Protect Me, Love Me - Chapter 25 (Part 1)
Chapter 25
“Unreal Pain”
Disclaimer - I do not own Four Brothers. Nor do I own the songs!
‘What I’ve Done’ - Linkin Park
‘Leave Out All The Rest’ - Linkin Park
Pairing - Bobby/Jack
Rating - R
“Talking”
‘Thinking’
x-x-x-x
Persistent knocking woke Jack the next morning and he groaned, shifted, then froze when he felt the warm, muscular, body laying underneath him. “Jack?! Come on, lazy ass, I’m hungry? Jack? You awake?!?!” he heard Alexis scream through his door and groaned.
“What the fuck?” he heard Bobby mutter and groaned again as he rolled away and slammed his hand on the clock, which was buzzing. “I’m up! Fuck, you need to learn how to cook your own fucking food!” he yelled back. He heard Alexis laugh “But then what fun would it be waking you up?” she teased before he heard her footsteps on the stairs then: “He’s coming!” was shouted.
Sitting up, yawning, Jack tried not to look at Bobby as he rolled his shoulders and went to the bathroom.
As he peed, washed his hands, then brushed his teeth Bobby stood in the doorway watching him and by the time he picked up his brush and went to brush his hair, his face was almost purple. “Will you stop staring at me?” he muttered glancing at him and seeing the smirk that made its way onto his brother’s face, Jack rolled his eyes.
“Well… sorry, didn’t know you didn’t like to be stared at.” Bobby teased and Jack blushed even more. He got into the shower, fully clothed, before stripping and throwing his clothes out the side of the curtain; ignoring his brother’s chuckle at his shyness.
After taking a quick shower, and trying not to think about what had happened the night before, he wrapped a towel around his waist before getting out and walking into his room.
Looking around Jack saw Bobby in his computer chair, looking at all his pictures, and dressed in clean clothes Jack frowned. “Thought you didn’t have clothes.” He stated and saw Bobby turn to him. “Jerry went to get the car this mornin’ and left my bag outside the door.” He said with a shrug.
Jack nodded to him as he went through his draws and pulled out boxers, a black t-shirt that said ‘Deadlines Amuse Me’, and dark blue jeans. Glancing behind him, and finding Bobby staring at him, he swallowed before going back into the bathroom, ignoring the sigh from Bobby.
Pulling on his clothes Jack couldn’t help but feel stupid. His brother had seen him naked but part of him was just too uncomfortable changing or doing anything personal in front of Bobby. Feeling stupid and idiotic Jack brushed his hair, being careful of all the knots.
When both him and Bobby walked downstairs they saw Alexis shifting around in the kitchen, which had a whole bunch of food on the counter, Mia was sipping coffee while flipping through a bridal magazine and Conner was nowhere in sight. His brothers though were sitting with Mia at the dinning room table and looked up at them, though they didn’t say anything.
Groaning Jack went into the kitchen, stopping by Mia to kiss her head, and waved his hands at Alexis, who laughed. “Get out, demon!” he shouted, playfully, watching as she ran out and jumped on the couch, turning on the TV.
As he put on bacon, sausage, and hashbrown Jack started mixing eggs together to make scrambled eggs. By the time the bacon and everything was almost done Conner came stumbling down the stairs, eyes closed, and sat at the table.
Conner glanced up and looked at his brothers with wide eyes before rubbing his head “Fuck, how much did I drink last night?” he muttered and Jack laughed from the kitchen, while Mia went ‘aww’ and got him some Advil.
~~~
Breakfast was done within 10 minutes and Alexis and Mia set the table while Conner poured coffee and he got everything onto plates. When everyone was sitting Jack grabbed a biscuit before anyone could blink, then his three friends jumped at the plate.
“Fuck!” he heard his brothers mutter as they watched him and his friends play around, throwing food and talking. “Ok, ok, I still say Taylor has his crush!” Conner teased and batted his eyes at him.
Throwing a piece of bacon at his friend Jack made a face as Mia and Alexis laughed. “Oh come on, I think its so- cute!” Mia teased, pinching his cheek. Jack slapped her hand away and crossed his arms “Go fuck yourselves!” he snarled and bit off a piece of bacon.
“Whose Taylor?” Bobby asked and Jack blushed red “No one!” he muttered just as Mia, Conner, and Alexis laughed. “The guy who owns the club from last night. He’s completely and utterly in love with Jack!” Alexis laughed as she drew out the word ‘love’ and batted her eyes at Jack.
He ignored Bobby’s raised eyebrow and took a drink of milk as he cut up some egg. He looked up just in time to see Bobby put a large, full size, piece of sausage into his mouth and Jack’s eyes widened and he choked on his milk, his fork sliding on his plate making it do that loud screeching sound. “YO!!” “What the fuck?!” and other words were thrown around as Jack coughed, blushing bright red.
“You ok?” he heard Conner, Bobby, Alexis, and Mia asked as the others stared; both Angel and Jerry had seen him looking and were raising eyebrows and had smirks. Looking up he nodded, avoiding his brothers’ eyes, and got up
“Ya.. um… wrong pipe!” he squeaked out then grabbed Conner’s shoulder “Oh, look you’re done too, good! Come on we should go … talk about… music!” Jack said pulling his friend away from the table.
Conner bent his head and tried to get the last part of egg into his mouth as he was pulled from the table. Jack dragged a stumbling Conner into the back bedroom and shut the door, leaning his back against it.
“What?!” Conner asked seeing his beet red face. Jack opened his mouth and stuttered a few times before he turned purple “Bobby… last night… he um… ok… uh..” he stuttered and saw Conner’s raised eyebrow then his friend narrowed his eyes, in confusion. “I thought you wasn’t gonna… you know.. ‘mate’ or whatever?” he asked and Jack shook his head.
”We didn’t.. he… went … down… on me..” he stuttered out and saw Conner’s eyes widened before his friend laughed and slapped his arm “You got your first blow-job! Congrats, man, but I thought you didn’t wanna do nothin’.” This time Conner really did look confused and Jack felt all blood drain from his face as he remembered ‘Miles’ and the ‘Council’ trying to ruin his life.
Glancing up at his friend Jack swallowed as he felt fear start to creep back into his body, making his body tense and tremble lightly. “Remember I told you ‘bout the ‘council’? well.. they…” he trailed off and before taking a breath and telling him everything.
From when Bobby grabbed his arm, showing Jack the entire conversation, to coming back here and when he decided that he was just gonna let Bobby … do it… then the ‘blow-job’.
He told Conner about his fear of what ‘mating’ was gonna be like and how if he didn’t a lot of people were gonna die, then told him about how he was just gonna do it because the council was gonna make him. The speech came out stuttered and jumping from one thing to another but in the end Conner understood everything.
~~~~~~~~Bobby’s POV
The yell of “What?!” that Conner screamed out was heard in the dinning room and Bobby turned his head towards the bedroom door. He saw the two girls jump when Conner yelled and saw them also looking at the door.
Suddenly Conner came storming out, Jack behind him looking as if he was trying to reason with the guy. “Mia?! Where’s my shotgun?” he asked and Bobby blinked, confused, and saw Mia look at her boyfriend wary.
Jack shook his head “Fuck! You’re just as bad as my brothers!” his little brother snapped and Bobby, Jerry, and Angel, who were watching silently, raised their eyebrows, insulted. Conner had gone through another door at the other side of the loft and came out with a large shotgun.
“You know, I don’t know whether to take that as a complement or an insult!” he said with a confused look on his face and Bobby watched Jack glare.
“Listen, it’s fine…” he got that far before Bobby saw the guy explode, swearing that he saw steam coming out of the kid’s ears.
“Fine’? ‘Fine’ how the fuck could this be fucking fine?!?! Some fucking council’s gonna come up in here and force this guy,” Conner waved his hand at Bobby, who glared, “to do that to you, and you say its ‘fine’?!!?” Conner yelled and Bobby finally understood why the guy was so pissed off.
“Damnit Jack you’re one of my best friends and I’ll be damned if I don’t at least try and fucking stop it!” Conner said and cocked the gun loudly.
Mia stood from the table “What the fucks goin’ on?!” she snapped and Conner looked at her before walking over, bending to whisper in her ear. As he spoke he waved his hands around and Bobby watched her eyes widen “But-Jack?” she asked, turning to look at him. Bobby saw his brother looking at the floor helpless, eyes terrified and sad.
Standing, Bobby went to say something when Conner pointed the gun at him “Conner!” Jack screamed and Bobby glared “Get that fucking thing away from me!” he snarled, seeing both Jerry and Angel had jumped up.
Conner met his glare evenly and Bobby saw a protectiveness in his eyes for Jack that he instantly respected. “If you hurt him I fucking swear to God I’ll put a bullet through your skull.” Conner said evenly.
“Enough!” Jack barked and the gun shot out from Conner’s hand and flew to Jack’s outstretched one. “No one is shooting anyone! Enough of this bullshit! Get ready I wanna practice!” he snarled and turned on his heel and walked to the room Conner got his gun from.
Bobby, though, never took his eyes off Conner, who was still staring at him angrily. Mia and Alexis slowly went to the room but Conner stayed.
“I love that kid like my brother and I promised Xander I’d take care of him. Your brothers might hesitate to stop you but I fucking swear if you even come at him with annoyance I’ll kill you.
"You heard what the fucking asshole said, if you two do ‘mate’ then Jack will never be able to stop you if you try and take something. He might not be able to stop you but I sure as fuck will.” He said calmly and completely serious before turning around and walking into the room.
Bobby glanced at his brothers who looked shocked and more then a little pissed off before shaking his head “You gotta admit its good to see someone else so protective of Jackie.” He said before walking into the room, his brothers following him slowly.
The room was huge, like the living room and dinning room put together. It had a full drum set a huge keyboard, which had a guitar next to it, and that was in the middle while on the side opposite of the door was a huge TV like computer with a whole shit load of wires and shit.
Bobby watched as Jack grabbed the microphone and motioned them to sit on the couch which was a little off to the side.
When they were all hooked up Bobby sat back and listened as Jack turned to his band mates. “Which we doin’?” he asked and Conner shrugged,
“’What I’ve Done’ and ‘Leave Out All The Rest’ then we should get ‘Better Than Drugs’ again ‘cause we fucked up a little on the second chorus. Plus you said you wanted to rehearse that one song… ‘Pain’ we haven’t done it in years and your boy-toy wants us to play it next time.” Conner said and Jack rolled his eyes at the teasing.
“Fine, fine, but do ‘Better Than Drugs’ first ‘cause I wanna fucking get that chorus right. Then you wanted to sing that one song ‘Never Too Late’ right?” He asked. Conner nodded and then music was filling the air.
Bobby watched Jack sing… watched the emotions that passed on his face and really listened to the lyrics and he couldn’t help the emotion that welled up in his own chest.
~~~~~~~~~~Jack’s POV
He sung the last of the song carefully as he tried to ignore his brothers. It wasn’t easy when he knew that Bobby knew that the song was about him. He kept his eyes closed, moving his body, and tried to pretend that he was on stage and not in front of the person most of his songs were about. He glanced behind him and saw his friends nodding, they’d gotten it right… finally.
“Ok now we’ll do the new ones ok?” Conner asked and Jack nodded and cracked his back. By the time they were starting the new song he was already in some pain. It was like his body could feel his mate close and was torturing him for not just giving in.
‘In this farewell
There’s no blood
There’s no alibi
‘Cause I’ve drawn regret
From the truth
Of a thousand lies
[Chorus]
So let mercy come
And wash away - -’
They paused for a minute, after the song, and took some water before Jack nodded to Conner who started the beginning of the next song. It was a quiet song, full of pain and sadness. He’d wrote it when ran from ‘Miles’ after Xander died… after he found out that he was dying.
He needed a way to express his pain and how he was feeling, what he was thinking, and it all just came out in a song. Singing it in front of his brothers was very hard for him to do though… especially since they would know, by the pain in his voice, what he was talking about.
‘I dreamed I was missing
You were so scared
But no one would listen
‘Cause no one else cared
After my dreaming
I woke with this fear
What am I leaving
When I’m done here
So if you’re asking me I want you to know -’
When he was done he nodded, trying not to look at his brothers. He didn’t want to do these songs, especially in front of them, but he knew they needed to practice. The last song though… he knew would raise a lot of eyebrows because it was so emotional.
“Perfect… but, in ‘What I’ve Done’ Mia I think you could go a little longer with the keyboard in the beginning, like as ‘Lexis is going into the drums keep going, then stop when we bring in the guitars.” He said and saw Mia nod.
“I think it sounds good, we should’ve done these last night too.” Mia said and Jack shrugged; the songs were good but he didn’t want to put them in with the songs that he wanted to do last night.
Soon they went on to the other song, Jack and Conner switching places. Jack picked up his acoustic and started to play the beginning of the song. Conner had written the song with him and when they put up to debate, who was to sing it, he flat out refused to.
After listening to Conner sing the song though they agreed that his voice fit the song. Jack wanted to point out that he liked doing the back up for the song and the fact that Conner wrote the song about him just made it too weird for him to sing.
As they finished his hands were shaking lightly and his eyes were clouded with pain. “I think we should do the other song later, alright?” Alexis said, noticing his pain but not wanting to point it out with his brothers there. Jack turned and gave her a half smile in thanks; he really didn’t want them, especially Bobby, to know how much pain he was in.
They walked back into the other room and Mia and Alexis went to work on making sandwiches for lunch while Jack took his sketch pad and went to sit down at the table. He saw his brothers sitting around the TV watching the game and rolled his eyes. Within a few minutes his hands were shaking so bad he had to stop. He was about to go get his pills from the bathroom when Conner came in, casually, and walked over to him.
His friend put the pills on the table, kissed the top of his head, before walking into the kitchen. With shaking hands he took out six and threw the into his mouth, dry swallowing them. Closing his eyes he let out a shuddery breath when they started to work.
“What’s that?” he heard Angel ask and turned his head, putting the pill bottle in his lap. “What’s what?” he asked and saw the ‘don’t bullshit me’ look on his brother’s face and shrugged.
Bobby and Jerry had both turned around at this point and was looking between them confused. “From the music… gave me a headache. Not a big deal, it’s Advil.” He said and knew it wouldn’t satisfy his brother but he didn’t care.
Turning back around Jack closed his eyes and counted to 20 before picking up his pencil and started drawing again. He did little doodles here and there, nothing like he used to, but it kept him occupied and he enjoyed it.
In the kitchen Mia and Alexis put on the song ‘I Hate Everything About You’ and Jack sang along, bobbing his head, as he drew. Someone sat next to him but Jack didn’t pay attention as he drew a picture of his brothers and mother. It wasn’t a portrait, instead it had traces of them all over in different spots of the paper. He drew Seth, Kerra, Conner, Mia, and Alexis as well as Sofi, Camille, and the girls on the page too.
Looking up, when the song ended, he saw Bobby sitting next to him and looked back down. It was weird knowing Bobby had heard him sing, like Bobby had read his journal or something stupid like that.
“You’re good at that.” He heard and nodded “So you’ve told me.” He replied as he remembered his brother yelling at him when Bobby found out he stopped drawing. “I meant singing…” Bobby said and Jack glanced up at him, searchingly.
“It helps.. it helps me deal with all this shit.. ‘Ma, …Xander…, those fucking people trying to control my life. I really like singing.” He whispered quietly; horrible thoughts passed through his mind, saying that if he mated Bobby, his brother would never let him sing again…that all he’d be was a fuck toy just like his father predicted.
His brother’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. “You know we’re really gonna have to work on you thinking so much. I don’t know what’s goin’ on in you’re head but from the look on you’re face it ain’t nothin’ good.” He heard Bobby state and shrugged warily.
“I can’t help thinking it… all those years of being told that’s all I am can’t just disappear.” He said back and saw the realization then anger come into Bobby’s eyes, as his brother realized what he was thinking.
Watching as Bobby calmed himself Jack sighed in relief, he really wasn’t up to dealing with an angry Bobby right now. “That one song… the last one you sang…” he heard Bobby start to say and shook his head, cutting him off. “I wrote it after Xander… after he.. died… when I found out about what’s happening to me.” He shrugged.
“I needed an outlet… that’s what music does for me Bobby it helps me cope with things I can’t deal with.” He said softly, tracing his mother’s face on the piece of paper.
He felt Bobby going to say something when the doorbell rang and he looked up, confused. Conner grabbed his shotgun and went to the door, everyone else freezing, and opened the door.
Chase’s eyes widened and he held up his hands “Fuck! I didn’t do nothin’!” the guy said and Jack let out the shuddery breath he didn’t notice he was holding. “Jesus, fuck, sorry, man. What’d ya need?” Conner asked.
Chase blushed lightly before coming in and looking at Alexis “Um… I was wondering if, maybe, you’d wanna go out … with me…” he stuttered and Jack’s eyes sparkled as he sat up straighter. Alexis blinked “Uh… um.. ya… sure… I mean yes, ok!” she said, blushing also, and trying to keep from smiling to widely.
Chase nodded “Ok! Ok… is tomorrow night good… I know it’s a Monday but …” he started but Alexis cut him off “No! it’s fine! Um… how’s 8?” she asked and he nodded.
They said a quick goodbye and when Chase left Jack shot up and jumped “YES!!” he shouted as he ran over and swung her into the air. Mia and Conner were laughing and cheering as he put her down. “Oh my god! I can’t believe I’m actually going out on a date!” she said in shock then shook her head “What the fuck am I gonna wear?!” she exclaimed before Mia grabbed her and they ran up the stairs.
When the door closed Jack looked at Conner smugly and held out his hand. “Oh, fuck you!” Conner muttered as he dug in his pocket and took out a fifty. “If I could I would, thank you very much!” he said, the smug smile never leaving.
“Hey I told you they liked each other, but no… no one listens to me!” he said waving his hand and going to the fridge and grabbing a can of Pepsi. “Now I’m gonna go take a nap… do not let Mia go into her ‘wedding planning’ mode! Hopefully this’ll distract her!” he muttered as he walked up the stairs, leaving Conner laughing at the kitchen table.
End Part 1
Next part will be up in a minute!
~shadow