Liam's POV

I groan angrily at Callum as he pushes me outside and shut the door behind him. 

"What the hell is your problem?" I ask, my face almost red from all the yelling I had been doing. 

"You have to help him," Callum decides. He tried to leave no room for argument in his voice but I always ground room for argument. 

"You know I don't help people if they don't want it or if they don't care enough to pay attention and try." 

"I know but give him a break. He's probably never done school properly before and even if he has you know these classes are harder than most classes at public schools."

"That's not my problem. I'm not going to sit in there and butt heads with someone who doesn't care while I could be getting done quickly and doing other things." 

Callum was quiet for a moment as if he were thinking about if he should say something or not. 

"Miss Abbot was eye fucking him all class," he said with a sad expression. 

My blood ran hot at the thought of that 'teacher' have her sites set on Jax. 

I don't even know how she got a job at this place or why she hasn't been fired yet. Plenty of people have complained about her being inappropriate. 

I guess teachers who are willing to teach criminals are hard to come by. 

"If you don't help him then he's going to do what he has to in order to keep his grades up."  I shake my head for a moment. 

I wanted to tell Callum that Jax would never do that. That Jax would never do something like that but the truth was I didn't Jax well enough to say that he wouldn't. 

I groan while running my hands through my hair. 

I didn't like the thought of Jax fucking other people, let alone a teacher to keep his grades up. I also didn't like slackers or people using me just because I was smart. 

"Just give him a chance. If he doesn't pay attention to you then Ryder and I will see if we have better luck teaching him." 

"Fine." I grumble.

Callum smiles as he gathers me in his arms and presses a gentle kiss to my forehead. I sigh as I lean into my boyfriend.  

"Let's go back in before he draws all over the damn cabin," I mutter while pulling away and marching back into the cabin. 

Teaching him wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. 

Even though he says he learned nothing in class I can tell he picked a few things up without meaning to. 

English and math seemed to be his least favorite subjects. Math because he wasn't the best at it and it was frustrating. English because he hated sitting still for more than a few seconds to read. In the end he just sat there while I read him the few chapters we were supposed to read. 

The second I checked his last math problem and said he got it right his book was closed and he was laying on his back on my bed.

The tension in the room nearly evaporated in that moment. It was like Jax was too tired to act cold to either of us. 

While he talked to Callum I hid behind a book and hoped he wouldn't notice my eyes peeking over the pages to get a glimpse at his hard stomach that I could see through a small opening. 

It was all normal summer camp until the cabin door slammed open. Just like that every bit of tension that had recently been released came back tenfold.

In the few seconds it took to get Jax to the therapy hall and back the room had changed yet again. 

Thanks to Callum the panic attack vibe had shifted to slight panic with mostly sadness. 

I walk in on Ryder laying on top of Callum. Normally Callum would wrap his arms around our boyfriend but this time he just let the lay on the bed. Nothing but his stomach was touching Ryder. 

Already knowing exactly what happened, I walk over and sit on the edge of the bed while still keeping a distance between my nearly asleep lover. 

"I think the worst part is already over," Callum whispered. 

"I came back as fast as I could," I said with a frown. 

"I know. It's not your fault." 

My attention moved from Callum to Ryder. 

His face is flushed and his eyes are puffy. His hair was a complete mess while trails of tears made their way down his face. 

"How're you feeling baby?" I ask him. I wanted to run my fingers through his hair so bad but I knew better. In his current state that was a good way to spiral him into a panic attack. 

"I've been better," he admits while reaching for my hand. I gladly give it to him knowing this alone is a big step forward for us. 

Normally he won't touch anyone after a break down like this. 

"Wanna talk about it?" A fresh wave of tears fall down his face while he hides himself in Callum's chest. 

"I fucking hate this therapist!" He screamed but it was muffled due to the muscle he was speaking into. 

"What did he do?" 

"He read my the police report to me," he said in a whisper. "Is that even allowed?" He asked, completely outraged. "I thought all of that was confidential, why does he just get walk in here all high and mighty and do shit like that?" He screamed again but just like last time it was muffled. 

"He's allowed to if he gets special permission and thinks it will actually help."

"Well he was fucking wrong!"

"I know he was," I say in my sweetest voice possible. "But he has to try new things to see what helps and what doesn't. Right now what you need to do is calm down and breathe." 

Ryder takes a deep shaky breath before turning his head back to me. He says nothing but he watches me. 

He does this a lot when he gets like this. I've figured out he's trying to see if he's scaring me or freaking me out. 

"Why don't we go watch a movie," Callum asks even though he seems half asleep and very comfortable with the position he's in despite what was happened around him. 

Ryder only shakes his head against Callum's chest.

"I just want to lay here and be sad," he declares but he's dead wrong if he thinks were are going to let that happen. 

"Even if we let you pick the movie?" I ask in a teasing voice. We all knew how this would end, he's just being stubborn. 

"No."

"And what if I go raid the snack bar?" Callum teases back, seeing where I was going with this. 

"No," he said again but a small smile was etched on his face now. 

"How about if we all pile up on my bed and cuddle even though that bed isn't meant for three people and it's not comfortable?"

With that a bigger smile breaks out on his face and I know we've won the small battle. 

"Fine," he grumbles and rolls over to let Callum go get some snacks. Though he tries to act annoyed I can tell he's happy we pushed for the movie night. 

"You should really leave the grumbling to Liam. He's a lot better at it than you are," Callum teases as he walks out the door. 

"Asshole!" I yell at him even though I know he probably can't hear me. 

Jax's POV

I sat in a room that was much too small for my liking in front of a man who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. 

His eyes looked me over several times but he had still yet to say anything. 

If it hadn't been for the blinking and breathing I would have thought he was just dead and no one had bothered to move him away from the desk. 

Just as I was about to just get up and leave, he moved. 

A small file sat in front of him, which he had opened before reading it silently in his head. 

"Jaxon Young."

I cringe at that name. 

I wasn't Jaxon Young. That guy is a 10 year old who still has his whole life ahead of him and can do what ever he wants to. 

He didn't have to worry about what everyone else thought or if he was acting enough like a dick to keep people from coming up to you. 

That kid wasn't me. Not anymore. 

"It's Jax actually," I correct him though I doubt serious he'll ever call me that. He only hums in response as he reads over my file again. 

"17 year old street fighter, possibly abusive father, a dead beat mom who left him young, and no other known family." 

I wondered to myself why he kept listening all these things off. This was my own life he was telling me, I knew every depressing detail about it, he didn't need to give me a highlight reel. 

"Trying to rub it in huh?" 

"More like trying to figure it out," he explained but I remained silent. "I believe the abuse part, your behavior almost screams it," he points out making me tense up and glare at him. 

"The only part that I don't get is if you were fighting for yourself or for your father." 

"If that's the only thing you don't understand I think we're done here," I say but I don't make an attempt to move. 

"I've come up with so much, help me with just this one part."  

"You've come up with lies to make you feel better about your skills. You know nothing about me."

He was quite for a moment before he spoke again. 

"You started fighting young. I would say about 12 years old. Maybe younger. Your mom had already left by then so there was nothing keeping your dad away from fighting. You almost completely dropped out of school to focus on fighting but your dad never took it seriously. He would take impossible bets. If you won you got nothing but if you lost he would hit you." 

I set my jaw as I glare at him harder than I've ever flared at anyone. My hands ball into fists in my lap while I try to keep my body from shaking in rage. 

"How was that for making up lies?" He asked with a bored expression but I didn't care to answer him. "So tell me, did you fight by choice or by force?"  

I thought about the question.  

The whole reason I got sucked into this was because I hit one kid one time in school and my dad took it for granted.

After that he made sure the only thing I did was fight. I think at first it was supposed to be 'discipline'. Kinda like 'if you wanna fight that's all you'll do' but as I got better the less it seemed to be discipline. 

I didn't want to go to my first fight. Just the thought had terrified me at the time but as time went on it became just a thing that happened. 

Maybe I didn't start out doing it by choice but I sure as hell didn't do anything to try and stop it when I got older. 

Only one word slipped out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop it. 

"Choice," I spat out. 

I had expected him to remain bored or show no emotion, but when my answer slipped through his eyebrows shot up as if he wasn't expecting that to be my answer. 

That's when I realized. This whole thing has been fake. He was reading me like a book then acting accordingly to see how I would react. 

This whole thing was a test to see if I would break down and answer anything and I failed. 

With my fists clenched and my jaw set, I stood up quickly and left the room without another word.