Page 267 of Vile Boys

“Who was that?” I ask.

His muscles suddenly soften, and when he turns around, all the anger seems to have dissipated. “No one important. Don’t worry about it.” He walks to me and places his hand on my shoulder. “Areyou feeling okay?” I nod and he leans in to kiss me, reminding me of all the good in the world. He leans his forehead against mine and stares me down. “If you feel angry, any bad feelings at all, you call me. Immediately.”

“Yes, Sir,” I reply.

A smile forms on his lips. “Good boy. I have to go now.”

“Where?” I ask.

“Doesn’t matter,” he replies. “Just focus on your family for now, okay?”

I swallow down the feeling of impending doom as he walks away.

“And don’t get any weird ideas, Blaine will be watching you,” he says, winking at me, before marching out the front gate.

None of it feels right.

He took that call, despite knowing how important this thing was for me, which means it was something really fucking bad.

Fuck.

I kick the same rock he was kicking and head back inside where Blaine’s already waiting for me.

“Don’t go hiding on me now,” Blaine says.

I narrow my eyes. “Stop fucking babysitting me.”

“Nope,” Blaine replies. “You know why.”

“Jesus Christ.” I roll my eyes and sit down on a chair. “Does no one here trust me?”

Crystal chuckles as she sits down too. “I do.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not exactly the one to stop me from jumping off that cliff, so—”

“Were you going to?” she asks.

“No. Hypothetically.”

“Exactly. So hypothetically, I’m just making sure you’re still alive,” Blaine says before he rubs my hair and turns it all into garbage.

“Goddammit, get your hands off me,” I growl at him.

Crystal laughs at us, and her smile makes my heart throb, if even just for a moment of bliss in all of the misery from these past few days.

Ares

I blowout my final smoke and chuck the cig on the ground before I exit the gates.

Several cars are already out front, waiting for me. What a welcome party.

A door opens, and out steps not one but two guards with automatic guns, not pointed at me but clearly a threat.

“That won’t be necessary,” I say.

“Get in the car,” one of them growls.

I don’t need to ask where we’re going.

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