PROLOGUE:

Man he fucked up this time...brbr

Jack sighed; holding his head in his hands. He hadn't really meant to deafen that kid, it was an accident. He'd just lost control of his temper; had hit him a little too hard…brbr

brbr*FLASHBACK*brcenteri*

I hissed as I hit the ground. My palms stung. I looked down and saw I scraped them pretty badly. I attempted to take the stones out of my hand, but I dropped to my side as a foot met my ribs. I cried out and looked up - right into Jack Mercer's hateful eyes. They burned into me as the kicking continued.

I never tried to stop it.

My face was hit repeatedly. It hurt like a bitch, I was screaming and writhing. I knew both my nose and jaw had been broken in a moment.

anything worse from happening. The fetal position came naturally.

My entire body had numbed out. I couldn't feel the punches. I couldn't feel the kicks. I didn't even know what I had done wrong….just mentioned something about Jack not being like his brothers.

I looked up to see Jack staring down at me, his eyes wide.

"Don't you understand?" he whispered. "I have to do this. I have to keep up the Mercer reputation."

I shook my head at him, and saw his eyes waver for a split moment. The last thing I saw was a foot coming straight for my head.

I closed my eyes, felt a huge impact with the side of my head and heard only silence as I blacked out.

*/center/i

Jack sat in the court room, trying not to look anywhere but the ground. The looks of pain on his mother and brothers' faces were too much to bear.

Maybe he'd tried too hard?

Sighing, the young male vaguely caught bits and pieces of what the man before him read. Sure, Jack had been in trouble before. Actually the constant visits to the police station had become familiar to him.

Maybe it was when he, aged 10, put graffiti on the school with Bobby and Angel or maybe when he accumulated a criminal record for drug possession or maybe the time he was busted for vandalism or maybe the time he got in a fight at school or when he got caught underage drinking in public when he was fourteen.

No one knew he did them just to keep up with his brothers…

Crack.

Crack.

Crack.

His knuckles crackled as he pushed his finger tips even farther together. The officer led the accused away from the desk at the front of the station. Jack tried to place his hands in the pockets of his jeans. It was only then he realized he had been handcuffed. He was under arrest.

The youngest walked into the courtroom, silent and scared. He didn't deserve this…Evelyn was dressed in red, perched in the front row. She was sobbing softly into Bobby's shoulder, unable to look as her youngest was tried for violence.

Jack unwittingly glanced at her, and his face paled.

Her shirt…It was crimson, like blood. Suddenly Jack felt sick. There had been blood so much blood. The male's mind flashed back to last night's incident, it was an accident.

Jack knew that running was not the right thing to do, but when he seen the body, the bloody mangled body, lying there in the street, he panicked, freaked.

And now he was paying the price…

"Jack Harrison Mercer, in the case of this court hearing; the defendant has been found guilty. You will serve 240 hours of community service at the Odessa Youth center in Texas; before your case will be resumed in three months time." The judge ordered.

Jack felt his face pale again, and his feet give out under him.

Texas?