My Saviour - Tanner X Woods

Chapter 29 - Back to Safety?

Woods' POV

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" I shouted. 

Scott took a step back. "I wanted to stop you from doing something you will regret." 

"YOU DON'T GET TO PRETEND THAT YOU CARE. YOU DON'T GET TO PRETEND YOU WANT ME TO LIVE. YOU DON'T GET TO DO THIS!" I continued to shout. I was hurt. How could he just turn up like this. 

"I know I haven't been there for you and I'm sorry but-"

"NO. YOU HAVEN'T BEEN THERE. WHY WOULD YOU BOTHER NOW?"

"Woods, please calm down. I just want to help you." Scott said calmly.

"Help me?! Why would you help me? You don't give a shit about me. You made that very clear!" I thought I would cry but all I could do was shout. I didn't tear up or break down. 

"Look, somebody called me, I don't know who, but they said that I need to come to your house right now and help you because you were about to top yourself." 

"You did it out of guilt. If you knew that I was going to do this and didn't turn up, you would have looked bad so you had to come and 'save me'." 

"NO! I mean. No. I do genuinely care about you. I wanted to help you before. Work just got on top of me and I could feel everything closing in on me. I didn't want to make you worse." 

"You were perfectly okay with everybody else. You were laughing and joking with them. It's just me you had the problem with. You ignored my messages and didn't talk to me for months then you pop up out of no where to 'check in' with me. That's not fair."

"Please, understand I only left because I needed to clear my head of everything and I didn't want to make your situation any worse." Scott pleaded. It made me sick. 

"Did you lose all the people at your work? Is that why you are trying to lure me back? Or are you just messing with my head for the fun of it?" 

"No!Some guy called me and told me to go to your house. I didn't know the number but they sounded so desperate. When they said you were in danger, I jumped in my car and rushed over here. I didn't want anything bad to happen to you." 

I was confused. Who called him. I don't understand. Nobody Scott knew would know about what I was planning. It had to have come from one of the guys from Hi5. But who? Nobody has his number. "We haven't spoken in months and you've just ignored my entire existence." 

"I know and I'm sorry. I just needed time to clear my head." 

"You could have told me! I would have been okay if you told me. But you just disappeared. Everything else became more important and I became one tiny spec of dirt on your shoe and you just swiped me away. I felt like nothing. I feel like nothing. Why couldn't you just tell me?"

"I guess I didn't want to have to deal with your reaction. I didn't want to see you hurt. But I guess this is worse." 

"Damn right it is! You just abandoned me with no explanation. No nothing. And now you expect me to welcome you back into my life with open arms? It's not going to happen. No way." I remained firm. I didn't want to let him back in but I really did at the same time. We had so many laughs and jokes and I can't just forget they happened. I spent some of the best times of my life with him. I didn't want to throw it away. 

"Look, I'm not here to be forgiven, nor am I here to redeem what we had; i'm here to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life." I noticed tears begin to form in his eyes. "I don't want to lose you. Not now. Not ever." 

"You already did..." I sighed a little. I saw the pain in his eyes. A wave of guilt rushed through my veins and I felt awful. I ran upstairs to the bathroom and locked the door. Scott chased me close behind.

"WOODS! Please don't do this. Please!" Scott begged through sobs. "I'm sorry okay. I'm so fucking sorry. I haven't been the same without you. I missed you so much. All I wanted to do was come back to you, but I didn't want to see the hurt in your eyes." He went silent. 

I slumped against the bathroom door. "I'm not doing this because of you." I said quietly. 

"Then why are you doing it?" 

"I just... I can't deal with everything anymore. Losing Amber and then my dad, that has destroyed me. My mum wasn't coping well and started drinking. I found her multiple times, passed out on the floor in the kitchen, a bottle of some sort of alcohol she had stolen from the shops that night, smashed on the floor beside her. The amount of times I had to carry her to bed and make sure the cuts on her hands from the glass were clean and patched up. It was too much. She did start going to therapy and eventually got better. But, she was never the same. She couldn't go  back to how she was. Two of the best things in her life were gone. I guess I'm the same." I said, completely empty. 

I heard Scott sigh. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I'm sorry I couldn't be that support you needed."

All of a sudden, I heard the front door fly open. "WOODS!?" I heard somebody scream through the house. The house shook as they raced upstairs towards the bathroom. "Where is he?!" I heard the voice demand. 

"In here." Scott cried.

"Woods, Please come out." The voice pleaded as the door handle shook violently. It sent shivers down my body. Tanner. I stayed silent. "Woods? Answer me." I kept quiet. I couldn't face their disappointed faces and pleading voices.

"Who actually are you?" Scott asked sounding confused. 

"Tanner, Woods' boyfriend. I guess you're Scott."  For some reason, Tanner calling me his boyfriend made me feel sick. I moved out of the way of the door and relocated to the sink. I quietly opened the cabinet that was just above it. I reached for the silver box and pills from the top shelf. I didn't want to do it whilst they were here. I figured they would leave me alone eventually.

"Woods, if you don't answer me, I'm breaking down the door. I calmly unlocked the door. Tanner rushed in and grabbed me, pulling me in close. 

"Please don't ever do that again. I don't ever want to lose you." He begged. 

Scott was on the floor with his knees tucked up to his chest, crying abysmally. His sobs sounding desperate as he tried to grab every breath he could. 

"Scott?" I asked, worried. I pushed Tanner out of the way without looking at the hurt in his eyes and sat down by Scott's side. "Hey, I'm alright. I'm fine. Just breathe. In and out. Take as long as you need." I had my hand placed on his back and rubbed in circles. I quickly looked up at Tanner. "Please can you go and get some water?" I asked. He knew it wasn't actually a question and ran downstairs to get a cup.

Scott slumped into my arms and continued to cry, his breathing slowly improving. Tanner re-emerged after about a minute with a large glass of water in his noticeably shaky hand. "Here you go." He said as he reached over to give Scott the glass. Scott peered up and weakly took the glass. He took a small sip and placed it on the floor beside him. "You two need to go and talk somewhere; sort things out between you." Tanner said. His protective stance still worried me a little. Was he jealous of Scott and I? Nothing would ever happen between us. Scott was hella straight and I've never looked at him that way anyways. He is my friend. That's all. Wait... was... was my friend...