Fighting a New World

48

Carter's POV

I didn't have to force my smile as Callum handed me a travel mug filled with coffee but I only mumbled my 'thank you' as I lifted the cup to my lips.

"What time do we need to leave," he asked as he played with my free hand.

"In just a few minutes so unless you plan on going bare foot, I'd put on some shoes."

"Would I embarrass you if I wore flip flops?" I frowned at the weird question.

"Of course not. You could never embarrass me," I said with a small glare.

"Even if I ran into a Wal-Mart in nothing but boxers," he teased, making me roll my eyes as I pushed off the counter and walked to the door.

"Not really. Jax might kill all the girls who stared you down though so I don't recommended it."

He chuckled at that as he slipped on his shoes and followed after me.

His hand grabbed mine as we took the short walk to our lawyer's office.

I honestly hated coming here. The guy, Reece, wasn't bad but his job sucked. All he did was yell questions at us. Our job was to keep ourselves from breaking down or lashing out while also answering his questions the way he wanted us to.

It was honestly just exhausting and Bram hated every second of it. I didn't overly love it either but since this while thing killed Jax just to think about, I was the only who had to deal with all of it while Bram and Kyra took walks outside. Jax would some times follow them but most of the time he stared at the screen as I forced myself to stay calm.

My hand gripped Callum's tighter as I led him to the familiar office.

"It's good to see you again Carter," Reece said as he stood up and closed the door behind us. "And I see you bought a boyfriend today. That's nice but I have to ask that you try not to relief on him. He won't be able to sit with you at the hearing."

"I know but it's just for today," I promised as I scooted the two chairs in front of his desk closer together before sitting down in my usual chair on the left since it was closest to the wall.

Reece looked like he wanted to protest but I cut him off before he had the chance.

"I really don't think you want to yell at me today without me touching Callum in some way," I explained with a small sigh. "I've been known to punch when they yell at me and I can't see why you would want me to do that so while I know it's not a good idea, I think it's better than getting hit in the face. Would you agree?"

Reece let out a small sigh of his own as he nodded and sat down behind the desk. Now that no one was protesting, Callum sat beside me and connected our hands again.

"What kind of 'abuse', if you could even call it that, did your father put you through," he all but spat out. I guess we were just jumping right in today.

"He used to hit us and he forced us to fight illegally," I answered numbly.

Reece hummed.

"You have a history of fighting on your own free will," he noted. "There are multiple reports of you fighting one boy in particular, does Bryce Willis ring a bell to you?" I tense at the name. I hated that fucking asshole.

"He always started those fights."

"Yes that's right. I apologize. Well what about Joshua Cole, Trey Adams, or maybe you want to talk about Elijah Crest? I could list a few more if you don't like any of them. It seems you started all of those fights. In a few of them, it was reported that you kept hitting them until people pulled you off of them. It seems like you actually liked fighting.

"Your honor, this boy is clearly just rebelling against his father. He's grasping at straws. He claims his father forced him to fight but when he was arrested for it, his father was nowhere to be seen. How could his father have forced him if he was at the airport on his way to Mexico?"

"When the cops showed up, he ditched me and drove to the air port for an alibi," I explained as I closed my eyes to try and keep my cool. "He still hit us."

I could feel Reece smile as he broke character for a second.

"Good, remember to bring their focus back on that when you can."

I nodded as he slipped back into his mean self.

"A little discipline is allowed," he dismissed. "How else would you contain a problem child of this degree? He put other boys in the hospital on several occasions."

"He beat us until we were coughing up blood," I seethed out as I gripped Callum's hand harder but he didn't say a word.

"Lying will get you nowhere."

"He used to shove us in a closet for hours at a time."

"A time out that I'm sure you're exaggerating."

"He left marks everywhere."

"I find that hard to believe," he scoffed before breaking character again. "This is when we would give those pictures I took to the judge so that he can review them. You did very well like always. If you're able to this on the actual day, we won't have a problem. It will be an open and shut case, we'll probably even get him a few years for child abuse. Then the restraining order will go through now that he's back in the country and he'll never be able to bother you again."

I only nodded as I pried my eyes open and rubbed my face with my free hand.

"I hate this," I admitted.

"I know," Reece frowned, "but we have to. I won't allow you to go up there unprepared." I only nod as Callum rubbed his thumb on the back of my hand.

"Are you read for some more?"

I nod again.

The simple action was all it took for Reece to start back up.

Ryder's POV

"The doctors think you may wake up soon," I said as I ran the brush through my mom's hair. "You're getting a lot stronger than they thought you would a lot faster than that thought too. Apparently you're becoming the talk of the hospital."

Her heart rate speeds up like usual so I wait for her to finish her sentence before answering.

"I can't stay for long today. Jax and Carter are with Callum at the lawyer's office to prepare them for the hearing so I need to be back before they are. Jax isn't doing very good with all of this going on."

I waited again but my hands never stopped moving the brush. I loved her hair so much, it reminded me so much of mine. When I was little I always liked that we matched like this.

"Carter isn't doing much better though. I'm hoping the hearing will go by fast just so they can get done with it but I know the foster care is what's scaring Jax the most. Carter is mostly worried about seeing Jax's dad again."

I smiled down at her as she gave her advice even though I couldn't hear it.

"I can't wait for you to meet them for real. You probably won't like Jax at first because he always looks like he's killing three people in his head at all times but he'll grow on you. Once you get used to the constant use of the animal channel, you'll love Carter too.

"Callum will probably be your favorite though. He's the most friendly out of all of them and that will be what gets you; that's how he got me," I teased.

"Liam will probably be a close second though. You two will probably stay up late together now that he's in college. He liked to watch and listen to people so if you ask him, he'll give you all the gossip he over heard at school. I know you always liked to hear that while I was in school. I can only imagine what college gossip would be like for you."

Her laugh filled my head as I pulled the brush away now that it looked perfect again.

"Well, I hate to just come and go but like I said, I need to be there for Jax. I'll try to bring all of them back tomorrow for a longer visit. I love you."

Her heart rate rose as she lay there but I imagine she told me it was fine and that she loved me too so when it went back to her resting rate, I stood up.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Or later tonight if you feel like waking up," I teased as I walked out the door.

Last updated August 26, 2021