Chapter 45: Knots (Alex's POV) I walked out of creative writing and headed straight to the field for lunch. I got there and noticed the entire field was empty. "What the-" I mumbled under my breath. I caught Jamie running inside so I just followed him in quietly. He was rushing to the cafeteria where literally everybody seemed to be. I pushed past the crowd, having to climb onto some tables on the way. I finally spotted Hannah and walked over to her. "What the hell is going on?" I asked. "Nothing, Alex get out of here," she began pushing me backward. "No, what? I- what is going on? Where is Carter?" I asked. I heard a loud clatter and jumped up on the table to look above the crowd. My mouth fell open while Hannah pulled me back down to the floor. "He- what is- why is he doing that?!" I yelled. "He went to confront Hudson. Then- I don't know, it just became chaos," she huffed. "Is nobody gonna stop him?!" I exclaimed. "I think it's best not to," she said, wincing while looking at the scene unfold in front of us. I tried watching but I couldn't, just looking at the blows they were throwing at each other, the way the other would yell in pain, the way they grunted at any movement, the way they were both bleeding, I couldn't look at it. "Hannah, somebody needs to stop them, they'll kill each other!" I yelled. My stomach was turning into knots, I could feel my heart pounding against my ribcage. "Carter!" I yelled. I watched him hesitate to throw the next punch and Hudson took that as an opportunity to throw a few punches at Carter's face. I turned around, not being able to watch. I watched as Zach entered the room in confusion, looking for us probably. He ran through to the middle of the crowd and his eyes widened. "Carter!" he yelled, trying to pry Carter off of Hudson but neither of them would budge. "Carter!" I yelled. Carter grunted before letting Zach pull him away. I winced looking at Hudson's bloody nose and the gash on Carter's eyebrow that had blood trailing down the side of his face. I watched as some guys from the team pulled Hudson out of the cafeteria while Zach pulled Carter aside to talk to him. Connor got everyone back to their seats before we all left the cafeteria, leaving Zach and Carter behind. We were standing out there, waiting for them to come out and once they did, I noticed immediately that Carter's eyes wouldn't meet mine. We all stood in silence before Connor, Hannah, Zach, and Abby left us alone. "I'm going home, are you coming?" I huffed. He silently nodded before following me. Zach stood in front of his car so he held the door open and we both slipped into the back. He drove us out of there and we sat in silence the whole time till we reached our neighborhood. "Where am I dropping you two off?" he asked. "My house," I answered. He pulled over at my house and we climbed out. He drove off and I turned to Carter. He couldn't even look at me. I shook my head before going inside, Carter trailing right behind me. I went straight to the kitchen and washed my hands before grabbing the first aid kit from under the sink. "You are unbelievably stupid," I huffed while opening the kit and grabbing some cotton and antiseptic to clean his eyebrow. "And I'm sure you don't think you've done anything wrong, am I right?" I scoffed while pulling out a barstool. He sat down on it and I stood between his legs. "Carter, you could have told me, you could have told me what you were going to do," I huffed while wiping off the blood from the side of his face, working my way up to the gash. "I did," he mumbled. "You said you were going to put him in his place, not beat the life out of him and get yourself hurt in the process," I scolded. He winced when I touched his eyebrow and jumped. "Hold still," I mumbled, holding his face in my hands. "I'm trying," he mumbled, "But it stings." "I know it stings just…" I trailed off, gently scrubbing some of the dry blood off of his skin. "I know something that might help, okay ow," he winced, grabbing my waist and forcing me to take a step back. "What?" I asked. "Maybe a kiss," he smirked. "A kiss?" He nodded in response. "You're insane if you think I'm going to kiss right now. After you've gone and beat him up and gotten this done to yourself," I scoffed. "I'm insane to ask my girlfriend for a kiss?" "Yes." "Got it, I'll keep that in mind." I finished cleaning up and looked at it. "You should get stitches. It goes really deep, Carter," I said while leaning down and looking at it. I looked down and met his eyes, realizing our proximity. "No stitches, just slap a bandaid on it," he shrugged. I rolled my eyes before looking through the first aid kit where I found a packet of butterfly stitches. The ones you just stick on. I remember needing them last year when I cut myself on my arm while messing around in the kitchen. I was just stupid. "These should do, it might hurt," I said while grabbing them. "Why?" he asked. I placed my fingers around the gash and pinched it together. "Ow!" he shrieked. "Sorry, almost done," I said, quickly slapping two stitches on there before brushing his eyebrow down, watching his face relax. "That hurt," he mumbled. "I'm sorry, I had to do that to put the stitches on," I explained. "It's okay," he said, brushing his finger under his eyebrow. "You should be fine, are you hurt anywhere else?" I asked. He shook his head in response. "You should have been more careful," I whispered while packing the first aid kit up. "Sorry," he sighed. "You're not sorry," I shook my head. "You know what? You're right. I'm not sorry," he shrugged while standing up as I walked over and placed the kit under the sink. He walked over to my side and stood directly in front of him. "He hurt you. He had the audacity to drug you, what makes him think he can do that? To anyone? But he did it to you. And as your boyfriend, it was my job to do whatever I had to so I could put him into place. So yes, I am not sorry," he said. "Carter, there are certain ways to handle things, and beating someone up isn't it." "At times, it is. I have never said a word to that guy because I, out of all people, know that words do not work on him. They never do. He doesn't listen unless someone knocks some sense into him. Literally," he explained. "So, what? You think he won't bother me ever again?" "I can't promise you that, but he will think about it twice before he tries anything," he said reassuringly. "Why would you go through so much?" I sighed. He picked me up and hoisted me onto the counter, pushing my knees apart as he stood between my legs. "I don't think you understand how much I actually love you. So let me explain it to you. Alex, when I'm around you, my heart literally pounds. I can hear it behind my ears, it races. When I'm with you, everything else fades away, nothing else matters to me. When I'm around you, that's all I see. You. That's all my world revolves around. You are like the most important thing to me, I never want to let anyone or anything lay even the smallest scratch on you. And this whole time, I've bit my tongue and kept the possessiveness in me away, because I know what it was like with you and Hudson. You hated the way he treated you. And I didn't want you to feel like I was going to do the same, because I won't. You are free to do whatever you want, but I can't promise you that I won't bash somebody's face when they try hurting you. And I'm not gonna apologize for feeling that way, because I love you. Do you get it?" I stared at him in awe and shock at the same time. I nodded silently. "Say it," he ordered. "I get it," I whispered. It was like he had snapped out his little shell. Like he was not only more protective, but almost more dominating. He wasn't a gentle, sweet guy anymore. Sure, he's still caring and sweet at times. But it's more than that now and I liked it. He stared at me unconvinced. "I get it," I said louder. He grabbed the back of my neck and pulled my lips down to his in a hasty kiss. Everything about him was just a little different. In a good way. He'd become a little… rougher. Like he had realized what he had to lose and he wasn't going to let it slip away now. . . .