Loving the Fighter

114

Carter's POV

It had been a long night. I kept trying to get Jax to say anything but after a while he just ended up falling asleep, leaving me to stay awake by myself.

I had kept myself company by thinking of all the ways I could have beat those fuckers if I was given the chance to again.

I had also decided that if this kind of situation ever happened again, I wouldn't hold back. The body was too hurt now, I felt like shit, and Jax wasn't fronting anymore. Nothing is worth this happening again. Next time I'll just try to get out of jail some other way.

I was so bored at one point I had contemplated my place in the universe. I probably questioned everything known to man at least once. I tried to figure out the meaning of life, I hadn't been successful on that one.

I can't help but stiffen when a knock bangs against the cabin door. At first no one answers so the person knocks again.

"Callum," Liam groaned, his eyes still shut. Callum doesn't stir. "Callum someone is at the door," he groaned louder as he began to shake the two of us.

"Then answer it," Callum grumbled back, his arms tightening around me. Liam only groaned louder.

"Ryder," he said after a while. I thought he had gone back to sleep to be honest. Or maybe he had gone back to sleep but the next round of knocks woke him up again.

"What," Ryder asked grumpily. I could imagine him pouting.

"Go answer the door."

"No, it's too cold out there." This caused Liam to groan again.

"Just come in," he yelled rudely just as the knocking started up again.

The door opened slowly but I didn't care enough to move my head away from Callum's shoulder to see who it was.

"Patrick will be here soon to stay with Carter during his personal day," Andrew's voice rang out; he sounded quite content considering how early it must be.

"You came all the way down here and caused a scene like that, just to tell us that Patrick is coming," Liam asked, a glare clear in his voice.

"I didn't make a scene," Andrew dismissed. "I knocked on the door and judging by the time, it's a good thing I came down here. Breakfast starts in 15 minutes."

Apparently that's all it took to get everyone in motion.

Ryder was the first one out of the bed, taking only about a minute to gather clothes and rush off to the bathroom. Liam was next, taking a slower approach but still began moving before Callum even fully understood what Andrew had said.

"Did he say 50 or 15," he mumbled out, his eyes slowly peaking open.

"15."

"Then I guess I need to get up then," he says as he picks me up by the waist before plopping me back down where Liam had been laying all night. At least it was still warm.

"I don't need a babysitter," I state as I stare at Andrew for the first time this morning. He gives me a basic once over before frowning.

"I know you don't but Patrick insisted. If you think you can talk him out it then be my guest but I doubt you will have much luck. Did you sleep at all last night?"

"Of course I did," I say with an eye roll, which of course, was a lie. A lie that Andrew did not seem to believe.

"Try to take a nap at some point today," was all he said as he made his way over to the door.

"So you stayed up all night," Liam stated rather than questioned after Andrew had left. I only shrugged as I played with the ends of Callum's hoodie.

"I didn't mean to. It just happened." That was another lie they did not seem to buy.

"So now you are going to be tired all day while you have to deal with Patrick. Good plan," Liam said sarcastically, making me glare a bit. Its not like I was very happy about staying up either. Or that I knew I was going to have to deal with Patrick. Not that it would have changed much.

"I'll be fine," I say with one of Jax's best glares, though it did not seem to affect Liam the way it did with most people.

"Lets just all take a breath real quick," Ryder said when he came out of the bathroom. "It's not good to get upset this early."

"Just try to sleep a bit today," Liam all but pleaded as he went off to the bathroom. I try my best to not roll my eyes but I'm not sure if it actually worked or not. I'm assuming it didn't considering Callum eased over to bed as if I was some wild animal that needed to be calmed down.

"He's just worried about you and cranky because he think we'll be late for first class," he reasoned just as someone new knocked on the door, probably Patrick.

"I'll try to take a nap," I say as Callum gets off the bed.

"That's all we ask for," he said with a small smile as he opened the door. Patrick stood there with annoying smile along with a McDonalds bag in one hand and a drink carrier in the other.

"I come bearing breakfast," he says as he walks into the cabin. "I see someone is grumpy this morning," he says as he begins putting food down on Callum's dresser while also passing out everything one by one.

"I'm always grumpy."

"Would coffee help? I was going to bring milkshakes but I figured it was too early for that."

"Coffee sounds better," I admit as I reach out for it while also never leaving the bed. Callum chuckles a bit as he picks one up.

"Do you want it in this cup or in your cup?"

"That's a stupid question." I hoped that came out teasingly but it was too early to be worrying about speech tones.

"Do you also want breakfast or are you going to wait," Liam asked as he began tearing apart a pancake with his fingers. Luckily there was no syrup on them or I might have broken up with him. "I know Jax doesn't like to eat breakfast very early."

"I'll eat in a minute. I just want to hold the warmness of this cup for a while." Liam only nods as he looks up at the clock before cussing.

"We got to go. Just take the whole thing with you and eat it as you walk," he says to the other two as he starts shooing them out the door. "We'll see you lunch. It won't be like last time. Even if we have to sneak out of the cafeteria, we'll see you at lunch." I only nod as I gesture for him to leave.

I only stare tiredly at Patrick after Liam closed the door behind him.

"Andrew says you've been out all night. Is Jax okay," he asked as he perched himself on Ryder's bed even though Ryder never gets on it any more.

"I don't know. He won't talk to me."

"Is that normal?"

"For most systems, I don't know. For ours, sadly yes." He only nods sadly.

"I've been told to make you sleep for at least a few minutes today." I hum as I take a sip of the bitter coffee. "Are you going to make that easy for me or not," he asked with a small chuckle.

"I don't know," I say honestly. "Depends on how the day goes I guess."

Last updated May 27, 2021