Building Blocks (By Design Book 7) by J.A. Armstrong

Author:J.A. Armstrong [Armstrong, J.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bumbling Bard Creations
Published: 2016-05-02T17:00:00+00:00

***

“Want to talk about it?” Jameson asked Jonah.

Jonah nodded and accepted a beer from Jameson. “J.D., I don’t know how to help her sometimes.”

“Laura?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe the best thing you can do is just listen,” Jameson offered.

“If I didn’t think it’d destroy her, I would beat the shit out of them.”

“Her father?”

Jonah nodded again. “And Mark.”

“Her brother?” Jameson asked for clarification.

“J.D….”

“What is it, Jonah?”

Jonah shook his head disgustedly. “He touched her, J.D. Not once either. Often. From the time she was small until he left for college.”

Jameson’s pulse immediately picked up its pace and her ears began to ring. “What do you mean he touched her? Mark? You mean he abused her?” she asked. Jonah sighed and nodded.

Jameson felt her stomach flip and pushed back the urge to be sick. Abuse was something that Jameson understood from a unique perspective. She had been a naïve teenager and had begun dating a young man three years older. He had made the decision for both of them that it was time to be intimate. Jameson had protested but fear forced her into submission. It was an experience that still haunted her at times. She had struggled with intimacy and trust for years. Candace was the only person Jameson had confided in about the experience. And, it was Candace who had gently nurtured and reassured Jameson when memories surfaced. Jameson took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“J.D.?”

Jameson smiled at Jonah as best she could. “All you can do is listen and keep assuring her that she is safe with you,” Jameson said. She saw Jonah’s unspoken question and addressed it. “I can’t even imagine one of my brothers doing that,” Jameson said. “And, I can’t…. Well, it’s bad enough when you are old enough to understand.”

“J.D…”

“I was a teenager, kind of a naïve teenager. He was older. I thought…. Well, what I thought doesn’t really matter. He had different ideas.”

“He…”

Jameson nodded. “What I can tell you, Jonah is that no matter how many times I’ve told myself that it wasn’t my fault, no matter how many days or weeks pass that I don’t think about it. Eventually, something brings it back. It never goes away. You learn to move through it. You learn that it can’t define you or conquer you, but it is part of you—part of your life.”

“Does Mom know?” Jonah asked.

“Yeah, she knows. And, Jonah, the fact that Laura told you…It means she truly trusts you, not just that she loves you. Your mom is the only person I have ever talked to about what happened to me…Well, until now.”

“You didn’t have to tell me,” Jonah said honestly.

“No, but I trust you, and I think maybe…Maybe I can help you understand how she might be feeling.”

“I hate them, J.D. I hate them for hurting her, for what they have said about Mom …Now, for doing something that might hurt Coop. I hate them.”

Jameson nodded. “You’re angry and you have a right to be angry. I get it.”

“No, J.D., I’ve never hated anyone.

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