Page 53 of From Best To Bested

Roman froze when Jake’s eyes turned to him, a viper’s stare, a gaze so venomous it nearly made Roman collapse.

“I spent so much effort trying to get you, and to my surprise, you just handed that ass right over,” Jake said with a laugh. “I’m gonna treat you well, though. Especially since the champion’s bored with you. Don’t you worry, I’ll never get bored with you, sweetness. Got a whole lotta guys who’ll never get bored with you either.”

“Shut up,” Levi commanded.

“Seriously,” Jake said, looking up at Levi. “This fire is hot. I can’t wait till the champion revokes his protection on you, too. The both of ya can be tally butt buddies.” Jake turned to Roman, feeding off the shame that oozed from Roman. “Gonna show your little boyfriend here your new art?”

With that, Levi had enough and punched Jake in the face.

“Stop laughing,” he demanded, furious fists hitting Jake again and again.

Jake didn’t stop laughing. It was a haunting reminder of last night. Roman couldn’t take it. Couldn’t believe what Jake had said about Ezra. He couldn’t believe any of it.

“Wait,” Levi shouted, chasing after Roman and abandoning a cackling Jake.

Roman didn’t stop; he couldn’t stop. He had to find Ezra. He had to fix this.

When Roman reached the champion’s suite, he waited outside, trying to catch his breath. Ezra rustled with things inside, and Roman wasn’t ready to face him.

He replayed Jake’s words, Jake’s kisses, everything else Jake did with him.

“There a reason you’re just standing there?” The edge in Ezra’s voice hadn’t lessened.

Roman shook his head and slowly made his way inside.

“If you’re gonna party hard, maybe don’t go running to the infirmary because you can’t hold your what-ever-the-fucks you were popping,” Ezra said it so annoyed, so matter-of-factly as if he’d watched the events unfold and saw a completely different night, as if he hadn’t taken and encouraged the pills to begin with, like all this was some inconvenience brought down on Ezra.

Roman hadn’t been partying for the sake of it. It was for Ezra, right? It was to patch things up. He hadn’t said no to the kisses and candy that came with it because… Roman didn’t know anymore.

“I didn’t wanna upset you,” Roman said. “That’s why I hung out with Jake. I’d messed things up with you two, so I thought—”

“I told you to make things right,” Ezra interrupted. “Told you to be nice. I didn’t tell you to fuck him. Didn’t tell you to fuck his whole crew. That was all you.”

It wasn’t. He hadn’t. Roman remembered Ezra’s voice, his encouragement. No. Now the night didn’t make sense.

“I didn’t fuck everyone.” Roman sank in the shame of clarifying that fact.

“Might as well have,” Ezra scoffed. “Look, if that’s what you’re into, whatever. You do you.”

“What?” Roman trembled. “No… I don’t… I’m not... That’s not what I want.”

“Maybe Jake’s right.” Ezra shrugged, making his way to the door. “Maybe you two have more in common than I realize. Maybe this whole forcing your friendship is a waste of my time, your time. Maybe you’d be happy with Jake.”

“No.” Roman rushed over to the door. “It’s not a waste. It’s not forced. You’re the best person I know.”

Roman didn’t understand what was happening, what he’d done wrong. Ezra was mad at him for something he suggested; he always had a say in Roman’s choices. He helped Roman make the right choices.

“I gotta think, Roman,” Ezra said, taking his leave and abandoning Roman in the cell.

He’d called him by his name, which he never did. He always used a pet name. Roman sat alone for hours dwelling on that fact, dwelling on how Ezra would likely stay gone until light’s out.

Getting ready for bed, Roman changed his clothes, tended to the new tattoo, and tried to wipe away what remained of the permanent marker drawn on him. When he caught sight of letters written on his lower back, Roman turned more to the mirror and almost broke out into tears at what he read.

“Property of Jake the Snake Finnegan and Crew, Inc.”

It was spelled out like Roman was some type of fucking product. A fuckable product. One that Jake would pass around to anyone and everyone. One that he’d already enjoyed passing around. One Ezra had grown sick of because Roman never did anything right.

Roman had offended Ezra, and he didn’t know how to fix this situation. He didn’t know how to undo this mess, a mess he’d caused.

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