Page 262 of Vile Boys

“Jesus Christ,” Kai says, rolling his eyes. “You’ve been busy.”

“So a foursome, huh?” Milo says. “Guess we’re all banging like crazy.”

Nathan smacks him on the head with a packet of cigarettes.

“It’s not like that. We just … stumbled into it,” I say, trying to tone it down.

“Uh-huh,” Milo responds.

Nathan jumps off the fountain. “I never gave you permission to go ahead and jump in bed with my goddamn friend, Caleb.”

“I don’t need your permission to fuck who I want,” Caleb retorts.

Nathan grabs Caleb by the collar. “Give me one good reason not to punch your teeth out.”

“Guys, guys.” I shove my way between them. “Please stop.”

“And all this time, I thought you just wanted to get back in my pants,” Nathan grits.

“I never said that. I said I missed you as a friend,” Caleb replies.

“Whatever,” Nathan says.

Ares steps up and points a finger at Nathan. “You touch Caleb again, and I’ll kill you right here, right now.”

“Possessive,” Milo hums. “I love it.”

“Can we stop fighting, please?” I ask, placing a hand on Ares’s chest to calm him down. “I don’t want more bloodshed.”

His nostrils flare, but he finally backs away. “Only because he is your friend.”

“So you three have been doing this behind everyone’s backs?” Lana asks, narrowing her eyes like she can’t believe what she’s hearing.

“I could say the same for you,” I retort, smiling.

She rolls her eyes but smiles anyway. “I guess you’re right.”

“Guess everyone here is lucky,” Milo says, grinning like a bastard. “You get a foursome, we get a foursome, everyone gets a foursome!”

I just stare at them for a moment before I burst out into laughter eventually.

It’s all so ridiculous that it’s starting to make sense in a weird way.

Suddenly, Caleb’s phone rings, and he turns away to answer it.

“Yeah, Dad?” His voice begins to tremble. “What?”

He suddenly goes down on both hands and knees, still clutching the phone. A scream unlike anything else decimates all happiness from my heart.

I immediately run to him and place a hand on his shoulder. “What happened?”

Ares marches to him and goes to his knees in front of him, gripping his face to make him look at him. “Tell me.”

“My mom … is dead.”

ARES

This is the day I feared would come.

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