It was nice knowing that James understood. That as a twin James had also felt the bond that existed that couldn’t be explained to someone who didn’t have a twin. “Yeah.”
“Finish telling me so you never have to say it again,” James instructed.
“We lived in a run-down house in Texas. A small town where you would think someone would have known and stepped in to help. No one ever did,” Jacob shared.
James’s fist tightened in his shirt.
“Our father couldn’t keep a job because he couldn’t go more than a couple hours without a beer or something stronger. Instead, he sent our mom out to the streets to bring home money.”
“He…he…”
“Pimped out his wife. She was scared of him. He used his fists on her just as much as on us. Sometimes I think it was even a relief to be out of the house. I think she tried to leave a few times with some of her tricks but she always came back. And it wasn’t for us.”
“That’s horrible,” James said.
Jacob couldn’t think too hard about his mom. Part of him felt bad for the woman. Mostly he hated her. Why hadn’t she taken them away? Gone for help.
“What about other family? Aunts? Uncles? Grandparents?”
He shook his head even though James was looking up at him. “It was just the four of us.”
“Oh.”
“So that was our life. Daily beatings. We went to school. We joined after-school programs just to have a few hours away. As long as they were free. Our father was a drunk and an asshole. Our mother didn’t do anything to help us. No one did.”
“I hate people sometimes,” James told him.
“I know. I used to feel that way too.”
“What changed?”
“We finally got away,” Jacob replied honestly. “But I’m not there yet. You really don’t have any patience.”
James snorted.
“You asked about the blankets?”
“Yeah. You have so many.”
“The floor to my and Jesse’s bedroom had caved in. We slept on a twin mattress on the dirt floor. We had one thin blanket to share and that did nothing to keep the cold away.”
James made a sad sound as he lifted the blanket higher on his own shoulders, which brushed it against Jacob’s chest.
“A few months before graduation our father started talking about how much money two twins could make. He began talking about sending us out with our mom. Of selling us,” Jacob continued.
“Fuck,” James growled.
“Jesse would sleep on top of me. Covering my body with his. It kept me warmer but it also served another purpose.”
“Your father had to go through him to get to you,” James finished for him.
The boy really had no patience at all. It was cute. “Yeah. As we shivered on the dirty mattress that we sometimes had to share with bugs and rats, Jesse would whisper how we were going to get away. How life would be better once we graduated.”
James sniffed.
“Baby.” He didn’t want to upset James. Well, more than he already had.
“Tell me.”
