Chapter 4

I sighed as I got a text from my brother, I honestly don't know why I keep in contact with them when they treat me like I'm nothing but an errand boy. Grabbing my keys I drive off to the closest convenience store. The bell above the door rings as I walk inside and my eyes roam the shelves and the freezers in the back. I pick up some aspirin and various snacks along with some Ben and Jerry's and head to the front counter. I give a small smile to the nerdy cashier, he was kind of cute with his black thick framed glasses and a small mole at the corner above his top lip. He had these icy blue grey eyes that seemed to know more than he let on and a tall lanky frame. His name is Jake and he is nice enough to me, we make small talk sometimes I'm kind of a regular here.

"Hey Alice! Your brother in one of his drunken bends again", he chuckles softly as I nod politely. "You do know you don't have to do everything those bastards say, you are your own person", he says seriously as he looks at me. I nod shyly and dig out my money to hand it to him. "What the fuck is that Alice!", he growls out as he grabs my arm pulling me against the counter. My eyes widen as my eyes trail to where his gaze is at ...on my wrists. I frantically try to tug my hand back and his grip loosens as he sees the terrified look on my face. My chest starts to heave as I start to hyperventilate and the next thing, I knew my body was driving me away as it burst through the front door of the convenience store. Suddenly a skinny pair of arms wraps around me, panicked I swing my elbow back and hit the assailant in the gut. I hear a pained oof from behind me and before the voice registers in my mind I turn around and twist his arm behind his back and knee his back making him fall forward. The sound of his glasses falling snaps me out of my reverie.

"Holy shit Jake I'm so sorry I didn't mean to... I just thought you were another one of those...", I apologized profusely as I help him up. He nods solemnly as we both go back to when we first met. "My co-workers are gonna get a kick out of this", Jake says with a chuckle as he points to the surveillance camera on the side of the building. My eyes trail over his body looking for injuries and notice a busted lip and a bloody nose. He runs his fingers through his black hair it is partially shaved on one side and long on top that is swept to the side. My hands itched to touch it. I take some tissues from my pocket and gently dab the blood from his face. His warm breath fans my face and my body shivers involuntarily. My cheeks heat up at the close proximity and I advert my gaze to look behind him. Jake clears his throat as he gently grabs my hands and with a sad expression on his face, he slowly strokes his thumbs over my scars. He brings my wrist up to his small pink lips and kisses them. My heart leaps into my throat as my stomach twists into knots. "Promise me you'll never do anything like this again if you ever think about this again just talk to me okay. I don't want to lose you.", He says in a small dejected voice. The words are stuck in my throat so I just nod.

"Oh yeah, you forgot your bag let me get it for you", his voice trails off as he jogs back into the store. He comes back with bag in hand and a smile on his face, I thank him as I take the bag and shove them into the passenger seat of my car before driving off to my brother's house. My brother was sprawled out on the couch still drinking when I entered the house. Beer bottles were strewn all over the floor along with many different food wrappers. He grunts as I hand him the bag of snacks and hand him a spoon from the kitchen. He opens a bag of chips and ice cream and proceeds to use the chips as a spoon. I scrunch up my nose but keep my mouth shut. He drinks a few more as I clean up the house. He went to grab another one mumbling about something. I knew he was drinking way past his limit so before he touched another bottle, I quickly snatched the rest away and poured them down the sink. He tried to stop me, but he was too intoxicated to get up and he ended up falling face first onto the floor.

"Why chu gotta dew dis to meee huh Awice", he mumbles into the floor. "Come on, lets get you to bed Braxton", I say tiredly. A long-exasperated sigh escapes my lip as I haul his drunk ass to his room. I lay him on his side and pull the covers up to his chin. Braxton grabs my arm as I leave "Pwease, sway for a bwit longer" he said in a small voice. I nod slightly and sit next to him on his bed. "Why are chu so wice to me, I'm an asswool to wu, you are algays so wice to me why?", he slurs as he tries to think of what to say next. Stunned into silence at Braxton's heart felt words albeit while drunk I absentmindedly pat his head to comfort him. I slowly hand him a glass of water and aspirin; he quickly snatches it away from me... well as fast as he can while intoxicated and gulped it down greedily. "I dun no if is cause I'm dwunk but, you don't wook as ugly today wu look normul could wu stay da night pwease?" Braxton asked seriously as he looked into my eyes pleadingly. I begrudgingly climb in next to him before my brain had any idea of what my body is doing. He curls up into my side like a baby and drapes an arm across my stomach pulling me close to him. A little while later Braxton falls asleep, yet my body doesn't seem to relax. I didn't get any sleep that night my body was constantly wired, waiting to defend myself the moment he tried anything, whatever it was.

My nerves were fried, and I was starting to grow a massive headache from lack of sleep. Braxton groaned in his sleep and I froze. I struggled to get out of his grip because every time I moved his grip tightened around me like a vice. A yawn escapes from his lips as his eyes flutter open and land on me. I hold my breath, waiting for him to lash out at me. He just stares at me before letting out a 'manly' scream and kicks me off the bed in shock. He holds his head in pain and groans as he squints his eyes at me. "W- what the fuck are you doing here? Get out!" Braxton rushes to the bathroom before I can get a word out. I head into the kitchen to make him his favorite coffee and cook him up some breakfast for when he was done puking. With one last look around the living room I head out and drive home.