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Chapter 8

"Hey, kid!" Jack called after the guy while chasing him "No running in the halls!"

How appropriate, Liz thought and closed the door behind her.

Apparently, despite of playing basketball, the guy was much slower than Jack and Liz only saw him bouncing off the glass door leading outside and Jack grabbing him from behind.

"Get off me, man!" he was shouting and tussling but Liz knew that nothing could get out of Jack's steel grasp.

She also noticed how ambiguously it sounded, at least in her head.

"Why you running?" Jack asked innocently when Angel appeared in the doorway looking both mad and dangerous, as if he was only waiting to make a bloody pulp out of the guy.

"Man, I don't know nothing! What do you want from me?!" the guy howled desperately when Angel came even closer to him.

"Here's the deal" Jack tried a nicer tone of voice "We ask questions, you answer them"

"You got something to tell me youngster?" Angel growled at him when Jack went to get Bobby and Jerry out of the field.

From the hallway Liz could hear Bobby still shouting to the people.

"I'm looking for who killed my mother!" and Liz guessed that's when he noticed Jack and decided it was time to go.

"I appreciate your help very much. You've all been upstanding citizens! Enjoy the rest of the game"

Crazy as hell, Liz thought, this guy knew when to be dramatic.

The four brothers surrounded the guy like a hounded animal and she noticed how intimidating they looked but she didn't join them. It wasn't her fight, she preferred to stay in the back and just observe them.

"Bobby, meet Keenon. Keenon, this is Bobby" Angel sounded extremely pissed off "Something tells me he was on his way to deliver a warning"

Bobby nodded his head.

"What's his name, Keenon?" Bobby asked the guy and knew how scared he was.

He was surrounded by four guys, all standing dangerously close to him and he knew well how small his chances were.

But it was Jack again that made Liz smile. He looked as if he was 5, making badass faces.

Too cute, she thought.

"Damian" the guy finally said "He's my brother"

"He's your brother? No shit, these are my brothers"

They guy took a closer look at each of them as if he didn't understand him.

"No, dog, he's my real brother"

"Yeah, these are my real brothers " Bobby said to the guy's confusion.

And that's when he noticed Liz standing behind them.

"And who is she? Another sister?" he asked mockingly but Jack immediately wiped the smile off his face and pinned him to the wall.

"I said no questions. Say another word without being asked and it's gonna be your last" his face was tense and everybody around knew he wasn't joking.

Liz was very impressed. Not that she enjoyed violence or smashing somebody's head into the wall, even if he deserved it, but nobody had ever acted like this for her, not even the old Jack she once knew.

But she was smart enough to see the danger. None of them wanted to bring any attention to her and that's what she was just doing so she only looked at Bobby and when he nodded, she went back to the car.

They came back five minutes later.

"We got the address"

When they got to the Gardens it was late afternoon and soon the sun started to change colors from a dark shade of purple to light orange and pink. They had been sitting in the car for over three hours but nothing suspicious happened and nobody resembling Damian appeared. That's when Bobby's phone called, breaking the tiresome silence.

He picked it up and suddenly turned pale. He didn't say anything for a while and finally looked straight at her.

"Liz, there was an accident" he said slowly "You mom is dead"

***

She didn't know how long she was sitting alone in Jack's room crying and trying to make herself feel better; she also wasn't sure how many times one of the Mercers checked on her, she lost count some time before midnight.

When they got home from the police station she locked herself upstairs and didn't want to talk to anybody but felt extremely lonely after a while when she couldn't cry anymore.

That's why she actually felt a little bit better when Jack slightly knocked on her door.

"Liz?" he asked shyly "You OK?"

He's never been that worried in his life like he was now. He knew exactly what she felt but didn't know how to help her.

"It's unlocked, you can come in"

When he walked in he saw her standing by the window staring into darkness. That's when he felt a strange urge to hold her close and make all those tears go away but he didn't do it. He just slowly walked to her.

This time it was him ready to help her and listen to her.

"They said it was a car accident. Accident my ass!" her voice was bitter and angry.

"Erm…Liz…" he started but she didn't let him finish.

"They knew it, Jack. Everything makes perfect sense now" she hesitated without looking at him when he stood by her leaning with his shoulder on the window frame.

"This Keenan guy, he saw me and an hour later my mother dies in a car accident. God, how stupid and naïve I was. This whole time they knew I was in this and that was their warning"

He was just looking at her dark profile without saying anything but he didn't know what to say.

"But they started with a wrong person" her voice changed drastically and Jack had never seen her like that "because I'm not afraid of them. Not any more. And now I am so into it. And they are gonna pay"

She looked at him but he still didn't know what to say so he just did one thing.

He nodded.

***

It was some time later when she finally fell asleep with his arms around her and her head on his shoulder but he wasn't tired at all. Instead, he was half-sitting and too afraid to move not to wake her up when Bobby appeared in the doorway.

"She asleep?" he asked whispering.

"Yeah" Jack nodded but the way he looked at her showed Bobby something that no other eye could see.

"Jack, I know I'm not an expert but I think you should tell her" he said surprised that for once he had a good piece of advice for someone.

"Tell her what?" Jack asked still holding her tenderly.

"Look, I've met many people and… women. But I would give anything to be able to tell them I love them. And if you love somebody, you should say it to this person every single day of your life. It just… clarifies things, little brother" he looked at Jack but didn't say anything else.

"Yeah" Jack sighed.

If everything was that easy.

But it wasn't.