Fighting a New World

63

Bram's POV

I hated walking. I honestly don't think I've ever walked this much but now that I have, I absolutely hate it. I was tempted to make Carter or Jax take over just so I didn't have to anymore but I wanted to see where we were going more.

Ryder woke Carter up early this morning saying they had a lot to do today and before I could turn over and go back to sleep on the couch, I was pushed up front with the promise of a surprise.

I sighed to myself as I pushed on.

I had an idea as to why they were doing this though. A few days ago I had a session with Andrew and even though we already tried letting me front if public, he wanted me to try it again soon but I was nervous.

Me fronting in public didn't exactly end badly but apparently I was a lot more anxious than I realized and I ended up transferring all of that to Jax and Carter and after I let Carter take front, he ended up having an anxiety attack. I didn't want that to happen again so I just stopped asking for front.

"How are you feeling," Callum asked as the roads became busier and the sidewalks got more crowded.

"Fine I guess."

"Are you excited at least," Ryder asked with a smile. He honestly seemed happier than I was about this little outing.

"I'd be more excited if I knew what we were doing," I sighed.

"You're going to love it," Liam promised but I only hummed as a large building came into view.

"A toy store," I asked, not bothering to cover my confusion. "I already have toys at home."

"Yea but you didn't pick any of it out.

I frowned as I stared up at the building while keeping my pace with the others.

"Is it not going to look weird," I can't help but ask, as we get closer. "I mean having a bunch of full grown adults in a toy store seems kind of weird."

"If people ask we'll just say it's for your cousin or something," Liam brushed off as he held the door open and ushered me in.

"Or we can tell them to mind there own business," Callum suggested with a small glare. "It's not like it matters to them anyway."

I don't bother saying anything else. My eyes traveled around the large store but nothing caught my eye at first so we just walked around at random for a while.

Ryder mostly led the way, still seeming more excited than I was while Liam trailed behind all of us. After making a whole lap around the store I could tell they were slowly loosing their patience.

"What kind of things do you want," Callum asked after a while. "I used to really like those model cars that you build yourself but my brothers used to take them before I ever had the chance to play with them."

"I don't really need anything. We can just go home."

Liam frowns at that. His hand is on my arm in a second before he is dragging me down an isle that had no one else in it.

"There's a difference between not needing something and not wanting anything. If you don't want anything we can just go home but if it's just because you don't need anything then we can keep looking until we find something."

"Unless you just want to go home," Callum said, picking up where Liam left off. "Do you want to go home or do you want to keep looking?"

I bite my lip as my eyes trailed the isle. Nothing really look interesting at this point and I didn't really like being out here either.

Nobody was even around this part of the store but I could already feel my chest tightening.

I'm not as good as feeling out Carter and Jax's mental states as they are but from what I could tell, they weren't feeling much better than I was at this point. If something didn't give we could end up having a pretty bad night.

"I think I just want to go home," I admit as I tear my eyes from the wall of toys. I shake off Liam's hand easily before heading towards the exit without waiting for the others.

My eyes are glued to the ground while I lead the way home but we sadly don't get very far.

The sidewalk gets crowded and I can't see Carter's boyfriends anymore.

I can feel my heart race as I stopped in the middle of the sea of people but they don't seem to care. I feel myself getting pushed and shoved from all directions but I only follow my body as I try to find any of the three people who could help.

A rather hard shove pushes me to the ground before a hot feeling seeps into my shirt. I don't have time to figure out if the hot liquid was coffee or hot chocolate before a tall man is looming over me.

His face is set into a hard glare as he scowls down at me. His travel mug was in his hand, stretched away from his body while the brownish liquid dripped down his hand, the other hand was balled up into a fist as if he was getting ready to throw a punch.

Carter tensed on the couch but I remained up front.

You're fighting me, Carter warned. If you don't stop I can't come help.

"What the fuck is wrong with you," the man spat out before I had the chance to let Carter do anything. "Do you have any idea how much this suit costs?"

My throat tightened as I looked at his clothes. There was a decent bit of coffee, which is what I decided it was, on me but there was so much more on him.

"I'm sorry," I forced out but it comes out shaky.

"You should be sorry! What kind of dumbass just stops walking in the middle of the sidewalk?" I flinched back at his tone as my fingers dug into the pavement.

"I was looking for someone."

"Pay more attention next time," the man scolded before sighing, seemingly trying to calm down but before he had the chance to just walk away my mouth opened and I didn't have a chance to stop the words that poured out.

"This isn't just my fault. If you had been paying attention too you could have just gone around like everyone else did." A glare of my own slowly took form as pushed myself off the ground. "It's also not my fault that you didn't feel the need to put a lid on your cup before walking out the door this morning so take some responsibility for yourself asshole."

The man's eyes went wide as he stared down at me. He looked like he was about to say something else when his eyes lifted to something behind me. Whatever it was seemed to be enough to make him not care anymore because he only shook his head and muttered a curse before he continued walking.

The pressure on my chest was gone the second he was behind me. I turned around to see what could have scared him off only to find Callum standing there with a proud smile on his face.

"Let's go get some ice cream," he said, completely ignoring what just happened.

"But my shirt is dirty now."

"If anyone says anything, I think you can handle it," was all he said as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and began pulling me away to his favorite place.

I just made a Twitter account for Callum. The @ is CallumAndBfs if you want to join or if you can't find it, there is a link on my discord!
Last updated November 4, 2021