CHAPTER 43-FAMILY OR FOES?
"I told you, he is your dad. Julia stayed away because he wasn't man enough to take care of you. She couldn't do it either, but she ran away to play it safe"
"He's not as smart as he thinks he is J... That's his weakness, do you know what his other is? My daughter"
J Cody had been sitting on the sidewalk, playing with the warm sand. He was trying to think his action through because Smurf had been giving him guidance on how to take the family back away from Baz.
"I want you to drive a wedge in between them. I don't care what you do or what you say, but if they're going to lock me in here, I don't want them to think they won"
He could hear the words echoing in his head, but he still had his own motives. None of them would have thought the youngest Cody would want power and everything seemed to be falling right into his hands.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Baz is going to lie to you, he's done that entire life. Pope went to prison because of him, you think he's trustworthy now?"
The best route to go was to separate Jessica from Baz because she would have been the easier one to crack, at least in Smurf's mind. The problem was that the two of them had been inseparable, so J had to concoct a plan to get her away. It had been early in the morning so he figured Baz would be taking Lena to school because he had stepped up in that department lately. Pulling his phone from his jacket, he dialed Jessica's number and waited for her to answer.
Jessica Cody had been sitting on the floor of her apartment packing some things in an empty box she had. Her place wasn't huge so there wasn't tons to pack but Baz wanted to move in the new house within weeks, once everything was blown over. She figured it was best to get a head start on things, so she had things scattered in front of her.
One thing stopped her however, a family picture that they had taken a couple years ago. Smurf had insisted on getting her children together except Julia had been missing as always. They all posed in front of the pool, with Pope standing off to the side, hands in his pockets and scowl on his face. Jessica was hanging off of Craig's back and he was bending faintly from giving her a piggyback ride. Baz stood tall, arms crossed, and board lined annoyed that they weren't being serious. Deran was looking over at everyone with confusion, the family picture was not complete without confusion.
She rubbed her fingers across the frame, remembering the happy times they all used to have. Jessica still couldn't comprehend that she put her own Mother in jail and that their family was splitting apart. Setting the frame back down, she rubbed her face until she heard her phone go off. Reading the caller ID, Jessica debated on answering because J never called her for anything.
"Hey, I was hoping you could do me a favor" J spoke on the other line, mere seconds after she had said hello. "I took Nicky to school, and I don't know what happened. Something is wrong with my truck; it broke down and I need a ride back to Smurf's"
"Um...Yeah, I can come get you. Where are you at?" Not only was Jessica questioning why he had called her, she didn't know why he just didn't walk back. "I'm sure you're fine but are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I think I've just got car trouble. I really don't know, I'm by some taco stand, I think it says Enrique's? It's and yellow and red van..."
Jessica cut him off. "I know where that's at, it's about 25 minutes from my apartment and about 35 from Smurf's. Just hang tight, I'll be there soon"
It had taken a little longer for Jessica to get to J because she had taken her time getting ready. After she hung up the phone, she had to get dressed as she wasn't going to arrive in her pajamas. She threw on her yellow shirt that she got attacked it, luckily the blood came disappeared without a hitch as it was one of her favorites. She paired it with a pair of dark blue jean overalls and white converse. Jessica put on light makeup and headed out, taking time in order for J to suffer.
As she drove down the strip, it wasn't hard to spot his truck sitting to the side of the road. J had been sitting under a palm tree, staying out of the warm sun, and looking cool as a cucumber.
Pulling up right behind it, Jessica parked the car before hopping out. Slamming her door shut, she looked down the one-way street to check if she could walk around to J. As she approached the hood of his car, J stood up, wiping the sand off of him.
"So, what happened? I'm sure your brakes are fine since it's a brand-new car and I don't see a flat tire" Jessica commented, putting her sunglasses on her head to assess what she was looking at. J moved over and rubbed the back of his head.
"I don't know, I was just driving, and some light came on. I pulled over and every time I start it, it makes a weird noise" J was hoping that she would buy it because nothing was wrong with the truck. "I want to say it's an engine problem, but I don't know anything about cars, do you?"
Shaking her head, no, Jessica brushed her blonde hair out of her face. "No, I don't know anything about cars. I can show you how to bake a cake, I can make a good daiquiri, but I can't tell you anything about cars...It's funny though, practically a brand-new truck"
Jessica had a hunch that something was going on because there was no way he was having car trouble. From what she understood, he had bought the truck a little over a week ago. She did a quick walk around the entire thing before heading back to her own jeep.
J ducked into the passenger side of his truck in order to grab a few things before locking it. He was in a safe area in Oceanside, and he'd pick it up later in the day. He slipped into the jeep and looked around, it occurred to him that he had never been in it before.
As a matter of fact, Jessica and J hadn't really spent much time together. When she first arrived, they were on good terms, and she wanted to know her nephew. Things took a sharp turn as she had gotten wrapped up in Baz and never had a chance to know him. Everything went to hell when the whole plot of Smurf came up and Jessica wasn't exactly sure if she should trust him.
While buckling his seatbelt, J glanced over at his aunt. "I appreciate you coming to get me, I didn't think any of the guys would"
"Well, what can I say, I've always been the reliable one. I've been up Deran from surf meets, bailed Craig out of jail countless times" Putting her shades back on, Jessica focused on the road. "What were you doing over here anyway? It's pretty far from Smurf's and not near the high school"
"I thought I could catch some waves. The beach was pretty pack when I drove by it this morning and I saw a couple people in the water, it wasn't overcrowded. You like to surf, don't you?"
She couldn't figure out why he was trying to make small talk. Jessica knew that there was issues and tension boiling under the surface, so she wanted to get it over and done with. It occurred to her that she wasn't even sure if he had a surfboard in the truck, so it raised her suspicion once again.
"Yeah, I don't have much time for it lately but I'm never far from the water...I used to tell Lena when she was little that I was a mermaid, but I think she grew out of that by now"
J had to laugh at the comment because he could see Lena be tricked so easily. She was a sweet girl compared to the rest of them. "Can I ask you an honest question?" He waited for a couple seconds then spoke again. "Do you know who my dad is?"
She took a quick glance at him. "I feel like you've asked me this before" Jessica couldn't recall a specific time but she remembered it early on when they met.
"I did but I'm never getting a clear answer from anyone. My Mom wouldn't tell me, so I don't know if that means she knew or not"
"You know, I don't even know who my dad is. Baz found a picture a little while ago and it's the first time I've ever seen him. I think Deran looks more like him and I look like Smurf. God help me on that one"
"I told you, he is your dad. Julia stayed away because he wasn't man enough to take care of you. She couldn't do it either, but she ran away to play it safe"
"But wouldn't you want to know if you had the chance to? My Mom had so many boyfriends and they never lasted, I've never had a father figure..."
J was putting Jessica right where he wanted. He knew the desire she had for a Father; he knew her paternal issues. Even though J seemed like a nice kid, he could be as manipulative as Smurf.
Sighing slowly, Jessica lowered her window a little bit more before speaking. "So, what did he tell you? He had no idea, none of us do"
"He said it was some guy that Smurf was hanging around with. I don't know if that's true, but you were there"
"I already told you. I don't know who your dad is J" It was clear that she had been avoiding the subject and seemed to go in a circle.
Whether she was going to tell him the truth, J knew that that not only could Baz be lying but so could Jessica. Smurf was another problem and it seemed to be that way within the Cody family. Whenever a problem arose, there was never an answer because everyone had their own agenda.
"He said the guy was creepy, that he was always looking at you and my mom. Baz said that he uh...He raped her. Is that true?" J pressed further.
"He said what?" When Jessica came to the red light, she pressed on the break which launched them both forward. You could hear her voice the anger and confusion. "If it happened, I'm not surprised but I have no recollection"
"What do you mean you're not surprised? Are you blaming my Mom?"
Jessica shook her head no hard but focused on the stop light. "No, I would never do that to her. His name was Sam and I stayed away from him. He'd stare at me in the pool, he'd come into our room when Julia was changing. He was a lech and Smurf didn't think anything of it because she wanted her property deal out of it"
J wanted her posture change as she recalled having him around the house. None of Smurf's children liked him but what she said went so none of them could say a word about it. Both Jessica and Julia had complained to her, with their brothers backing them up but nothing came out of it.
She shifted her eyes momentarily and impatiently waited for the green light. "He did try something with her though..." Her voice cut off and it was clear that she really didn't want to bring up old wounds.
"What did he do?...Was Baz right?" J asked quietly, not realizing that his wasn't talking loudly.
"I didn't say Baz was right, I said something could have happened" Pressing on the gas immediately, Jessica remained quiet for a few seconds. "He tried having sex with her while she was high, big surprise there. I think she was joking around with him, and he took it as an invitation. I was doing my homework on my bed, and she came to change clothes. He followed her in, and you can guess where this is going"
She swallowed hard for a moment remembering the scene clearly. Living in the Cody household had its fun moments, but it also had its set of bad. Half of the time they wouldn't talk about them, so Jessica felt uncomfortable speaking on it, especially when it came to her dead sister.
"It didn't happen though because she pushed him away. He told me to get out, but I wasn't going to leave her in there with him. He said fine and locked the door, he looked at us with his creepy ass eyes and that was it. I screamed for Pope, and he threatened him to never come back"
J was staring at the window listening to the story, feeling his heart slightly crack. Even though Julia had been a drug addict for most of her life, she still did her best to raise J. It may not have looked at that way at all, but he would never regret her being his mother.
"And I'm guessing that Smurf let him back in?"
"Of course, she did, she wanted the property for a job layout. You know, we gave her hell as kids, and she deserved it for the things that we all went through. If he would have ever touched me, he'd be dead. If he did that to Julia like Baz said..." She took a breath and looked over at him, his eyes catching her glance. "I'm sorry"
The two Cody's hadn't said another word for the remained of the drive. Things had gotten awkward through the entire ride and neither of them knew really what to say. Jessica instead opted to play Spotify, with Fleetwood Mac singing through the jeep speakers. J hadn't taken his eyes off of the sidewalks that they passed, taking in every single detail. His Mom was a tortured soul, and this just added another layer on her.
He was sure that Baz was his dad due to Smurf's answer and his relationship with Julia. However, Jessica may not know the whole story because the two females did not get along as they got older since they were fighting for Baz's attention as well. Nicky had also informed him on how they have a kid together which made J question if he also had another sibling, even Lena was his half-sister as well.
While pulling up to Smurf's, she noticed the front gate open, and all cars parked in the driveway. She immediately recognized them as her brothers and now wondered what was going on. "Why is everyone at the house?" She said mostly to herself, but J ripped his eyes away from the window.
"Baz wanted to have one more family meeting about the money but I didn't know this early. You didn't know?"
"Clearly not" She responded while parking her jeep. Jessica was surprised that Baz wanted to have a meeting because the last one went so well.
The family had yet to come together over the matter if they were even willing. She had hopes that her brothers would agree to everything, but she could understand how it would take time for them to process everything. Baz on the other hand was pushing it and that was where the problem was lying.
When the Cody's entered the household, Nicky jumped up from the chair in the living room to greet J. Jessica had proceeded to head into the sitting room as she knew they all were there. Everyone glanced over when she stepped into the room.
"Did you guys forget to call me or something?" She asked while stepping over to Baz. J and Nicky had come in after her and he brushed off she questioned.
"What were you doing with J?" He asked her quietly, making her lean closer so she could whisper to him.
"His truck magically broke down and he needed a ride to the house" She raised her eyebrows, hinting at a look of disbelief before plopping down on the long sofa.
Pope had been sitting in his usual spot, on the L shaped couch but up at the very top. Deran was sitting solo in the chair with Craig sitting on the couch to his left. Baz was between he and Jessica while J and Nicky sat in front of the fireplace.
Baz looked between the young couple before speaking. "Why is she here?"
"I want her to be, she knows everything going on" J told him, taking a look at her, Nicky shifting uncomfortably.
Crossing his arms with a huff, Baz shook his head and continued. "As all of you know, J owns everything that Smurf gave to me. The properties, the titles on our cars and places. She signed everything over to him because she doesn't trust us"
"She doesn't trust you" J simply said, leaning forward slightly but keeping his eyes locked on Baz.
After their meeting with the lawyer that ended badly, the two continued to go south for the rest of the day. As they rode there together, Baz didn't' stop all the way back to Smurf. He constantly accused J of trying to go against him and saying that he was Smurf's lap dog. J fired back, saying he was once in the same position until he betrayed his own mother.
None of them had known about the fighting, even Jessica who seemed to know everything that Baz did. She was amazed earlier about the whole Julia fiasco so this meeting was going to be different, and the tension could be cut with a knife.
All of the Cody siblings looked at J with surprise because he always seemed to be a quiet kid until now. J was the levelheaded, smart and lonesome figure while Baz was the level headed, confident and had someone at his side.
"As I was saying, J owns everything while all we get is the money" Baz also kept his blue eyes on J and stood his ground. "What do you plan to do with all of it? Are you going to sell all the buildings? Change the locks on our houses, repo our cars? Hm?"
"I don't have any plans; I don't want to do anything with it. Smurf wanted me to sign my name so you couldn't do exactly what you're accusing me of. You already asked who wanted the house, so you were planning on getting rid of everything anyway"
The Cody's now turned their attention towards Baz since J was making a point. He hadn't informed anyone of what he had planning to do with all of Smurf's things so that raised a big question. He looked towards his brothers, knowing one of them were going to jump in.
Craig cleared his throat, leaned his elbows on his knees and spoke. "I just want to know why you planned all of this and didn't tell anyone but Jess"
"Because I didn't think you could handle it"
"You didn't think we could handle it? Screw you Baz" Deran commented with the shake of his head.
"Yeah, because each one of you would have backed out the second I said some. Craig, you blow your money by snorting coke, Deran can't help but run to mommy every single time he has a problem"
The younger brothers scoffed out a laugh as they had their own problems with Baz. The whole money incident was one and Deran still didn't know who was possibly telling the truth on everything. Jessica and Pope sat quietly, looking between the three of them as they knew this wasn't going to go smoothly.
"What about all the safes? You've talked about the money but how much is in them?" J questioned.
"I already told you that I haven't had any of it counted yet. It's over a million for sure but I won't know until I can get it counted"
J clasped his hands together with a faint smile on his face. He wasn't sure if he believed Baz was telling the truth, considering he had given Jessica a watch from the stash. Taking that amount of jewelry to one person was a huge risk and Baz had to find someone that was trustworthy. He couldn't go to Gia because Smurf had turned her against him so things would fall in line at some point, just not right away.
"Do you think I'm holding out on you or something? I've given you a cut already"
"I don't know Baz; you've done a good job at lying this whole time so I don't know if you're telling the truth"
The Cody siblings flickered their eyes between J and Baz almost every time they spoke. They weren't sure what was going to happen between them, but it wasn't looking good.
"Where is all the money now?" Pope asked, breaking them out of their thoughts.
"It's in a safe place, you don't need to worry about it"
"So, you're not going to tell us?" Craig asked back already knowing the answer. "I bet Jessica knows though, right? She gets to know everything while we are left in the dark"
Jessica glanced at Craig before crossing her arms. "Don't drag me into this and make me look like a villain. The less people who know, the better. Did you think about that?"
"It's because he doesn't trust any of us" J said under his breath but loud enough for everyone to hear him.
The room had gotten silent for a good while as they all stared at J once again. He had seemed like the only one to say anything to Baz, almost like they were afraid to say anything to Smurf.
"Actually, Smurf didn't trust any of us"
J shook his head hard and took a moment to look away. "No, she doesn't trust you"
Things between Baz and Smurf had started once Catherine disappeared and only seemed to grow as time went on. This wasn't a fight that only start a few weeks ago, this was a fight that was a long time coming. Baz also noticed he shift once J stepped in the picture the favorite card had changed. Now all of his hate was transferring to J, but the feeling was mutual.
"Are you going to make a remark every single time I say something?" He didn't wait for the youngest Cody to answer. "Smurf didn't trust any of us, that's why she didn't put any of her belongings in our names"
"Was she wrong Baz? You've stolen all of her money; you want to sell the house and properties. You think she's just going to give you all of it?"
Baz had enough of J's commenting and stepped closer to him. He responded by standing up, Nicky shifting away. The others had sat straighter as they knew this was not going to end well.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Baz questioned, narrowing his eyes and venom lacing every word.
J matched him once he spoke. "I'm the one standing in your way"
That remark made him completely lose control of everything in him. He laughed quietly before shoving J as hard as he could, the latter falling back into his seat. Nicky squirmed away as Baz went reaching for the kid once again. Grabbing J by his shirt collar, the youngest Cody pushed his hands away and both men were getting ready to exchange blows.
Pope hardly flinched while Deran and Craig nearly jumped out of their skin to hold them back. Craig jumped in between them since he was the tallest as Deran wrapped his arm around Baz, trying his best to hold him back. J of course was swinging over Craig; Nicky was screaming for them to stop and Jessica was jumping up as well.
She was attempting to help Deran keep Baz away but also stood her distance as she didn't want to get hit either. The shouting continued and it was hard to even figure out who was talking as it seemed like every was speaking at one time. It wasn't until Pope yelled, enough to shake the house that everyone stopped.
Lena had been standing in the hallway, watching her family fight like a pack of lions. She was holding her coloring book and a pack on crayons, wide-eyed at the scene going on. All the Cody's looked in her direction, heavily breathing and trying to get composure.
"Why was everyone yelling?" She asked softly, making everyone realize that a child had just watched it, making them realize how screwed up their family truly was.
"How about we go watch some TV in the other room?" Pope stepped forward, giving Baz a hard glare as he picked up his niece and moved away from all of them.
J fixed his hoodie before grabbing Nicky's hand, also wanting to get out of harm's way. This was a huge moment that no one was going to turn back from as the tensions now reached a fire. Before the flames were boiling on the surface but now it rose to the surface, burning everything in its path.
After the teenagers left, Deran shook his head heavily, taking a glance at Baz and Jessica before heading out into the backyard. Craig made sure that he was okay and wasn't about to track J down and fight in the front. Baz brushed him off which left he and Jessica the last ones in the living area
"Well, that went well" Jessica commented lowly, watching him to see what was going to come out of this.
"I don't want to hear it from you" Baz told her back, taking a second to rub his forehead hard.
"What do you want me to say? Congrats for pushing J down, you should have decked him honestly" He turned to look at her, she shrugged her shoulders in the process. "Look, I'm trying to keep this family together and all of this was not part of it"
"What don't you get Jessica?" He asked her, the anger leaving his voice and it was now turning into confusion. "We're not a family anymore"
Even though she hadn't gotten along with Smurf, family was still family and there was no denying that. She would protect her family, particularly her brothers with every fiber in her body. While Smurf had been out of the picture, she wasn't trying to fill the spot, but Jessica wanted it to stay like it was. All of her brothers were always close, if they fought, they sorted it out and moved on. Now it all changed, and she didn't want to see her family disappear when it was one of the few things she had.
The room had gotten quiet, and Jessica just stared at him, the words cutting into her heart. "We're always a family"
"Not anymore. Smurf's gone, Deran and Craig are never going to take our sides, Pope has something against me, and I couldn't care less about J. It's going to be you and I for a while until everyone figures out what the hell they are doing"
Shifting her eyes away, Jessica focused her gaze on the sun outside. "If I would have known that we'd fall apart like this, I wouldn't have agreed to take the money. Playing Bonnie and Clyde isn't worth it" She told him, rubbing her upper arms for a second.
Taking a deep breath, Jessica walked away from Baz, the first time she had done that in a while. It had been the first time she left his side since the whole plot of taking down Smurf started. It was also the first time that Baz felt he lost control of everything.