Page 24 of Bart (Hades Rejects MC)
Damn it to hell, this shit was the last fucking straw, I’d dealt with some shit, but now this. It was time for me to stop my pity party, like Holland tells me all the time, and put on my big girl panties. I had no idea my father was capable of that kind of plan, let alone that he’d be able to pull it off, and Vic...it had never been real. My whole relationship was a lie, it had never been real, which meant he didn’t kidnap me because he had some twisted idea he was in love with me. No, it was worse. He had some twisted idea that as long as he had me, my father wouldn’t make him go back to work for him, and my father had been in that cabin. He knew what Vic was doing to me; he’d told him to do it. Oh God, thinking about that just makes me feel sick to my stomach again, no way I’m letting that happen.
It’s time to pull up those big girl drawers, stand up straight, and make that bastard pay. I’m tired of hiding, sick of running, and fed up with his bullshit. Bart’s strength seeped into me, giving me that extra umph I needed. I was still pissed at him for hiding shit from me, but being in his arms made me feel like I could conquer the world. Now to come up with a plan to rid myself of my father once and for all. I just need to figure out how to keep Bart and everyone else in the dark. Time to step up my acting skills and hope I could convince them all.
“We’re home Bliss, do you want me to carry you in or do you think you can walk?” Please let him forgive me later for the lies I’m about to spew.
“Carry me please, I don’t think I can walk.” Playing the damsel in distress wasn’t usually my forte, but in this instance I needed to use it to my advantage as much as possible. If they thought I’d slipped backwards, that I was having trouble coping, they’d be less likely to think I’d go after Jack. Downside, they might not leave me alone long enough to do what I needed to; I was willing to take that chance.
“Alright sweetness, Holland and Jessie should be here shortly, until then you can lie down. You want the couch or your bed?” What I really wanted was for him to take me to his room and make me feel whole again, but that wasn’t happening.
“The couch, maybe some Netflix will get my mind off it. Thank you Bart, for being there for me, I’m still pissed at you for hiding him from me, but I understand too.” He’s so freaking gentle with me, like I’m china or porcelain; it’s so sweet, but also slightly annoying. I have to remind myself not to laugh, to play the frail, fragile, broken girl they believe I’ve fallen back to. I haven’t though, I’ve reached my limit of being scared, being bullied, and being manipulated. It was time for me take back control over my life, and to do so I needed to annihilate Jack Finch.
When Holland and Jessie arrive it’s like chaos has entered the house. Jessie frets over me, while Holland gets the low down about what happened. He’s in full cop mode. I’m surprised he wasn’t on the scene, although he could have been and I wouldn’t have noticed.
“Are you alright? Do you need anything? Want me to make you something to eat?” Leave it to Jessie to try and make me all better. God I loved her.
“I’ll be fine; I don’t think I could keep food down if I tried. How was your interview?” I barely listen as she rambles off, how good it went, and how they want her to start next week. I’m happy for her, she’s been trying to find a job for months now, I just needed to find a job so we could move out of Holland's place together. Holland hadn’t complained at all, thankfully, about both of us living with him, but he deserved to have his own space back.
“Hey, how are you doing really? Don’t give me that “I’m fine” bullshit either, I’ll know if you’re full of shit.” Holland has never been one to give me an inch. He’s been my rock the last six months, and he’s kept me from going off the deep end a few times.
“Well I’m pissed at the three of y’all for hiding shit from me, and I puked up my whole fucking breakfast, so I feel like crap on toast. How was your day?” Bart is looking at us back and forth with a growing frown upon his face.
“Well ain’t you just a little ball of sunshine today. Give us a break kid; we kept it from you because you had enough shit on your plate. We all love you, so cut us some slack. My day was a shit sandwich on rye toast by the way; we’ll talk about it later, when you are ready.” Oh what was this, Holland had something juicy to share, I wanted to badger him, but figured he probably didn’t want to talk about it in front of Bart or Pops, so I dropped it. Holland sits down next and he pulls me into a hug, I swear I hear someone growl. Bart is suddenly on my other side on the couch pulling to his side, glaring at Holland.
“Mind keeping your paws off my woman, I’ve trusted you the last six months’ man. What the hell?” Oh my God, was he serious, he thought me and Holland were together. I start laughing, they both look at me like I’ve finally gone over the deep end.
“You...you actually think me and him...you do realize he’s gay right? We sleep in the same bed, he holds me so I can keep the nightmares away, come on Bart.” Before I know what’s happening, Bart is on top of Holland beating him senseless. He’s cussing at him, calling him every name in the book. Pops and I finally get them separated, but both men are looking at me.
“How could you say that Bliss? How could you think I was gay?”
“Seriously man that’s what you’re pissed about. How about the fact that she just told me you’ve been snuggled up in bed with her? I trusted you, you piece of shit, with my girl.” Bart is breathing harshly, like it’s hard for him to breath properly.
“But you are gay Holland, the way you are with your sisters, you like to watch stupid romance movies with me, your house is cleaner than any single man’s should be. Oh my God! If you aren’t gay, and I’ve been sleeping with you, why didn’t you fucking say something?” I’m turning every shade of red in the spectrum; I’d worn cami’s and panties to bed, he’d worn boxers, we’d held each other, oh fuck. Looking over at a laughing Bart, is not what I expected at all, maybe he’d lost his mind from the news.
“You, you actually thought Holland was gay, man, wait ‘til the guys hear about this. I can’t believe you though, how could you sleep in bed with my girl all these months? You swore you weren’t interested in her, and you do this shit.” Holland looks like he’s in shock for a moment before he gets his composure back.
“First of all I’m not gay, not by a long shot. I thought you knew that, I have two younger sisters I’ve practically raised, Bliss. Some of that shit rubs off on you, especially when I saw you hurting, I did what I do with them. Yeah, we slept in the same bed asshole. No, I have no feelings other than brotherly love for her, she slept under the covers, I slept over them for the most part. Give me some damn credit, I tried to get her to go back home to you after the first nightmare, when she refused, I dealt with it, end of story. I’d do it again if she needed me to, she loves you for fuck sake, or are you that blind you can’t see it.” Bart sits down next to me pulling me into a hug, kissing my head. I still couldn’t believe he wasn’t gay, time for the job search to get serious or move back in with Bart and Pops, shit.
“Sorry man, just hearing that another man was touching her, comforting her, it should be me Bliss, not him holding you at night.”
“I get it, I do, but she needed someone, I was there, end of story. She’s like my sister, nothing more.” Ok hearing him say it like that kind of got my feathers in a ruffle.
“Wait, hold up! You’re saying that you aren’t attracted to me at all. Great, now I feel like the ugly stepsister.” Now they are both laughing at me, for real, even Pops and Jessie have joined in.
“Only you could get upset that I’m not interested in you, even though you were sure I was gay just a few minutes ago. At least we all got a good laugh out of it, even though I think my jaw might need realigned after Bart punched me.”
“Hey my ribs are sore, you got some good licks in too. Besides, your face needed something to pretty it up, maybe now you can find a woman, and quit snuggling with mine.”
“Yeah whatever motherfucker, I’m still prettier than you are on a bad day.” And we are back to the male posturing, I swear they never stop.
BART
I have to remind myself that I couldn’t be there for her when she needed me. I should be thankful it was Holland who had taken that place for her, but it still hurt knowing he was holding her at night instead of me. She was mine, I should have been the one holding her when she was scared, comforting her when she was hurting, mending back the broken pieces, but she’d chosen Holland instead, because she thought he was safe. What would she do now that she knew? Would she come home to me? I wanted to ask, but I’m afraid of the answer. Thankfully Pops has bigger balls than I do.
“So now that you know he ain’t gay, whatcha planning on doing darlin’?” He’d kept quiet except to laugh at us, until now.
“Well, I’m not sure actually, Jessie and I were planning on getting a place together soon, so I’ll probably just wait and do that. Unless Holland wants me out now.”
“You know you can stay as long as you want, brat.” Looking over at Jessie, she doesn’t look so convinced. She seems nervous about staying with Holland suddenly, that deserved some investigation when I had time. Maybe I’d get Matt to look into it for me, he’d been sniffing around Jessie since she came to live with Bliss. Pretty sure he’d jump at the chance.
