His weakness

Mel is your duty

John

Present

It has been a month since the wedding of Carina and Jaxon. It's been a month since I last saw Jena. Time has flown but nothing much has changed. I am still fueled by the anger that is constantly beating in my chest, my mind still overrun by memories of the past, not matching up with how things are now. Everywhere I look, there she is. The ghost of our past haunts me. I want to know what changed, what happened to harden the girl I used to love. Did her father end up doing something that forever hardened her heart, did I say something that made her leave that night? I try so hard to think back to every detail of that day, try to think of every word I said that day, but I can’t come up with anything that would’ve made her leave.

I want to hate her, I try to remind myself everyday that I should hate her, but there is always that part of me that is fighting against it, wanting back what we had in the past. That part of me clings to the past, to the girl with the platinum hair and the emerald eyes. The girls that used to sleep in my bed almost every night while I sat in the corner of my room, constantly worried that she would wake up screaming with one of her nightmares. Clings to the girl that made my heart pound in my chest when I saw her sitting on the bleachers, watching me play football, cheering me on at every game. I know she isn’t that girl anymore, but I really want to know what happened to that girl.

I punch the bag again, feel the skin tear around my knuckles, but I am used to the pain by now, welcome it. I keep throwing the combination, jab, cross, kick. Again and again, sticking to the rhythm, one, two, three. I switch my feet and then do the combination again. It is simple, but it flows, exhausting my body more and more with every hit. I ignore my phone ringing in my pocket, not willing to stop until I can’t lift my arms. My phone keeps ringing, becoming a constant buzz in my pocket and I groan in frustration, knowing that the only reason someone will call me like this is when something is wrong, that or it is my baby sister.

I take my phone out and nearly throw it against the wall when I find Melody’s name across my screen. “Tell me someone is dying, or I am going to be very pissed off.” I say into the phone.

“You know, it is very hard to remember why you are my favorite brother these days.” My sister says and I feel a spark of guilt. I haven’t been the best brother for the past few months. Haven’t been the best person to be around either.

“What can I help you with Mel?” I ask her, hoping she didn’t just call to tell me some or other gossip.

“I saw her today. She was at the graveyard.” My sister says and my heart stops for a second. Once again, I have to remind myself that I don’t care.

“Why are you stalking her?” I ask, a bit frustrated that my sister is so infested in my private life.

“Because I was worried she might pass out. She looks bad Johnny, like really bad.” She says and just so you know, my sister is the only one allowed to call me Johnny, anyone else that tries usually never does it again. “Anyway, I followed her and guess at whose gravestone she stood.” She says and for a moment I pray that it is her father’s gravestone because that fucker never deserved to breathe. My sister keeps quiet, wanting me to play this stupid guessing game with her.

“Her father’s?” I ask, voicing my hopes.

“Nope. To be honest, I don’t know to whom the grave belongs because there is no name on the gravestone, just the words ‘I wish I had more time’. Like that is it. She stood at the grave for nearly an hour, just staring at it.” My sister says and I hate that my curiosity is raising its head, more questions and still no f*****g answers.

“Can you do me a favor sis?” I ask her, running my hand through my short hair in frustration.

“Yeah?” She asks, skeptic of what I want to ask.

“Forget about her. She forgot about us, so please, just forget about her.” I tell my sister, tired of only having more and more questions and no f*****g answers. I get that my sister is also remembering the girl that used to help her with her homework, the girl that would braid her hair and play with her dolls with her. Growing up in a house full of boys, she didn’t have someone to always play with her, but Jena always made time for her whenever she could.

“That is a bit hard to do now. I asked her if she would go out with me tomorrow and she agreed. We will be going to have a drink at the sexy billionaire boys club.” She says and I squeeze my phone. I know Archer and Jaxon will make sure that no one f***s with my little sister, but I hate the idea of my sister going into a club. She just turned twenty-one and now that she is legal, she is driving me and my brothers insane. I know I will have to call one of them to go keep an eye on her as there is no way I will be placing myself in a position where I am closer to Jena than I have to be, especially not when I know there will be men trying to hook up with her and I know better than to place myself in situations like that. I also know there is no point trying to talk my sister out of going. She will just do it behind our backs then or end up pissed at me for weeks and I hate having Mel pissed at me.

“I will get Brody to come look after you.” I tell her and I hear her sigh. She knew one of us would be there, but she was hoping to play matchmaker and was hoping that if she could get us in the same room long enough, we would magically make peace and find our way to a happily ever after. My poor delusional sister.

“Fine, but I am going to find out why she left, not for you, but for me. I also missed her, you know.” She says and it is my turn to sigh. I know she missed her, my sister is just more forgiving than I will ever be.

“What time will you be there?” I ask her and she tells me that she is meeting Jena there at 9pm. I talk to her for a few more minutes about her studies and what she is planning on doing about her irritating neighbor that keeps banging girls loud enough for her to have to wear earplugs in the hopes to sleep. I have wanted to beat the s**t out of the asshole for keeping her up, but my sister keeps telling me that she is a big girl and can handle him on her own. All deals are off when he decides to place his hands on my sister. When we say goodbye, I quickly dial my brother’s number.

“Yeah?” He answers on the second ring. I can hear traffic in the background and want to shout at him for picking up the phone while driving. After the accident that Carina got in that nearly took her life, I make sure to never answer the phone while driving and I wish my brother would do the same.

“I need you to look after Mel tomorrow night.” I tell him, not bothering to make small talk.

“No can do. I have to fly to L.A. to get that damn contract signed that I have been fighting so hard for. I am on my way to the airport.” He says and I groan. My brothers are trained fighters, both of them MMA fighters, following in my father’s footsteps, but they also own their own real estate company. I don’t have the head for numbers and as much as they get beaten around, they are brilliant with talking s**t and adding s**t up. I never had the mind for it, and I am more than okay with it. I am one hell of a trainer though. “Don’t bother asking Marcus because he is in the car next to me. It will take both of us to get this contract. Mel is your duty for the next four days.” He says and then puts the phone down, leaving me in a position I really wanted to avoid at all costs. f**k!