Okay. This guy was obviously not going to tell them his name. Instead, he decided to get even more ridiculous by claiming that him causing this bruise on Lucy's arm, the arm of a presumable teenager, was somehow self-defense. Jerome took another deep breath while his eyes got darker then before, and again, he fought against the loss of his composure that was not very sturdy today to begin with. His day had been seriously straining enough already, having gone through the horrors of the memories of losing his wife, having been informed that maybe, those fuckers in charge could take his ring away at some point, and he seriously had a very, very hard time to keep himself together in front of that overly brazen jerk.
But he did. He somehow managed to not completely flip out on that guy, shoving his pulsating anger deeper down his throat and instead of getting louder, just piercing through his eyes with a glare of disgust and devastation. "A defensive hold."
There was no way that in this situation, he could muster any kind of sympathy as this man began showing signs of mental distress. He probably would have if Joe wouldn't have said his last sentence, and he probably would later after cooling down again, but now? No chance. This whole thing hit home way too intensely, reminding him at how his former best friend had used shabby excuses like these all the time when he had done something dumb and wanted Jerome to take care of the mess he had dug himself into.
On the other side, the sudden distress of the man standing besides him did very much evoke his sympathy. It all started when Edwin moved towards Joe, trying to speak up to cool everyone down, and Jerome could only guess that this was something Oliver did not like at all. He remembered their breakfast they just had come from, remembered how affectionate those two had been to each other, and even Jerome himself, only knowing Edwin for like an hour, was slightly worried about Edwin's sudden speech because he didn't seem like someone very capable of defending himself. And given that Joe's behaviour didn't really indicate that he was even close to calming down, Jerome felt slightly alerted for Edwin, tensing his muscles slightly, ready to step in.
And given that Oliver had started tensing up when Edwin had started moving, Jerome had a very slight and probably very incomplete idea of what was happening right now. Regarding any kind of displayed distress, how subtle it may be, Jerome had an eye for it. Years of trying to do his best to support his mentally unstable daughter had made him sensible enough to this kind of thing, and he turned his head slightly, his eyes displaying worry now. He didn't know Oliver well enough to know what would be the best to do in this kind of situation, and he definitely didn't want to worsen anything or give anyone another reason to freak out, so he just touched his shoulder slightly and reassuring, trying to find his eyes, trying to read them. "Everything okay?" He was obviously not okay, but especially the language barrier made it hard to say something less generic now.
He then had a quick look towards Joe and Edwin again, hoping that whatever Oliver was currently going through, Edwin could ease it in any way. It was not only that he was worried about Oliver, and he was worried about Oliver, but he didn't what it was that he went through, and how potentially severe it could get. This situation definitely didn't need any more tense. Lucy was still there, and watching.