Rebel With A Cause (18 page)

They sat side by side on a hard red sofa, clearly not designed for comfort. Carter sat down first, and Kaitlyn sat, her right side pressed up against his left. She tucked one arm through the crook of his elbow and grabbed his bicep with the other. She laid her head on his shoulder.

“Sometimes I wish we could have been a normal teenage couple,” she murmured. “I would have liked to do things like this every weekend, instead of going out at midnight every night.”

Carter looked down at her and kissed the top of her head. “Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked. “We could have done this more often.”

She shook her head. “I was too tired. Do you know how much concealer I went through a week?” She gave a little laugh at the
end, to show she was joking.

“I mean it, Katie,” he said seriously, brushing aside her flippant laugh. “We were both so busy pretending to be things we’re not. If you had spoken up, things could have changed.”

“But
would
you have changed, Carter?” she asked quietly. “You were enjoying the player lifestyle, would you really have given it up?”

She sounded sceptical, and Carter realised that he probably wouldn’t have. He’d been so afraid of getting close to someone, so afraid that he’d fall in love with her, and too dumb to realise that he already had.

“Probably not,” he admitted grudgingly. “I was too scared that if I got close to someone, they’d end up leaving again and hurt me. I used sex to pretend I didn’t love you.”

She turned her head to kiss his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she said honestly. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that shit. But I love you so much, and not being with you hurts. I’m not leaving. Even though we aren’t together anymore, I’m still gonna stick around. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

She looked up at him and met his eyes. For a moment, Carter was stunned by the beauty inside of her, and he wondered how he’d managed to pull this gorgeous creature in the first place.

“It’s the universes way of apologizing,” she said, a smile on her face. Carter didn’t realise he’d spoken out loud, and this time it was his turn to blush.

The usher called up th
e
moviegoers with tickets for The Lion King, and Carter and Kaitlyn wandered down the corridor looking for theatre five.

They took their seats at the very back, on a plush leather sofa. Carter had kindly paid for the ‘luxury’ seats.

Once everyone was inside, the lights dimmed and the previews came on. They went through about five minutes of cheesy ads and a couple of movie trailers, before the theatre went dark.

Kaitlyn tried to pretend she was ok. She pretended that she wasn’t scared. Carter saw through her act. She had gone rigid and pale. His heart went out to her.

Carter scooted over and pulled her against him. He hated how she jumped at his touch. Maybe coming to the movies wasn’t such a good idea. Sitting in a darkened theatre was obviously freaking her out.

“Relax,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m here, I’ll look after you.”

It took a moment for her to relax. She was terrified of someone creeping up behind her and grabbing her from behind.
She was terrified that De would pop up out of nowhere and attack her again.

But Carter helped.
Being in Carter’s arms allowed her to relax a tiny bit.
She wished, not for the millionth time, that he hadn’t cheated on her, and that she was the only one,
his
only one.
Knowing that he’d only cheated in fear of losing her made a little bit of sense, but she hated having to be the one who always understood everything all the time. She could kick Carter for all the pain he put her through. She wanted to throttle him.

But he was taking care of her now, and she had to give him credit for that. He was finally turning into a proper boyfriend.

“I love you,” he whispered quietly. “Don’t worry, ‘
cause
from now on, I’m going to look after you.”

Upon hearing those words, she relaxed a bit more. It was nice to know that he was sticking around, despite all the craziness.

It took a while for her to settle into the movie, but when
Hakuna
Matata
came on, she couldn’t help grinning. Her mum had played this to her and Jordy when they were younger, showing them a clip from the original movie. This song had been a regular at Jordy’s birthday parties.

Thinking of Jordy brought a familiar wetness to her eyes, but she willed herself not to cry. Jordy was at home with their mother; he’d be ok.

When the movie finished and the lights came back on, Kaitlyn turned to Carter. He’d been staring at her throughout the whole movie.

She stopped leaning on him and gathered herself. She gave him a small smile. “That was a cool movie.”

He stared back, his gaze intense. “Yeah, it was.”

She stood up and offered him her hand. He took it and pulled her back down. He slung an arm around her shoulders and placed a kiss on her head. He had a hard time resisting kissing her on the lips, but he knew she probably wouldn’t appreciate that right now.

“I’m supposed to help
you
up, remember?” he said casually. He rose to his feet and grabbed her hands, pulling her to a standing position. “Let’s go.”

He began to walk down the stairs and out of the movie theatre, still holding Kaitlyn’s hand. She didn’t object.

When they were back to the pre-movie lounge, he slung his arm around her shoulders again. He was looking down tenderly at her, and she was looking unwaveringly back at him.

“Well, look who we have here,” a male voice interrupted.
“Carter, my man.”

They turned around and faced the brute. Deangelo
Carboni
stood there,
his
arm around a tall, dark-skinned beauty. Carter pushed Kaitlyn behind him and scowled at De.

“What the hell do you want?” he growled menacingly.

De held his hands up in mock surrender, but there was an evil glint to his eye. “Relax, man,” he said, lightly punching Carter on the arm. “Just came to say hi.”

Carter scowled. His eyes flicked over to the girl. “Does
she
know what an abusive asshole you are?”

De laughed. “Despite what you say, Carter, I’m not that bad. If I was, do you think Aria would be going out with me?”

De’s eyes flicked to Kaitlyn, who was half-hidden behind Carter. She could see the burning anger in his eyes.

Carter flexed his fists. He wanted to hit De, but he didn’t want them to get kicked out.
However if De hit him first…

De’s girlfriend, Aria, spoke up. “De, baby, our movie’s going to start soon.”

De looked down at her and grinned.
“Of course.
Let’s go.” He offered his arm to her and she took it, giggling.

Carter and Kaitlyn watched them leave, without
so
much as a goodbye.

“Do you think we should tell someone?” Kaitlyn asked. She felt like she was going to vomit, running into him again, and she feared he would hurt Aria the way he hurt her. Aria seemed harmless, and if De hurt her, she was going after him herself, with a gun.

Carter shook his head. “We should, but when we tell them you were raped and didn’t come forward within twenty-four hours, the cops won’t be too impressed. They’ll probably think we’re just stirring up trouble.”

Kaitlyn sighed. “We can’t just let him hurt her, Carter!”

He looked at her, worry lines etched on his face. “I know, but we need to get out of here.
Time to go home.”

Kaitlyn clutched at Carter’s shirt. “Please tell me we can get the house fixed up soon. I hate sleeping on the airbed.”

He looked down at her. “I promise. Now, let’s get out of here, before I walk back in there and pummel him.”

She nodded, and they walked back to the car. She could feel the adrenaline in her veins, and all she wanted was to run, run as far away as she could and never come back.

It seemed Carter had the same idea. On the drive home, he gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles white. He kept screwing up gear changes, and each time he did, he would bang his fist hard on the steering wheel.

“Carter,” she tried quietly, “
don’t
worry. We’ll figure something out.”

He growled and thumped the car again in response. She’d stopped trying after that.

They were almost home when Carter decided to pull into an all-night liquor shop. He left Kaitlyn in the car, angrily slamming his door behind him, and stalked into the store.

She sighed and slumped against her seat. She’d known Carter for a long time, and she knew him really well. She knew that right now, he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was blaming himself for her attack, and if anything happened to that girl, Aria, he’d be blaming himself for that too. That was Carter for you, always wanting to protect everyone. Kaitlyn had her suspicions that he’d been damaged by the death of his parents more than he let on.

He came out of the shop with a bottle of rum under one arm, and a bottle of vodka
in his other hand. He climbed back in the car and handed the bottles to Katie, before slamming the door shut.

“It’s not your fault, you know,” she said quietly. “It was my own stupidity, and De’s gross behaviour that are to blame. I just wanted to get back at you, and I guess, so did De.”

“Don’t even
mention
his name anywhere near me again,” Carter spat angrily. His jaw was set in a hard line, and he was scowling at the windscreen. He pulled out of the derelict parking lot and drove the five hundred metre distance home.

Kaitlyn wanted to help him, but she didn’t know how. He radiated an aura of self-loathing, and when she tried to touch him, there seemed to be an invisible barrier stopping her.

He turned into their driveway with a rocky jolt and pulled the car to an abrupt halt. He snatched the bottles out of Kaitlyn’s hands and practically ran out of the car. Kaitlyn sighed and followed him.

She went inside the house and heard him in the kitchen, banging around. What he could possibly be doing, she didn’t know, because they sure as hell didn’t
have any cutlery or glasses.

She walked towards the noise and stood in the doorway. “What are you doing?”

He answered, without looking at her, “I don’t know! I just need to do something! De’s a murderer! He needs to be locked up!”

Carter slammed the empty cabinets shut and thumped his hands on the kitchen bench. “I can’t let him get away with it!”

Kaitlyn was confused. “Ok,” she instructed, “take a deep breath, and look at me.”

Carter ignored her, and instead chose to glare at the bench top.

“Carter!” she yelled. “Look at me!”

He spun around, an impassive mask on his face. His eyes were blank, and Kaitlyn knew there was something more to it than Carter was letting on.

“What’s really bugging you?” she asked softly. Being calm and quiet was probably the best way to get him to stop freaking out.

Carter just looked past her. “There’s more to this than you think,” he said robotically.

Kaitlyn shivered. This wasn’t funny. He wasn’t himself right now, and he was scaring her. But she wanted the regular Carter back, so she tried to get through to him.

“Do you want to tell me?” she asked.

Carter shook his head. “No. You’ve been through enough.”

She decided slowly approaching him might be ok, but she didn’t know whether to risk it. She needed to hug him, to let him know that it would all be ok, but she didn’t know where she stood with this version of Carter. It was a side to him she’d never encountered before.

She stepped into the kitchen, one foot at a time. Carter caught the movement, and he rushed over to her. He gathered her into his arms and pressed his face into her neck. He breathed deeply, her scent gradually calming him down.

It was a while before he managed to completely relax. Kaitlyn just held him until he was ready.

When he finally pulled away, he looked tired. His eyes were droopy and his shoulders sagged.

“Come on,”
she said, grabbing his hand.
“Time for bed.”

He let her lead him to the bedroom, where the uncomfortable air bed lay. Carter dropped to his knees and crawled on top of it. Kaitlyn grabbed a blanket from the floor next to the bed and covered him with it.

“Just sleep,” she said. “You need to sleep.”

He let out a huge yawn. “You
come
sleep too,” he said tiredly.

“Soon,” she promised. “I just need the bathroom.”

She watched over him and stroked his hair until he fell asleep. When she was sure he was in a deep sleep, she gathered the strength to move and got up. She tip-toed to the toilet, careful not to wave Carter, and expelled the contents of her stomach. She’d been feeling nauseous since they ran into De, but she’d managed to control it.