The Carter Family Screw Up [Carter Brothers - Book 2]

Fourteen - "I've never told anyone that."

"We need to get him on the sofa." I said. We helped Rory off the table then slowly lead him to the living room, and as softly as we could, placed him on the sofa.

"Try to get some rest, alright? Let us know if you need anything, okay?" I said to Rory.

"Thank you, Maggie." He said.

"You're welcome." I said with a smile, and walked back into the kitchen to clean up.

"I'm going to repeat what he just said - thank you. What you just did was amazing. You probably saved his life." He said.

"You know I don't even remember half of what I just did? It's a blur."

"It was awesome, trust me." He smiled.

"Listen, would you mind if I stayed here tonight? I want to keep an eye on Rory."

"Sure. I'll get you some blankets "  He said, leaving the kitchen. I finished cleaning up the mess and made my way back into the living room just as Daniel walked in with blankets and a pillow.

"You can take the other sofa and I'll sleep on the floor."

"Are you sure? I don't mind taking the floor." I said.

"It's fine." He said handing me a blanket and pillow. I put them on the side of the sofa and sat down - I was still running on leftover adrenaline so I wasn't tired. Daniel walked back into the kitchen and came out with the whiskey bottle, three glasses and a back of chips.

"You want another drink?" He asked.

"Definitely" I replied.

"Rory you want one?" Instead of a reply, a snore came from his mouth.

"I guess not." I said. He poured himself and I a glass each and sat down on the sofa next to me. It was the smaller of the two sofas, so his knee was touching mine. He didn't seem to notice but my body did by heating up again.

"Chip?" He said handing me the open bag. I reached in and took one to eat.

"So can I ask you something?" The whiskey now giving me courage.

"Sure."

"Why do you fight?" I asked. I thought he'd tell me to drop it, but he didn't.

"For money." He answered.

"You know there are these things people get when they want money - they're called jobs." I told him with a smirk.

"Hilarious, Sweetpea." He said and I grinned at him. "For every fight I win I earn between 3 and 4 grand."

"But why do you need so much?"

"So I can leave this place." He said, taking a sip of his drink.

He had a tormented look on his face. I recognised it as my own from the last few years. I wanted to ask him why he wanted to leave, but for the first time we were having a proper conversation and i didn't want to ruin it.

But to my surprise, he kept talking. I don't know if he felt he could talk to me, or if it was the whiskey, but I wasn't going to ruin the moment, so I just listened.

"My parents are in the FBI and my brother, Killian is the golden child. When we were younger, he witnessed a gang torture a guy and we had to go on the run. We moved around a lot and everyone was always worried about him and how he was dealing with it. Then we moved here and he met his now wife - who's father is also FBI by the way - and they ended up having to go into hiding for a few weeks. Once again it was all about him. They ended up putting away most of the gang and I thought everything would go back to how it was. But my brother decided to join the FBI too just like my dad sp all everyone talked about was how proud they were of him. Then it was him getting married, and now they're having a kid... It's always about him. I, on the other hand got in fights, I smoke, I drink and I'm always being told to be more like my brother. I just want to leave this place and not be the Carter family screw up."

Without thinking I leaned forward and hugged him. I wanted him to know that someone cared about how he felt and he wasn't a screw up. To my surprise, again - he put his arms around my waist and leaned into the hug. Neither of us said anything but words weren't needed right then.

When it started to feel a little uncomfortable, we both pulled away and took sips of our drink.

"My brother is right, this stuff is like truth serum." He said with a snort.

It was then that I decided to tell him about my past. I thought that maybe it will make him feel a bit better knowing he wasn't the only one who was troubled.

"I hated my life back home. When I was 15 I started dating a guy named Todd. We'd known eachother since we were 13 and we were really great friends, so I trusted him. He was my first boyfriend and everything was going great. And then he joined the football team. It was fine at first, but then he slowly started to change. He became arrogant and mean. He started to bully the people he used to be friends with and he would flirt with the head cheerleaders in front of me but convince me it was all in my head. Then he wanted to have sex. I wasn't ready and I told him that but he kept on pushing and pushing;  telling me that if I loved him I would give him my virginity. So i did. And it was awful. I wasn't expecting it to be amazing or anything but after he, quite literally, got what he wanted, he got dressed and left. I cried so hard that night because I thought it was my fault; that I wasn't good enough. After that I didn't want to do it again and he didn't like that so he dumped me. He then, ironically, told people I was a slut and far too needy. I spent the next 2 years having food thrown at me, being tripped in the halls - you name it, I got it. "

The relief that removed itself from shoulders after telling him that was immense.

"I've never told anyone that." I added.

But then I suddenly felt like I had overshared. What if he thinks I'm a nothing but a head case?

"Sorry."

"It's okay. You know my bullshit, so we're even." He said.

I looked up to find him looking straight at me. His eyes were fixed on mine and I couldn't look away. My breathing increased when his eyes flicked down to my mouth and when I realised he was leaning in, I instinctively leaned toward him..