Chapter 9: The dinner (Part 2)

Nova's POV

"Novella," my dad says angrily, "Let go of that boy and come with me," he says.

I wipe my eyes dry and look at him, "No," I say.

"What did you just say to me?" he asks furiously. I see my brothers appearing behind him.

"I said no," I say and rest my head on Nick's shoulder, hoping for my dad to be gone in a second. Nick kisses my hair.

"You boy," dad says to Nick, "You watch out. You have no idea of what she's capable of," he says.

Tears drop from my eyes again. Nick looks at my face and then back at my dad, "What do you mean?" he asks. Wow. I've never heard his tough voice.

Dad snickers, "She had three brothers. You knew that?"

"Actually I did," he says, "And she didn't do anything to him."

"Oh yes she did. The poor boy was killed. And she just sat there and cried," he says.

I look at him furiously, tears streaming down my face, "There wasn't anything I could've done," I say.

"Oh yes, there was. You could've stopped the woman. You could've stepped in front of him. You could've called the cops. You could've called the ambulance," he says. I've started breathing faster. I can't do this again.

"I was 5," I cry.

"If you would've done anything, my son would still be alive," he says.

"I wouldn't," I say, my voice breaking.

He chuckles, "No, you wouldn't. But you're a murderer. So who cares?" he says.

I smile, "Maybe someone can do you the favor and kill you, so that you could join him if you prefer that," I say.

A hard pain appears on my cheek. "You do not talk with me like that, girl," he says, squeezing my face between his hand.

Nick pushes his hand away from me and punches him into the face. Dad grabs his cheek and then looks at his hand. It's bloody.

"If it's anyone's fault that your son is dead, it's yours. They were little and you left them home alone... And after that didn't talk to her for 3 years? Maybe you could do yourself a favor and get out of here before me or any of your sons who you don't care about do something," Nick says furiously. He sounds... Dangerous.

Dad puffs in anger and goes out of the room, his shoulders bumping together with my brothers'.

I breathe out and wrap my arms back around Nick and squeeze him tightly. He hugs me back and kisses my hair.

"Thank you," I say quietly. He kisses my temple again.

"Baby, show me your cheek," he says.

I sigh and raise my head up. His eyes widen, "Does that jerk wear rings or something?" he asks.

I nod. He sighs and presses his lips against my cheek. And then a few mm to another place and another and another. That bastard had 4 rings on him.

He pulls away and there is blood on his lower lip. I guess he can feel it, cause he pulls the lip between his teeth and basically tastes the blood.

"Ew, Nicky," I chuckle.

He kisses my forehead, "Come on, you need ice," he sighs and helps me up.

Chic and Jor are still standing on my doorway. "Wow," Jor says as we go past them.

"Dude. Thank you," Chic tells Nick.

He sighs, "Nothing to thank me for. She still got hurt," he says.

I roll my eyes, "He didn't even punch me this time," I say.

Jordan grabs my other hand and we all stop. "This time?" he asks.

I sigh and pull my hand away from him and go downstairs alone. They follow me.

"Nova," Nick sighs.

I ignore them and go into the kitchen. Fuck. Mom and Andy and Em are here. I sigh and ignore them as well. I pull the bag of ice out of the freezer and place it on the counter. I take a clean towel and put some cubes in it. Then I put the ice back and fold the towel together properly. I press it onto my cheek and sigh in relief.

I jump onto the counter and sit there. Mom asks me something, but I can't hear what. I'm staring into the rain. Without thinking, I pull out my phone and dial Isabella.

"Nove, who are you calling?" Chic asks.

"Hey," Isabella answers me.

"Hey. Um.. My dad will probably come over, so get some food and go into your room, okay? He's furious," I say.

She sighs. "Seriously? What did he do?" she asks.

"He-" I sigh, "Do I really have to explain you?" I ask. She knows everything. She's my cousin, but also my best friend.

"And what did you do?"

"Nick yelled at him and punched him," I say.

"Wait, what? Nick?" she asks.

I smirk, "Long story short, my mom's dating his dad and we told them. They're not mad. My mom's a Honey Badger by blood and you better get out there now, I can hear his car from your phone," I say.

She sighs, "Okay. Be safe. Talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay. You too. Bye," I say and end the call.

"So you've told Isabella what he's done to you," Jor says.

I look back out of the window, not caring about anything. "Do you think there's a thunderstorm coming?" I ask, like all of that wouldn't have had just happened.

I feel Jordan turning my face carefully, so that I'd face him. But my eyes are still zoomed out, if you know what I mean. He waves his hand in front of my face.

"Do not ignore me right now. Zoom back in," he says.

I let my eyes do the little move and look at him. "What has he done to you? Cause he hasn't done more than slapped all of us, when we were there. But he obviously has done something to you. When?" he asks.

I zoom out again. He groans, "Nova, I'm trying to help, okay?" he asks.

"Help how?" I ask and look at him, "I'm not gonna let him beat you up. If Nick would not have been there, he would've punched me," I say. "And then you would've started yelling at him and he would've mentally abused you too and then punch you," I say.

He sighs, knowing that it's true. "We're not gonna do anything. Just tell me," he says.

"Then why do you need to know, if you're not gonna do anything anyway?" I ask.

He rolls his eyes and smirks. I smile a little. He takes the ice away from my face a little and then puts it back on. I keep holding it as he walks to the medicine cabinet. And gosh we have lots of medicine. For me usually.

Nick comes next to me, "Hey, this time you didn't fall. That's positive," he says.

I roll my eyes with a chuckle. "Don't roll your eyes. I cleaned your bruises like 5 times during the camp. I still don't get how that's possible," he says.

I smirk and pull him closer to me. I'm a little bit taller than him, since I'm sitting on a counter. I motion him to turn around. He does it with a smirk and leans onto the counter.

I put the ice down, slide my fingers into his hair and start playing with it. I pull my legs onto the counter and cross them like always.

"Show me your face," Jor sighs.

I look at him, "I'm fine," I say. He puts a thing on my cheek. I wince and push him back with my leg. "What the hell dude?" I ask.

"You have to clean that," he says.

I take the thing from him and kiss Nick's head. I jump off of the counter and start going into the other room, where is a mirror.

"You do not want to see that," Chic says and grabs my wrist.

I sigh and grasp my hand away. "I don't care," I say.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," he says.

I roll my eyes. "I'm not cleaning your puke up either!" Jordan yells. I chuckle a little and step in front of the mirror.

"Not that bad," I gulp and press my teeth together. I start cleaning it.

"Nova," mom says, coming behind me.

I look at her from the mirror and sigh. "What?" I ask.

"I'm sorry," she says sadly.

I sigh. "For what? None of this is your fault," I say.

"I heard what he told you up there," she says. I look down at my hands. She carefully turns me around and lifts my chin up, so that I'd look at her.

"What happened to your brother is not your fault. None of it," she says.

I sniffle, "But he's right. I could've done something," I say.

"Honey you were 5. Even if this would've happened when you were 15, I understand, why you didn't do anything. You were shocked and scared. And he was already dead, you couldn't have done anything," she says.

I hug her tightly. She hugs me back. "I love you," she says.

"I love you too," I say quietly. She kisses my forehead.

"Get that thing patched up," she says, touching my cheek softly.

I smile and we go back into the kitchen. I jump onto a counter and Jordan shows me the patches, "Okay?"

"Okay," I sigh and close my eyes.

"Mom?" I ask.

"Yeah?" she asks worriedly.

"Why do you have the leaders' tattoo?" I ask and open my eyes.

Nick smirks, looking down and mom's eyes widen.

"Boy-" Andy starts.

"She asked why I have a different one. I told her. I have never told anyone else, I swear," Nick says.

Andy sighs and looks me, "We should make you a Honey Badger. Then you could swear that you won't tell anyone," he says.

I smile, "Wait, really? Northsiders can be Honey Badgers?" I ask.

"Usually not, but you're blood," he says.

I narrow my eyes and look at mom, "You're the queen or something? So how long have you two known each other?" I ask.

They chuckle, "Neighbors since birth," Andy tells me.

"And you only get together now? I've never even heard about you," I say.

"Right, cause your mom knows how to hide things," he says.

"Believe me, I know," I say. Mom narrows her eyes at me. Jordan finishes with my face and I try to smile with it. Uncomfortable.

"I'm only keeping it on until tomorrow morning," I say to him and then look at mom, "I'm going surfing tomorrow," I say and jump off the counter and go into the dining room before she could say anything.

Nick chuckles and follows me. "Can I come?" he asks.

"Sure, just wear a military uniform, maybe no one will see you with me," I say.

He gives me a sarcastic smile and sits down next to me as well. They come back into the room as well and sit down.

"What time?" mom asks me.

"What?" I ask.

"What time are you going surfing?" she asks.

I smile, "Wait, seriously? I can go?" I ask.

She rolls her eyes, "You've been surfing since you were 3, how could I say no?" she asks.

I smile, "I don't know, I wanna sleep after more than a week getting up at 8AM," I say.

"Phh," Chic laughs, "You were half asleep until 9," he says.

"Half asleep doesn't give any rest," I say.

"You should see how much you eat when you're half asleep though," Nick smirks.

I narrow my eyes at him, "I was perfectly woken up when I ate those chips," I say.

He chuckles, "Sure," he says sarcastically.

I roll my eyes and get some more food onto my plate, cause I'm so hungry. Nick takes the book I was reading up from the floor and looks at the title.

"Seriously? Romeo and Juliet again?" he asks.

"What? It's a great book. And don't come to tell me that you haven't read it like 30 times," I say.

"About 20 I guess," he says.

I pull the book away from him and place it on the ground on the other side of me.

"Nick, you like to read?" mom asks.

Nick smirks, "You can say that." Em chuckles quietly.

"What?" I ask her.

"He ALWAYS reads," she says.

I smile and look at Nick for a second. He kisses my cheek, "Eat," he says.

I do a motion with my hand, like he's the captain. He pushes my head away a little and I chuckle and start eating.

"Hey, can I come surfing with you guys?" Em asks me and Nick.

"Can you surf?" I ask.

"No, but you can teach me," she says.

"Em-" Andy starts.

"No, it's totally fine. Sure," I say.

"In that case, I'm coming," Chic says.

"Same," Jordan says.

"Great, you can teach her," I say.

"What? You just promised to do that," Jordan chuckles.

"I've never taught someone. You have," I say.

"Who?" Chic asks.

"Me," I say like it's not obvious.

"That was dad," Chic says.

I shake my head, "No. You two," I say.

"Em, if these three dopes won't, I can, okay?" Nick asks. She nods with a big smile.

"Who are you calling a dope again?" I ask Nick.

"You," he smiles.

I raise my eyebrows with a smirk. "Right," I say. He kisses my cheek.