Fallen

Chapter Forty Six

After a few hours of laying in bed, I heard the door open and shut again. Soft footsteps approached me before Blaine slid a tray of food onto the bedside cabinet, but I was in no mood to eat. He softly perched on the edge of the bed.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I'm so sorry."

"Stop apologising. It's not your fault."

"It is. If I need to go I'll find somewhere, maybe until this all dies down..."

"Absolutely not. We can look after ourselves and I've promised to look after you too. We'll be okay."

I sat up. "But Carter's already going through so much and I'm hurting him even more by being here."

"I know, but he'll be okay. We've spoken and he doesn't want you to go. You're welcome here with us."

I blinked out a few tears. "Honestly?"

Blaine nodded before leaning in to kiss me slowly and gently. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him onto the bed with me until I was lying in his arms. It was comforting, but Carter's words never stopped running around my head. He mentioned them. Who was them? Jackson and his friends? They all spoke about Jackson as if they knew him and what he was capable of, but right now we were all too exhausted to speak anymore about it. So I buried myself deeper into Blaine's chest and made the most of feeling safe in his hold, in case it couldn't last forever.

*****

I woke up early the next morning when the sunlight was barely creeping in through the gap between the curtains. Blaine was still asleep beside me. He looked so peaceful; it was a morning view I'd desperately missed. I watched him for a long while as the new day rolled in and I felt a little more hopeful that maybe things were going to get better and Jackson was really gone.

I eventually crept out of bed and down the stairs to get a drink. Deep in thought, I ran the kitchen tap to fill the glass, but when I turned I almost dropped it to my feet when I saw Carter stood in the doorway leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets.

"Oh, hi," I said.

He ignored me and approached the kettle to flick it on. I stood awkwardly beside the sink.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked.

I was ignored once again. He sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out a packet of cigarettes, wasting no time in holding it between his lips and lighting it. Without warning, his frosty eyes shot up to meet mine.

"Can I help you?" he murmured around the cigarette.

"I-I just wanted to thank you," I said, "for letting me stay here. I understand how tough it is for you."

"No, you don't," he muttered, quickly taking his first or second puff now, I couldn't remember.

"I'm sorry?"

"You don't understand," he argued.

"Carter, I'm sorry-"

"You're not fucking sorry because if you were, you would have left already," he spat, tapping the ash from the end of his cigarette into the tray on the table.

"I thought we were okay," I stuttered. "You let me stay here..."

"I have to," he murmured, "for Blaine."

It felt like a cold knife stabbed me in the back.

"I'm not going to accept you. I made that very clear to Blaine before he brought you here. I will be civil, but I will never like you." He spat the word as if it had a disgusting taste in his mouth.