Love Like A Delinquent (Remake)

{ Chapter 20 }

"It doesn't have to be this way," she whimpered; her lip quivering. She grabbed onto John's arms, her weak muscles not even moving his a bit. She pulled on them, pushed at them, tried everything to get the hell away from him. 

And that's when Hunter heard it. The terrifyingly loud bang sent him feral, screaming and crying out, moving inhumanly and pounding his fists at his ears to try and make the noise stop. Tears covered his face in a matter of seconds and he tried his hardest to breathe properly through the fear.

When the body dropped down at his side, he cried even more. He looked down at the figure right next to his knees and screamed louder when the blood from its wound poured onto his hands. He stared down at what used to be his Mom, and shook her shoulders when she didn't get up. He shook her harder, needing her, crying hysterically when she didn't respond and even more when he felt arms wrap around his waist and hoist him up.

Terrified as he was, Hunter burried himself into the hold. When John sat down against the wall, Hunter crawled forwards, wheezing and crying until he felt the arms wrap around him again. He didn't know what else to do, didn't understand what he should do. He was scared and he wanted his Dad to make it better, so he held onto him.

John was saying things in his ear, things that Hunter didn't understand. Hunter tried his best to listen, to pay attention so that he wouldn't get hurt for doing otherwise. He couldn't though, he didn't understand what to do or say or how to act. He just pressed himself into his chest, relaxing as John's strong hands rubbed and and down his back.

"I'm gonna make everything better, you'll see."

-

* H u n t e r *

Kat was drying my hair because I was too pathetic to even do that for myself. Normally I just let it dry on its own, but it felt really nice how Kat was rubbing it with the towel so I didn't tell her to stop. We'd been in the bath for about 45 minutes, because of me again. I couldn't help it. I had a nightmare, the same nightmare I'd been having for weeks now. The one where John shot my Mom. I'd woken up and thought I was covered in her blood and wouldn't stop freaking out until i felt like I'd washed it off me.

Kat was really good to me when i was like that. She helped me wash myself because I was in too much of a state to even stop crying and she held me until I knew that I was safe. I didn't know how she did it. No one else would put up with a piece of shit like she did.

"Love you," she murmured, resting her chin on my shoulder and breathing into my neck. Her arms went around my waist and grabbed onto them, rubbing up and down her arms. Our arms looked weird together. Hers were all smooth and soft and clear and mine were red and bumpy and disgusting. I didn't know how she could even look at them, or look at me without feeling like shit. 

I guess that was why I loved her though. Cause she didn't look at me like I was fucked up. She helped me and she looked after me. She listened and she went out of her way to make me feel safe. She did everything she could just to make me happy and she was so beautiful, it was just hard not to love her. I couldn't imagine, didn't even want to imagine feeling this way about anyone else. It wouldn't be right. 

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just thinking."

"About what?"

"You," 

She laughed, her cheeks heating up against my skin. "And?"­­­­­

"Dunno," I admitted. "Just, you make me happy."

"Hunter," she murmured, running her hands up and down my chest and squeezing me into a hug. "What even are we? I mean, I know what we talked about last night and I dunno, I mean, we don't need to put a label on it but are we like, boyfriend and-"