The Fighter Within

Shame on you

Morning comes bright and early. Claire is woken up by the soft sound of Lizzy's sleepy voice. "Mommy, can I have some breakfast please?" says Lizzy, trying to crawl into bed with her momma. "Shh come on, let's go to the kitchen," Claire said as she got up, Claire scoops up Lizzy and walks out of th bedroom but not before doing a double take to see if Carter is still asleep. Carter is either a hard sleeper or has lost some hearing with all the guns he shoots. Either way, Claire was not about to wake the bear. Claire turns on Lizzy's favorite cartoon in the living room and starts breakfast in the kitchen for everyone in the house. About 30 or so minutes later, Carter wakes up to an empty bed, which is something he is not a fan of, but normally her children aren't home when he is there. Carter grabs his phone and notices a few messages from Dom and Jason. Nothing too serious but serious enough to have Carter up and moving. "Mommy can I play with Sarah today?" Carter heard a little voice in the distance. "Let me ask, okay, maybe we can go to the park?" answered Claire. Carter is never really around when Claire is in mother mode, so all this is foreign to him, but he knows he has to face her children sooner or later if he wants his plan to fall into place. Claire reaches for her phone to send a message to Sarah's dad, Andy. Andy and Claire met when she started working at the bar, and they became friends when they learned they had daughters the same age. Claire placed her phone back on the kitchen counter and proceeded to finish pancakes for everyone. Carter emerged from the bedroom. Carter enters the kitchen and looks towards the couch to see Lizzy sitting there with her princess blanket and her cup of coffee milk. Claire said that her daughters wanted to be like her and her morning coffee, so she created coffee milk, which is mostly milk with a small splash of coffee just for flavor. Claire doesn't hear her phone buzz off the kitchen counter but Carter does. Claire had disappeared to her bedroom after setting Lizzy up at the table with her pancakes to get a quick shower. Carter looked at Claire's phone and his eyes saw red when he opened up the phone to see a man sending messages to Claire's phone. Carter is very possessive, but this is something Claire has not seen yet, since she has kept her daytime life separated from the life she has with Carter. This is probably why she is so hesitant about him fully moving into her home and being around 24/7. Carter walks over and tells Lizzy, "Good morning princess, feeling better?" Carter asked. Lizzy nodded her head and Carter looked back at the bedroom. "Lizzy, stay here okay, I am going to have a chat with your mom, okay?" Carter receded to the bedroom where he and Claire just had their intimate night together. Carter closes the door and walks to the bed and sits down. A few minutes later, Claire emerges from the bathroom in a simple T-shirt and shorts. "Oh! Jeez Carter, you scared me!" as she nearly jumped out of her skin, but Carter was not amused. Claire walks over to the dresser where she keeps all her girly products and starts brushing her hair in the mirror. "I have your phone, Claire," Carter says in a harsh tone. "Oh okay, well, thank you." Claire says as she reaches for it. When Carter refuses to give her the phone, she has a puzzled look on her face.

Carter gets up with the phone still on the bed where he sat, he stalks towards Claire. "Now why would a man be sending you a message Claire?" Carter does not look like the nice man she spent months getting to know. She knew he had a temper, but this was a whole new side of him that Claire had never seen. "It's just Sarah's dad, Carter. I sent him a message about the girls playing today," Claire says to him nervously." Carter closed the space between him and Claire, trapping her in between her dresser and his lean but tall chest. Claire is still confused about why this is such a problem for Carter. It's not like she had feelings for him and, besides, Andy is married. "So you think it is okay for you to reach out to see another man behind my back?" Carter is not making any sense. "Carter we work together, the kids play together a lot, and we just chat, Andy is married, and it's nice to have friends." Carter laughs in Claire's face, "Oh Claire you are so stupid, you think a man is your friend just because he likes to talk?" Claire has never been called a name by him before let alone something so belittling. "Carter It's really not a big deal, it's just for the kids you're being ridiculous." Claire says in a cracking voice. Carter takes the hairbrush out of Claire's hand, places it on the dresser behind her and then runs his hand along the side of her face slowly and softly. Claire closes her eyes and takes in the gentle touch Carter creates. However, Claire is rudely woken up by a loud, hard slap across the face. Claire's lip is split and begins to bleed, the sting from Carter's large hand lingers. Carter has never been violent towards Claire in the 6.5 months of their relationship. A single tear runs down her face and Carter wipes it away. "If I ever hear or see another man taking what is mine, then this will only get worse," Carter says in her ear while he runs the back of his hand along the mark he just left on her face. Carter walks away and down the hall to the front door, "Bye Lizzy, be good for mom today." Claire is in shock, a man she thought loved her just hit her and walked away like nothing happened. Little does Claire know this is just the beginning of the true Carter.