Thanks so much for the reviews and the new story alerts, if you're alerting I would love it if you could drop in and let me know what you think pretty please? :) Okay, this is now getting quite difficult to write and I feel bad about writing Phil/Jake and the whole addiction issue but I started down that road and obviously I must continue. I will understand if people cannot read this any further, I apologise in advance if this upsets you, I am trying my best to deal with a few different topics at once in this story. Please review as always, thanks.
Chapter Twenty Four
'Daddy you cheated!' Caitlin yelled as Josh won again at the game of Monolopy that they were playing.
'I did not cheat! You're a bad loser Caitlin Andrews!' Josh smirked as Caitlin continued pout.
'Okay, okay that was the last game, maybe you can beat daddy tomorrow because now it's time for bed missy!' Shannon said as Josh started to pack the game away.
'I'm gonna whoop your ass tomorrow!' Caitlin smirked before poking her tongue out at Josh.
'Hey watch your language young lady!' Shannon pointed at Caitlin who smiled sweetly back at her.
'Sorry mom, goodnight, I love you,' Caitlin gave Shannon a hug and a kiss before going to Josh to do the same thing.
When she had disappeared upstairs Shannon closed the lounge door behind her and flopped down on the couch. She was exhausted, they'd been to the beach, then to the park and Shannon had cooked them some macaroni and cheese for dinner, it was nice to finally have some time to chill out.
'You look tired baby, maybe we should have an early night tonight?' Josh sighed as he got up off the floor to put the Monolopy game back on the shelf before he sat down next to Shannon on the couch, wrapping one of his arms around her in the process.
'Mmm I think I'll just sit here like this for a while, if I go to bed now my body clock will be all screwed up. Anyway, your dad might want something to eat when he gets in,' Shannon yawned, Phil had gone out for some drinks with an old friend tonight.
'You don't need to stay up just to cook something for my dad Shannon, he can look after himself you know,' Josh replied as he scraped some hair off her face.
'I know but with all this shit going on with Jake I just want to make sure that he's eating and looking after himself, he's really worried Josh,' she sighed as she pulled herself closer to him.
'I wish that Jake cared as much as you do, I bet he hasn't even fucking thought about what he's doing to dad,' Josh felt the anger rise inside him when he thought about his younger brother. They still didn't know who he was with or where he was staying, fuck knows what kind of state he was in.
'Addicts don't care about anyone but themselves, he's sick Josh, you have to remember that,' Shannon put one of her hands on his cheek and started to stroke it, relishing the feeling of his bristly beard against her soft skin.
Instead of replying, Josh leaned down and planted his lips against hers. He wanted to get lost in her, if anyone could calm him down and make him feel better it was her. He slowly began to let his tongue poke out slightly and he tried to coax her into opening her lips to let him finally kiss her properly but as soon as she felt his tongue make contact with her lips she pulled away.
Josh sighed heavily and looked Shannon in the eyes.
'Every time I try and kiss you this is what happens. What's wrong Shannon? I know we're taking things slow but this is crazy!' Josh moaned as Shannon sat up properly.
'Well if you're getting that pissed why don't you call one of your old 'friends' to help you out? There's been plenty of them after all,' Shannon snapped, she instantly regretted what she'd said.
'Oh so that's what this is all about huh? I thought the past was meant to be the past Shannon? Isn't that what you've said a million times since we got together? Evidently it's not so why don't you just tell me what the problem is,' Josh was pissed, he should have known that she wouldn't be willing to let his man whore ways go by without saying anything about them, was this gonna happen everytime they argued? Was she always gonna bring up the fact that he'd fucked around?
'I can't help it Josh I'm sorry okay? I mean this is easy for you, I've never been with anyone else, you have no one to match up to! Me on the other hand, I've got to try and be as good as some of the women you've had and you've probably had women who've been able to do lots of amazing fucking things to you and I don't even know if I can remember what to do when it comes to sex! I want to kiss you, I want to be close to you and touch you but I'm terrified okay? I'm scared that I won't be as good as some of the women you've had and if I'm not you'll leave me and then I'll be alone again,' Shannon let her fears pour out. She hadn't expected this to happen but after bottling everything up for weeks and weeks it was only natural that she would explode at some point and now Josh probably thought that she was fucking nuts.
'I'm sorry, I said too much, I better go,' Shannon spoke after a few minutes of silence where Josh just seemed to stare at her and she couldn't take being looked at anymore.
'Shannon, don't,' Josh grabbed her hand and pulled her back to sit alongside him on the couch, he wished that she had told him her fears from the start because then he could have told her the truth from the very beginning.
'You wanna know the truth Shannon? The truth is that every time I was with someone else, every time I was inside them the only person that I thought of, the only face that I saw in my mind was yours….'
'Josh stop…'
'No! I won't stop because that's how I felt, that's how it was! I tried so fucking hard to get you out of my head and I couldn't and it drove me fucking crazy. I wanted to find someone and settle down but all I wanted was you, I needed you so much and you weren't there. But you're here now and you don't need to be scared, you don't need to match up to anybody, they didn't match up to you Shannon, that's the truth,' Josh stroked her cheek and caught some of her tears against his fingers as she looked into his eyes.
She leaned forward and planted a kiss against his full lips, slowly and tentatively she opened her lips slightly and she felt his tongue slowly push itself into her mouth, both of them moaned as Shannon responded by sliding her tongue past his to explore the mouth she'd missed for so long. Her hands wandered into his thick hair as the kiss became more intense, she could feel her pulse racing and lust seemed to seep out of every one of her pores. She pulled him backwards so that he was lying on top of her, running her hands over his muscular back as she felt his erection press against her stomach, it felt so good, so right.
'DADDYYYY!'
Josh instantly pulled away and couldn't help but laugh as Shannon continued to stroke his back.
'I so knew that was gonna happen,' Shannon giggled back as Josh got up from the couch and slowly began to make his way to the door.
'DADDDYYY! THERE'S A SPIDER COME ON COME ON!'
Josh took one last longing look at Shannon before he disappeared upstairs to kill the tiny spider that was on the ceiling above Caitlin's bed.
Whilst Josh was gone Shannon tried her best to cool down after their passionate kiss. If Caitlin hadn't called they probably would have ended up doing something more than just kissing and in a way, she was glad they had been disturbed. It didn't feel right having sex with their daughter upstairs, she doubted that she'd be able to keep herself from crying out and she didn't really want Caitlin to hear what they were doing. Josh's words had been exactly what she needed to hear though, she could always tell if he was lying or not and he hadn't been, he'd told the truth. She'd spent so much time worrying about the other women that he'd had and she finally realised that they didn't matter, what mattered is that Josh was here with her, if he wanted to live the single life he would have been honest and told her that from the start but he didn't, he wanted to settle down and be with her.
Once Josh had disposed of the spider in the toilet he made his way back downstairs to Shannon who was still sat on the couch. She turned and smiled at him as soon as he closed the door behind him.
'So, can we start where we left off?' Josh grinned as he took a seat next to her once again.
'As long as you know that it's not going any further, I mean I DO want to but with Caitlin upstairs….'
'Sshh don't worry, I feel the same way. It does feel kinda naughty making out down here whilst she's upstairs though, it's like that night you were babysitting for the Meyer kids and you snuck me in and we made out on the couch,' Josh grinned as he leaned forward and began to plant kisses on her soft neck.
'Mmm and you had to sneak out through the back window because they came home early, I remember,' Shannon sighed as Josh's lips scraped against hers.
Within seconds they were making out again as they fell back on the sofa and kissed like they were never going to get another chance. Josh could feel himself getting hard again, he couldn't help it, he'd waited so long for this to happen, if he was this hard just from kissing her fuck knows what he would be like when he actually made love to her again.
'Mmmmm Joshua…' Shannon whined against his lips as she felt his erection press into her once again.
'Wanna stop?' Josh pulled back and looked at her, he didn't think he could continue for much longer, he was aching to do more than just kiss but they just couldn't, not when Caitlin was upstairs.
'Sorry, I know I'm fucking stupid I mean you're fucking hot! I should be dragging you to bed right now,' Shannon smiled as she pressed her lips against his once again.
'Stop saying sorry or I'll have to spank your ass,' Josh grinned as he pushed himself off of her and sat up on the couch. Shannon manoeuvred herself so she was sat with her head resting against his chest.
'Be careful, I might be like Rosa,' Shannon laughed as Josh wrapped his arms around her waist.
'As I remember it, you liked me taking control,' Josh growled as he pressed a kiss on top of her head.
'Well we can take it in turns that is when we get to actually do more than kiss, I know that Caitlin would be okay here with your dad if we decided to book a hotel or something but I don't know, I just don't feel ready to leave her yet. I know that you're probably sick of waiting and I guess I still feel a little embarrassed…'
'Why would you feel embarrassed baby? I don't understand,' Josh asked as he stroked her hair.
'I mean my body has changed Josh, my boobs are a little saggy, I have stretch marks and my stomach is bigger…'
'Shannon seriously, stop.' Josh sat up a little and looked into Shannon's eyes, she had no need to be ashamed or embarrassed about her body, she was beautiful and in his eyes no one could ever match up to her. 'You are really fucking hot, you need to stop talking about yourself so badly Shannon, there's nothing wrong with you! I don't care if you have stretch marks or if your boobs are saggy which by the way, they look pretty fucking good to me! I love you, every inch of you from top to bottom and you drive me fucking crazy, you always have.'
Shannon couldn't help but smile back at him, he'd always made her feel so special and beautiful and hearing the sincerity in his voice as he spoke made her love him all the more.
'I can't believe how patient you are, most guys would have left me for not putting out by now but not you, you're a real sweetheart aren't you?' Shannon smirked as she traced his face with her fingers.
'Yeah I am, well when it comes to you and Caitlin anyway, out at sea I'm a tough motherfucker so don't go ruining my 'cool' image when you meet some of the guys okay?' Josh smiled back at Shannon as she continued to touch his face.
'I can't wait to meet some of your friends, neither can Caitlin. She keeps talking about these Hillstrand guys, who are they?' Shannon asked.
'Sit back honey, there's so much to tell you,' Josh chuckled as he began to explain who the Hillstrands were.
Josh told her story after story about Andy and John, Shannon thought that Josh was crazy but by the sounds of it he had NOTHING on these guys! She couldn't wait to meet them though, she couldn't wait to meet all of Josh's friends, she just hoped that they would like her.
They sat up for a few hours talking about different things from Caitlin to their plans for the future. Shannon still found it hard to think beyond the next month, Caitlin had to go back for tests in a couple of weeks to see if the cancer had come back once again, if the tests were clear then she would be officially cleared of the leukaemia that she'd battled for so long, if they weren't then they were back to square one once again. She wanted to look ahead and plan for the future but right now all she could think about was Caitlin getting the all clear. Once that had happened she could decide what she wanted to do, from what Josh was saying it sounded like he wanted to go back to Seattle and to her that sounded like a good idea. Now that she wasn't speaking to her mother there was nothing to keep her here. Caitlin didn't like her school all that much, she had a few friends but she was sure that she wouldn't mind moving if it meant her parents being together. She'd missed Seattle ever since she'd left so abruptly, to go back and make a home there with Josh would be a dream come true, she just hoped that Caitlin's tests would come back clear and that the dream would actually become reality for all of them.
Once Shannon's yawns became more and more frequent, Josh finally persuaded her to go to bed. When they got under the covers they made out a little once more before Shannon became too tired to keep her eyes open. Josh watched her intently as she slept, she would never know how beautiful she was but to him that made her all the more attractive in his eyes. Josh knew that her self-confidence issues stemmed from having a bitch of a mother that put her down at every opportunity and the fact that when they'd first got together in High School, the popular girls had mocked her for being too fat and too ugly to date someone as 'hot' as him.
He'd tried to protect her as much as he could but girls could be fucking horrible to one another when they wanted to be. He knew why they were so nasty to her, they were threatened by her because she had it all, beauty and brains. Shannon didn't see it that way of course, she never would, but he was going to tell her every single fucking day that she was beautiful. He wanted her to feel special because she was special, she was his love, the mother of his child, without her his life would be the same myriad of parties, girls and days spent lying in bed recovering from the night before. Now, he had a purpose, his life had meaning, he had his two girls to take care of for the rest of his life. Now he knew and understood why his father had been so hard and tough on him, he was preparing him for this and he was ready because of him.
Josh didn't close his eyes until he heard his father come home at just after midnight. Once he knew that his dad was back safe he soon fell to sleep, wrapping his arms around Shannon's sweet body as he drifted off into a blissful dream.
It was just past two in the morning when his dreams were interrupted by a loud banging at the front door. Both he and Shannon woke with a start and just after the banging Caitlin ran into their room obviously worried and scared about just who the fuck was at their door at this hour in the morning.
'It's okay honey, you stay up here with your mom, I'll go and see who it is,' Josh got out of bed and pulled on a shirt and his sweatpants, he was about to go downstairs when Shannon called after him.
'Be careful Joshua, if you don't know who it is call the Police, I don't want you to get hurt,' Shannon bit down hard on her lip as she hugged Caitlin.
Josh smiled back at her, he had a feeling that he knew who it was at the door and seeing his dad running down the hallway told him that he thought the same thing.
He closed the bedroom door behind him and ran after his father, he got to the top of the stairs just in time to see Phil opening the front door, he stopped dead when he saw a pale and sick looking Jake standing on his front door step.
'Jesus fucking Christ Jake, what the hell have you been doing?' Phil pulled his youngest into the house and closed the door behind him. He tried his best to keep his voice down, he didn't want his granddaughter to see her uncle like this, he looked like he was at death's fucking door.
Josh made his way down the stairs, he had to be strong now, between him and his father they had to make Jake see that he needed help because he couldn't go on like this, the partying had gone too far, way too fucking far. Looking at Jake he could tell that it wasn't just drink that had made him get into this state, he was into way more than that, way fucking more.
'Let's get him in the lounge, I don't want Caitlin to see him like this, she's scared enough as it is,' Josh said to his dad as Jake stared at him with his glazed over bloodshot brown eyes.
Josh wasn't even sure if he knew where he was, it was a miracle that he'd found his way back here. Josh and Phil managed to get Jake in the lounge and put him to sit on the couch, Josh sat down next to him whilst Phil began to pace around.
'Jake? What happened bro?' Josh tried to remain calm, as much as he wanted to slap Jake stupid for getting into such a fucking mess he'd promised both Caitlin and Shannon that he wouldn't do that kind of shit anymore.
'I um, guess I drank too much, just need to sleep it off,' Jake shrugged.
'Drank too much? Don't fucking sit there and lie Jacob! You've got problems and this is the last fucking straw! You're going to rehab and I am not taking no for an answer!' Phil snapped, he couldn't take this shit anymore, he was not going to stand by and let his youngest son fuck his life up before his very eyes.
'Yeah, good idea, go tomorrow,' Jake yawned and Josh knew that he was in no fit state to be given an ass chewing by his dad right now.
Before Phil could say anything else Josh stood up and all but pushed Phil out of the room as Jake curled up on the sofa. Josh took his father into the kitchen and shut the door behind them.
'What the fuck are you doing? We need talk some fucking sense into him!'
'Dad he's wasted! He doesn't even know what you're fucking saying and keep your fucking voice down, I don't want Shannon and Caitlin hearing any of this!'
'We have to do something! I'm calling the Betty Ford place, he's going there tomorrow and he is gonna sort his fucking shit out!' Phil yelled before he turned around and grabbed his cell phone off the kitchen table then unlocked the back door, slamming it shut behind him as he went outside.
Josh buried his head in his hands and sat down at the kitchen table. He knew that Jake needed rehab and he knew that there was no way in hell that he was going to persuade his dad to calm down. Jake was completely out of it, when he woke up tomorrow and found out that dad had booked him a place in rehab he was going to go completely fucking crazy. It was all such a huge clusterfuck and he felt helpless, what could he fucking do?
'There's lots of shouting mom, is everything gonna be okay?' Caitlin looked up at Shannon who guessed that Jake had made his return.
'It's gonna be fine honey, you just stay up here, I need to go and make sure that things are okay,' Shannon smiled at her daughter before she got up and wrapped her dressing gown around herself.
When she got downstairs all she could hear was complete silence, the shouting had finished almost as quickly as it had started. She was about to open the lounge door when the kitchen door opened, she turned to see a stressed looking Josh standing in the doorway running his hand through his hair.
'I'm so sorry, I tried to tell my dad to keep the noise down, you don't fucking need this shit neither does Caitlin,' Josh sighed heavily.
'Neither do you Joshua,' Shannon replied before making her way over to him and wrapping her arms around his neck.
She couldn't really imagine how difficult this was for him and his father, seeing someone go through addiction definitely wasn't easy and she could only hope that Caitlin never walked down that path because it would devastate her. All she could do was try and support both Josh and Phil as they tried to help Jake.
'Is Caitlin okay?' Josh whispered into her ear as she continued to hold him.
'She could hear some of the shouting, I think she'll be okay when we go back upstairs, maybe she can stay in our room tonight?' Shannon said and Josh shrugged his shoulders.
'I don't even know if I'll be going back to bed tonight. Dad's going crazy, he's calling the Betty Ford Clinic to try and get Jake a place there later on today, fuck knows what Jake will do when he comes off his fucking high,' Josh sighed.
'Hopefully he'll see sense and agree to go, if you're gonna stay up I'll go and settle Caitlin and come back down, I don't want you to be on your own,' Shannon replied before planting a kiss on his lips.
'You don't need to sit up with me Shannon, I'll be okay.'
'I want to Joshua, I know how hard this if for you and I want to be here for you, it's not a problem,' Shannon smiled back at him.
'In that case, I better put on a pot of coffee, it's gonna be a long night,' Josh leaned in and kissed her properly taking her breath away and sending shivers down her spine.
They kissed for a few minutes before Shannon eventually pulled away to go back upstairs and check on Caitlin. She crept back into her room just in case she was asleep but she was sat up in bed wide awake. Shannon explained that Jake was back home and that he wasn't feeling too well, Caitlin didn't ask any questions and Shannon didn't feel the need to tell her any more right now. Instead she lay back in bed with her daughter and waited until she'd fallen asleep before she quietly got out of bed and went back downstairs.
When she got back into the kitchen, Josh and Phil were sat at the kitchen table having a pretty heated discussion about Jake.
'Dad, I'm just saying that just because you've got him a place at the clinic it doesn't mean that Jake is gonna take this seriously! You have to be prepared in case this doesn't go how you want it to!'
'He's going to that clinic and he is gonna stay there until he sorts his shit out! I don't even fucking know why we're arguing about this Joshua!'
'I'm not arguing! I'm just trying to make you see that things might not be as easy as you fucking think they're gonna be okay?'
'You think I find this shit easy? You think putting him in a treatment programme is easy? You don't have a fucking clue how hard this is for me!'
'Yes I do! He's my fucking brother!'
'Both of you just stop right now!' Shannon had stood back and allowed the men to continue without saying anything but at that point she had to intervene.
'This isn't helping anyone! Shouting, arguing, yelling, it's just gonna make things a million fucking times worse! We all need to stick together, we have to stick together!' Josh and Phil both looked at each other and realised that she was right, this was no time to be arguing amongst themselves.
'You're not gonna make us kiss and make up are you?' Josh turned to look at Shannon who just shook her head.
'No but I suggest the two of you go outside to have a smoke and cool down, I'll make us some coffee, in fact I might even put a little whiskey in it, I feel like I could use a drink,' Shannon sighed heavily as Phil disappeared outside, Josh didn't move though, he just stood by the kitchen table staring at her.
'In the morning I think you should take Caitlin out of here for a while, I don't want her to be around when Jake wakes up, chances are he's not gonna be very happy when he finds out what dad has done. I don't want here seeing him or hearing him,' Josh said, he felt bad about this, he just wanted life to be fucking perfect for his two girls and it wasn't, it was nowhere near fucking perfect.
'I was thinking the same thing, the problem is, what's gonna happen if Jake refuses to go? What then?' Shannon replied and Josh shrugged.
'I won't let him stay here if that's what you're thinking, I'm not having him anywhere near Caitlin or you when he's like this, he'll find somewhere to go, he always does,' Josh knew that he sounded cold but he didn't know what else to do. He wasn't giving Jake money for a hotel, he'd spend it on drink and drugs and there was no fucking way that he could stay here, what if Caitlin found his stash and decided to try some?
'Let's just hope that he decides to go, I want the awkward, cheeky Jake back, he was a pretty cool kid,' Shannon smirked as she remembered the younger Jake, the Jake who'd bugged the hell out of here and interrupted their make out sessions hundreds of times.
'I do too, I do too,' Josh smiled sadly as he remembered the brother he'd had before the drugs and drink had taken hold of him.
He'd been lucky, he could have gone down the exact same path as Jake. He'd dabbled but drugs just weren't his thing, seeing so many of his friends ruin themselves by getting wasted on them every weekend had kind of put him off for life.
Before he went to join his dad outside, he walked over to Shannon and planted a soft kiss on her lips. He didn't say anything but the look he gave her was enough to let her know what he was thinking. She watched as he disappeared outside to join Phil and she began silently praying that Jake would see sense and get help, she couldn't stand seeing Joshua and Phil so defeated and sad.
Early The Next Morning
'Mom, why do we have to go out so early? I'm tired,' Caitlin yawned as Shannon helped pull her sweatshirt over her head.
'We need to go get some groceries honey and then I thought I could take you to see that movie you were talking about the other day,' Shannon smiled as she tried her best to remain happy go lucky despite the long, sleepless night she'd had.
'But daddy got groceries yesterday, we don't need anything else. We're going because of Uncle Jake aren't we?' Caitlin asked, Shannon should have known that her daughter wouldn't miss a beat, she should have just been honest with her from the start.
'Okay you got me,' Shannon held her hands up signifying defeat, 'yes we're going because daddy and granddad need to talk to Jake. It's a serious conversation so I thought that we should give them some time alone, we'll come back in a few hours.'
'Daddy isn't gonna get nasty again is he?' Caitlin asked and Shannon shook her head.
'No honey he's not, they just need to try and help Uncle Jake get better okay? When you're older, this will make a lot more sense than it does right now trust me,' Shannon replied, she felt like shit because she didn't know how much to tell her. Should she go into all the gory details about drug use now or wait until she was older? She had no fucking clue!
'I hope he gets better, it's not nice being sick, I hope I'm not gonna get sick again,' Caitlin sighed and the look on her face made Shannon wrap her arms around her.
'I hope so too honey, I love you so much,' Shannon told her that so many times a day that she was probably sick of hearing it.
They spent a few more minutes getting ready before heading downstairs and into the kitchen where Josh and Phil were sitting drinking yet another cup of coffee.
'Hey girls, you ready to head out?' Josh got up from his seat and walked over to Caitlin to give her a hug and a kiss.
'Yep, we'll be back in a few hours, is there anything you want while we're out?' Shannon asked and Josh shook his head before leaning forward to whisper in her ear.
'I'll send you a text when everything is sorted out okay?' Shannon nodded and smiled as she stepped back from him, she couldn't show Caitlin that she was nervous about what might happen when they were gone.
'Well good luck, I love you,' Shannon kissed Josh before going over to Phil to give him a hug.
A few minutes later, Josh stood by the front door of the house and watched as Shannon backed out of the drive and drove off down the street. He felt bad about more or less kicking them out of the house but he really did not want Caitlin to see Jake as he was. He wanted to be positive, he wanted to believe that Jake would just agree to go to rehab and their problems would be over but he was realistic. He'd seen plenty of guys go to rehab then come out and after a few days they cracked and started to use all over again, rehab wasn't a guaranteed fix for everything, his dad seemed to think it was but rehab was just the start of a very long and treacherous road.
As soon as he closed the front door behind him he was about to make his way back into the kitchen when he heard movement in the lounge. His hand reached for the door handle when suddenly the door opened from the other side and he came face to face with his brother. Jake stared at him for a moment, Josh could see that he was still pretty fucked up on whatever shit he'd decided to take.
'Hey man, thanks for giving me the couch last night, can you give me some money for a cab? I'm just gonna pick up the rest of my stuff then go, I met this chick and…'
'Stop right there Jake. You're not getting any money from me or from dad and you are not going anywhere so don't even think about trying to leave,' Josh snapped, he couldn't fucking believe that he was so fucking calm and relaxed, he'd turned up here high as fuck knowing that there was a child in the house and he really did not give a fucking shit.
'Dad!' Josh called out and Jake took the split second opportunity to try and push past him but Josh was far too quick and strong for him.
By the time Phil came out of the kitchen, Josh had Jake pinned up against the wall.
'What are you gonna do huh? Punch me again? Come on then Josh, show me what a big, tough fucking guy you are! Make Caitlin and Shannon proud!' Jake laughed as Josh tried to keep his cool.
'I'm not playing this game with you Jake, this isn't you talking, this is the fucking shit you have in your veins! What happened to you bro? Why, why did you fucking do this?' Josh tried to get some sense out of him but that wasn't gonna happen, Jake didn't want to listen, he was too far gone to listen.
'The only place you're gonna go today is rehab Jacob. I called the Betty Ford Clinic last night, you're gonna get your shit together…'
'I do not HAVE a fucking problem! You can't make me go anywhere!' Jake snapped, Josh knew there and then that there was no point in arguing with him, he was an adult and he was right, they couldn't make him go anywhere. Sure they could drag him to rehab but as soon as they left he would just check himself out and head back out onto the streets once again.
'Take a fucking look at yourself in the fucking mirror Jake! Look at you! You're a fucking mess! If you don't get help….'
'Just leave me the fuck alone!'
Josh didn't know how he managed to get the strength to do it but with one huge lunge forward, Jake kicked his legs out from under him and Josh went flying backwards.
He managed to get up on his feet just in time to stop his father from going after him as he bolted through the front door.
'LET ME GO!'
'NO! You can't help him dad, you can't! Let him go, just let him go!'
Phil struggled for a few seconds before he realised that it was no good, Jake would be gone by now and he knew that Josh was right, he couldn't help someone who didn't want to help themselves.
Josh relaxed his grip on Phil when he felt him stop struggling. He hadn't wanted to restrain his dad but he didn't want him getting hurt and the look in Jake's eyes just before he kicked him scared him, he'd never seen his brother so fucking angry before and full of hate.
The person he'd just seen wasn't his brother, he didn't know who he was anymore.
Once again, my apologies for the darkness towards the end of this chapter. I know I am changing how the addiction storyline played out and some might see this as crass and innapropriate, I don't mean to offend anyone or make anyone upset. I don't know what to say really, it felt awkward to write but at the same time it seems to fit.