Secured Sevenfold

Joe’s POV
Matt called my dad, not taking his eyes of us for one second. As much as I was still behind my decision to stay here with Joanne and talk to our father, I couldn’t stand to be away from Matt. I slightly moved backwards, able to touch him again. He used his one hand to hold the phone, barking orders at my father, but the other one was for me to grab. The second our hands touched he entwined his fingers with mine and he softly brushed his thumb over the top of my hand. He hung up the phone
“He will be here as soon as possible”.

Joanne only stared at us at first, Jacky had backed up too, leaning into Brian now. I was suppressing the need to hide in Matt’s arms and never come out of it. But it was important for me to show Joanne I was balanced. I needed to give off the big sister vibe.
“What are we going to do now? I’m a little uncomfortable staring at each other for an hour” Brian snapped, shooting an angry glare at Joanne.
“Brian…” Jacky put her hand on his cheek, trying to calm him down, but Brian didn’t seem to be able to be calmed. He looked agitated. I didn’t even dare to look at Matt, I guess I would find exactly the same there, but I was still trying to get on my sister’s good side.

“Well…” Joanne started, looking at us “If I knew I could trust you, I would let you wait in the dining room”
“We could do that” I told her with a smile “You seem like half way through getting dressed, maybe you would like to finish? Put something nice on for the first meeting with our father?” I tried to smile at her, show her I was only giving her advise and I could see I was getting through to her.
“Yeah.. hmmm… Do you think I should wear a dress?” she looked uncertain and all of a sudden all my anger towards her was gone… I felt sorry for her. How could such a young girl end up doing the things she did? That didn’t happen without a good reason.
“You should just wear something you think you look good in, and something that is comfortable” Jacky offered, earning some nods from Joanne.

“This is bullshit!” I heard Brian hiss behind me. Jacky turned to Brian and looked him deep in the eyes “Maybe it’s better if you leave, sweetie, Joanne won’t hurt us and I know our father will be here soon. Why don’t you and Matt wait outside?”
“NO WAY!” Both Brian and Matt let out without even thinking and I turned around to Matt, shooting Joanne a look which I hoped she would take as ‘don’t worry, I will not make trouble, I’m your sister’.

I looked the man I loved so dearly in his beautiful hazel eyes. Only looking at him calmed me down, only being in his presence gave me the strength I needed to get through this. I let my hand go over his cheek.
“Matt, I missed you so much, I love you even more, but you remember everything we discussed about business negotiations?” I was talking in hushed tones and waited for Matt to give me some kind of acknowledgement, he seemed to think for a minute and then nodded “I need to do this alone. Sometimes it’s better to do it as a couple, as with Bill, but now, I need to do this alone. Please trust me? After this is done, I will never leave your side, ever… okay?”
Matt kissed my cheek and moved to my ear “I trust you, I don’t trust her, what if you get hurt Joe?”
I pulled his face to me and kissed him softly “Trust me, I can handle this, please….”
“Okay… but as soon as I hear anything I don’t like… I’m coming back in!” He groaned as he kissed me once more. I couldn’t wait to be in his arms again, I wouldn’t leave that spot for the next few days, not if the forced me with 10 horses.

Brian’s POV
Matt and Joe were talking in hushed tones. Jacky pushed herself to me, forcing me to look down on her, meet her eyes. Those eyes that hypnotized me so much.
“Brian, Joe and I need to do this alone, this is a family matter”
“I want to be your family, Jacky, don’t shut me out” I begged her, knowing she had already made up her mind about all of this
“You are my family, you really are, but I need to talk to my father…. We all need to talk to my father. You have to trust me and Joe that we will handle this. I promise it will be okay”
“I don’t like this, I don’t like this at all… I just got you back, I’m not leaving you in the hands of danger again”

Jacky’s eyes were kind and she smiled as she looked up at me, kissing my lips softly.
“Brian, I can take care of myself, you thought me so well” She grabbed my neck and pulled my ear down to her mouth “I kicked at least 2 men’s asses, you should be proud of me” her whisper made her breath tingle my ear and I felt a shiver going over my back.
“I am proud of you, but I’m still not leaving.” I looked over Jacky’s shoulder and saw that Joanne girl looking at us closely. I didn’t trust her one bit and I wasn’t going to let Jacky stay here with her alone.
“I won’t be alone, Joe will be with me” She kissed me once again, this kiss contained so much promise, promise of our life together… But that wouldn’t be possible if that Joanne chick would hurt her.

Suddenly Shadz moved beside me and pulled Joe against his body tightly before letting her go and stepping towards the door.
“Come on Brian, we will wait outside”
“Are you crazy?!” I looked at him with wide eyes
“No. I’m not. I trust Joe, if she says it will be okay, it will be okay” He said the words, but I could hear and see he wasn’t meaning any of them, but he earned an encouraging smile from Joe. When I looked back at Jacky she looked at me the same way.
“Go on, I will be back with you before you know it” Jacky said as she hugged me, kissed me and then let go.
“Fuck! Okay! But if I hear something out of the ordinary I’m coming back in!”
“Of course honey, of course”

I stepped outside together with Matt, both worked up about the situation. Tense as a bow ready to pop.
“Fuck! This sucks!” Matt growled

“You can say that again!” Zack’s voice made us both look up. Outside of the house, Zack, Johnny, Arin and Dean were waiting for us, their arms folded over their chests, their faces mad, and their postures tense. Shit, I wasn’t ready to deal with them…

“What the fuck? Did you think we didn’t notice you vanished? And what the hell were you thinking going back without us?” Zack started and took a step towards me, the anger so visible in his green eyes that I sighed loudly.
“Look, these are our girls, we needed to do something, we couldn’t let them wait longer, we didn’t know what would happen in the meantime... and we... fuck… we couldn’t risk any of you guys to get hurt.” I looked especially at Zack, since Jimmy he was the closest to me, my partner in crime.
“And you think I wouldn’t have risked my life in there for them, for any of you? You really think that, Haner?” Zack yelled back, taking another step forward coming into my personal space and I felt Matt tense up beside me, but this was a thing between Zack and me.
I held my hand up to Matt and he nodded, barely visible.

“Did you hear me say that, Zack? Did you? Because I didn’t. Matt and I we thought about the whole situation and since these are our girls that were in danger it was our time to take action, we needed to get them out of there, it was what we had to do. And if we risked our safety, that’s on us, but we couldn’t do that with any of you. We couldn’t lose anyone again, not like Jimmy.” I looked from Zack to Arin, Johnny and Dean and their features softened, but only a lightly.

“Listen, guys. We trust you with our lives but this was something that Brian and I had to do alone. You might not understand this, but it was necessary. We needed to do this...” Matt cut in and I nodded, but Zack didn’t seem convinced nor were the others.

“I still don’t get it, you guys think we wouldn’t have done any- and everything to have your and your girls back?
Because, believe it or not they are family. As much as you love them, we do too. We need them back with us, they are a part of us... it was dumb and reckless for you guys to get in there without back up. You could have told us to wait, and wait for a sign or anything, but not fool us that is not how this company works god damn it.” Arin said and he looked especially at Matt who looked a little ashamed and I tried to hide the small smile on my face, because in the end, he was right.

Normally, we were a team and this time... Matt and I made a single-handled action... but how could we leave when the girls when we were already so close... we couldn’t turn back around and if they couldn’t understand this, it was nothing we could change right now.

Matt’s POV
I sighed, Arin was right, he did have a point, but the best Brian and I tried to explain the situation it wouldn’t get us anywhere right now.
We knew, they wanted to be part of this and they felt like we didn’t trust them, but that had nothing to do with any of it... it was just Brian’s and my decision to do this alone.

“Okay, can we stop this discussion and postpone it to another time... because I am dying to know, why you guys are standing here outside, while your girls are still in there?” Johnny asked and pointed at the house.

“Yes, they are in there... and they wanted us to leave.” I said and all four were looking at us mouth hanging open.
“They wanted what? Where you in danger? Why would they-?” Arin asked and I shook my head and saw Dean making a step forward “Then I will go inside, I’m her best friend, I can talk her out of whatever got into her mind” He tried to get around Brian but he put a hand to his chest, stopping him and shoving him gently back.

“We get to talk to them and they are fine... at least as we could see right now. Joanne showed up and..” I stopped running my hand down my neck in frustration.
“And?” Zack asked.
“And they wanted to speak to their father first.. together with Joanne... they wanted to close that chapter... before going with us.” I finished and saw Brian also shake his head, this had been nearly the hardest thing that we had to do, like all the time searching, praying and hoping to see them again... to let them go... walk out of that door, shit that was hard.

“They are in there? With crazy bitch?” Zack asked looking at Brian who nodded slightly.
“AND YOU LEFT THEM?!” He yelled finally and I didn’t know that Zack would be so aggravated about all this but then, they were all in this as deep as we were, so...
“We didn’t want to okay, it was hard enough for us, so don’t make it any harder.” Brian snapped back and Zack rolled his eyes.

“I would have freaking bound her to my side and never let her take a step alone, if I were you.” He pointed at both me and Brian and I rolled my eyes.
“You want to say something more, cause this sounds like you are more attached to our girls then you want to admit, Baker” I growled playfully making all chuckle a little and I was glad the mood was a little lighter now, it could soon sway into the other direction again...

Suddenly a car pulled into the driveway and Joseph quickly got out, “About damn time... they are inside... waiting for you.” Brian said as soon as Joseph was near.
“I came as quickly as I could, how are my girls? Are they alright?” He asked looking at me hopeful and I nodded, I didn’t know how they would really react towards their father, but I was glad that now the final talk could take place and afterwards I could take my Joe back home with me. Finally.

Notes

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