Holy shit!" Jerry took in the scene in front of him. The door was open and icy wind was blowing into the living room. "What the hell happened?" He hurled his jacket against the floor and stomped over next to Angel. "Jack, who the fuck did this?"
Jack looked even more contrite. "A guy I know." He glanced up at Angel, silently praying that his brother would keep his mouth shut.
"Why?" Jerry demanded. His eyes skated from Angel to Jerry when the two youngest brothers shared a guarded look.
"Because lil'-J here owes a drug dealer money-"
"Angel!"
"What?" Jerry was back on his feet so fast Jack flinched.
Jack shot Angel a disbelieving look. "You promised!"
"Yeah well, Ma isn't here, is she?" Angel stood up and let his older brother take over.
"Jack, look at me." Jerry's voice was stern. His eyes too. "Why you getting mixed up with those guys? Whatta ya doin'?"
Jack could feel the tremors return and thought for a second the door had been left open. He shrugged one shoulder and kept wringing his hands. "Don't know."
"Yeah you do. Why?" Jerry pushed.
Angel was watching his little brother nervously from the corner. Busily chewing on a thumbnail.
"I just-" Jack stopped when his face blushed and tears sprung to his eyes. He wasn't sure any more. "Because everybody does it, alright!" A tear dripped down his cheek and was brusquely wiped away.
"Are you usin'?"
"No!"
"Are. You. Using."
"No!" Jack stared at Jerry in disbelief. "God…" He crossed his arms as much as the pain in his ribs would allow. "I'm done with that shit. You know that."
Tense seconds passed while the second eldest Mercer brother seemed to mull over the plea for innocence. "Well alright," Jerry sat back with a backwards glance at Angel. "I believe you, but you know who won't."
"Yeah." Jack sniffed in a vain effort to contain the emotions welling up inside him.
"Bobby's gonna be pissed,"
"Uuuuhh-huh." Angel seconded with his arms crossed.
Jack suddenly felt his stomach bubble with bile at the thought. Bobby Mercer on a good day was intimidating. Bobby Mercer with a grudge was a one way to hell. "Ohr God-" Jack lunged from the couch and limped as fast as he could to the bathroom. The second the bowl was in reach he keeled over and vomited everything he'd had to eat that day.
With the blood rushing in his ears and his entire body feeling like ice, he failed to hear the sudden ruckus from the living room. The blurry image of his own sick was suddenly ripped from him when someone grabbed his naked shoulders and pulled him back roughly. Suddenly sounds filtered through.
Shouts from the living room and sounds of a fight floated up the stairs as Jack faced down Jasper Harrison's angry scowl. "I want my money, bitch!"
A vicious right hook snapped Jack's head back. He hit the bathtub with a hollow clonk and face planted on the floor. Jasper wasn't done and pulled Jack up by the hem of his pants before landing a knee in his already bruised ribs. All air Jack had left from the vomiting left and pain blossomed across his ribcage. "Please-"
Another knee, this time in the groin. Jack cried out. He was on the floor, gaping when Jasper pulled him up again. "You didn't get my message the first time, you lying, little fuck?" Jasper slammed the back of Jack's neck against the sink and wrapped his hands around it. "Little bitch." His teeth were bared. His hands squeezed until Jack couldn't breathe.
Tears sprung to his eyes as he struggled for purchase. When his vision began to blur Jasper leaned in with the sneer still in place. "You don't get me my money by tomorrow morning' I'm comin' after your family. You got that?"
Jack gasped. Tears were dripping from his eyes. Before his vision flashed, like dying strobe lights, he felt his back impact with the cold floor.
10