AUTHOR'S NOTE: I realize Jerry and Angel's management of the situation is not how you would usually go about this, but bear in mind that we are dealing with two teenage boys, recovering from the shock of a home invasion.
Thanks so much for the reviews
Chapter 2
When Jasper finally let go, Jack sank to the floor. He was coughing and wheezing. Trying to get his breathing back under control. His entire body was screaming in pain. He pushed his forehead into the cold tiles in an effort to drown it all out. The sounds of a struggle downstairs ended. Jack heard footsteps pounding closer. Familiar voices, calling his name. Jerry and Angel looked as panicked as he felt just then.
They skidded to a stop with wide eyes. "Jack!"
"Hey? Talk to me, kid!"
Their hands were gently grabbing his shoulders. Trying to calm him or assure themselves, perhaps, that their brother was still alive - drawing huge, painful gasps of air, but alive. The second he had enough air, he sobbed.
"Ahr shit, Jack." Jerry leaned his forehead against Jack's. "Just breathe. Keep breathin'." He sounded as out of breath as Jack at that moment. "Ang, go call Bobby,"
"I don't have his number-"
"Then call anyone who might know where he is!" Jerry wrapped an arm around Jack and pulled the teenager in for a hug. "And lock all doors and windows downstairs. Make sure no one's outside." He called down. "Shh,"
Jack leaned his head, relieved, against Jerry's shoulder and crammed huge handfuls of his shirt into his fists. The shaking was back tenfold.
"Shh, shh, kid." Jerry's voice dropped to a soothing tone and Jack swore he felt the older Mercer rock him.
"I got it!" Angel announced as he leapt up the stairs. He had a wild look in his eyes.
"Jus' calm down. Calm down,"
Jack's desperate wheezing had changed to aching sobs with sporadic coughs. "I- I'm- sorry-" Each word was clipped by a ragged inhale.
Jerry shared a quick glance with Angel. "Shh, it's alright, kid. We're not gonna let them get by us again. You're safe. We're all safe."
"She's- gonna send me- back-" Jack pleaded.
"No! No, no, no."
"Jack…" Angel whispered.
He let out and anguished cry.
"Ma loves you, man." Angel ran a huge hand over Jack's tousled hair.
His horrible gasps became miserable sobs. Jack broke, but Jerry took it all in stride. Angel stayed with his two brothers on the bathroom floor until the sobbing wore off to occasional hiccups. He sat with his back against the door and his wide eyes trained on his hurt little brother. Jerry just held on to the trembling shoulders and waited.
Almost an hour later, Jack's tears had almost dried. His breathing had evened out and the shaking had lessened. Jerry doubted he was completely over the shock - that any of them were - but really just wanted them all to get some sleep. "Help me get him to his room,"
Angel was up in a second and helped raise his sibling from the floor. Jack blinked in surprise, but allowed the two taller brothers to maneuver him to his room.
"Easy, Cracker-Jack."
"Not you too," He mumbled shakily at Angel's soft voice.
A bright smile erupted across his dark face despite the grim evening they'd had. "Easy," Jerry lowered him into bed and tucked in the covers. "We're right downstairs alright? Get some sleep." He ran a hand over Jack's forehead and suddenly felt a desire far greater than any he'd felt before. The need to protect his family. To shelter them.
He nodded to Angel and the two of them left the room. "You reach Bobby?" Jerry asked quietly when he looked at the carnage that was once their living room.
"Naw, I talked to Billy Green. Said he'd try and find him."
"Aw naw, you didn't tell him what happened, did you?"
"Of course not!" Angel picked up a toppled chair. "I'm not stupid!"
"You sure?" Jerry bent down to pick up the shards of a broken bowl.
"Dick," He hissed and dabbed a finger against the cut on his brow.
"You alright with that?" Jerry felt the worry return instantly at the sight of Angel bleeding. "C'mon. Sit down."
"Naw, I'm fine, man."
"That wasn't a request." He gestured to the couch and earned a huff from his younger brother.
"How we gonna explain this to Ma?" Angel asked miserably, looking at the room. It wasn't that bad. A few toppled furniture and a couple of broken knickknacks. The worst was the busted lock in the front door where Jimmy Buffalo's guys had forced their way in. Three armed guys had descended upon the Mercer house.
Three armed guys, Jimmy Buffalo and the rich kid, Angel guessed was Jasper Harrison. Jerry huffed. "Forget Ma. How we gonna explain this to Bobby?" He dabbed antiseptic against Angel's cut and earned a scowl and hissed curse.
"I vote we ditch the kid and flee to Las Vegas." Angel flashed his pearly whites and almost tricked a smile from his older brother.
"Flee? I ain't feelin' anywhere with you. And someone's gotta get in between the two white boys when Bobby finds out Jack's been dealin' drugs."
"Yeah," Angel's smile melted from his face and landed in a little puddle on the floor. "Not it."
Jerry sighed and grabbed the med kit. "I'm gonna check on him." He stopped mid-stride. "Why the hell didn't you two go to the goddamn hospital?"
"Jack didn't want to." Angel had the good sense to look chastised under the intense scrutiny.
"Damn, ignorant assholes." Jerry mumbled to himself, heading up the stairs. "Lucky you ain't all dead from walkin' 'cross the street by now." He glanced back and saw Angel duck his head even more before disappearing from view.
Across town
Bobby looked up and down the sweetheart that just entered Kyle Tanner's crib. All legs and hips. He liked hips. A slow smile spread across his face in the hopes the woman would see. In the hopes that he'd get to trace his fingers up the length of those legs. All the way to the end. Her eyes crossed his, but quickly moved on. He scoffed and returned his attention to the beer.
"Yo, Mercer!" Billy Green's voice cut clearly through the din of noise.
Bobby ripped his attention away from Al and Jerome's discussion on blondes versus brunettes. The newcomer smiled and grabbed his hand. "Yo, Green. What's up?"
The bright-eyed kid suddenly looked serious. He sat down. "I got a call from your brother about half an hour ago. Told me to tell you to get your ass home."
"Which brother?" Bobby sat back and sipped his beer. He shot an aggressive smile to the redhead who'd ignored him moments ago.
"Angel."
"The little shit thinks he can tell me what to do?"
"Don't know, man. Sounded pretty urgent."
Bobby glanced at his friend and noted the worried expression. "Alright. I'll get home." He got up when a new voice filtered through the sound. "I think the party just got fucked anyway," He gestured to Jimmy Buffalo at the other end of the room.
"Still haven't made peace with him, huh?" Green asked with his eyes on the newcomer.
"Hell no. Never will. That bastard blew his chance when he started executing his customers." He handed his half empty beer to Green and made his way towards the front of the room. He bypassed a group of dancers in the hopes of avoiding detection, but just as he was at the door a voice reached him.
"Bobby Mercer." Jimmy's smug smile lit up in the dim room.
"Why if it isn't little James Buffalo from the wrong side of the tracks." Bobby smirked and surrendered to the conversation he'd just gotten suckered into.
Jimmy smiled and tipped his beer. "They still call you the Michigan Mauler?"
"Don't know. They still call you pencil-dick-Jim?"
In a flash Jimmy was in his face with a vicious sneer. "I'd be a little more considerate if I were you."
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Bobby stared the drug dealer in the eye without showing an iota of fear. A trick he'd long ago perfected. Never show weakness.
Jimmy smirked aggressively. "Because I got a secret."
"I ain't interested in your kiddy-porn collection, dipshit," Bobby made to turn, but was held back.
"It's about your brother," Jimmy smiled.
A sick smile that made every inch of skin on Bobby's body crawl. Before he even knew why, he had the dealer pressed against a wall with a broken bottle nicking his skin. "You little piece of shit! Think you can come into my backyard and piss all over me and my friends." Bobby vaguely noticed the throng of voices had died down. He figured they were all staring at him.
"You should be more worried about your kid brother doing smack than me takin' a piss in your backyard." Jimmy spat out. All pleasantries gone from his face.
"You're lyin'."
"Am I?" A then the smile returned. "Sources tell me that Jackie Mercer's back in the streets giving blowjobs for heroin."
Before he knew what happened Bobby slammed him against the wall. Hard enough for the shelves to topple. "You better shut your mouth about my brother!" The hand, holding the bottle, was pressing deeper into Jimmy's skin, but he didn't seem to notice.
"I'm not lyin'. Go home and check." A thin line of blood was running from the shallow cut on Jimmy's neck.
Bobby stared into his eyes one more beat before he let go. "If he is, I'm comin' for you," He promised before the released dealer sank to the floor. Without looking back and with ice churning in his stomach, Bobby got to his car and rushed home.
He needed to have a talk with his brother.
The Mercers
"Anybody home!" Bobby bounded through the door and slammed it behind him. Immediately he spotted Jerry on the couch and Angel as he jumped out of the kitchen.
"Keep your voice down, man." Jerry waved his hands at him the way Bobby would to a wild horse.
"Don't tell me to be calm. Where's our piece of shit brother Jack?" He glanced up. "He's sleepin'?" And headed up.
Jerry was up a second after him. "Don't wake him, Bobby. Come on down. We gotta talk to ya first, c'mon."
"Nah, if that little shit's usin' again I wanna see it." Bobby stomped down the hall undeterred until he reached the door.
Jerry crammed himself in front of his older brother with a dark stare. "You're not gonna yell at him." He accompanied the order with a jabbing finger. "He's had a helluva night and you ain't gonna go an' give him a heart attack."
"I can control myself, Jer." He held out his hands. The thought of waiting for permission from Jerry was hysterical. Like either of them could've stopped him if he really wanted in. The second he entered the room, he clicked on the lights. Not really caring if he woke up his brother. "Rise and shine-"
Jack flinched upright with his hands in front of his face. Jerry bounded around Bobby and sat on the edge of Jack's bed. "Easy, kid. Just Bobby."
Jack slowly lowered his hands with a contrite look. He swallowed thickly and refused to look at either of them. Bobby looked from one younger brother to the other. "What the hell happened?" Jack's face was a mass of black bruises and he could tell without looking that the kid's ribs were sore. Blue hand-shaped marks around his neck indicated someone had tried to strangle him. "Jerry?"
"Jack," Jerry finally caught the eyes of his younger brother. "You wanna tell him?"
Jack's throat felt raw. His voice was a throaty rasp. "I'm in trouble." It seemed to be the one phrase he fell back on when he didn't know what else to say. In the past it had always helped him with his brothers. If baby-Jack was in trouble Bobby would go punch somebody, Jerry would get a headache thinking too much about it and Angel would be one step in front of Jack at all times.
"You got into it with Buffalo?" Bobby's voice was dead. Angry.
Jack cringed. "Yes," His voice was like a mouse.
Bobby exhaled through his nose and ran a hand down his face. "And what's the problem?"
When Jack didn't answer, Jerry took over. "Jack owes this kid Jasper Harrison and Buffalo some money."
"Great. Where is it?"
Jack shrugged and refused to look up.
"Jack!" Bobby's patience was running low.
"I never had it, alright."
"What?" Jerry showed his first signs of fear just then. He knew they were in deep shit if his brother owed money they didn't have. It wouldn't matter if they had it or not. They needed to get it. And fast.
"Jimmy gave me some drugs to sell to Jasper. And I-" Jack stopped and fidgeted.
"What happened, Jack?" Suddenly Bobby's voice evened out. He sounded downright concerned.
Jack smiled humorlessly. "I got robbed." He huffed. "I got robbed in Palmer Woods by this group of rich kids. I swear I saw Harrison in the back and I tried to tell Jimmy that, but he…" Jack shrunk back an inch. "He didn't b-believe me. And then all of a sudden Harrison walked out and said he wanted his money back."
"Probably the money he thinks you made from selling the dope," Bobby interjected.
"Yeah, but I didn't. I don't have it anymore and Harrison was there, I swear!"
"I know, Jack. Easy." Jerry soothed.
Jack was looking at Bobby with a silent plea. "You usin'?" Bobby asked stoically. "Cause I'll help you - 'course - but I gotta know if you're telling the truth."
"God, we already went through this-"
"Are you high right now?"
"I'm not high!" Jack lunged from the bed. His jaw clenched to keep in the surprised yelp caused by the pain. The second the duvet came off all his bruises almost glowed under the light bulb.
Bobby's breath caught. His eyes widened.
Jack started shaking in seconds from the pain the sudden movement caused him and almost passed out. His breath was as shaky as the rest of him, but the thing that hurt and scared him the most, was the look in Bobby's eyes.
A look of pure fury.
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