Jodee

Chapter 17 - Explanations

CALEB POV

"Go to your room." I told Jodee the second we entered in the front door to our home.

Jodee shot me a slightly confused and worried look as she bit her bottom lip. But in the end she nodded and headed off towards the stairs, taking her bags with her.

She looked a little better after we had our lunch, but her eyes were still bloodshot and you could tell that she had been crying. This was breaking my heart.

I cared about Jodee so fucking much. I cared about that girl like she was my little sister. And to see that kid picking on her and to see how distraught she was over it. It tore me apart. Even now, every time I look at her face that was lit up and smiling at the beginning of the day. To now where it is evident she had been crying and she had a scared and sad look plastered on. It breaks me.

I was also pissed as fuck!

I was pissed that Zane had the nerve to pick on her. At school and then outside when she's trying to have fun! Not to mention that he actually fucking touched her. Like pushing her, hard. I was pretty sure Jodee's back got hit by the selves but I decided that I was going to prioritize making sure she felt safe than grilling her about some theory I wasn't even sure of.

But I was equally as pissed that my best friend's little sister didn't tell us what had happened the very first day Zane had done anything to her. I really thought Jodee, Ace, and I had a special bond. But I guess I never realized that Jodee wouldn't feel comfortable enough to come to us with something like this.

I don't know whether it's because Jodee was scared of what this kid would do to her if she told Ace or me. Or if it's because she thought she would handle it on her own. Either way was not good in my books. Of course, I would never be mad at Jodee for not telling us ... even though I was a little mad ... because I wanted to make sure that in the future she would one hundred percent come to us, no matter what.

I also had a feeling that Zane had told her to either not tell us or had made her believe that she had to handle it on her own or something like that. And I knew that Jodee was a sensitive little girl so if someone did do that she was scared of them. Her instant reaction would be to listen. Which I understood, considering her and Ace's past.

Right now I had two goals: The first was to make sure Jodee felt like telling me was the best decision, rather than regretting her decision to tell me because of my reaction. My second was to tell her brother what happened and to make sure we have a plan to take care of this Zane kid.

I stormed up the stairs after getting myself a glass of water — which I practically inhaled and then slammed the glass into the sink. I wanted to go straight up the stairs to see Ace but I had to make sure Jodee was already in her room by the time I went upstairs. So she wouldn't see me like this.

I was very careful to keep my temper in check around her, always.

Once I reached the second floor I took a second — and only a second — to look at Jodee's door and to reassure myself that I was safe. To tell Ace this news I knew that I had to be the calm one so he could go through all of his emotions. And I knew that Ace would most definitely be extremely pissed because that's just the overprotective side of his coming out.

I took a deep breath then headed up the stairs to the third floor. Ace's office was a little down the hallway so I walked a little bit at a very fast pace.

But something stoped me in my tracks — some fucker just ran into me!

"What the f—" I started, whipping around to face the person who had run into me and stopped me from achieving what I came up here to do.