Rebel With A Cause (30 page)

T-Man faced Kaitlyn and hugged her tightly against his chest.

“If that happens,” T-Man said. “Then I will personally give him a kick up the ass.
Or maybe a knock to the head.
I hear that helps patients with head injuries.”

Kaitlyn let out a reluctant giggle.
“I don’t think so, T. But thanks.”

T-Man gave her one last squeeze, before dragging her into ward seven. They stopped at the nurses’ station to find out what room Carter was in, before heading to room seven hundred and thirteen. The door was closed.

Kaitlyn took a deep breath and placed her hands on the door. She was intending to push the door open, but her muscles froze. “I can’t do it,” she whispered. “I’m scared.” Her heart was hammering, and she felt like she was about to faint.

T-Man did it for her. He pushed open the door, almost as nervous about seeing his best friend as Kaitlyn was. He caught her around the waist as she stumbled forward, the disappearance of the doors under her palms throwing her off balance.

Carter was the only one in the room, and he lay in bed, as pale as a ghost. His cheekbones stood out prominently, and dark
rings circled his eyes.
Eyes that were open and bright, staring at Kaitlyn with concern.

“Katie!” he
yelled
hoarsely. He tried to get up, but he was too weak to support his own weight.

Kaitlyn’s eyes found his, and she was lost. He remembered her. He
remembered!
She felt elated. Joy was a rare emotion on her face, but it was quickly extinguished by fear when she saw Carter panting. He was trying to hold himself up, but he wasn’t strong enough.

She pulled her way out of T-Man’s grip and rushed over to him. “Carter!” she whispered. “Oh my god, baby, are you ok?” She shook her head.
“Stupid question.
Stop wasting your energy. Just relax, and get better.”

Carter weakly raised his right hand and tried to touch her face, but his strength ebbed the harder he tried.

Kaitlyn grabbed his hand and held it to her face. “Stop,” she whispered. “You’re in hospital, and you just got released from Intensive Care. Don’t try too hard just yet.”

Carter’s eyebrows furrowed, but it was so weak that if Kaitlyn didn’t know him so well, she wouldn’t have realised that he was confused.

“Do you remember what De did to you? To us?” she asked him.

His lips formed the word ‘no’, and only a slight sound came out
. Carter hated being weak. It was his job to protect Kaitlyn, and yet here she was, looking scared and tired, but better than him.
She
was the one taking care of him. Talk about a complete role reversal.

“It’s all blurry,” he choked. “Tell me.”

Kaitlyn nodded and closed her eyes. She was still holding Carter’s palm to her cheek, and she turned her hand to kiss it.

“De held us hostage,” she explained quietly. “He went mad. He said he wanted Aria, but you wouldn’t put her in harm’s way. You tried to rescue me by yourself instead.”

Tears began to drip down her face and onto Carter’s blankets, but she continued on.

“Aria didn’t want us to get hurt. She came anyway, and tried to get De to let us go. He just laughed and killed her. Her blood is still on the walls back at De’s.”

She couldn’t take it anymore. It was too much to think about. Large sobs ripped themselves from her chest and she gasped. She clammed up, and Carter tried to help, but he was too weak. She just suffered by herself, trying in vain not to fall apart.

Half an hour later, her sobs had subsided, and she was able to continue on.

“De still held us hostage,” she whispered. “He shot the wall to scare us, and then he tried to shoot me. But you jumped in the way. I was so scared, Carter. I was terrified. I thought you were going to die.”

T-Man, who had been sitting on the window seat with his mp3 plugged into his ears and his phone in his hand, decided that now was the right time to come over to support Kaitlyn. Not while she had been crying, no, but now. He came over and gave her a hug. She leaned into his chest for support and closed her eyes.

“You almost died,” she said quietly. “Even while the paramedics were taking you to hospital, you started making plans for me to have everything, just in case. It was awful.”

Carter frowned. He needed to get back on his feet, back to being the strong one. He needed to protect Kaitlyn, but he couldn’t do that from a hospital bed.

Also, he was insanely jealous. T-Man had supported Katie
while Carter was cheating on her, and while they’d broken up, and now that he was in hospital. He had to wonder. None of his other friends had taken an interest in Katie’s wellbeing like this. Was there something going on between them that he didn’t know about?

“You don’t need to worry,” he said fiercely. “I’ll be out of here soon enough.”

Kaitlyn looked at him with wet eyes. “
Carter, you were shot. You had internal bleeding. Don’t rush things, please. I know you want to come home, and believe me, I want you to as well, but if you haven’t healed properly, and something happens, I won’t be able to help. Please, for me, just get better. I don’t want something bad happening at home. I don’t want you dying.”

Carter frowned. “You don’t want me at home.”

This was Kaitlyn's worst nightmare come to life. Carter wasn’t acting like himself. He was angry, when minutes before he’d been nothing but concerned.
He was taking things the wrong way all of a sudden. It was like he had a split personality. This was a test. Could she handle it? She didn’t know.

“I do, Carter,” she whispered. “I really do. But please, get better. I don’t want you coming home too soon and hurting yourself. I don’t know how to look after someone who’s sick. I’m not equipped. If you came home and something happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.”

Carter knew in his head that what Katie saying was the truth. He understood her reason for not wanting him home yet. But his heart refused to understand. He saw the way T-Man and Kaitlyn interacted with each other, and he didn’t like it. There was something off about their behaviour.

“Whatever,” he said bitterly. He turned away from them. “Get out.”

Kaitlyn looked up at T-Man and got off Carter’s bed. “I knew…I knew something like this would happen. Nothing can go right, can it?”

Carter wanted to reach out and comfort Kaitlyn, but
he kept his hands to himself. His brain wouldn’t let him. He couldn’t bring himself to move his arms and comfort her.

He heard her light footsteps rush out, and her sobs faded
the further away she got. He didn’t hear T-Man leave though, and when a sharp pain landed on his shoulder, causing him to wince, he knew why.

“Ouch!” he yelled. “What the hell was that for?” He looked up at T-Man, who was scowling down at him.

“Dude, don’t be such a jerk,” T-Man said angrily. “She’s been so worried about you, ever since she woke up and found out you were in ICU. And now you’re throwing it all back in her face.”

Carter scowled. Knowing that Kaitlyn was worrying herself sick over him damn near broke his heart, and he wanted to ask T-Man to go and find Kaitlyn and bring her back so he could apologise, but sadly, his mouth had a life of its own.

“Yeah, right,” he spat bitterly. “Like you and her don’t have something going on. She
hasn’t been thinking of me, has she? You two have been getting your freak on behind my back, and all you feel is sorry for me.”

T-Man wanted to scream. This time, he hit Carter, hard, and watched regretfully as a bruise spread under his skin. Carter didn’t even wince.

“Jerk,” Carter spat. “Get out of my room.”

T-Man ignored Carter and leaned down, close to his face. Carter almost went cross-eyed trying to keep him in his line of vision.

“Right,” T-Man snapped. “You listen, and you listen
good
. You are my best mate, and
that
is why I’ve been looking after Kaitlyn. I thought you would’ve wanted that, but obviously I was wrong. And just so you know, Kaitlyn woke up in hospital with memory loss a few days ago. When she found out that you’d been shot by De, she forced herself to go back to where it all happened and relive that day. The next day, she decided to go to the cops, and do everything she could to get De locked away forever.
She’s put herself through hell just trying to get him locked up, and now it looks like it was all for nothing. She was terrified you wouldn’t remember her, or you would be the cheating jerk. But I know you remember
everything
, and for you to throw all of her love for you back in her face…you’re an ass.”

Carter wanted to punch his so-called best friend.

“Guys don’t sleep with their best mate’s girlfriend!” he yelled. “Get out!”

T-Man looked down at Carter and scowled. “Neither Kaitlyn or I have any feelings for each other in that way.”

“So you admit you have feelings for her, then?” Carter snapped.

“Yes,” T-Man replied calmly. “She’s like my little sister. I love her like a sister, and I would think you would be happy about that. She’s your girl,
yours
. She wouldn’t have it any other way, and I know you wouldn’t either. So stop bei
ng a jerk and accept the fact that someone else had to take care of your girl while you were temporarily unavailable. Trust me, once you’re out of here, she’ll want
you
all
the time. I guess that’s another reason why she wants you to be fully recovered when you go home. She’ll want it to be just you and her, and no one else. So you better get all the rest you can, while you can.”

T-Man made to leave the room, feeling Carter glaring daggers into his back. He turned around to his best friend. “I’ll bring her back again tomorrow. You better have had an attitude check by then, or I’ll give you more than one bruise.”

Carter sneered and was about to hurl another insult at
his best friend, before T-Man walked out and shut the door behind him. T-Man, the guy he should be
thanking
profusely, had just left, and now Carter was all alone.

Understandably, Kaitlyn was reluctant to go back and visit Carter the next day.

“He hates me!” she cried miserably. T-Man was having a hard time comforting her.

“Carter doesn’t hate you,” he said soothingly. “He’s just not feeling like himself right now. He was scared you were dead when you weren’t there when he woke up, and he thought he was never going to see you again.
He’s just scared, and that’s new for him.”

Kaitlyn wanted to throw something at T-Man, except she couldn’t, because they were in his car, and he’d recently cleaned out all the rubbish that was on the floor. They were now having a
standoff – a better name would be a
sit-off
– in the hospital parking lot.

“Liar,” she hissed. “Carter hates me, I know he does.”

T-Man sighed. “Look, Kaitlyn, you guys need to sort your shit out. I’m not running interference anymore. I’ve been doing this ever since you guys hooked up. If you can’t get along without my help, then maybe you should break-up. I’m not doing it anymore.”

That shut Kaitlyn up. She loved Carter, but T-Man was right. They were always fighting over one thing or another, or something was always getting in the way. It wasn’t right. They needed to learn to get along without his help. If they couldn’t, then maybe splitting up – for good this time
–
would be the best option.

“As of now,” T-Man continued. “I am just your ride to and from the hospital. I’m not going to be in there while you two talk; I’m not going to interfere if you fight. It’s all up to you guys. I’m no longer in the middle of this.”

Kaitlyn closed her eyes and nodded. “Ok,” she said quietly. “Just
me
and Carter from now on, got it.
”

She got out of the car, her legs shaking as she approached the hospital.
The whole walk to the entrance, her heart was hammering. She wanted desperately to turn around and run back to T-Man, but he was right. She needed to be strong. She hadn’t realised
it before, but T-Man
had
been running interference between them, ever since they first got together. It was T-Man who she went to for advice when Carter started cheating. It was T-Man who she ran to when Carter dumped her.

And now, when she was alone, and Carter was in hospital, she had been leaning on T-Man for support.
Except T-Man had put his foot down.
He’d had enough.

Kaitlyn sighed and nervously chewed on her lip.

“Come on, Katie,” she whispered to herself. “You’ve faced worse than Carter. You can do this.”

She closed her eyes and walked into the hospital building. A blast of cold air touched her bare skin and she shivered.

Her shoes tapped nervously on the floor as she made her way to the elevators. She pressed the button indicating she wanted to
go
upstairs
and waited
, nervously bouncing on the spot.