Page 106 of Pure Vengeance

“Fucking dickhead,” I mutter, shaking my hand that is now sore.

Richard knocks on the door, and I look at him. “He’s gone out.”

“He’s mad you’re gay?” Richard asks.

“No, he’s mad that he has to cater to my stepfather for the rest of his life because he hasn’t got the courage to tell him off.”

Richard nods. “Cutting ties with parents can be hard.”

“Or it can be liberating,” I say. “I was upset at first, but now... now I just feel like I should’ve done it sooner. That I’ve wasted a part of my life pretending to be someone I’m not.”

Richard smiles. “Well, you don’t need to do that anymore.”

“No, I don’t,” I say.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Noah

I avoid Adrian for days. I sleep in my car most of the time, and he doesn’t come looking for me, and I’m thankful for that. My father has already told me to cut all ties with my stepbrother. That he just isn’t family anymore.

It’s that easy for him. That quick.

He doesn’t even care. We don’t talk about Adrian anymore. His little ‘Ace’ doesn’t exist anymore in our world.

It tears me down so badly. I knew my father was a dick, but I never knew how bad of one he was. Still, he’s my father.

Friday morning I’m in the bar, and I’m nursing a beer. There are a few people there, celebrating the spring break. Having a last drink before the week-long vacation, which will see most of my peers going somewhere warm like Florida to get wasted and laid.

“You can’t avoid me forever,” Adrian says as he pulls up a chair.

“I just want peace,” I mutter. “Is that too damn much to ask for?”

“No, you don’t want peace. You want easy. There is a difference.” He signals the bartender.

I grab his arm and drag him to the bathroom, slamming the door behind me.

“I don’t want to be seen with you, do you understand that?” I ask. “I can’t be associated with you because then my father comes for me as well.”

“Does that man’s opinion really rule your life?” Adrian asks. “It did mine, and now I’m free. I’ve found peace. You, Noah, are a fucking coward.”

“Say that again,” I growl, stepping up to him.

He steps right up against me. “You’re a fucking coward.”

I grab him, then I push him into a bathroom stall, shutting the door behind us. I press him against the one wall and I kiss him deeply, pinning his arms to his side. Ibreak the kiss. “Is that cowardly?”

“When you have to hide to do it, it is.” He looks up at me with those piercing blue eyes.

“Fuck you,” I mutter.

I let him go, and he grabs my face and kisses me deeply. I put a hand on either side of his head and kiss him back, already aroused. I’d been jerking off to the idea of him most of high school, and then we kissed, then we fucked. He’s been my single infatuation since then.

I feel his hands on my belt as he’s undoing it. I reach down and loosen his sweatpants. “I don’t have lube.”

“I’m fine,” he says quietly.

I put two fingers to his mouth. “Suck.”

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