Caught in the Middle, Clearly Jaded [best book clubs .TXT] 📗

I’m sitting in the park, on a bench, wondering where Jackson and I are going to sleep tonight. It’s been a week since we’ve ran away from the foster home, and I don’t plan on getting caught and getting sent back. Our foster parents aren’t good people, they just put up with us for the check they get at the first of the month. They drink it all up within the first couple of weeks though, making our lives a living hell.
I see Jacks come walking through the park and I take a second to look at the boy that I’ve become so close with these past few years. He’s taller than me by a few inches, his dark brown hair is constantly getting in his eyes, and his muscular body only adds to my appeal.
He has his arms inside his jacket, probably hiding the food he went and stole from the local grocery store or gas station.
“Oh god” I say running up to him giving him a hug. “I thought something happened, what took so long?”
He hands me a bag of chips and a bottle of water before sitting down on the bench taking another bottle of water, chips, and a couple of candy bars out of his jacket.
“Ran into a little mishap, but everything went fine.” He said smiling at me.
He looks so grown now that I can’t help but stare. We are both only 17 but growing up like we did can make you seem older than you really are.
“What?” He asks grinning at me.
I blush and turn away opening my bag of chips, stuffing some into my mouth. He does the same and we sit in silence as we eat.
Once we are finished we throw our trash in the trashcan beside the bench and start walking towards town.
“Where are we going?” I ask curiously having to jog to catch up to him.
He grabs my hand in his and I blush at the sudden contact.
“I have a job to do tonight so you are going to be staying with a friend I met.” He said a worried expression on his face.
I stopped walking making him turn and face me, “Whats wrong Jacks?” I peer up at him. I know there is something wrong because he never makes me stay with someone if he has a job to do which is every couple of days. Whenever I ask him what kind of job he does, he evades the question.
He cups my hand in his face, “Nothing is wrong baby.” He uses my nickname making me blush. We are not a couple, but we act like it anyway, only we don’t kiss or do other intimate things.
“You promise?” I ask him giving him my pinkie, another ritual that we do every so often. When the pinkie is involved we always keep our promises to each other, no matter what. He hesitates but then encircles his pinkie with mine.
“Promise.” He repeats putting his forehead against mine closing his eyes with a sigh, “I will always take care of you Jules.”
I nod my head against his. Then he straightens back up, grabs my hand and once again we are walking towards town again.
**********************
“How far away are we?” I whine. I know I sound like a baby but we had been walking for about an hour and my feet were screaming at me.
Jacks suddenly came to a stop making me bump into him.
“Sorry.” I say rubbing my nose.
“We’re here.” He says and walks towards a rundown house that looks as if it will collapse any second.
We walk up to the porch and Jacks knocks. A few seconds later a middle aged man appears and opens the door to let us in.
“Jackson.” The man nods and leads us into the living room motioning us to take a seat. “I didn’t think you were going to show.”
I’m feeling very nervous, especially since the man keeps glancing over at me. I can tell he likes what he sees making my heart gallop frantically.
“The package is over on the kitchen table.” The man says and Jackson nods and leaves me to go get it.
“Have a seat.” The man says looking at me. As I sit I can feel the man looking me over.
Jackson appears with a package in his hands, “Come on Julia, let’s go.”
“Hold up.” The man says standing up quickly making me flinch. “I need a little insurance here, the girl stays until you get back from delivering the package.”
I tense up and I look at Jackson. He is shaking his head and I let out a breath of air, “She goes with me.”
The man looks disappointed but quickly moves onto his next scheme, “If the girl doesn’t stay then you don’t get the package and you don’t get paid. The girl will not be harmed…” He pauses thinking, “Unless of course you don’t come back with what’s rightfully mine, then I will keep whats yours.”
I feel Jackson tense, “Then keep your package.” He says through his teeth laying the package on the floor, “Come one Jules.” He pulls me towards the front door.
“50,000 dollars.” The man says making us come to a sudden halt.
50,000 dollars just to deliver a package? What the hell was in that package anyways. Jacks looks at me and shakes his head and continues to pull me out the door.
“Jacks, that’s a lot of money, think of what we could do. No more sleeping outside in the park, or stealing from the store just to eat.” I plead with him. How long could it take to deliver a package anyways?
“I can’t risk you Jules, I won’t” He shakes his head.
I put my hands on either side of his face, “I’ll be fine, we need this. Please?” I beg.
I see the turmoil in his eyes, he wondering what the right decision is.
“Just hurry and deliver the package and we’ll be set.” I plead again.
Even though I’m scared of the man in the living room, this is just too much to pass up.
“I’ll only do it if you want me to, I don’t mind stealing from the stores and sleeping in the park, as long as I’m with you Jules.” He pulls me into his embrace and I hug him tightly.
“Just hurry and get back.” I tell say, pulling away from him and go back into the living room to take a seat on the couch.
Jacks picks up the package and turns to the man, “I’ll be back, if you so much as lay a hand on her, I’ll kill you.” He says his voice menacing.
The man only smiles, as if he is amused, “You have my word, the girl will not be harmed as long as you come back with what’s rightfully mine.”
I didn’t understand why the man kept saying that but before I could think about the double meaning in his words Jackson turned back to me and gave me a light kiss on the lips.
“I’ll be back.” He says and quickly turns and walks out the door.
What he doesn’t know, is that was my first kiss. What I found out, was that he didn’t come back.
Chapter 2
I was screaming, “Mason! Mace!” They were taking my brother away and I didn’t know why. I didn’t know a lot of things and all I could do was sit there and cry as they took my brother away. I was 10 years old and Mace was 13 when our parents died. Well it was more my mom died and his dad died, since we were step siblings, but I still didn’t understand at the time why they were taking Mace away and separating us. I later found out that our parents had died in a car accident. I was put into a foster home on the outskirts of Kansas. I never knew what happened to Mace or where he ended up, but I always thought about him.
I was laying in bed at my foster home deeply asleep when the sound of a door opening woke me. I lay very still pretending to be asleep hoping he would go away. I knew who it was without having to turn around to see for myself. My foster dad walked over to the bed, I could hear his heavy breathing as he brought his face close to mine. I could smell his putrid breath as he came closer. His hand snaked up and ripped the covers off of me causing me to scream.
******
I awoke with a start rubbing my eyes, thank god it was just a dream. I looked around the room and noticed that I was in the living room where Jacks had left me. I glanced at the clock and my heart plummeted when I noticed that it had been over two hours. Where was Jacks? Was he already here, waiting for me to wake up?
“Well looky who’s awake?” A voice boomed and I jumped startled to see the man who had given Jacks the package to deliver.
“Where’s Jacks?” I asked warily.
The man laughed, “Well I would like to know the same thing, since it’s in your best interest that he comes back.”
I shook my head, “Something must have happened to him.”
“You know what I think?” He asked me his voice dropping, “I think he looked what was in my package and he ran off leaving you. What I had in that package was much more valuable than 50 grand.”
I shook my head, “Jacks wouldn’t leave me.”
The man tilted his head, “Not even for a million dollars?” The man looked amused.
I thought about it, would Jacks leave me here for a million dollars?
I shook my head, he wouldn’t do that.
The man laughed again, “Do you know what happens when he doesn’t come back?”
I turned my head slowly to look at him my pulse spiking.
“Well let’s just hope you don’t have to find out.” The man finishes.
The time flies by quickly and with every hour that passes the more anxious I become. Jackson and I had been through so much together for him to just abandon me. Every time our drunk foster father would try to do something to me Jacks was always there pulling him off of me. I would have been raped, beaten, or worse if it wouldn’t have been for Jacks. Could Jacks really leave me for a million dollars, just like that?
After Jacks had been gone for six hours the front door of the house opened and I jumped up smiling. Only the guy who came through the door wasn’t Jacks.
He was tall and had shaggy dark brown hair that hid his eyes. He was very built, but not enough to come out as brute or stocky, but you could tell he had an eight pack going on