Callum's POV
My day went about like normal.
I went work, got a little mad but nothing that would send me over the edge, and then I came home.
At first I thought no one else was home but I realized I was wrong when I heard noise coming from the spare bedroom.
Assuming Jax was just working out a bit, I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. I flipped through channel after channel until landing on some show about sharks.
I expected Jax to come out of the spare room any second now but as I got farther into the show, my hope was starting to run out. I started to get a bad feeling when my show ended and Jax was still in there.
He's gotten to where he only works out for about 30 minutes so unless he started as soon as I got in, he's been going on for a while.
I can't help but frown to myself as I get a bottle of water from the kitchen before heading down the hall to the spare room.
When I got to the room, I expected to see Jax working at his normal pace, not going to hard, just enough to get the bag to move and to work up a sweat, but what I was pretty much the exact opposite.
Carter was up front. Every hit he made was nearly enough to make the bag hit the wall. His face was red and set in a hard glare and his hands looked pretty close to bleeding. He looked like he didn't know there was anyone else in the world.
I didn't know what I should be doing. If he was trying to fight off a panic attack then I should just let him keep going until he exhausted himself, but if this was him trying to get something out, I should probably stop him before he hurts himself.
After a while of him still going full on, I decided to step in just in case and deal with the consciences later.
"I think it's dead now, you can stop now," I try to say gentle but he still jumps a bit at my words.
Carter only gives out a huff as he steps away from the bag but he still doesn't face me.
"How long have you been going at it," I asked as I try to get a better look at his hands. He only shrugs me off as he reached for the bottle in my hand. "That didn't sound like an answer," I said as I moved the bottle away from him. He gives me another huff as a scowl falls onto his face.
"I don't know, maybe an hour?"
"Did something happen at work or something?"
"No," he said but it didn't take a genius to know he was lying but I give him the water anyway.
He chugs the whole thing in one go before turning back to the bag.
"I think you need to be done for the day," I spit out a little harsher than I meant to.
"You're dom talk doesn't work on me," he said with another scowl as he got down into his stance.
I only hum as I step in front of the bag before he has the chance to punch it, making his scowl deepen.
"So you wanna tell me what happened now," I said with my sweetest smile but he didn't seem impressed as he turned away and sent to leave the room. "I can only help if you tell me about it."
"I didn't ask for help."
"Your mouth might not have but your body language is screaming for help." I expected for him snap at me but he only sighed as his shoulders lost all tension.
"Just drop."
"I will as soon as you tell me what's wrong."
For a second he was quiet as he stood there, probably talking to Jax about something before he turned around. Tears were balancing on his water line as he bit his lip to keep himself from making a sound.
"I can't take this anymore," he whispered out as he dropped to the floor; I was beside him in a second as I pulled him onto my lap. "He's driving me crazy!"
"Bram?"
"He won't stop talking. And he keeps trying to touch me. I can't fucking stand when people touch me! I can't even front to get away from him because he broadcasts everything he says! And he's not even doing anything wrong so I can't say anything about it. I just don't want him here anymore. I want to go back when it was just me and Jax."
I frown to myself as I pet his back while I try to think of a way to help him as he continues to rant. About how much he just wants to punch the shit out of Bram just to get him away and how that only makes him feel worse because it makes him feel like Jax's dad so he just gets even madder at himself.
Tears began to stream freely down his face as he chest heaved up and down as he all but sobbed.
"Have you told Andrew about this," I asked, not knowing what else to say.
"I can't! He fronts at all of our sessions for some reason. Jax and I can barely get a word in before he's taking over. He doesn't even like Andrew that much but we can never get him to let us take over. I can't even pull him back like I would with Jax."
"Jax mentioned something about going to the other therapist for a few days a month right? Maybe he could help Bram understand a bit more? Or maybe you and Jax could try to make him understand."
"We've been trying to get it through his thick head all week. I've told him to stop touching me 5 times today alone. I've even tried to explain why I hate it but he forgets like an hour or so later."
"Then maybe it is time to see Andrew's friend."
"And how are we going to pay for that? We're lucky enough that Andrew is doing our sessions for free but I doubt this guy would. And Jax doesn't want to have to go through the bonding process all over again so we are pretty much out of luck." I can't help but scowl at that. This was way too much of a Ryder thing to say; I almost pulled him by the hair before I remembered who I was talking to.
"Do you want to go see Andrew's friend?" He doesn't give a verbal answer but his sigh is answer enough. "Then don't worry about the money. If it's something you need, we will figure out a way to make it happen."
"What about Jax though?"
"Jax will get over it. He's not the only one who gets to make decisions. If this is something you need, he will understand eventually."
He doesn't say anything else as his crying slowly comes to a stop but even then he doesn't get off my lap so I only hold him closer.
"Now do we have to worry about Bram having hurt feelings over hearing what you said?"
"No," he said with a sniffle and a headshake. "Jax took him on a walk when you walked in."
That was a relief at least.
"So let's go call Andrew then," I say as I go to stand up but he only latches onto my shirt. He looks up at me with puffy eyes before shoving his face into my chest.
"Just a few more minutes. Please." I can't help but smile to myself as I pull him closer.
"Just a few minutes."
Liam's POV
Jem didn't come today. Something must have happened.
My hands shook as I tried to calm myself down as I walked home by myself for the first time in weeks.
No matter how many times I tried to shake my head from the thoughts, they just kept coming. I kept thinking about what could have happened. The warehouse could have been raided, someone could have broken into the house, Jem, Devon, or Barrett could be dead right now and I would never know.
My heart clenched at the last thought. Jem wasn't dead. He could get out any situation. He wasn't dead.
Barrett- now Barrett could be dead. He always ran into dangerous situations head first and without a plan. There was a very big chance that Barrett could be dead, which sucked but it was better than Jem.
My hands played with each other as I checked behind my shoulder, just in case Jem was following me and I just didn't know, but he wasn't there.
I couldn't help but sigh to myself as I walked into the building.
It's only been a few weeks but I can't believe how much I cared already.
I always thought that I would be overly pissed if I ever saw Jem again and that I would be happy if he stayed away. But now that he was here, even for just a few days, I didn't want him to leave again and that honestly pissed me off even more.
I wanted to lie to myself and say that if he showed up tomorrow that I would give him the cold shoulder and be mad at him for making me worry but I knew that wouldn't happen. If he showed up tomorrow I knew I would be overly relived that he was still alive and I would forget today even happened.
It pissed me off.
Last updated June 28, 2021
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