Page 108 of Man On

Noah pulls back and gives me an odd look. “Why would I want that?”

I shrug, keeping my face neutral and my body language casual. There are questions that I desperately want to ask him, but I also don’t want to seem clingy.

Noah looks around, then grabs my hand and pulls me towards the back of the house, and out onto the deck, where we have to pass through a cloud of smoke to get to a set of stairs. I follow him down and into the yard, where people have gathered around a bonfire, and around the corner. Noah looks around, and after confirming we’re alone, presses me against the side of the house and kisses me.

“That’s better,” he says. “Now, what were you asking me in there? It sounded like you were insinuating that I might want to find someone to hook up with.”

“I mean… Do you?”

“Why would you think I’d want that? Is that what you want?”

“No!” I answer quickly, and some of his hurt expression bleeds away. “I just… I don’t know. Everything with us went from zero to a hundred really fast, and we haven’t really talked about it at all. So I don’t know where you are or what you want.”

“I haven’t tried to talk about it too much because I don’t want to scare you off,” he says, reaching down and lacing our fingers together, holding my hand against his stomach.

“I don’t want to hold you back?—”

I’m cut off by a random guy holding a solo cup, wearing cargo shorts and a Polo shirt with the collar popped up, sticking his head around the corner. He scoffs into his drink and calls back to someone, “Nah, it’s just some fuckin’ homos making out or somethin’,” before disappearing back into the yard.

My spine stiffens, but I don’t have time to react beyond that. Noah, however, is on the move before I can stop him. He takes several long steps, taps the guy on the shoulder, and as soon as he turns around, throws his fist into the douchebag’s face.

Chaos breaks out. Someone screams, and multiple people are yelling for a fight. A couple of the guy’s friends grab Noah and pull him back before Noah can get another hit in. He struggles against them, seething with anger.

“What did you say?” He growls through gritted teeth.

I don’t know if the douche is drunk or just an idiot, but he repeats what he said, along with a few other choice slurs that make my head spin. White noise fills my ears, and everything seems to happen in slow motion.

Sickness. Wrong. Abomination.

Everyone has filtered out into the yard to see the commotion. They’re all listening as this random asshole outs me and Noah, calling us names, making disgusted faces. Noah gets free of the two guys holding him and pounces on the asshole, getting in a few more punches before his friends are running back into the fray.

I might be one tiny push away from falling over the deep end and puking all over myself, but I’m not about to let these guys gang up on Noah. I rush them, only to have Danny step in front of me and hold me back before I can prevent Noah from taking a punch. I push by him, but then a bunch of our other teammates are there, surrounding me and Noah, pulling him off the homophobic asshole, whom he managed to tackle again.

Sam Triviano, our captain and a senior member of the fraternity hosting this party, kicks the douchebag and his friends out, saying something about how they don’t accept trash in their house. Several people standing on the deck throw their cups at the three jerks as they make their way out, griping and cussing. When they’ve disappeared from sight, it feels like everyone turns their attention back to us. I can feel their gazes heating my skin.

“Does anyone else have a problem?” Noah shouts, challenging our teammates and the small crowd of other random students.

Sam, Miah, Peters, Taylor, Lionel, and a few of our other teammates, look at him warily, and then look at me. Danny approaches Noah and pats his shoulder, either in support or to calm him down. Either way, it was brave, because Noah looks like he might bite someone’s head off. He glares dangerously, but when Danny doesn’t back off, he nods his thanks, and apologizes to the rest of the guys for causing trouble.

“Dude deserved it,” says Miah, and everyone mutters their agreement.

“Are we all good here?” Sam asks, making eye contact with me. I didn’t even get a chance to punch or be punched.

I drop my head in a curt nod, realizing why I’m suddenly the center of attention, even though Noah’s the one bleeding. He was defending me.

They all know now.

But they don’t seem to care.

One of the guys that I don’t know well looks around at everyone. “Dude, aren’t they brothers or something?”

“He’s not my brother!” Noah and I answer at the same time, and everyone laughs.

And just like that, everyone goes back to the party. Danny takes a second to check in with me, but I’m a little too stunned to process what he’s saying. He makes a face at something over my shoulder, and then rolls his eyes before walking away. Noah walks around me, looking me over like he’s checking me for injuries, and then stands in front of me.

He takes my hand, linking our fingers together right there in the yard where anyone could see. Our faces and hands are illuminated by the bonfire raging at the other end of the yard.

“Let’s go home.”

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