Chapter 14 - Secrets.

WARNING: FLUFFY CHAPTER.

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The sound of footsteps is what woke Carson up. She had been sleeping peacefully, her back towards the boys and her head resting on her pillow, her legs close to her chest as she tried to stay warm. She slowly pried her eyes open, turning towards the door to see Elliot walk in.

How long had she been sleeping? A few hours? Minutes? Had she just closed her eyes?

"Here," Elliot said, handing Bradley a leather pouch, it's shape giving away what it was containing immediately.

"A knife?" The girl asked. "You're giving him a knife?" Her voice was slightly hoarse due to the fact that she had just woken up.

Elliot's eyes moved to Carson, and the girl nearly did a double take. He looked horrible, as if he'd just seen a ghost. She didn't know how long she'd been awake, but since Bradley still was, it couldn't have been that long. How does a man ruin himself like this in such a short amount of time?

"Just to be safe." Elliot's voice was deep, and it was almost as if she was talking to himself rather than the blonde sitting in front of him. The man turned towards the door, but he let him hand hover over the doorknob for a moment before leaning towards the wood.

Carson took this as a chance to stand up from her bed on the floor, making her way towards Bradley and sitting on the mattress next to him, taking the knife from his hands, examining it as he watched her closely. Even having just woken up, her hair slightly messy, lines that carved into her skin, molding it with strange designs due to the fact that she had been sleeping on the floor, she still managed to make his heart skip a few beats.

"What do you think they want?" Elliot asked. His gaze landed on Bradley, the boy feeling a shiver go down his spine. Partly from the cold, partly from the way his father's eyes were boring into him.

"What do you mean?" The boy asked.

"Come here," Elliot replied, "tell me what they're saying."

Bradley got up, going towards his father and taking his place next to him by the door.

Caleb shifted in his bed, sitting up and shooting Carson a glance. The two shared a look, both their eyes filled with worry and curiosity.

Bradley struggled, trying to understand what the men on the other side of the door were saying.

"Uh, they're talking really fast," Bradley said, leaning closer to the wood. "Something about their truck. Maybe just getting their truck."

Bradley stepped away from the door, looking at Elliot, but not before shooting Carson a glance. She was already looking at him, her eyes filled with something the boy couldn't quite place.

"Where'd you learn how to speak French?" Elliot asked.

"School," Bradley replied, trying to keep his voice under control.

"I hate French class," Caleb said, speaking for the first time since Elliot had walked into the room.

"Alright," Elliot said, something filling his voice. "Go lie down."

He stayed by the door for a minute before slowly opening it, making his way outside and shutting it behind him, locking it again.

Carson got up from Bradley's bed, ready to make her way back towards her corner on the floor, but someone grabbed her wrist.

"You're freezing," Bradley said, his hand warm against the girl's cold and pale skin.

Carson looked at him for a second before shrugging.

"I'll live."

She moved her arm away from Bradley and he let go. Hesitantly, but he did.

Carson sat back on her blanket, moving back to the position she had been lying in before Elliot walked in, and after a few minutes, she heard Caleb and Bradley's steady breathing as they slept. Slowly but surely, she fell asleep too.

❖

"Carson."

The girl groaned, wrapping the thin blanket tighter around herself.

"Cars, wake up."

"Five minutes," she said, stuffing her head under the pillow, her head bumping a little as it hit the floor.

She heard a sigh, along with a mumbled "don't kill me for this" before the blanket was thrown off her and she was no longer touching the ground.

"BRADLEY BAKER PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!"

Bradley simply tightened his grip on her, holding her bridal style as she, yet again, clung onto his hoodie for dear life.

"Bradley I am literally going shove a bullet up your a–"

"Hey, there's a kid present, Cars. Wouldn't want to be a bad example, would you?" Bradley said, grinning as the blonde rolled her eyes at him, not stopping her hysterical tossing and kicking, trying to pry her way out of his hold.

The boy just tightened his grip, and, after a few more attempts to put her feet back on the ground, Carson gave up, going limp in Bradley's arms, but still holding onto his hoodie.

"There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Bradley asked, bouncing her in his arms to gain a better grip on her. His eyes landed on her ankle, her jeans short enough to show her wound.

"Hey, your ankle's looking a lot better. You'll probably have a scar, though," he said, sitting down on his bed, not letting his grip on her ease up.

Carson followed his gaze, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Really? I thought it would just melt away and leave perfectly smooth baby skin," she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Now it was Bradley's turn to roll his eyes. He leaned down and put Carson back on her feet, but the girl didn't let his hood go. Instead, she looked at him for a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck, making him stumble backwards for a moment, stunned.

He hadn't expected her to hug him, but once he'd regained his balance, he didn't hesitate to place his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

They stayed that way for a minute before Carson spoke.

"Thank you."

Bradley furrowed his eyebrows, slowly pulling away from her, but keeping his arms around her waist.

"For what?" He asked, but he couldn't keep the slight smile from his lips.

Carson shrugged, letting her hands play with the hair on the back of his neck.

A simple touch from her made Bradley shiver. It wasn't a feeling he knew, but he didn't want it to stop.

"For sticking around, I guess." She shrugged again, letting her gaze linger on Bradley's face more a moment.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack, you know?"

Bradley gave her a confused look yet again.

"You just fell into the ice, and I didn't know what to do, but I knew I couldn't just let things end like they did with him and–"

"Him?" Bradley asked, interrupting her rant. "Who's 'him'?"

Carson gave Bradley a soft look before pulling away fully from his embrace, making her way towards his bed, crossing her legs under her.

Bradley followed suit, and he sat in silence, waiting for the girl to speak.

She took his hand, and a jolt went through Bradley's body as she did so. Carson started drawing patterns on his palm, taking a deep breath before speaking.

"I had a brother. His name was Jack."

Bradley immediately caught the fact that she'd used past tense.

"Cars, if you don't want to talk about it th–"

"No." The girl cut him off sternly, but she had a soft look in her eyes. She went back to looking at his hand, still in hers, still drawing patterns on it. "I have to say this, once and for all. If I don't, it'll just keep haunting me."

Bradley nodded and waited.

"I was ten, and our parents had just bought a new cabin in the woods near town. It was so similar to this one, and it faced a lake. It was winter, and, obviously, Jack and I wanted to go outside and play in the snow. We saw the lake, but we tested it to make sure it was stable..." She took a breath before continuing. "The two of us were playing tag, and Jack had the stupid idea to run across the lake to get away from me. I saw a weak point in the ice immediately."

Bradley noticed her eyes getting glassy and moved his hand, intertwining his fingers with hers.

Carson gave him a small smile, but it wasn't enough to hide the pain she was feeling by going back to that day. And he could tell.

"I jumped forwards and got him out of the way. Since I weighed less than him, the ice didn't break. Well, not right away, at least. Jack was able to push me off the weak spot, and I landed on my back. I wasn't able to move for about a minute, both from the scare and from the pain in my head."

She paused, but when she spoke next, her voice was barely a whisper.

"I didn't even hear him fall into the water..."

Bradley just stared at her, stunned. This girl had been through so much. She'd told him about her parents, but his brother was a whole other story.

"He couldn't swim, I knew he couldn't. He had asthma, so my mother had never let him into the deep water whenever we went swimming. I didn't even hear him, if I had just been able to move away by myself then he wouldn't have had to jump to get me out of the way, he wouldn't have fallen in, and if I hadn't been such a stupid little girl then I would have been able to save him. None of this would have happened if I had jus–"

She was full on crying now, and it took Bradley a total of half a second to grab her and pull her into his embrace.

Carson's body moved forwards, her legs uncrossing as her head landed on Bradley's chest, her own pressed against his still crossed legs.

"It should have been me..." she whispered into his chest. "It should have been me. I don't want to be here anymore, I want to be with him. I want to be back with my brother. It should have been me."

Bradley didn't say anything, he just held her, moving so they were both more comfortable as she cried with him holding her for the second time. And, just like the first time, she felt herself letting go of her emotions, letting her walls break down and just letting go. And it was all because of him.

After a while Bradley pulled away from her, placing his hands on her cheeks and wiping her tears away. Looking her dead in the eyes he spoke.

"Carson Lake, you are the strongest person I have ever met. And it shouldn't have been you. You're still here for a reason. Your brother loved you, and, from wherever he is, he still does. And I'm more than sure he wouldn't want his little sister to be crying over him. He would want you to stand up and fight, just like you've been doing. Cars, you need to hear this. Even if you feel alone, even if you think it's all going to end, even if you feel like you've reached your breaking point and you feel like you can't go on, you can. Because you're strong. Because you matter. And it shouldn't have been you. It's not supposed to be you, because Carson, if I lost you, if you died, I would go out of my freaking mind."

Carson looked at him, completely speechless. No one had ever said anything like that to her. No one had ever made her feel so important for them.

No one except Bradley Baker.

The moment lasted only a couple more seconds, because they both heard the You door open, and they whipped their heads in the direction of the entrance.