Hello I'm back again first off I'd like to thank those who left me wonderful reviews on my last chapter Goewyn, Sofia ,Bkworm4life4, t4swp,Candylou,Drumboy100,MargaretA66, and to those who are following, favorites or just reading thank you you're all awesome. And a big thank you to Bkworm4life4 for helping me with my story you are awesome.
writer's note: Sorry for the long delay I've been working on something big, the suggestion was brought to my attention by someone who's been doing a good job of helping me with my story and I'm concerning on turning this into a series, 1. Pressure, 2. Aftermath, and now 3. a brother's revenge) I don't exactly know how many installments there will be, I do know there's another one but it's still in the planning stages, but we'll see I guess it depends on your reviews and if readers are interested. So let me know what you think?)
Here's the new chapter hope you all like it.
A Brother's Revenge Chapter 14
By 6:30pm the sun was getting lower in the sky as Vanessa drove through the streets of Bayport in her little red Jeep, traffic was light as she headed to the north end of town in the direction of the pier.
"I'm really excited about this picnic. This will be my first time celebrating the July 4th holiday since my mom and I moved here. We couldn't do much when we lived in the city but when I was a kid, she would always buy a package of sparklers for us." She giggled at the memory. "Mom would light one for me, I would pretend it was my magic wand, and I was a fairy princess, I would twirl it around watch it sparkle, and cast spells, oh I had so much fun! What do they do here? I want to hear more about these games and fun activities, are they really fun as everyone says?"
When she didn't get a response, she took a glance over at Joe in the passenger seat, and her heart sank. He looked like he was lost in his thoughts, staring out of the window and gazing off in the distance as if he was in some sort of a trance. She also noticed that he was rubbing his hands intermittently across his khaki shorts, a sure sign that he was anxious about something.
"Joe?" Vanessa took her eyes off the road for a second and looked at him. When she got no response, she pulled off to the side of the road and put the Jeep in park. She touched his arm, "Joe!" She said his name a little louder this time.
"What?!"Joe jumped out of his thoughts, tearing his eyes away from the window he turned to her blinking his eyes.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" His heart was racing and it felt like it was pounding out of his chest. He took a breath working hard to calm down. "Why are we stopped?"
She withdrew her hand off his arm as if it were hot. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Are you alright?" Vanessa asked in concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He said quickly.
For some reason she was not convinced. "You can talk to me if somethings on your mind. It will be just between us."
"No, no." Joe replied. " It's not important. It was stupid anyway." Honestly that wasn't true. From the moment he had gotten into her Jeep his confidence had begun to fade and a bad feeling had come over him, a feeling that he couldn't quite explain.
Joe was trying to remain positive, he kept replaying his brother's words in his head, If you keep worrying and focusing on the bad stuff that could happen, you're going to miss out on all the good stuff that can happen! and he was trying to focus on that. He wanted to have a good time with Vanessa. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.
It was the same feeling he had when he had predicted that someone was going to die and it had come true, Phil and Seth were dead! And Frank he almost...no! Joe quickly pushed that thought away. The palms of his hands were sweaty and he felt his stomach was in knots. He took a deep breath trying to calm himself down. Oh God, he could feel a panic attack coming on...God please not now, not now, not in front of Vanessa! The thoughts swirled with dizzying speed in Joe's head.
"I know you have a lot going on, but if you need to talk. I'm here ready to listen." Vanessa continued on, looking straight at him.
Get it together he told himself. Joe forced a smile onto his face and looked at his angel. He was touched by her offer to listen to his problems.
"Thanks, but I don't really want to burden you with all my crap, especially right now. Besides my problems aren't really that important."
"For some reason I don't believe that. Please talk to me." Vanessa urged him.
"Actually, Vanessa, would you do me a favor?" He said abruptly.
"What's that?"
He held a hand to his chest, God why won't this feeling go away? "Would you turn left at the stop light?" He said between breaths.
"But the pier is straight ahead. I thought that's where we were going?" She asked slowly.
She didn't understand why he was acting like this. She noticed he was breathing heavily and was growing concern. What was happening?
"Are you alright?"
"Yep, fine."
"No, you're not, you look like you're having a panic attack." She was getting scared of his strange behavior. Maybe she should call Frank, he would know what to do.
"Please Vanessa I'm fine really." Joe simply told her between breaths.
She threw Joe a questioning look.
"Just trust me. Please? Will you do what I asked and turn left at the stop light." He was working hard to fend off this panic attack.
She huffed and reluctantly agreed. "Okay." Pulling back onto the road she stopped at the red light and as soon as it turned green, she did as Joe had asked and turned left, taking them away from the pier.
FJFJFJFJFJFJ
Vanessa began following Joe's directions. It didn't take long before she realized he was taking her through town. He had her go past the police station and a coffee shop then turned down another block before he finally had her pull up in front of a brown brick building. The place looked like it was in the process of being remodeled. There was a white van with a Prito's Construction Company logo on the side.
Vanessa turned to Joe with confusion written all over her face. "What are we doing here?" She noticed that he seemed a lot calmer now and his breathing was back to normal and steady.
"See that." Joe smiled and pointed to the brick building.
She looked at the building and nodded, and Joe continued, "That's our dream, Frank's and mine. You're seeing it first. This is the new home of 'Hardy and Sons Detective Agency'. The agency that we are starting with Dad and Sam. I still can't believe it's happening."
"That is awesome Joe, I'm so happy for you and Frank!" Vanessa said excitedly.
When she turned back to face him she saw complete awe in his eyes and a smile on his face. She didn't know why but for some reason it seemed as if someone flipped a switch and Joe had suddenly changed behaviors, the doom and gloom chased away by the bright sunshine.
"I'm excited for you. I'm also touched the you shared this with me." She smiled back at him. "Has Frank seen it yet?'
"No," Joe paused, "at least I don't think so. He'll probably yell at me for it, but I don't care. I wanted to share this little preview with you. And look the lights are still on. The crew must still be working in there." Then a sudden idea struck him. "I have to see it from the inside." He said anxiously, as he opened his door.
"What? Now?" Vanessa asked as her eyes widened.
"Yeah."
"They may not like us bothering them when they're trying to work." Vanessa hesitated. 'We might get into trouble." There he goes again with his strange behavior, she thought.
"No, we won't. I know the guy that's working in there. It's Tony's uncle, Angelo. He owns the construction company."
"Tony? As in Tony Prito your friend whose family owns that restaurant?"
"Yep." Joe said. "Dad hired his uncle to do the renovations." He started to climb out of the Jeep grabbing his crutches from the backseat. "Come on, let's go."
"What about the picnic and fireworks?" Vanessa tried once more to reason with him. "Everybody will be expecting us. My Mom is even going to be there and I really want you to meet her."
"Oh, don't worry, we have plenty of time." Joe waved it off like it was no big deal. "It will be five, ten minutes tops and then we'll go I promise."
I guess there's no point in arguing with him, Vanessa thought as she huffed and climbed out of her Jeep.
The two made their way up to the front entrance, Joe pulled on the handle and found that the door was locked. He looked through the window, and saw two guys wearing overalls with tool belts around their waists inside working. There was a tall guy up on a ladder mudding the drywall, and a guy with red curly hair was rolling up an extension cord around his arm.
Then Joe spotted Angelo, a middle age man of average height with a dark receding hair line. He was putting a drill in a toolbox that was sitting on top of a makeshift table which consisted of a sheet of plywood that was supported by two sawhorses.
Joe pounded on the door to get Angelo's attention. The commotion startled all three men, and resulted in the tall guy losing his grip on the ladder and almost falling off it. Fortunately, he caught himself before he did and began to climb down. All three men gave Joe a sour look.
"Joe, we should leave..." Vanessa whispered in his ear. "They don't look too happy."
"Oh, it'll be fine. I just surprised them is all." He reassured her as he knocked on the door again.
Angelo closed his toolbox and curiously came over to unlocked the door he opened it slightly, peeking his head out. His eyes shifted suspiciously from Joe to Vanessa, and back to Joe. "Yes, Can I help you?"
"Mr. Prito, hi, do you remember me?" Joe asked. The man shook his head no in response.
"It's Joe," Joe said flashing him a smile and pointed to his chest, "Joe Hardy?" He quickly began to explain, " My dad, Fenton Hardy, he hired you to remodel the new detective agency."
After a few seconds it finally clicked in the man's head of who Joe was, "Oh yes, Joe, yes, yes you're one of Fenton's boys. The youngest one, right?"
"Yep that's me." Joe nodded. 'And this beautiful angel here is my date Vanessa Bender." He said making the introductions, as he smiled and put an arm around her shoulders.
Hi," Vanessa said shyly while giving the man a small wave. She was feeling a bit awkward.
"Nice to meet you, young lady." Angelo opened the door wider and stepped aside to let the young couple inside, "Oh and please call me Angelo, Mr. Prito makes me think you're talking to my father, Lord rest his soul."
"You and your brother must be pretty excited about the new business and offices." Angelo said, wiping his hands on his overalls.
"Oh yes." Joe said beaming.
Angelo, having noticed Joe's crutches when he came in, asked, "What happened to you? I hope it's nothing serious."
Joe shifted from one leg to the other as he gripped his crutches tight. "I got injured on a case while back it's nothing." He really did not want to explain the real reason why he had the crutches. "You know how it is, never a dull moment in Hardy land."
"That's true," Angelo laughed, he asked. "So, what can I do for you two?"
"Is it alright if we take a look around? Just five minutes." Joe asked.
"We were just packing up and getting ready to leave for the night and head down to the pier to watch the fireworks and picnic with our families." Angelo said.
"That's where we were going but Joe wanted to make a quick stop here." Vanessa said.
"Why don't you guys go ahead and leave. I'm sure my dad will be okay with that." Joe suggested. "We'll lock up when we're done looking around." Vanessa just looked at him strangely.
"Well," Angelo said, "there's not much to see. We just got the electrical part done, right now we're putting up drywall and laying down flooring."
"I'd still would like to look around, if that's OK." Joe wheedled, "I promise we won't bother anything; it will take like five minutes. And then we'll lock up and leave."
"Right." the curly haired guy scoffed, "You must think we're pretty damn stupid kid. Like, we're really going to let two teenagers with raging hormones alone here at a construction site?" He then remarked sarcastically. "It's not that exciting, unless drywall and sawdust gives you a thrill. For all we know you just want to make out with your girlfriend, and if something happens to either of you then it will be our fault."
Joe's cheeks flared red with anger at his comments. Vanessa's face flushed pink with embarrassment, and all she wanted to do was to crawl into a hole and hide.
"By the way kid what the hell is wrong with you, pounding on the door like that! I nearly fell off my ladder!" The tall guy shouted.
Joe apologized, "Listen, I'm sorry for scaring you guys I didn't mean to."
"Yeah right, you kids are all alike you're good for nothing..."
"Liam! Craig! Enough. It was an accident." Angelo reprimanded his employees. He turns back to Joe he raised an eyebrow. "Is there any truth to you wanting to come here to make out?"
"Oh no! No, no sir!" Joe replied defensively. "It's nothing like that I promise."
Angelo, rubbing his chin slowly thinking of Joe's offer, said. "I guess it'll be alright. Considering you're Fenton's boy, I'm going to trust you at your word."
"Thank you." Joe replied with a sigh of relief.
FJFJFJFJFJFJ
As soon as Angelo and his crew left for the night, Joe locked the door behind him and sighed. "Finally, alone at last."
He turned around to find Vanessa staring at him angrily with her arms folded across her chest.
"What?" Joe asked.
"What is going on with you?"
"Nothing."
"Your behavior is scaring me." Vanessa bit her bottom lip, as angry tears began seeping into the corner of her eyes. "I know that we're still getting to know each other but what happened to the guy who made me laugh when I picked him up at his house?"
Joe saw the tears starting to run down her face. He hated himself for scaring her and was making her cry. "I'm sorry." He closed in the gap between them and put his hands on her shoulders but she just shrugged them off.
"Don't touch me. I just want an explanation. Why are you acting this way? I know you have a lot going on. If you want to talk..."
"...it's nothing." He cut her off.
"What about your panic attack?" She asked worriedly, "What was that about..." He put a finger on her lips cutting her words off again. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead.
He let go of his crutches letting them fall on the floor as he framed her face with his hands, gently wiping her tears away before pulling her in kissing her soft lips. She pulled away angrily only to give him a hard slap across his face.
"If Angelo and his crew were right about your intentions of coming here so we can make out...let me tell you something Joe Hardy! I am not that kind of girl!" She shouted, her face red with anger. "But," She said this time keeping her voice calm but firm. "If you want to go out with me in the future. I suggest that you treat me with respect and honesty."
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry...I won't kiss you again. Geez." Joe stared up at her; as he rubbed his cheek where it stung.
"If you call that an apology it stinks. I ought to slap you again for that and for humiliating me in front of Angelo and his crew." She retorted. She folder her arms back across her chest and demanded, "Are you going to answer my question? Why are you acting this way?"
There was a short pause between them and Vanessa didn't know if he was going to give her an answer.
"Vanessa," Joe paused, thinking for a moment before he replied. "This is the way that I am. I have always been a spontaneous person...a risk taker, I guess you could say. I kissed you on a whim...because I like you and I felt like it, knowing the risk of getting slapped," He rubbed his cheek where it still hurt. "It's the way I tend to do things. Just ask Frank. He'll tell you; he yells at me all the time especially when I rush into something without thinking. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but if you want to go out with me, you'll have to get used to it, because it's who I am. If you don't, then I'm sorry and I understand."
"Then why do you do it? Why do you act before you think?" Vanessa asked curiously.
"I don't know.' Joe said as he shrugged his shoulders, "It's like an adrenaline rush takes over."
"Well maybe you should listen to Frank a bit. He's trying to tell you something important, like he loves you and doesn't want to see you get hurt."
"Oh, I do listen... but when he goes on and on with his lecture it gets boring... then I end up tuning him out, and getting lost in my head. Honestly, I think I do the same thing to Dad, which is part of our problem I think."
"Don't you think your being inconsiderate when you do that?" Vanessa asked
"With Frank I feel like he understands me better. He calls me out on a lot of things and pulls me back when I start to drift too far... with Dad it's different sometimes I feel like he doesn't understand me...we're two different people, I mean I love him and all, and I know he loves me…" Joe paused, thinking for a moment, "For some reason I have this feeling of resentment towards him and I don't know why or where it's coming from." All at once Joe stopped himself...he shook the thoughts out of his head, "Anyway I'm done talking about this."
Joe felt his anxiety starting to kick in so he quickly changed the subject trying to avoid another attack. He reached down and picked up his crutches and turned away from Vanessa and made his way to the center of the room and began looking around. "This will be the reception area once it's finished. Dad will want to hire a new secretary and I'm pretty sure that Mom will be happy she won't have to hold that position anymore. I wonder who our first client would be?"
The abrupt change in conversation made Vanessa very concerned, but she didn't know what to do about it. She thought that she should call or text Frank and ask him, but then she realized that she didn't have his number, however, she could text Callie. Vanessa was sure that she would relay the message to Frank. She took out her phone from her back pocket and began texting, "Callie, I need you to get a message to Frank for me, somethings going on with Joe..." she quickly pressed send and tucked the phone back into her pocket.
"I wonder which office will be mine..." Joe continued on as if nothing had happened even though he felt his heart pumping rapidly as if it was trying to jump out if his chest. Man, he wished this damn feeling would go away. He made his way towards the hallway past the bathroom and then proceeded carefully down the hall. There was a large room with a sign on the door marked conference room, then he moved on down to the offices, he noticed there were five. Five? It was obvious his father would have one, as well as Sam, Frank and himself. But who was the other office for or was Dad going to use it for something else? Guess he'll find out when the time was right.
"Since I'm here, I can scope out the best one. Hopefully Dad will let me add my own touches to it. If I know Frank, he'll just make his all boring... Oooo! I know! I can put in a mini fridge."
As Joe came to the last office he saw that there was a ladder and several paint cans and plywood propped against the far wall. He leaned against the open doorway to ease the pressure off of his leg, as he let his eyes sweep over the unfinished room. He got a whiff of fresh paint and it made him smile, this could be mine once it's finished, he thought. He began to visualize what it would look like. "I'm standing in my dream. Not very many people can say that."
Then his smile started to fade away into a frown, as a lone tear ran down his cheek as he said, "But this could all be taken away in the blink of an eye and, it'll be my fault. It's always my fault."
"Why would you say that?" Vanessa asked softly walking up beside him.
'It's nothing." He quickly wiped away the tears from his face, then turning to look at her, he stared straight into her beautiful eyes.
"Look Vanessa, I'm sorry for scaring you and acting like a jerk. It was wrong of me to embarrass you in front of Angelo and his crew. And you're right, you do deserve someone who will treat you with respect and honesty."
He took a deep breath and said, "I do like you very much. I may even be in love with you. It's been a long time since I've felt this way about anyone." Truthfully, he still couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. He looked at Vanessa and suddenly felt the need to want to protect her, he couldn't face another tragedy, not again. "And that's why it pains me to have to tell you that I think it would be best if we don't see each other anymore."
"What!" Vanessa gasped, her eyes widening. "Why?"
"Because if you stay with me you'll end up getting hurt...or even kill..." His voice trailed off his voice heavy with emotion, he couldn't bring himself to finish that sentence. He could see the hurt in her eyes, he was silently kicking himself for treating her like this...He was doing this for her sake, to protect her, because if I were her, I'd get as far away from me as possible.
"Joe, please don't do that. I like you too, very much so. It's been awhile since I've felt this way about anyone." Vanessa replied tearfully.
"You're not the only one who's gone through crap in their life. For me... I've had a hard time trusting the men in my life because of one man...my father." She stabbed a finger in his chest, "He left when I was three." Angry tears rolled down her face, "On my sixteenth birthday I tracked him down... because I wanted to know who my father was and why he abandoned me. To make a long story short...he's married to another woman...and you want to know the funny part? He has two teenage kids with her. I have two siblings that I never even knew about and haven't met! He has this whole new family, and a life that I'm not a part of! I don't even know if my siblings even know about me! He never calls me. He never acknowledges me. Not even one single birthday card! Nothing! I don't exist to him! And I hate him for that!" She continued, "You are so lucky that you have your father in your life, a man who loves you and gives a damn about you.
"My mother raised me on her own, she would work tirelessly at dead end jobs so she could keep a roof over our heads, put food on the table and clothes on my back, and so I could go to a good school. She is a strong and independent woman and has learned how to fix things around the house because we couldn't always afford to hire someone and we didn't have anyone else we could turn to." She paused to take a breath and wiped the tears off of her face.
Vanessa sniffed, as she continued, "My mom even went back to college to earn a degree in computer science and engineering and she is now working her dream job as computer analyst and works for a company in New York, who allowed her to move here and work from home. I want to show the world that I am not just a pretty face, I'm smart as well, and I want to be a strong and independent woman, just like my mother!"
"My mom showed me that it was okay for a girl to be smart and to use her brain to get what she wants in life. Thanks to my mother, who is my inspiration, I now have a love for computers and technology, and I plan on following in her footsteps. That is MY dream."
Joe's thoughts were racing. He admired Mrs. Bender and Vanessa's goals in life, but her comment on the end focused his thoughts onto the disc, maybe, if he hadn't blown it already she could enhance the footage on the disc! Maybe Vanessa would be the one to help him clear Frank's name!
"I want to give relationships with men a try again, but I don't want it to be just any guy, Joe. I want to try with you." Vanessa paused as she collected her thoughts. "I don't mean just an intimate relationship, it's more than that to me. I want a relationship, or you could even call it a partnership, where we can have fun and be open and honest and talk anything with each other whether it be good or bad. I know that we just started going out, and that this is our first official date, but I think that we could be all that. You told me over the phone about how worried you are about Frank and his arrest for being accused of murdering that man Hayden. And you let it slip that he's been dealing with depression, and I promised you then that what you tell me would be in confidence. You can trust me. So please talk to me. Please tell me what do you really want? Do you really want to break up with me? Or do you want to give this," Vanessa gestured between the two of them, "us, a chance?"
Joe was silent for a moment taking all she had said in. "I'm sorry that your dad is a jerk, and he hurt you like that. I guess we've all had shitty stuff happen to us, and it keeps coming no matter where life takes us."
He swallowed a lump in his throat, "Vanessa, I do trust you and you can trust me. I do want the same things as you do. But there are some things about me that I'm not ready to talk about with you, at least not yet. We're still getting to know each other. I think it's only fair that we should take things slow and not rush."
"Fair enough, I too have other things that I want to share with you eventually, but I'm not ready to share just yet. Until then we'll have to learn to be patient with each other and not push." Vanessa replied back.
"Fair enough."
"Good." She added lightly with a smile.
Joe sighed and shook his head. "You know what, this date isn't turning out so well, maybe we can start over?" Joe smiled, and stuck out his hand to her. "Hi, I'm Joe Hardy, I think you're hot and would you like to go out with me?"
Vanessa started laughing, "now that's the guy I was looking for who made me laugh earlier."
"Well, are you going to leave me hanging?" Joe laughed with his hand in midair.
Vanessa cleared her throat to stifled a laugh, while accepting the handshake Joe offered her. "Hi, Joe. I'm Vanessa Bender, and it's a pleasure to meet you. That was corny but you're cute so I'll let it slide, and yes, I'd love to go out with you. So where are you taking me?'"
"Why to the pier of course...to celebrate the birthday of our great nation, with a picnic and fun games and activities for the whole family and then later the awesome display of fireworks."
"That sounds like fun." Vanessa chuckled lightly.
Joe still couldn't shake the ominous feeling that something bad was about to happen, but maybe it was just his anxiety trying to take over. He was going to try to follow Frank's advice and focus on the good and just try to have fun. He said with a big sigh, "Yes, let's get going, I'm starving by the way. I hope Mom and Aunt Gertrude have the food ready."
"By the way you are a pretty good kisser." She said leaning into him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah," He said flashing her a witty, mischievous grin. "Any change of it happening again, or will it earn me another slap?"
"That depends, if you show me a really good time on this date," She said with a mischievous smile and a seductive note to her voice. "I'll give you a kiss that will curl your toes."
"Well, in that case let's go!" Joe cheered with his arms raised up.
Just then Vanessa's phone chimed to indicated that she had received a message. She took it out of the back pocket of her romper and looked at it. "Callie."
"Callie?" Joe questioned.
"Yeah," Vanessa nodded, "Well I was going to call your brother, because I thought you were going nuts. But, I don't have his number, so I sent Callie a text instead. She wants to know what's going on with you, and where we are?"
"Crap! Frank's probably having kittens!" Joe replied with a grimace. "Chances are that he's standing right next to her. Why don't you just text them back and tell them that we're on our way."
"That's it?"
"Yup."
"You're just going to leave your brother in suspense?"
"Yup."
"Well okay, it's your funeral." She sighed, and began to text, 'we're on our way'.
With that they made their way out of the front door and as they stepped out into the evening Joe looked at his watch and discovered that it was 7pm. They had better head down to the pier before his dad and Frank come searching for him. As he had promised Mr. Prito, Joe made sure that the lights were off and the door was locked before they headed back to the Jeep.
"Hey what's this?" Vanessa pointed at a flyer on her windshield, as they got closer, they saw in bold black letters, 'Eye for an eye... A brother for a brother... soon a Hardy boy will die!'
Joe's face paled at the message. He wrapped an arm around Vanessa pulling her close to him. He began looking around at their surroundings, "We better get out of here." He opened the driver's side door for her, and once Vanessa was safely inside, he closed the door.
"I better to get this to Dad." He peeled the corner of the flyer careful not to disturb fingerprints that may be on it and put it in a Ziploc that Vanessa had sitting in the backseat. As Vanessa started the car, Joe made his way around the Jeep as quickly as he could with his crutches. He looked around once more, before he opened his door and placing his crutches in the backseat, he climbed inside, and then they were off and heading down the road.
Unbeknownst to them a dark figure stepped out from the shadows at the corner of the building, and a devilish grin spread across his face as he watched the rear tail lights of the Jeep disappear down the road.