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"My dad targeted Jax He was the bastard and worthy of less respect in my father’s eyes, apparently He didn’t hit me until later"

"Tell

"One day--not long after I found out how he really treated Jax--so He wanted to break inside and rob the place"

"What?" I blurted out suddenly

"Froht, especially with his expensive habits Jax would tell me that this was normal, that he did this for my dad a lot He never refused My father abused hi ood We’d still have to do the job but just with bruises But I refused anyway Andaway , he was being hurt "Did you try to call your mom?" I choked out

"Once" He nodded "It was beforeme She was drunk, of course She didn’t see it as a bad situation, so she didn’t coet me I tried to tell her about Jax, but she didn’t consider hi out of there, running away But Jax wouldn’t leave, and I couldn’t leave him"

Thank God she’d cleaned herself up otherwise I’d have to hurt her

"So I gave in tofor my reaction "I helped his for him" He walked back to theand peered out at the tree "One day, after weeks of hell, I refused to listen to hi Jax with me" He pulled his t-shirt over his head and showed me his back "He took a belt to ers across his scars The edges were rigid, but the dip of the welts was seous

He paused for a host of his pain still deep in his eyes "So I finally just ran away I stole fifty bucks and jumped a bus hoony in his eyes What had happened to his brother? Jared had thought that life with Katherine was bad, but his father turned out to be a horror And he had to make the decision to abandon ship without his brother

"Did you go to the police?" I asked

He shook his head "Not at first There was no way I wanted to deal with that I just wanted to forget about it But when o I never told them what happened to me, but I did report what happened topictures of h The police took my brother away from my dad and put him into foster care I wanted hi didn’t inspire any confidence with the state"

"Have you seen your dad since?" I wanted to gag using the word "dad" for a man like that

"I saw him today" Jared stunned me "I see him every weekend"

"What?! Why?" So that’s where he went, but how could he put himself in the same room as a monster like that?

"Because life’s a bitch, that’s why" He gave me a bitter smile and looked away "Last year, after you left for France, I went a little crazy I drank and got into a lot of fights Madoc and I both had a ball for a while I hated that you were gone, but I’d also found out that Jax had been transferred to another foster home after the last fao stand at the , and I noticed he was clenching his fists He wasn’t teary anymore He was pissed

"So I tracked down his old foster dad, and I fked him up Like, really bad" His eyebrows lifted, but there was no regret in his tone "He was in the hospital for a week The judge decided that, while ht it would be poetic to sentence me to forced visits withs that the cops found at his house It looked like I was on the sae ordered one visit a week for a year"

"So that’s where you go To Stateville Prison in Crest Hill" It wasn’t a question, just a clarification I remembered the receipts in his rooh"

I nodded gratefully "Where is your brother now?"

The first hint of a smile played on Jared’s lips "He’s in Weston Safe and sound with a good fa hiet the state to agree to let him live with us She’s been sober for a while He’s almost seventeen, so it’s not like he’s a kid"

This was a lot to absorb I was elated that he’d finally confided in me He’d been hurt, which had probably made him feel abandoned by the people that should’ve protected hi

I walked over to hio? I could’ve been there for you" I got up froh his hair and inched away froot hoht Well, other than doing what I could to help Jax I had to see you My ripped the railing at his sides, and his body went rigid "I went to your house, but your grandet ht But I ran off to find you, anyway After a while, I found myself at the fish pond in the park" He raised his eyes to meetthe little family"

The little fa wrong I know that now You just have to understandfrory I’d been betrayed by the people I was supposed to be able to count on: my mom who didn’t help when I needed her, my dad who hurt me and my helpless brother And then I saw you with our parents, looking like the happy, sweet fa to ot to see the mother that I never had Your dad took you on picnics and for ice crea me I felt like no one wanted me and that life one on a couple of outings with us that suht He loved Jared and knew Katherine was a good person at heart He was only trying to get her out of the house and show her, in a hu out on with her own son