Loving the Fighter

127

Callum's POV

It was like Déjà vu.

Liam, Ryder, and I were all just chilling in the cabin. Liam and Ryder were cuddling, I was getting a little extra homework done, and Jax should be back from his session soon. It was just like any other day until a guard busted through our door with a terrified look on his face.

"You three need to come with me," he said. Before any of us had the chance to ask why he was already out the door on the way back to the offices.

I have to stifle a curse as I slip on some flip-flops and chase after him.

My mind replays the scene of last time. Jax curled up into a ball in the corner, shaking as if he just looked his worse fear in the eyes as he mumbled nonsense. I could only hope it was better than last time.

"What happened," I ask gently as soon as I stepped into the office. I could tell without much of a glance that Carter was up front as he paced, not even realizing we were here.

"We were talking about Jax's dad. Carter forced front and is now having a panic attack and I can't get him out of it," Andrew said calmly, much different than he had been for Jax's panic attack.

"If we can't get him to calm down we are going to have to get him to a hospital to give him a shot to help him calm down but I don't want to do that if we don't have to. He could lash out and Mary would have no choice to send him to jail, especially since it would happen outside of camp," he explained quickly.

"We've never talked him out of a panic attack," Liam whispered. "And I doubt he would appreciate being yelled out of it like Jax does."

"Well we've got to try something," I say as I slowly walked up Carter but he doesn't acknowledge me. "Do you want to go for a run," I asked like it was no big deal, hoping to not make it worse. "I might be able to make it passed 7 miles this time." Carter only shakes his head. At least he answered, that was progress.

"What do you want to do then," Ryder asked cheerily, clearly seeing what I was trying to do.

"I want to hit something," he grumbled out as he closed his eyes and shook his head. I can't help but give a side-glance to Andrew before moving over to Liam and Ryder. My head jerks towards the far wall, making it clear that's where they needed to go; just in case something goes wrong.

"Hit me then," I say, hoping it came out as confident as I hoped it did but Carter was already shaking his head.

"Callum," Liam started but I cut him off with a look before turning back to Carter.

"I can't," Carter seethed out as he clenched his jaw. His eyes stared at the floor, his hands never stopping in his hair.

"What," I say jokingly, "afraid I'm going to win or something."

"Callum," Andrew says this time, not letting it go when I shoot him the same look I gave Liam. "This might not be the best idea." I don't pay him any attention as I turn back to Carter and hold my hands up to him with my palms out in the open. To my surprise he doesn't flinch back, he only looks up at me through his lashes, a hard glare on his face.

"Hit my hands. I'll be fine," I assure him.

"I don't want to hurt you," he seethed out, his hands tightening in his hair. I only give him an easy smile as I slowly lift my hands to his. When he doesn't make me move away my hands wrap around his, making them release his hair before they curl back into fists.

"I can take it," I say as I let go of his hands and give him my open palms again.

His jaw clenches again as determination is set in his eyes as his stubbornness falls. Something in him changes.

His fists tighten and before I even really have a chance to brace for the hit, his knuckles connect with my palm.

I force myself to keep the pained face to myself as I brace for the next one, which is even harder than the first.

The punches come one after the other, never missing my hand. Carter's breath comes out in pants as sweat begins forming on his forehead. Nothing but rage crosses his face.

I don't know how long this lasts for. All I know is everyone in the room is silent and that my hands feel like they are about to fall off.

In that moment I saw a glance of Carter that I didn't like. This was not my sarcastic, carefree, boyfriend. This was a complete stranger. This is was a fighting machine and I didn't like it.

Then, just like someone flipping a switch, it was all over.

Carter froze as he took a step back with a gasp. The glare was gone in an instant as he let out a sigh before collapsing in Andrew's chair.

"Sorry," he said after a few more minutes as he wiped the sweat off his face. "I got a little carried away," he admitted. I only gave him a soft smile as I resist the urge to look down to see how red my hands were.

"I told you I could handle it," I say as I move closer to the chair. "Can you make room for two there?" To my surprise he stands up and pushes me into the chair, before crawling onto my lap.

Everything in me relaxed when his head lay on my shoulder as if nothing had happened a few seconds ago.

His eyes glance over to our other boyfriends, making my gaze follow.

Neither of them looked like they knew what to do at this point while Andrew only stood there with wide eyes, as if he was surprised it actually worked.

I could feel the tension and guilt rolling off of Carter as he looked away from them and to the floor.

All it took was one glance from me to have all of them snapped out of their dazes.

"Do you feel better now," Liam asked as he walked over to the chair with a small smile.

"A little bit," he admitted but I could tell he was down playing it to make him seem less crazy about feeling better because he punched something.

"That's good," Ryder said as he kneeled in front of the chair, his hand coming up to fix Carter's very wild hair now.

"Are you done for the day," Andrew asked hesitantly as he settled back into his office chair.

So many thoughts seemed to run through Carters mind in a matter of seconds before he cleared his throat.

"Fag," he said barely above a whisper as he leaned farther into my chest. Andrew only furred his brow, clearly not hearing what Carter had said. "He carved fag," he said louder. So that's what all of this was about.

A deep frown covered Andrew's face as he hesitantly wrote something into Jax's folder.

Andrew went to say something else but Carter beat him to it.

"I'd like to be done for the day."

I was going to wait until Monday to do this mass update but then I got done with four chapters so I asked if anyone wanted me to wait and only one person answered so I'm doing it anyway. There might not be any more updates for the weekend though.