Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“You’re hurting me.” Evan tries to pull his arm free, but Peter doesn’t release his grip.
Travis and Gary move at the same time, pushing their way through the crowd.
“I’m tired of you fucking lying to me!” Evan shouts.
“Just fucking listen to me, you ungrateful piece of shit.”
Gary and Travis jump the stair rail…looking like some fucking badass bouncers.
Gary shoves Peter, who releases Evan as Gary pushes him back up against the wall. Gary’s a lot shorter than Peter, so I’m kind of impressed right now. Obviously, his new gun show is coming in handy. “You want to mess with someone tonight, mess with me!”
Peter’s eyes go wide as he seems to realize he’s been caught being a total asshole. He starts like he’s going to say something, but stops himself and hurries out the door, onto the back deck.
We hurry over to Evan. “Are you okay?” Travis asks.
“It feels weird,” Evan says as he holds his arm. “But I’m fine.”
“Let us look.” Jackson approaches with Frankie.
Frankie touches Evan’s wrist. “I got it.”
“It’s fine, I think,” Evan says, but as he glances up at Frankie, his eyes widen. “Oh, maybe not.”
Touché.
27
Jackson
There’s obviously a bigger story going on here than what I caught from the discussion at the bar. I watch Frankie run his fingers over the kid’s wrist. It’s bruised, but other than that, it’s going to be fine.
Travis holds Gary against him. There’s deep fury brewing just beneath the surface of his skin. Whether it’s directed at the kid or the man who took off, I’m not sure, but I’m betting it’s a combination of the two.
“I’m just embarrassed. I…I’m fine.” Evan pulls his wrist away from Frankie and knowing his past, I’m sure there’s some fury raging around inside of him too. “I should go.” The kid takes a few steps, then stops and looks at Gary. “I really am sorry. I know that’s a pretty weak response. It does nothing to excuse me from the pain I’ve caused, but…I didn’t get it. He made me feel special and loved and he was the first man to ever do that so…” He shakes his head. “Anyway. Yeah. I’m sorry.”
He tries to walk away but Gary sets a hand gently on his shoulder. “He made me feel that way too. He’s a master manipulator. And I have Travis now, who is everything I never knew I wanted. He’s the one for me, not Peter, and I’d do it all over again to get where I am. I’m just sorry you had to be hurt too.”
The kid’s eyes go wide. “How can you be sorry that I got hurt when I hurt you?” The look on his face tells me he hasn’t had a whole lot of kindness in his life. He hasn’t had a whole lot of people who cared if he was hurt.
“Believe me. If you would have asked me a year ago, I never would have believed it either. Come on. You can walk home with us,” Gary replies but gets a headshake in return.
“I couldn’t do that.”
“What if Peter—”
“I’ll get him home,” Frankie interrupts Gary. His response doesn’t surprise me in the least. That’s Frankie. He’s always looking out for someone. He gets wide, confused eyes in return.
“Call me if you need anything,” I tell him. Frankie nods at me, squeezes my shoulder, and then disappears with the kid.
“Jesus, I want to fucking kill that bastard.” Travis pulls Gary to his chest and kisses the top of his head.
“He’s not worth it,” Gary tells him.
“You’re worth it.”
Gary nods, pushes onto his toes, and kisses Travis.
“Ugh. You guys are so fucking sweet,” Derek says, and everyone laughs. It’s the perfect break in the heavy tension drowning all of us. He’s good at that—reading people and being what they need. I wish people were what Derek needed more too. My hand itches to touch him, so I wrap an arm around him and pull him close too.
“Aww, I’ll be sweet to you too, boy.”
Derek playfully tries to push me away while grasping on to me too. Hayden gives him a smile that says he sees past Derek’s façade the same way I do.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I say we bring this party back to Metropolis. We have a couple of bottles of good shit and I think we could all use it after tonight,” Cody says.
Hayden pushes his glasses up his nose and says, “Fuck yes.”
I look down at Derek, waiting to see his reply. “Are you kidding me right now?” he asks, reading my question. “It isn’t a party without me. Of course we’re going.”
There’s another laugh, and I get a tightness in my chest that had been accompanying thoughts of Derek a whole lot lately.
We make our way back to Metropolis and then head up to Hayden and Cody’s place. They live in the same tower as Derek. As soon as we step inside, Cody walks into the kitchen and pulls out a couple of bottles of liquor.