ROGUE

79 : Monsters

Your POV

The tension was sickening.

Sitting here in the company of Jason, his mom, and a strange man who occasionally smirked at me, was not how I wanted to spend my day.
Jason and Michael stared at each other, both of them being dared to look away.
I twirled my pasta with my fork, losing my appetite.

"So," I eventually cleared my throat and broke through the horrible silence that was beginning to suffocate us all. "Pattie, what do you do for a living?" I looked over at her and smiled, hoping a conversation could ease the anxiety that buzzed unpleasantly in my chest.

"I'm an author," She smiled back at me reassuringly. "I feel as though writing is everybody's escape."

"What do you write about?" I tilted my head and pulled my glass of water towards me before taking a sip.

Pattie's eyes flickered over Jason for a second.
"I usually write novels," She said. "The one closest to my heart is called 'Come Home To Me', and I think you can guess the storyline." Her voice grew quieter, and Jason let out a sigh.

"I still haven't read it." Jason admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I never really get the time to read anyway."

Michael ended up scoffing, taking Jason's confession as an opportunity to unnecessarily provoke him. "What a way to support your own family." He muttered, looking up from his plate of steaming food.

Jason exhaled sharply through his nose and turned his head slowly towards Michael, his jaw tightening visibly. "Don't you dare tell me how to support my family when all you fucking did was sit on your backside and expect my mom to provide for you, even when she was still married to my dad." He hissed, thinning his eyes into slits to express his hatred. "You're sick, and if I knew you were gonna be here today, I wouldn't have come." A moment of silence passed before he glanced over at Pattie, who was staring into her pasta to avoid his burning gaze. "And you," He began. "You promised my dad that you wouldn't have anything to do with Michael ever again, and here you are, having lunch with him."

Pattie shook her head. "Your dad's dead, Jason." She said in a hushed whisper.

"What does it matter?" Jason's fists tightened. "He was good to you."

"Why are you trying to defend him," Pattie's voice rose and her icy blue eyes locked with Jason's. "He may have been good to me, but he wasn't good to yo - "

Jason cut her off by slamming his fists down onto the wooden table, causing the plates to shake. I jumped and held my breath, searching in my mind for something that would calm everyone down. "Who the fuck has been good to me, Mom?" He yelled, letting his bitter past creep back up on him and torture him for a reaction. "I had nobody to turn to. You beat me, my dad beat me and the fucking man you were having an affair with beat me as well. And here you are, inviting us all to lunch as if we're a happy family. I'm not having it." Jason stood up and I flinched at the sound of the legs screeching against the floor. Jason leant forward at Michael, and sent him a sinister glare. "I want you to leave. I don't want you anywhere near me, my mom, or my girlfriend."

Micheal stood up as well, and I instantly propped my elbows up on the table and held my head in my hands, sensing what was coming. "Please don't do this again." I muttered so quietly that it was impossible for Jason to hear me.

"You're gonna get yourself into some kind of trouble, young man." Michael warned. "I suggest you sit down and stop making a scene. Your mom has cooked a nice lunch, and you're ruining it." He paused, savouring the moment. He spoke his next words slowly, just to try and get under Jason's skin. "Just like you ruin everything."

Michael's words somehow affected me, and at that moment, something inside me snapped.
Trying my best to catch on to the situation was practically useless. I assumed that Michael played a disturbing part in Jason's past, and I knew that Jason's past was something very sensitive to him, which is why I couldn't bare to listen to him being practically attacked.

I stood up out of my chair, letting my mind take over my body and my words.
"Excuse me, but who the fuck do you think you're talking to?" I sneered all of a sudden, feeling the need to step in and defend...

Jason would've done the same for me.

Pattie let out an exasperated sigh, already predicting the conflict that was about to occur. She rubbed the back of her neck, deciding to stay out of it, whilst Jason looked at me, his features marked with an unreadable expression. "Leave it, babe." He whispered, but I was having none of it.

I weaved my way around the table until I was standing face to face with Michael, who's haunting green eyes were pooled with amusement. The top of my head only reached up to his chest, but despite the major height difference, I didn't feel intimidated.
"Do you know how fucking hard it's been for Jason to reconnect with his family? Do you know how much nerve it took for him to come here today?" I snapped, staring up at him. "I don't know who the hell you are, or what you have against him, but telling him that he ruins everything is fucking uncalled for."

A low chuckle escaped Michael's throat, and his piercing stare felt like it was cutting through me, for a moment, his eyes traveled up to Jason, but then came back down to me.
"You think you know him." He taunted, leaning forward in attempt to get me to step back. "But you don't know his past, and that's what defines him... that's what makes him a monster."

Jason was stood at least a metre behind me, but I felt him stiffen and I heard his breath hitch. I waited a moment for him to retaliate, but he stayed silent.

"Don't try that bullshit with me." My voice sounded sinister whilst my fists clenched at my sides and anger boiled in the pit of my stomach. "Jason is not a monster. The monsters are the ones who made him suffer as a child. We've been through hell and back again, and we haven't come here to make things worse - "

"Which is why we're leaving." I felt a tight grip on my wrist, and didn't have to think to know it was Jason. I turned to look at him, but his eyes were fixed on Michael. "If I ever see you again, I'll slit your fucking throat."
And with that, he tugged me away and picked up his jacket from the back of the chair.
He stopped when he saw Pattie, and his eyes glossed over with water.
"I don't know what the hell you were trying to prove by making me see him again," He began, shaking his head. "But it was sick... I tried to fix things with you, I tried to reach out to you, I tried to fucking bring you back into my life. But now you've gone ahead and invited me and my girlfriend to lunch with you and the fucking man who almost killed me when I was only fourteen years old." He took a shuddering breath and I tensed. "If that means nothing to you... Then clearly I don't either."

Pattie stood up frantically. "Jason, it's not like that - "

He raised his hand to silence her, before he sunk his teeth into his lower lip and shook his head.

"Don't expect to see me again."

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