**Chapter 12**
“Hey, Jackson, calm down, man,” Todd said. He was clearly used to this kind of behavior from him.
“I asked what you were doing in there with her,” Jackson repeated, his face twisted.
I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him. I turned to Sara and ignored him completely. “We’re leaving.”
I was already in a bad mood. If I stayed any longer, I might do something that would cause real problems. I was still the outsider here.
“Did you just ignore me?!” Jackson lunged forward, but Dan held him back, looking at him like he’d lost his mind. “Hey, Jackson, calm down. You’re making us all look bad.”
Aside from Jackson, everyone else here seemed decent. Even Jackson might have been a good guy under normal circumstances, but his current attitude was making me rethink that.
“Enough! Jackson, we were just talking,” Sara said, her voice rising with clear anger.
“Shut up, you bitch! I’ll get to you in a minute!”
That crossed a line. I was about to teach him a lesson when Sara grabbed my arm and stopped me. She shook her head worriedly, clearly thinking I couldn’t handle a big athletic guy like Jackson.
Before I could pull free, someone else acted first.
Mira punched Jackson square in the face. He didn’t even have time to react. The punch itself was amateurish, but it landed.
Everyone froze.
“Don’t call my sister that,” Mira said.
You tell him, girl.
Jackson recovered quickly. It wasn’t the pain that shocked him—it was the fact that someone dared to touch him. He swung back immediately.
I pulled Sara out of the way and moved to intercept, but once again someone beat me to it.
Ross stepped between Mira and Jackson’s fist. The punch connected with a sickening crack that echoed through the room. Ross crumpled to the floor, face bloodied, and passed out.
The moment everyone realized how serious it was, the situation stopped being a simple jealousy spat.
“Jackson! Are you out of your mind?!” Lucy shouted.
“Shut up, you slut!” Jackson yelled back.
Hearing his girlfriend insulted, Dan forgot any friendship. He shoved Jackson hard. “Don’t call her that!”
Okay, where’s the popcorn?
“You fucker!” Jackson shoved back even harder, sending Dan to the ground. His head smacked against the wall.
“Are you crazy?!” Lucy shrieked, leaving Ross with Mira and rushing to her boyfriend.
“Jackson! That’s enough!” Sara tried again, which only redirected Jackson’s anger toward her.
He moved toward her without a word, pure rage on his face. I stepped directly into his path.
“Out of my way, you fuck!” he shouted.
I stayed calm. “Don’t, Jackson.”
A clean warning. If he kept going, that was on him.
“YOU FUCKER!” Jackson finally snapped and threw a heavy punch at me.
I wasn’t a trained fighter. I hadn’t mastered a hundred martial arts like some movie protagonist. All I really knew was how to throw punches—except mine were so strong and fast that almost no one could stand up to them.
It might have looked like technique, but it wasn’t. There was no proper form. The karate instructor at school used to say I needed to work on my foundation. I never bothered. As long as the punch landed, it did the damage I wanted. And because it was so fast, people rarely reacted in time.
That had been enough until today.
The moment Jackson’s fist came into range, I struck his forearm and canceled the blow. Then I delivered a pointed finger strike to his temple. I held back just enough power so I wouldn’t risk killing him.
Yes—killing. I had seen Rox use this exact move to end lives, not just knock people out. I wasn’t as strong as Rox, but Jackson wasn’t on the level of the opponents Rox faced either. This was a calculated risk.
Thankfully, he only blacked out and collapsed. Everyone around us stared, stunned by how cleanly and fast it happened.
“Don’t,” I told Sara when she moved to check on him. “You’re taking Betty and Mira and getting in the car.”
“I can’t just leave him here,” she argued.
“I’ll get him home,” Aaron offered, sensing how tense things still were. Todd volunteered to take Dan and Ross to the hospital to get checked out.
Everyone agreed to the plan.
“I’m sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to ruin your night,” I said.
“Oh, you’re cool. He’s the jerk,” Lucy replied.
“Yes, yes, he is. You’re cool, bro. Cool,” Dan quickly added while using Lucy’s shoulder for support and clutching his stomach.
He was completely whipped.
~~
The short episode ended. Sara stayed quiet during the car ride while Mira filled Betty in on everything that had happened while she was in the bathroom.
That wasn’t the real issue, though. The fight was just a side event.
“How long?” I asked.
The car went silent. Sara and Betty both knew what I meant. Mira, however, asked, “How long what?”
“Betty knows what I’m talking about.”
“Oh,” Mira said as realization hit her.
“You knew as well? Was I the only one who didn’t know anything?”
“You live in L.A., Tyler,” Mira argued.
“And apparently none of the world’s transportation methods work for me,” I replied dryly.
“We just didn’t want to worry you,” Sara said.
“I’m so touched by your concern.” Sarcasm was all I had left. I was angry.
“And what could you have done?” Mira asked.
“I could have broken a few of his bones.”
“He’s part of a biker gang,” Mira replied.
“Then why the hell did her mother marry him?”
Mira looked awkward, not sure how to say it. It was as if she knew the answer, but it was too weird to say it out loud.
“He’s hung?” I asked.
“…Yes.”
“And how do you know that?”
“I heard Kara bragging to Mom. She said a few other things too.”
“And that’s enough of a reason to let your daughter get abused?”
“She doesn’t know,” Betty finally said.
“Why the hell doesn’t she? Why haven’t you told her?”
“Because her mother gave him the entire company. If he leaves, he takes the company,” Sara answered.
“Fuck.” If this was purely a legal matter, there wasn’t much I could do. District attorneys these days were constantly looking for a big family to squeeze. No matter how powerful I was, I couldn’t go against the government head-on.
“Okay, I get that. But why didn’t you go to the police?”
“I did,” Betty replied, eyes growing moist.
“He went after Lizzie,” Sara added quietly.
That ended the conversation.
We arrived home just as the conversation ended. In the end, I had nothing more to say. Betty was protecting her sister and their future. I couldn’t blame her for that.
“I think we’re all stressed. A good night’s sleep will help,” Mira suggested into the heavy silence. We were still sitting in the car even though we had already reached the house.
“Sure,” I said and got out first.
Making my way inside, I bumped into my uncle on the balcony. He was smoking.
“Oh, hey champ. Didn’t see you there.”
“Hey, Mister Miller.” I shook his hand. “I was just out with Sara and Mira.”
“I know. Elise told me. So how was it? How are the kids around here?”
“Not the brightest, but not complete douches like the ones in L.A. either.”
“Hahahaha. What else do you expect from a quiet place like this? That’s one of the things I like about it.” Tom, Aunt Elise’s husband, was a business owner in Pittsburgh. He also handled my aunt’s side of the family businesses that she inherited from my grandfather. My mom’s share was handled by me by the way.
“I’ll let you freshen up. See you at dinner,” Tom said.
I nodded and headed inside. Shortly after, the girls came in as well. I went straight to my room to clean up.
I needed to act normal at dinner.