Marley

Chapter Seventeen

Cheyenne POV:

I walked into Jack's room the next morning to get him up for school.

"Jack, it's time to get up." I said and touched his arm.

He only shrugged me off and got out of bed.

"Jack, please talk to me. Tell me what's going on with you. I'm begging you, son." I said. "I'm not your son! You're not my mother!" He screamed at me.

I gasped and looked away from him as tears formed in my eyes.

"Just get ready for school, Jack." I said and walked out of the room.

Marley caught me and rested his hands on my arms.

"Baby, what happened? Why are you crying?" He asked.

I couldn't speak so all I did was wrap my arms around his waist and cried.

"It's okay." He whispered and wrapped his arms around me.

Jack then walked out and looked at us.

"I'm ready." He said quietly.

"Let's go." I muttered.

"I'll see you at work." Marley said before kissing me.

"Are you and Marley like a couple or something?" Jack asked me as I drove him to the school.

I stayed silent, not wanting to say something that would anger him.

"I'm sorry, Cheyenne." Jack told me.

"I'll see you after school." I said as I pulled up to the doors. "Fine." Jack said and got out of the car.

When I got to the tattoo shop Marley looked at me and smiled.

"It's good to see you back in here." He said as he drew up a stencil for his client. "Yeah, it's good to be back." I replied sitting behind my desk.

After Marley was done with his first client, the shop was empty for the time being. He walked up to my desk and looked at me.

"Do you want to tell me what happened this morning?" He asked. "Jack flipped on me today. I called him son and he screamed at me that I wasn't his mother." I replied. "You call him son all the time, though. I don't understand." He replied, confused. "I don't either. I feel like he suddenly hates me." I said.

"I can pick him up from school today. Try and talk to him, if you want." Marley told me. "You don't have to do that." I said. "It's not a problem, Cheyenne. I know a little about what you guys went through." He said.

I looked up at him confused.

"You did?" I asked.

Marley sighed and scratched the back of his neck.

"Yeah. I grew up in foster care and my foster mother would beat me along with her junkie boyfriend." He replied. "Shit. I'm sorry to hear that." I said. "It was a long time ago. So what do you say?" He asked.

I smiled softly at him. How I got so lucky to get this man in my life, I would never understand.

"Sure." I replied.

Marley POV:

I sat in front of the school as I waited for Jack to come out. I didn't know what the hell I was going to say to the kid.

When he saw me, he looked confused.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"We need to talk." I replied. "About what?" Jack asked. "The way you've been treating your sister."

Jack sighed and looked out the window.

"I know what you said to her this morning. What's going on with you, man? What makes you think you have the right to talk to the woman that has taken care of you and loved you your entire life like that?" I asked.

"Why do you care?" He asked, harshly. "Lose the attitude, boy. I mean it. You need to understand that if it weren't for her you would still be with your father." I told him.

"I didn't ask her to do that." Jack said. "And that's what I'm talking about. She did it without question. You need to appreciate what your sister has done for you." I said, angrily.

"Look, just because you're banging her doesn't mean you can lecture me." Jack said. "Stop it!" I yelled, not really meaning to.

That made Jack look at me, surprised.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Lose the tough guy shit, Jack. Your sister loves you. Do you have any idea how you made her feel this morning?" I asked him. "I said I was sorry." He told me. "You said it out of guilt, not because you really were sorry."

I took a deep breath to calm down.

"I will not allow you to talk to your sister the way you are, understand? This stops today." I barked at him.

I got out of the car with him and walked inside.

"Get your ass upstairs and do your damn homework. You wanna be an asshole, then so will I." I said and stormed into my room.

"Fuck!" I yelled.

I noticed Cheyenne sitting on my bed when she jumped.

"Shit, baby. I didn't mean to scare you." I said, calmly. "It's okay. I guess the talk didn't go well." She replied. "That's an understatement." I told her.

Cheyenne walked up to me and hugged me, burying her head into my chest.

"I'm sorry." She said. "It's okay. It's not your fault." I replied, kissing the top of her head.

"This is my fault, though." She said, her voice weak. "No. No more of that, okay?" I replied.

What the hell was I going to do?