Loving the Fighter

66

Major trigger warning. Skip to the bottom to learn more.

Jax's POV

I don't remember much of what happened after the lake or how much longer we ended up staying there. All I really know is that after a while Callum stood up and announced we needed to head back. Ryder had fallen asleep on Liam's chest so he was stuck the task of carrying Ryder back to the cabin while Callum walked beside me.

I'm not totally sure how it happened but we somehow ended up all sleeping on the same bed and it wasn't at all comfortable but I didn't have the will to get up and leave so I just lay there until I eventually fell asleep.

The next morning wasn't much better. I still wasn't completely there but I was in control well enough to have a basic conversation with everyone at breakfast. I was able to play it off as just me being tired, which wasn't a total lie considering I really was.

English was a whole other story. Turns out the coach really did teach English before.

Mary must have told him at least part of the story between Abbott and me considering how he was looking at me right now. He usually looked at me like I was his prized possession or a top athletic, but now he looked at me like I was some sort of broken toy and I couldn't stand it. I almost preferred Abbott's rapeish stare, at least I never liked her to begin with but coach and I actually had a decent thing going.

At lunch people whispered about how Abbott was missing. Rumors started, saying she was killed on camp property, she was kidnapped, only a few times did I actually hear that she was fired but everyone brushed that one off as if it was less realistic than being abducted by aliens, which was also a rumor going around.

Liam kept sending me concerned glances through out the day while Callum and Ryder tried to avoid bringing up the fact that we all knew I wasn't completely here today. Callum hadn't so much as held my hand all day and as much as I was glad he didn't, I missed the feeling of his hand in mine.

Ryder seemed to be the only one who didn't act different today and I'm not sure if it's because he didn't pick up on my absence or if he had slipped like this enough times to know that acknowledging it only makes it 10 times worse. Whichever the option, he went on about our day as happy and bubbly as ever, making sure to include me in whatever conversation they were having when I went quiet for a little too long.

Now the day was nearly over. I sat in Andrew's office as usual, a blank expression plastered on my face as I waited for him to start talking but even after a while, he never did. He only sat there with a similar expression as he watched me.

My hands played with each other nervously as I willed him to break the silence before it got worse.

"Aren't you going to say something?" I asked after a good ten minutes of silence.

"What do you want me to say?" He sounded angry but his blank expression didn't help me clarify if he was actually mad or not.

"Isn't it your job to figure that out?"

Andrew only hummed as he leaned forward on the desk.

"I couldn't help but notice that Abbott wasn't in class today," he said like it was no big deal but I could tell he was leading up to something. "So I asked Mary about it and it turns out, you and your roommates paid her a little visit last night."

"And you're mad at us for it?"

"No Jax, I'm not mad."

Five words. Those five words with that tone. That was all it took to make me slip for good.

"I'm not mad, Jaxon," he had said as he stalked towards me. "But you need to be disciplined."

"...15..."

He towered above me while I lay balled up on the floor. Tear threated to spill out but I forced myself to keep them in. I shook as I waited for the first kick that I knew would come any second now.

"...23..."

The pain began in my back before slowly seeping through the rest if my body, over and over until he got too tired. His hands fumbled with his belt buckle, making me shudder as I tried to back away.

His belt buckle jingled as it cut through the air before landing on my shoulder. I bit my lip, hoping I could keep my pain to myself but I knew I wouldn't be able to do that for long.

"...42..."

I voiced my pain after the fourth hit when I felt the buckle hit hard enough to break my skin.

"You need to suck it up," he warned with a scowl on his face. "I'm surprised you have ever won a fight with a pain tolerance this low."

"Please, just stop." The tears in my eyes finally drip down my face and I try to ball up more but it's not possible to get any smaller than this.

"I'm trying to help you, you ungrateful brat. You'll never get anywhere in life if you keep going around acting like a spoiled rotten child."

"...72..."

"I've learned my lesson," I pleaded as tear continued to stream down my face.

"No Jaxon, I don't think you have," he said with a frown as he leaned down in front of me. Our face only inched apart as he looked into my eyes, studying the fear that coursed through them. "If you had learned then you would stop making these mistakes."

"I didn't do anything!" He only chuckled at that.

"The fact that you don't even know what you did." He stood up again as he shook his head. "You'll learn some day. Eventually you'll grow a fucking brain and you will learn what it means to be truly rotten, and when that day comes, your punishment will end. Until then, you leave me no choice."

His face looses all emotion as his grip on the belt tightens.

The next thing I know, I'm on my stomach. His foot is on the back of my neck to keep me still. I try to squirm away but he only applies more pressure so I give up.

The hit come one after another until they eventually bleed together.

I can feel the blood pouring down my back as I cry silently into the floor.

Time becomes irrelevant as I lay there. I don't even feel the pain anymore but the sound is enough to keep the tears flowing.

Eventually he gets too tired to continue. He leaves out the front door with nothing but car keys and his wallet.

I only lay there as the blood continues to seep through my shirt.

"Jax, I need you to come back to me."

The world around me goes dark as I fall into the bliss of numbness.

"Jax, please." The voice was familiar but I can't remember who they are.

"Jax, you're going to hurt yourself. I need you to stop," this one was a different voice.

Their voices blur together until one voice cuts through them all.

"Jax, calm down now." Callum. "Good. Now open your eyes for me." One eye peaked open just long enough for me to get a glimpse of everything before it closed again. "I'm not counting that," Callum chuckled. "Open your eyes for me babe."

My eyes stayed open this time.

Callum kneeled at my head as his fingers fidgeted. Ryder and Liam both sat on opposite sides, with nothing but concern shining through on their face. Andrew stood at my feet, looking like he just got done having a heart attack.

I was curled up into a ball. My hands clamped over my ears, nails digging into the side of my head. My back was on fire and I'm not sure if I hit it or if it was just the after effects of slipping. My head was pounding as I looked up at Callum. He only smiled down at me.

"There are those beautiful eyes."

Trigger warning for: child abuse and violence

Last updated April 10, 2021