Hey guys! So I wrote/edited this chapter completely exhausted so I'm sorry if it's kind of crummy!

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-&-

Chapter 31

       I sat on the edge of his bed for what felt like hours, staring at the shiny glittery Tinkerbell wings on the floor I had torn off my shirt. I kept my hands clasped firmly together in my lap. I didn't know what else to do.

       I stayed in there for a while, even after the sounds of crashing and breaking finally grew silent. I wasn't sure if Rex wanted me to stay in there the whole night and wait for him to come talk—or if he wanted to see me at all. But I didn't want to leave him out there all alone, especially with his lip busted like that.

       When I finally did gain the courage to stand off the bed and creep over to the door, my heart was pounding viciously in my chest. I creaked the hardwood slowly open and stuck my head just barely into the living room to look at the damage.

       Books were scattered everywhere, glass cups shattered against the floor. The couch had been slammed back against the wall, and even the coffee table was flipped completely over. The only thing that seemed relatively safe was the TV on the wall.

       There was no sign of Rex, and as I stepped out into the living room, I realized all the destruction had steered completely clear of his bedroom door. I frowned as I stepped over a shattered glass cup and a torn-up Calculus textbook—not that I blamed him there. Calculus sucked.

       "Rex...?" I called softly into the silent apartment, my voice slicing through the leftover tension like a knife. A rustling sound to the right caught my attention, and I turned towards the dark, open doorway the noise came from.

       "Rex? Are you in here?" I asked quietly, though he didn't answer—not that I was really expecting him too. I reached shakily into the darkness and tried to find a light switch on the side of the wall.

       I didn't like the dark.

       Light filled the room, revealing a relatively clean kitchen with only a few dirty dishes in the sink on the right—and a slumped over Rex leaning heavily against the counter attached it. I bit my lip, my fingers wringing together nervously as I stepped closer. He didn't acknowledge me.

       "Rex?"

       Nothing. He didn't even raise his head.

       He was leaning back against the kitchen counter, his hands pressed against the hard surface behind him as that beautiful head stayed bowed to the floor. I walked slowly closer, careful not to make any sudden moves in case he started flipping the kitchen table over.

       "T'?"

       Nothing.

       I let out a small sigh and relaxed. If he wasn't going to snap at 'T', I doubted he was going to at all. I walked slowly over to the sink, and the paper towels hanging on the wall beside it. I grabbed some, wet them and turned back to the silent, defeated looking boy at my side.

       "Hey..." I started softly as I stepped as close to him as I could get. I lifted my free hand and touched his chin gently. His eyes flickered up at that, and the look there broke my heart. They were so- sad.

       "Let me help you."

       He glanced away, though his body relaxed back against the counter until he was leaning against it with his arms crossed in front of him.

       "I'm okay."

       Right. Like I believed that.

       "No, your lip and knuckles are bleeding and your cheek is starting to bruise."

       His gaze flickered back to mine and stayed there, that dark chestnut turning my stomach to complete goo. We stayed locked in that stare for a good, silent, minute before something amazing happened. He nodded and let his arms fall to his side. "Alright." That low grumble of his muttered.

       "Do you have a first aid kit or something?" I murmured softly as I dabbed at his busted lip with the wet paper towel. Those dark eyes stared molten lava straight into my stomach—and it wasn't a necessarily uncomfortable feeling.

       "In the bathroom, under the sink."

       It didn't take long to grab the little five-dollar CVS first aid kit from his bathroom, and I was gently trying to wipe away the blood on his hands with a disinfectant wipe a few seconds later. We both stayed quiet as I tried to fix up his wounds as best as I could, but besides the wipes, a little tube of Neosporin and some Band-Aids there wasn't much to work with.

       "Maybe you should go get checked out at the hospital, T'." I mumbled softly a moment later as I dabbed once again at his split lip. His dark eyes narrowed, and those hands once again went behind him to lean against the counter.

       "I'm fine. I'm thinking about dragging you there though." He said that last part on a dark grumble as that gaze tore away from mine.

       I tried not to frown as I tucked the rest of the first aid kit away and nudged it from the edge of the counter. He was as cleaned up and bandaged as he was going to get—or let me do at least.

       "I'm okay, just have a little headache but other than that I'm Gucci." I beamed up at him with the best reassuring smile I could manage, but he only raised an eyebrow.

       Then my smile slowly fell, and I found it a little too hard to look directly into those chestnut eyes. "T-Thank you by the way... for, you know, saving me." My gaze dropped down to his t-shirt as my voice came out in an awkward jumbled mess. I really didn't know why he wanted to be my friend anymore. All he ever did was get me out of trouble—even though he said he had liked the fact that I 'needed him'. It has to be annoying after a while.

       I have to be annoying him.

       "I'm not talking about this right now." His voice came out as that dark growl I was all too familiar with, and I knew better than to push the subject. Not that I really want to. "There's some Ibuprofen in the medicine cabinet." He grumbled before I could answer, one of his strong hands reaching up to run through his dark hair

       "I'll go get you some-"

       "No! No, it's okay. You stay here, I can get it." He was hurt, and didn't need to be overexerting himself for me, especially since he had only gotten hurt because of me.

       One strong, steady hand reached up and gripped tightly onto my elbow as I went to turn away. "Rosalyn, I'm fine. Stop worrying."

       Because that was so easy.

       I turned back around to argue that he obviously wasn't okay and should probably go lie down, when those strong hands suddenly pulled me firmly against that stony chest. My whole body froze, my eyes going wide as those arms wrapped tightly around my waist.

       I didn't know what to say, didn't know if I could say anything really as his head bent down until his forehead could rest against my shoulder. It probably wasn't a comfortable position, especially with how he was bent against the counter and how low he had to lean down to reach me, but his hold didn't loosen.

       I stayed frozen for a long moment with my hands placed awkwardly on top of his large biceps as he cradled me—even though it sort of felt like I was the one holding him. My mental awareness had taken a strong dive, and my heart was beating three-thousand miles a minute. Rex was clinging onto my waist like a lifeline, and the dozens of emotions raging through my mind didn't help my mental situation at all.

       "I'm tired." He mumbled against my shoulder, his arms still cradling my body against his chest. I was at a lost for words, my mind far too foggy at the beyond close contact to think straight.

       "T-Then you should sleep." I was able to force out a few seconds later, my hands still placed awkwardly on his upper arms.

       "Mm, yeah, sleep." His voice sounded exhausted, more so than I had been only hours ago. Then again, his emotional roller-coaster had gone off the tracks at least two times that night.

       He pulled slowly away from my shoulder, his dark eyes distant as they blinked around the kitchen. "Ibuprofen, then bed." He mumbled more to himself than me as he pulled away and leaned off the counter.

       I didn't say anything as his strong hand wrapped gently around my wrist and urged me to follow him. He paused when we entered the living room, that dark, distant gaze locking onto the destruction. He reached up with his free hand and ran it raggedly through his hair.

       "I... didn't want you to see this." He grumbled softly into the silent room, that soft grip pulling my body between his and the wall like that would stop my eyes from looking at the trashed living room. I didn't know what to say to make him feel any better, so I just stayed silent as he eased us into his bedroom.

       He let go of my wrist at the foot of the bed, his shoulders almost slumping as he turned to his dresser. "Here, change into these." He grumbled before tossing what looked like a large white t-shirt and basketball shorts my way.

       My heart skyrocketed in my chest as I grabbed onto the clothes. It took all my willpower not to clutch them to my chest like they were the most precious treasures on earth. I was spending the night. I completely forgot about what Luce said about being home at certain time—I didn't care.

       "I'll be right back." He muttered softly before turning into the bathroom and closing the door.

       My hands were shaking as I stepped out my rumpled Tinkerbell costume, and breathed a sigh of relief when I slipped the comfortable clothes on. They smelled like Rex, and the scent filled every one of my senses. It was not okay how much I was into that boy.

       I stood awkwardly at the foot of his bed, my hands wringing together as he opened the door once again, dressed in his own plain t-shirt and shorts. They fit him much better though. Duh Rose, they were his.

       "Here." He grumbled as he pressed two Ibuprofen into my hand and held out an unopened water bottle that was sitting on his dresser.

       "Thank you." I murmured before quickly swallowing the medicine. I had tried to put the headache on the back burner of my mind, but now that Rex was as okay as he was going to be right then, the pain was starting to pound away.

       He only grunted before turning towards his bed and sliding under the silky covers, that strong arm of his going over his eyes as he let out a heavy sigh. I stood there another awkward moment. We've slept in the same bed together two times now, but I still felt weird about it—no matter how badly I wanted to snuggle against his warm chest.

       "Will you come here—please." His voice was soft, gentle even as I rocked on the heels of my feet.

      The room had washed in complete darkness when he had turned the light off from the bathroom, and the absence of light ate away at my mind. No light anywhere, not even through the windows. My heart beat faster in my chest, and not in a good way.

       I didn't like the dark.

       "Rose? Are you okay?"

       Rex's voice cut through the darkness, and it pulled my mind out of the spiral it was ready to start sprinting down. I let out a shaky breath and walked carefully over to where I thought the bed was.

       "Y-Yeah, I'm okay." I murmured as my shins bumped into the baseboard of the bed and I climbed gently onto the covers. Rex's arm was already waiting for me against the pillow beside his when I reached the head of the bed. My heart did a little flip as I pressed against his side and let his arm pull the blankets up around us.

       He was so warm, and hard and soft at the same time and I loved it. I snuggled further against him, loving the feel of his arm wrapping tightly around my back and waist until it was resting gently against my hip.

       We laid quietly like that for a while, neither of us saying anything. I had actually thought he had fallen asleep when his voice cut through the silence. "I didn't kill that... guy." He muttered quietly, his arm wrapping tighter around me as I pressed my cheek into his chest.

       I tried not to let how relieved I was show in my body, tried not to let my muscles relax the tension they had been holding all night—but I couldn't lie to myself about how worried I had been.

       "But I would have."

       "I know." I answered softly, my fingers pressing gently against his chest just below where my head was resting.

       "I'm so sorry, Roza." The complete, and utter remorse in his voice tore at my heart, and it took all I had not to reach up and stroke his face gently in any form of comfort I could give.

       "It's not you're fault." I tried to reassure him as I brushed my fingertips gently over his t-shirt. I wasn't very good at making other people feel better. I couldn't even make myself feel better. "It's not Brett's fault ether, T'. So, don't blame him." I added softly as his strong hand started rubbing gently up and down my side. The feeling sent butterflies shooting around my stomach.

       He scoffed at that.

       "Honestly, Rex. I'm the only one whose fault it is. I should have known better than to take a drink like that from someone I didn't know. Luce tells me not to do that all the time. I wasn't thinking." I didn't add the part that I wasn't thinking because I was so stressed at being all alone. That would only make him madder at the Dimajio twin. And I should be able to control the stress better.

       "He should have been there with you." Rex grunted, though there was no genuine anger in his voice. I think the explosion in his living room had zapped all of his energy.

       "He was drunk. He probably didn't even realize he left."

       "He lied to me about being drunk." He practically growled, his arm tightening around my waist as he did.

       I really hoped he wouldn't take this out on Brett the next time they saw each other. It wasn't his fault. Drunk or not he had seemed pretty beat up about whatever happened between him and Lainy. I was probably the last thing on his drunken mind.

       "He had already been drinking a lot by then. He probably doesn't even know what he said."

       "Now you sound like fucking Trey." I'm sure his words would have come out as an angry snap if he wasn't so exhausted, but he only turned his head away from my direction. I shrugged and tried not to squirm at the tickling feeling of his fingers rubbing softly along my side and over my back.

       Then his body turned on its side and he was wrapping both of those strong arms around me before I could think. "I won't let something like that happen again, Roza. I promise." He muttered into my ears, his voice hard as stone as his arms squeezed my body tight to his chest. I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead into his t-shirt, my breathing coming out in hard, slow breaths.

       "I know, Rex."

       I knew he would try to, at least. But I didn't have a good track record when it came to trouble—something he knew all too well. Ever since I was little, I was always tossed into situations no one could really help me out of, not even Jax. It was my fault too. Always my fault.

       There are some things that even God can't fix.

       And I was all of them.

-&-

       Rex acted very... weird the next couple of days.

       It wasn't necessarily a bad weird, but it was definitely different than his usual self. Physically he had been at my side nearly twenty-four seven. Mentally he had been very—distant.

       He came into my house the day after Halloween to drop me off, and to face Luce's wrath. She had not been happy, but after explaining everything that had happened she had a whole new attitude towards the town's 'bad-boy'.

       He had hung out for most of the day, before leaving to go clean up his apartment. Which wasn't the weird part—that came in the next week at school. He was practically glued to my side, and trust me that I was not complaining, but I was worried about him.

       He was always touching at least some part of me. Either holding my hand, my wrist, or his arm wrapped around my shoulders or my waist. It was the touchiest he has ever been, and in any other situation I would have loved it.

       What I was really worried about was the constant distant look in those dark, chestnut eyes. He was always gazing down the hallway like he was waiting for something bad to happen. I had to call his name a handful of times to get his attention, and then his answers were always one word or a nod here or there. If it wasn't for how touchy he was being I would have thought he didn't want one patootie to do with me.

       It was Thursday when that weird silence finally ended. "Hey." He suddenly spoke as we spotted outside my fifth period class, his hand wrapped loosely around mine. My heart fluttered at his voice, and I tried not to let how happy I was that he finally actually wanted to talk show.

       "Yeah?" Cool, calm, collected—good job Rose.

       "I'm checking out a boxing gym tonight. I-I think it will be good." Those eyes of his wouldn't look at me, actually they were staring down at our hands as I shifted back and forth on the balls of my feet. "And... and it might be a good alternative for the fighting-"

       "You're actually going to stop?!" I knew I sounded too excited and happy for my own good, but he didn't look angry when that dark gaze flickered to mine. He actually even gave a small smile and squeezed my hand a little tighter.

       "Well, I'm going to try and stop the illegal stuff. But I need to do something."

       "I know. I just don't want you to get hurt."

       He rolled those dark eyes. "I'm not starting that conversation again." He grumbled right before the warning bell rang. Rex glanced around at the quickly emptying hall before letting out a soft sigh.

       "I don't want to bring you to this place yet. Not until I know its alright, so I'll probably be gone for a while this afternoon."

       Which wouldn't usually matter except for the past three days he's spent the entire afternoon and night—which neither Luce nor Tate know about—at my house. I had actually gotten so used to him being there that the thought of him not made my stomach tighten unhappily.

       "That's okay." I tried to sound positive and reassuring. I was happy he was looking for something else to take his anger out on besides those illegal fights, but the selfish part of my mind didn't want him to leave me behind—or leave me in general.

       "You should get to class." Rex said a moment later as the last few kids in the hall hurried away.

       I didn't want to leave, especially when his eyes were still so—so distant. "Yeah..." I mumbled as I let go of his hand to readjust my backpacks straps. I kept my gaze pointed at his chest, one of his plain t-shirts resting firmly against his hard muscles. I could literally stare at him for hours.

       Then my world got flipped completely upside down when his strong hand reached gently for my waist, and those soft lips of his pressed a kiss against my forehead. Even with his still-healing lip, the feeling was warm and beyond amazing. "See you during break?" He murmured as he pulled away, my eyes wide as saucers.

       All I could do was nod as he let go of my waist, his eyes back in reality for what seemed like the first time that whole week.

       He chuckled. "Never change, tomato girl."

-&-

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