CHAPTER 39-CONFESSIONS
When the party was called off it was supposed to go smoothly but of course it didn't happen that way. Once the truth came out where Smurf was, all hell broke loose with Pope leading the charge. He had ran inside, grab the shotgun, and started ordering everyone out which only caused panic. The Cody siblings had stared in shock but then again it was Pope dealing with his emotions in his own way.
It took less than ten minutes for everyone to scatter out and Baz to hold a family meeting in the living area. Deran sat in his usual spot, the single chair sitting right next to the end table. Pope had stood near the fireplace, arms crossed and an angry expression on his face. Craig had sat on the couch, with the window behind him and J to his left.
While Baz went and got some of the contents of the storage unit, Jessica sat on the other couch diagonal of Craig's. She grabbed the blanket that was sitting on the floor and wrapped it around her, covering her arms as she had gotten cold and also covering up her baby bump from sitting. Even though she was dressed in the baggy sweater but she could never stop feeling self-conscious about the whole situation. Baz had come back quickly and threw two bags on the table in the middle of the room. He stepped over to Jessica and sat beside her waiting for someone to speak first.
"I can't believe you guys seriously stopped the party just have a family meeting" Craig commented as no one had told him about what was going on
"It's important... J and Jessica already know so I'm going to have to fill you guys in on everything. Smurf is in jail and she's going to be there for a long time"
"What? What do you mean she's in jail?" Deran questioned while taking a glance at the couple as well as J.
"She's in jail because she murdered Javi and got away with it" Baz reminded them as the initial shock was already spreading. Craig leaned back on the couch; an unbelievable look written on his face. "You can't be that surprised, she should have known that she was going to get it"
"I thought you said that one of Javi's guys killed him over the problems they had?" Pope had asked, narrowing his eyes at his brother.
"They did but it was at Smurf's expense. She wasn't going to let him walk away after what he did to Jess so she handled the problem herself. Smurf ordered the hit, so she didn't have the blood on her"
Without Smurf, the only other witness was Jessica. The problem with that is she seemed right at Baz's side which meant that what he was saying might not even be the truth. All of the Cody's now looked to her, waiting to hear a confirmation on his story.
"Baz is telling the truth, I saw everything that happened. He took the money and was ready to leave. Javi did point a gun at Smurf, but he wasn't going to shoot her, he just wanted the money. She prevented that from happening"
"How do you even know she's in jail, how did the cops pick her up?" J wondered waiting to find out what he knew considering Baz had said something earlier.
"I'm the one that gave the tip to the police. Jessica was already at the house, so she saw Smurf get arrested"
Jessica had nodded in agreement while the others looked on. All of them are still trying to piece the puzzle together but didn't realize how deep Baz and Jessica were going.
"She also killed Catherine" Baz said which caught everyone's attention again. "She isn't missing because Smurf did something to her. She wouldn't have left Lena here and she wouldn't have left $20,000 in a secret bank account untouched. You guys know how much she hated Cath so it's not a surprise that she took her out of the picture. She thought she was talking to the cops"
While this piece of information was major, it also explained why he was willing to go against Smurf. None of the Cody's were close to Cath but they still wouldn't believe that Smurf would go that low. The boys would always be in denial over their mother and her actions.
"So, Catherine's dead, Smurf killed Javi and now she's probably going to do life in prison. What else have you been hiding from us?" Deran quizzed.
"I haven't been keeping secrets, Smurf has. Look how she has a storage unit full of money from all the jobs we've pulled. Remember those watches that she made us destroy? She kept half of them for herself, Jessica has one on her wrist"
Once again, all eyes are on her, and she lifted her arm up slowly. Pushing the pink sweater sleeve up, the silver watch had sparkled in the early sunlight. "She's been storing money from us for years; she's been hiding it all. I've seen it, there's tons of money, and jewelry. She has millions sitting in there"
Pope had shifted his eyes to his other brothers in order to see what they were thinking. It didn't make sense as to why Jessica would be wearing a stolen piece of jewelry but at this point, they were both being reckless. It was all about making a point against Smurf and a point to who was going to take over the family.
"J and I hit the storage unit a while ago" All of the Cody's turned to their nephew not expecting him to be part of it. "Don't blame J, he didn't know it was Smurf's. I never told him about it"
"What about you? Did you know everything that was going on?" Pope now glared towards his younger sister.
"I didn't know it was hers either. Baz showed me all the money, but I was in the dark that it belonged to Smurf"
Before any of the boys could start asking more questions to J and Jessica, Baz continued talking. "I counted 1.4 million in cash; I'm going to have to take the jewelry someplace to get an exact estimate but it also has to add up to millions"
Craig took a deep breath and sighed loudly due to the amount of money. When splitting it between all of them, they were still going to get a good enough amount and Smurf was going to be left with nothing. Deran thought about it helping his bar, but he knew the fall of taking it. It never occurred to Pope what he would do with his share as he was more preoccupied with the Bonnie and Clyde duo. J could do anything he wanted while Jessica and Baz were still willing to take a greater bite.
"What about all of the properties? And the house?" The house was an important piece to the family, and Deran didn't want that to disappear.
"You want the house? Any of you want it?" Baz asked calmly, clear that the house wasn't going to remain in their possession. "We sell all the properties and split the money. I've got everything figured out, so no one needs to panic. Jess and I already got our own place so if anyone wants to take this..."
"You two are living together now?" Craig questioned, looking between the couple with a confused look on his face.
"What about the house you have now? Lena likes it" Pope reminded him, considering he had been taking care of her greatly.
"She'll like this one too. I suggest you guys do the same, Smurf is going to prison, and we can all finally move on with our lives"
"Are you just going to let Baz do all the talking or are you going to say something?" Deran asked his sister, getting more irritated by the second.
Even though all of them knew the history that Jessica and Baz had, they never thought that they were going to be together because Smurf was always in the picture. Their relationship was rubbing all of them the wrong way but neither of them cared. It was the freedom they craved, the freedom that they could be together.
"What exactly do you want me to say? I'm not the one who planned all of this out" Jessica told him. "Yes, I had a hand and everything, but I didn't know all of this right away"
"That's it then? We split everything equally and just continue on as if nothing ever happened? She's not going to give you everything Baz" J finally chimed in which received a glare from Baz.
"I'm the one with my name on the papers. Smurf put me in charge of everything, so I have it in the palm of my hand. If none of you want any of it, that's fine but I'd rather split it"
Jessica and Baz had been surprised that no one started looking at J sideways. It apparently was on their back and even though the kid didn't know it was Smurf's money, he was still eager to help. It was enough to get them a bit suspicious that J was charging back against them.
"Smurf doesn't get to say anymore, I'm the one that's going to call the shots on this. This was my job, you helped me and so did Jessica. If no one wants the money that's fine, but I'm not her. She is in jail and will be for a long time, you have me to deal with now"
At this point in time, Baz showed that things around the family were about to change. Taking Smurf out of the scenario was a huge part of the puzzle but taking over the family was the next. It wasn't going to go smoothly at first but once things settled down he had hoped his brothers and J we're going to come around. On top of it, Jessica was at his side and was going to help him no matter the cost. She wasn't anything like her mother but if she stayed close to Baz, she was going to turn out just like them.
"I got to go, get the bar open" Deran said before standing up. He took a look at everyone, and Craig got the hint that he was going to go with him. The two of them had walked out without another word leaving the others in silence.
"We'll talk about this again later, Lena's got to get to school in a half hour and I said I would take her" Baz told everyone while getting a flat response from Pope.
"That's a first..." His monotone voice called out, knowing Baz had heard him as he was going out the back door. Pope didn't say where he was going but he quickly left, leaving Jessica and J to stare at one another.
"So, you really didn't know it was Smurf's money?" J asked her, already showing that he wasn't liking the way all of this was going down.
Jessica shook her head faintly while still staring back at him. "I had no idea, and neither did you" She reminded him, knowing that J was trying to accuse her of planning this as well. "You might not see it, but I didn't want to put my own mother in prison for the rest of her life"
J had scoffed in response to her words. None of them knew it, but he was already planning all of his moves in his head. He wanted to take the family over and knew that Baz was going to be the biggest problem in his way. He however didn't think that Jessica was going to try and step in.
"Why did you do it then? If you really didn't want to see it, then why go through this elaborate plan?"
"You're too young to even understand what happened in this house. You don't even know what she did to your mom. Before you start casting any kind of judgment, ask Smurf about everything that happened"
Jessica knew that her family was going to be upset with everything, but she wanted to tell everyone about the pregnancy. She thought maybe it would lighten the mood up, but it looked like things were not going to go in that route. Instead, she had an 18-year-old kid scolding her as if she were a child herself. The Cody sister did not take it kindly, and she wasn't going to sit there and listen to J.
She swiftly stood up and moved into the kitchen, getting prepared to make breakfast for Lena when she got up. Jessica was also going to pack her a lunch and she wanted to focus on her niece rather than her nephew. J watched her quietly before heading out to his truck.
As he got inside, he fished around his pants pockets for the keys and started the engine. Before he could pull out the driveway, his phone began ringing from an unknown number.
J slid his finger across the phone to answer, and heard automatic message speak to him. "This is a collect call coming from the Oceanside police station. This call is from Janine Cody. Please press 9 if you wish to speak if not you can press 5 or hang up. This call will be monitored if you accept"
J looked around the driveway curious to see if Jessica had been hanging around. Baz's silver Challenger was already gone as well as Pope's truck and Deran's Jeep. He rolled up his own truck windows before pressing nine.
"J baby... It's your grandmother"
"Yeah, I know, it said it in the message. Is everything okay?"
Smurf knew that J was a smart enough kid and had probably figured out everything that had gone on. Obviously, she hadn't been there for the meeting Baz had and she had to be careful over the phone with what she said.
"Nothing is okay right now. How is everything at home?"
"I mean... It's kind of a mess right now. I don't really understand what's going on, Baz is saying all of the stuff and I just don't get it" J also knew to be careful.
The Cody matriarch was lucky enough that they let her get her one phone call in and she knew that she had a call J. She wasn't sure what kind of influence Baz or even Jessica had on her other sons, but she knew J was going to be the smartest of them all.
"I need you to do me a favor J, can you do that for me?" She heard him sigh on the other line but continued talking. "I need you to go meet with my lawyer Morgan so she can get down here and I can talk to her. There's some stuff that needs to be figured out, so she'll have to be in touch with you"
"How come the others can't do it?" He asked her back, but she hadn't responded. At that point J knew that she was trusting him more than the others. "Okay, I don't know who this is, and I don't have a phone number, but I will do my best"
"If you go into my room, I should have a book laying on my dresser that has her number in it. This is really important; I need you to do this for me"
Not only did Smurf need a lawyer to begin representing her, but she also needed to pull everything away from Baz as she knew his goal. He had foolishly told her everything previously and she also knew that Jessica was going to try and help him. Morgan was a fantastic lawyer and Smurf wanted her to know everything that was going down.
"Yeah, okay. I'll do that when we get off the phone. Is there anything I can do right now? I mean I don't even understand what is going on or how this all happened"
"Yes, you can call Morgan, that right now is the most important thing" She also knew that Baz was good at lying and she didn't know exactly what he told the family. "Someone is framing me for murder, and I think you know exactly who it is. Or should I say who they are"
Another foolish thing that Smurf believed Baz did was pulling Jessica into the mix. It would have been smarter to keep her role a secret but apparently, they were too drunk on power that they wanted her to know it was them together. It now showed Smurf that the two of them were working together which meant a target was on both of their backs.
"Why would anyone want to do that?" He asked her to play innocent and once again being careful on the phone call.
"Because they want everything that belongs to me. They have always taken more than they needed" That was something that Baz had heard from Smurf ever since she took him in. "I need you to answer all of my phone calls when I call you, okay baby?"
"What if any of the guys want to talk to you?"
"Then they can come visit me because I think I will be here for a while. Just don't tell them anything that we talk about"
"Everything's going to be okay, right?"
J was faintly worried about Smurf, but this was also good and was falling in his lap. He was now going to have to fight Baz over Smurfs estate, and he felt he was smarter to take over. By the way it was sounding she was in a lot of trouble and Smurf was right, she wasn't going to be getting out anytime soon. He was going to stay in the middle for now as J was as calculated as they were.
"Are you doing all right? I know this can't be good for you considering what you went through with your Mother and now this"
He hesitated to ask his next question, not wanting to bring it up but was curious as to what she'd say. "What happened to my mom when she lived here? Because Jessica said..."
"Just ignore her, whatever she says is a lie. It always has been, she just doesn't understand that I have given her everything she's ever wanted" Smurf's tone had quickly turned to irritation so J was going to back off for now.
"I'm going to go look for this phone number right now and I'll make sure the call goes through"
"Okay, just remember to answer when I call. And J?" Smurf paused for a brief moment. "Whatever they try to get you into, don't fall for it. He has a good way of manipulating people, you already see what he's done to my daughter"
It had been an hour since the family meeting and everyone had gone on their own ways. Jessica stayed at the house to collect her thoughts because things didn't go as smoothly as they thought it would. Deran and Craig probably headed back to the bar, and she had no idea where Pope or J went. Baz said he had some things to do, so she had the house to herself, along with Nicky.
Grabbing a water bottle out of the fridge, she stared at the inside before closing it quietly. The house had an eerie tone to it, or at least Jessica felt it. Smurf's presence was gone but it was almost as if she's still at the house. Turning her attention to the backyard she saw J's former girlfriend sitting at the edge of the pool, her feet dangling in the water.
She really didn't want to spend the rest of the day by herself so the only person she really had to talk to was her. Slipping outside, she covered her eyes with her hand as a sun beamed down and walked over to the girl. Jessica didn't know why Nicky didn't go to school but it wasn't unusual that she skipped.
"I haven't seen you in a while. Actually, I didn't see you at the party last night either" Jessica sat next to Nicky and slipped her legs inside the cool water. Taking a drink of the water she put it between them for space.
"Yeah, I've been pretty busy with school and stuff lately. I left after I caught Craig with another girl...What was that meeting all about this morning?"
"Eh, nothing really important, sorry you couldn't be there. Baz has a thing for people that aren't family"
It had been a family rule to not trust outsiders. Of course, there had been exceptions from time to time but all of the Cody's knew not to get personal with a lot of people. Even though Nicky had been around them for a while, she still didn't seem trustworthy.
"Is it true that Smurf is in jail? I got a text from J earlier"
"Yeah, she is" Jessica replied simply, not surprised that J had told her. "We're going to have to come together and figure out what to do while she's out of the picture. That's what the meeting was about"
"You don't seem too worried about it" Even though Nicky knew the truth, the blonde wasn't going to go into great detail on how they set her up. She was going to keep it simple and leave it at that.
"If you were raised by her, you'd understand where I'm coming from. Sure, you don't get along with your Dad but from what I've heard, your stepmom seems like a pretty nice lady. You had a life of luxury compared to us"
Jessica had often repeated herself when having to explain how she grew up. The boys were always more important than she and Julia, and it was the hard truth. No one could understand how Smurf's favoritism toward the males went unless they had been around all the time. The boys got practically everything they asked for while the girls hardly got anything at all. She was always going to hold resentment until the day she died.
"But you guys are always robbing people and making tons of money" Nicky didn't understand considering Smurf had always been nice to her. She never saw firsthand how she treated Julia, Jessica or even Catherine.
"Yeah, the boys do but I don't. I only get a cut because my brothers fought my mother on it. Smurf only puts on a charade that she likes you; you are a female after all"
"What will happen to Lena? Smurf was always taken care of her"
"I don't think you're giving Pope and I any credit" Both women had turned to look at each other as Nicky took it more personally than Jessica did. "I know you already know about Baz and I'm being together, and you know that I would take care of her. We don't have to hide it anymore, so I think things are going to change around here"
Nicky was trying to figure out exactly what she was saying. She blinked at her words before looking back at the pool. She was taking just because of words literally, as if she was trying to convince herself that everything was going to be okay.
"Since she's in jail now does that mean you're going to take her place?"
The Cody's sister couldn't help but laugh at that statement. It wasn't at Nicky; it was the fact that she would ever be her mother. "That would be the last thing I would do. Don't get me wrong I love my brothers to death but I'm nowhere near her nor am I like her I would never do the things that she did and still does"
"Can I ask exactly what it is that makes you hate her so much?"
"Why do you hate your dad?" Jessica fired back, curious as to her reasoning and if they had something in common. Since she hadn't been there for the army base job, she only got the inside scoop from Baz.
"Because it seems like he cares more about my stepmom and my little brother that he does me. He is living in Guam and completely left me here because he said I'm an adult and I can take care of myself. I'm still in high school, I don't even have a job and he thinks I can just manage?"
"When I was sixteen, I got pregnant, I gave him up for adoption" Since Baz had figured out the truth, Jessica wasn't afraid to tell people. She also thought maybe it would open Nicky's eyes into their world. "I got into a fight with Julia and Smurf kicked me out of the house. A year later I found out that I was pregnant, so I had to make it out there on my own. Isn't it the same scenario you're in? You know what it's like to have a shitty parent"
"Are you serious?" Nicky couldn't believe what she was hearing, especially from Jessica. She seemed like she was put together well without any surprises. That was a huge secret to keep and that was the last thing she expected.
"His name is Dylan, and he lives in Los Angeles, is that good enough proof?" Jessica turned to see the reaction on her face for continuing. "Look Nicky, you don't belong around us. I don't want this to come off as cruel or mean but you deserve a better life than this. You don't need to get wrapped up into our lifestyle and you definitely don't need to turn out a drug addict like two of my siblings and me"
"But what if I don't want to go live in Guam? I don't even know where that's at"
"You just really need to think this through and play it smart. If you want to stick around, be my guest, but I don't want anything to happen to you. You're really sweet girl, you do mesh well with us, but you shouldn't be in this hole that you're in"
The main reason that Jessica was speaking up was because in a sense Nicky reminded her of Julia. Once her sister hit the teenage stage, it was all about partying and having fun. It was easy to get lost and wrapped up into that lifestyle when you had no one pulling you back. Jessica was grateful that Baz always looked out for her, but Nicky was out here on her own.
In a sense she also felt guilt for not being able to help Julia like she wanted. She may have gotten the help more than once in her life, but no one could ever get it for Julia. Then again if an addict doesn't want to change then there is no helping.
"I am playing it smart though. Once I graduate, I think I know where I'm going to get a job or even maybe looking to go to college" Graduation was coming up and J seemed to know where he was going with the family, but Nicky still was lost.
"I'm only looking out for you; you are a fresh face around here. If I were you, I would go back to dating J because I think with Craig it's only going to crash and burn"
Taking another drink of her water, Jessica hoped that she was getting through to Nicky. In all honesty she wanted her to leave because she had already gotten hurt once and she didn't want her to go through that again. Jessica had always instinctively looked out for females in the family due to the treatment from Smurf.
"Will you just please think about it?" She asked her.
"Yeah, I will"
The Cody sister had a faint smile on her face before standing up. Baz wanted her to go see Deran and Craig to smooth things over with them. She figured that Nicky wanted to be by herself and was going to leave her at that. She stood up, wiped her feet off and started walking away.
"Thank you..." Nicky had called out to her which may Jessica turn slightly, wondering why that was. "You don't ignore me like everyone else does"
Deran and Craig had obviously gone to The Drop after the explosive family meeting. It was a shocking scenario and the two brothers were always paired to each other. On the ride there, they hadn't said much and just listen to the radio as they had a process everything going on.
Since it still was early in the morning the place wasn't opening for a couple more hours and it gave them a chance to be by themselves. Deran had headed straight behind the bar and grab two bottles of beer, sliding one to Craig who sat down across from him.
"I can't believe that Smurf is in jail" Craig said after a long drink. This was definitely not what he was used to after a party.
"I know... And that Baz is the one who did it? Who would have thought that this would ever happen?"
"Even J was in on it, I thought that kid did everything for her"
"He does but I guess Baz got to him first. I just can't believe the three of them are working together and are sending her to prison"
Though it was surprise that J had a hand in the matter, Deran couldn't believe that Jessica had also planned it. Smurf and Baz hadn't got along for the last couple months, but they didn't expect anyone else to get dragged into the fold.
"Yeah, what's up with that? Whatever happened to Jessica not pulling jobs" It necessarily wasn't a job, but their sister never lifted a finger in anything involving money.
As if she heard her name be spoken, Jessica whipped the door open and stood there for a moment. Both Craig and Deran looked over then exchanged a look between one another. The three of them had always been close and usually told each other everything but with Jessica keeping us a secret, they figured it was Baz's doing.
"Do you guys ever go anywhere else besides here?" Shutting the door behind her Jessica hesitated walking towards them but did anyway. "Okay I know I'm going to get the silent treatment, but I came here to talk if that's cool?"
Taking a seat next to Craig, she looked between her brothers hoping that they would want to listen to what she had to say. Even though Baz had told her to pay them a visit, Jessica wanted to do so in order smooth things over. She didn't want there to be any more animosity considering it was only going to go downhill from here.
"I know you guys have some questions, that's actually why I came here. I know this is something everyone has to process but I don't want things to be awkward"
"So then what's the deal with you working with Baz and J putting our mother in jail?" Craig questioned her while turning to face her. His tone had a hint of anger in his voice, but he didn't want to go off just yet.
"She's been hiding money from us, she had stuff in there from jobs that you guys pulled like 10 years ago. I know we all don't save our money but come on, doesn't that seem a little suspicious to you?" She told them, putting her elbows on the bar and leaning forward.
"Maybe she was saving it when we can't pull jobs anymore" Deran said not even sure if he believed it.
Jessica looked to her younger brother with skepticism written all over her face. "Deran, I know you usually give her the benefit of the doubt, but you know she's been keeping secrets from us. All of that money has been building up, why isn't she said anything about it?"
"Maybe it's because like Deran said, she wanted to keep it you know like a backup" Craig looked to his younger brother trying to correlate what he was saying. "And framing her for murder? We are talking about serious prison time for that"
"Technically we're not framing her, she did kill Javi. Just because she didn't pull the trigger doesn't mean she didn't have a hand in it. She hired one of his guys to shoot him, I saw it with my own eyes. Javi's blood was all over my shirt because I was standing next to him, he was assassinated, and it was all because of Smurf"
"He kidnapped you Jess, what did you want her to do?" Deran countered.
"He didn't even want to take me, and he definitely didn't want to crush my arm. She should have given him the money first and I wouldn't have been in the predicament I got in; you can't defend her over that. You guys were always cool with him, and I dated him for over a year, I didn't want him to get killed"
She knew that it was going to be difficult to convince her brothers that what they were doing was right. Things weren't going to just smooth over in a couple of hours, but Jessica just wanted them to understand that Smurf was not a saint. They were going to blame everything on Baz, and she didn't want them to happen when their mother had everything coming to her.
"I don't expect you guys to understand why I helped Baz put our mother in jail, but I really wish you did"
On the other hand, Deran and Craig couldn't help but blame Baz for what happened and hold Jessica accountable. They weren't going to understand where she was coming from despite her protesting it.
Deran leaned back against the cash register and crossed his arms over his chest. "You two are dating then, right? Or is this going to be another one of these things that you guys always seem to have"
"Baz and I are together yes, I didn't think you guys were going to have a problem with it"
Sighing heavily and with the shake of his head, Deran spoke yet again. "You are my sister, and he is my brother. How do you expect me not to have an issue with it?"
Craig had looked between the two siblings but mostly kept his eyes on Deran. He knew about the issue that he had with Baz and Jessica hooking up. In Deran's eyes, he saw them as siblings and that meant they shouldn't be together. Yet he also knew how Baz was with every woman he dated. Deran didn't want his sister to get hurt and he had a feeling that Baz would only do that in a matter of time.
"Then how come you never said anything before? You know how many times we've hooked up so why is it a big deal now? Is it because Smurf's in jail and you think Baz is going to try and run the family?" Jessica asked him, oblivious to the problem.
"So, is that the whole plan? To put our mother in jail so Baz can plan the jobs from this point on or something? If so, don't expect me to cooperate" He had only been looking out for his older sister, but Jessica wasn't going to hear any of it.
Blinking in surprise, it was now Craig's turn to chime in. "You're seriously going to back out?"
"If this is exactly what's going on then yeah I am"
The only way Jessica was going to convince them was if she took a personal turn. Craig and Deran were never going to understand where she was coming from as they had Smurf's approval their whole life.
"This isn't about him, this is about our mother" Holding her breath for a second, Jessica continued. "I'll tell you my other reason. You guys have another nephew, his name is Dylan and he's my child"
Craig snapped his head towards his younger brother, not expecting out whatsoever. Deran looked at him before shifting his eyes at Jessica then backing away from the bar.
"Dude... No way. How are we just finding out about this?" Craig asked her, before taking a drink of a beer.
"I never told anybody; I didn't want anyone to know. You know how things would have went if I would have come back here with the kid, it would have been Julia 2.0. Besides, I was 16 and there was no way I could take care of a kid"
"You could have told us; we wouldn't have said anything"
Even though Jessica appreciated Deran's words she couldn't have risked it back then. The secret had eaten her alive, and still does as she never had a chance to see your son grow up. It was safer however for him to be away from the Cody family and away from Smurf. Despite the regret that she felt, Jessica knew it was the right thing no matter how much it hurt. She shrugged lightly and Craig spoke again.
"Who's the dad?" That was the one part Jessica didn't want to answer because she could already feel the criticism coming in. Craig's mouth popped open and looked between his siblings. "No way... You had a kid with Baz?"
"Look, it was safer for no one to know. Baz didn't even know until weeks ago with Smurf decided to rat me out. So, if you want another reason why I helped him put Smurf in jail, there you go. She's threatened me with it, and I wasn't going to try and let her find Dylan. She broke into my apartment to find out all of this, I never even told her. I wasn't going to let her go after him, he's not going to be another J"
This was another reason Deran could not get behind them. It was a huge game changer for the family, not only that Smurf was in jail, but that Baz and Jessica had a son together. It looked like they were always going to be tied to one another and there was going to be no breaking it. He had a hard time letting his sister go with him because Deran knew exactly how Baz was.
Jessica had her phone sitting on the bar and as it started buzzing, she quickly grabbed it. She had a feeling it was Baz wondering how the conversation with their siblings was going. She didn't want Craig or Deran to see it because then it would have looked like a motive, and while it was Jessica wanted it to be there on good terms.
"I've got to go grocery shopping... I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner but now you know. Just be careful if Smurf calls you because she's going to spin the story around"
Her blue gray eyes had gone back and forth between her brothers before getting out of the seat. She was afraid that they were going to talk to their mother and things were going to end up much worse. Jessica was putting her faith in them and whether it was going to work Jessica wouldn't know. Removing herself from the scene, she disappeared, leaving Craig and Deran to now talk about the new situation.
"I thought Smurf being in jail was the most shocking thing I've heard all day" Deran said reaching for his beer and taking a long drink. "That must have been why Jess didn't come back for so long"
It took Craig a moment to recall what he was saying but he did remember when Jessica had gone away for a year and came back. Also brought up the memory of Smurf kicking her and Julia out which lead Craig down a rabbit hole.
"Do you think J and Dylan are brothers?"
Just as Deran was putting his beer down, he paused to look at Craig. If both Jessica and Julia had been sleeping with bass around the same time, there was a huge possibility that the two boys were brothers. No one knew who J's father was even though they all had their own opinions. The main problem with Smurf being in jail but as secrets were coming out, it looked like the Cody family were going to be hard trusting one another.