Page 77 of Vile Boys

I can’t fucking believe this. They barely fucking know each other.

I fish my phone from my pocket and waltz off down the street, while dialing the only number I’ve memorized. I don’t know where I’m going or how long I’m going to walk. All I know is that I needed to get the fuck out of there because I was about to explode.

My dad. Married to a new woman?

Even though my mother’s still here?

Fuck that.

And fuck that fucking girl who made it happen.

Ares

I findCaleb drifting somewhere in the middle of fucking nowhere outside the city. He was halfway across the road near the base of the mountain, and I signal him to come to the parking lot while I park the car.

When I step out, he’s already screaming. “Why? Why the fuck did they have to do that?!”

“What happened?” I ask as I shut the door.

“I was at a fucking barbecue, my dad, he invited me to her mom’s house,” he rants.

A barbecue? His dad? That’s out of character.

“And then they fucking told us they were getting fucking married!”

He roars out loud and punches the fucking lantern, leaving a dent. But he won’t stop.

I walk over and grab his hand before it hits again, then point it at my chest.

“Stop. Punch me instead,” I say.

He looks at me for a moment, bottom lip quivering. “No.”

Tears well up in his eyes, but before he begins, I drag him to me and hold him tight. “Don’t. Don’t do it.”

“It fucking hurts,” he says, burying his face into my chest.

I run the palm of my hand over his back, and I can feel him slowly release all the tension stored inside his body. “I know. But you can’t let them win.”

“How do you even fucking deal with this?” he mutters. “How do you keep going when you just want to fucking give up?”

I grab him and push him back, holding his shoulders, leaning my forehead against his. “You walk … step by step.”

He smiles and suddenly leans in to press a kiss onto my lips.

Flustered, I lean back and stare at him for a moment.

His lips part. “Sorry, I—”

I grab his face with both hands and kiss him back, smothering him with all the love he’s been trying to die for. But when I inch back, I don’t know if it’s enough.

If I’m enough to keep him sane.

Tethered to this world.

While he dances the line and exists on the brink of destruction.

“Thank you,” he mutters, swallowing. “I needed that.”

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