Page 143 of Dare To Fall

“What about you, Miles?”

He looks from Garrett to me, and then at Kellan. “I don’t know,” he says slowly. “He was just as shitty to Bella as everyone else for a long time.”

“Yeah, I was,” Garrett replies.

“So why did you stop?” Miles nails him with a glare.

Garrett’s eyes shift to me. “I already told Bella this. When you hit her …” He shakes his head. “It was too much. It crossed a line. Before that, everything the guys were doing … it was harmless teasing. But you—”

“Fucking harmless teasing?” I snarl.

“No, I know. Looking back, it was anything but that. But at the time, I thought everyone was just fooling around. You know, pranking the new girl.” He sighs. “But it got too dark. It stopped being funny. And then you were getting worse, more dangerous, and she looked ill. When you hit her,” he repeats the words softly. “It was like blinders fell off my eyes, and I could see how awful people were being to her.”

“You didn’t stop being friends with them, though.” Miles sounds angry.

“They’re idiots, but yeah, they’re still my friends.”

“What about now?”

“What do you mean?” Garrett frowns at the swim captain.

“They’re fucking homophobic. They were going to attack me yesterday.”

Garrett’s frown turns into shock. “That’s not—Miles, no. That’s not why they were coming for you.”

“What other fucking reason is there?”

Garrett looks around the table, then returns his attention to Miles. “Miles, we’ve known you’re gay for years. No one cares. We just didn’t say anything because you didn’t say anything. They were chasing you yesterday because they think you’ve chosen Eli and Kellan over them.”

Chapter 96

Arabella

Miles is pale. “You know?”

Garrett shrugs. “I mean, a couple of us started to think you might be bi after you hooked up with Bella.”

“He did that to keep Jace off my back,” I tell him. “He was coming on strong, and I didn’t like it. So, they were after Miles because he’s friends with us?”

“Who the fuck cares what they think,” Eli growls from beside me. “We aren’t their entertainment.”

“Just watch your back.” Garrett’s words are directed at Miles. “I’ve never seen them this pissed off before. I wouldn’t stay in your room with Bret—”

“Is he the one fueling this?” Kellan cuts in, his attention on the jock’s face.

Garrett nods. “He’s angry at his roommate’s defection to the other side.”

My chest tightens, anger sparking. “We aren’t on sides. This isn’t a war.”

“That’s not how Lacy and Brad see it.”

“This is insane.” I dart a glance at Lacy and her friends. “I wish I’d never been her roommate.”

“You might have ended up with someone else if she hadn’t requested to take you.”

Eli freezes beside me and eyes the jock. “Lacy asked to be Arabella’s roommate?”

“According to Linda.”

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