In A Hopeless Place

Chapter 12

~Zayn's POV~ 

My smirk is gone now.  

An insecure girl that I've never seen in my life, stands before me. Trembling hands, face to the ground, hair covering her face.  

"What? Who? No, Carter, you're with them now." I say confused and hear a sob.  

What do I do now? 

I look back and see the gang heading back to the van. Danielle turns away, but I saw the small smile on her face. She knew it was Carter.  

"Who?" I whisper.  

"All of them," she whispers back and I furrow my eyebrows together in confusion. "They take turns, Zayn." I tense up at the mention of that.  

Take turns on what? Do they hit her? Do they beat her? Do they yell at her? Do they... I don't even want to finish the question.  

"Carter!" She winced at the sound of Rita's voice. Her grip tightened. 

"Take me with you," her voice was weak. I look at the van and see that they were all watching me. 

I push her hair away from her face and she tries to look down, but I hold her face. I tried not to gasp from what I saw.  

A dark, purplish-black circle lines under her eye.  

"Carter, now!" Niall yelled.  

I grab her hand and pull her away from them, tugging her along with me to the van.  

"What the fuck?!" Rita exclaimed. "You better watch your back, you bitch!" She threatens and I feel Carter trembling. 

I get her in the van and everyone was quiet. Carter clings to me and I can almost feel her fear radiating off of her.  

Liam then steps on the gas and speeds off.  

The van is quiet and no one dares to say a word.  

Carter looks down again, letting her hair fall in front of her face.  

I began to think about what she meant when she said that they 'take turns'.  

Take turns doing what? What the hell was she doing with them? 

I realize her leg is better and she wasn't limping anymore.  

Liam pulls the van in and we all walk inside the house, still not uttering a word.  

I grab Carter's trembling hand and walk her to a familiar room.  

It was the room I gave her when she had her injured leg.  

I close the door and looked at her while she looked down and played with her hands.  

"So...can I have an explanation as to why you were with them?" I lean against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest.  

She's quiet for a moment before she begins to talk, but she was different now.  

She wasn't trying to be all badass.  

She was being... different.

~Carter's POV~

I fidget with my hands. "Well, you threw me out, so I had nowhere to go..." I lie. He continued to stare at me and it was becoming very intimidating.  

"You could've gone home," he says.  

"And why would I do that?" I snap back at him and I watch his eyes look right at my black eye, then tear his gaze away from my bruise.  

"Because that's where you should be and your family missed you." 

"They don't miss me, they barely even know me! I don't belong there!" 

"I barely know you and you don't belong here either!" He retorts and I bit my lip.  

I didn't have a reply for that.  

He took a step forward and I gulped. "What happened?" He stroked my bruise, which caused me to flinch. "Sorry," he mumbled.  

"I was hanging around a place I shouldn't have, what do you expect?" I ask him. His eyebrows have knitted together as he studies my injury.  

It seems that whenever I'm in this room, I have an injury.

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Hey, guys. Stupid daylight savings time. I woke up at 7 when it was really 6! I'm gonna be tired later. Anyways, I have some sad news for you guys. There's only about 7-12 chapters left of the story. I know. I can't believe it's almost over. Well, I will be writing another fan fiction after, so no worries :) 

Comment, Vote, Fan!!! 

-Abby xx