Page 5 of False Start

“Vaughn. Don’t.” I hear Vanessa, and Austin has made it to my side.

I don’t look at either of them though, my attention is still focused on Calvin. “Apologize.”

“Fuck you, Montgomery. I’m not saying anything to your boyfriend,” he sneers, looking at Austin with pure hatred and disgust. I want to strangle this fucker.

Austin doesn’t shrink like a wilting flower, but he doesn’t taunt Calvin like my friend Benny would have. Curtis was always all over Benny, thought it was hilarious to tease him and pretty much everyone else about being gay. Even though Benny isn’t—or wasn’t—I’m not really sure how that works because he’s in love with a dude now.

Doesn’t matter to me.

But itdoesmatter how they treat Austin. Curtis finally graduated, and now I have to deal with his younger, dickhead brother. “Say. It.”

“Vaughn, we’re going to be late for class. Let him go.” Austin’s cool tone soothes me mildly, but I’m still hot all over and full of rage. I saw the big fucker coming, but it was too late. Why do they have to single Austin out? Especially this one? He seems to really have a hardon for my best friend.

“Say. It.”

Calvin is turning red with exertion, struggling to get out of my hold, but it’s not happening. “Whatever.” He looks over at Austin, a look I can’t quite place but I know I don’t like on his face. “I’m sorry I barely touched you and you flew into your boyfriend here.”

I tighten my grip on his collar. “That wasn’t good enough.”

“Let him go, Montgomery.” Fuck. It’s Coach. I look over to see Coach Zimmerman with his big arms crossed over his chest. He has a whistle around his neck because even though he’s the football coach, he’s also the gym teacher here at school.

“Fine.” I release him, and he clutches at his neck dramatically.

“Get to class,” Zimmerman says to Calvin, who doesn’t waste any time doing so. I look at Coach, who doesn’t look pleased but doesn’t send me to the office either. Just gives a quick nod and heads down the hall.

“Are you trying to get expelled right before graduation?” Austin asks, and it’s clear he’s pissed.

“He hit you on purpose.”

His lips purse, and yeah, he’s definitely mad at me. He looks like he wants to say something else, but he just huffs and heads into his classroom.

Well, fuck.

I turn to look at Vanessa, who looks even less amused than Austin did, her arms folded and her eyes narrowed as she shakes her head. “You have to stop doing that.”

“Doing what?” I start to walk toward our classroom. “Calvin rammed into him as hard as he could. He does that shit all the time.”

“And Austin can handle himself. He doesn’t need you making a scene. It makes it worse.”

I disagree but am smart enough not to do it out loud. “He’s my best friend.”

“Yeah. I know,” she says, and is that sadness I hear in her voice? That can’t be right. She loves Austin almost as much as I do.

I don’t ask her to explain. We just go in and find our seats, but I can’t help thinking about Austin while I’m in class. I hope he’s okay. I don’t know why Calvin singles him out so much.

And he’s told me before he doesn’t want me to stand up for him. Which, to me, is totally crazy.

There’s no way in hell I’ll ever stop doing that.

4

AUSTIN

“What are you doing here?” I look curiously at Vanessa as she walks to where I’m sitting in the bleachers. I’m sitting up high, not really paying attention to the baseball field—except, you know, when Vaughn is up to bat, and I may watch how he swings. I can’t help it that his biceps do this bulging thing when he swings the bat. The guy is only wearing a t-shirt with the sleeves cut out, showing off the side view of his stupid abs, and gray sweatpants that should be illegal.

I try to calm my raging libido as Vanessa sits down next to me. She looks cute with her hair up in a ponytail and running shorts on. “Track practice ended early.” She looks out at the field and then back at me. “Guess this means you’re stealing my boyfriend again tonight?”

It’s said in a teasing way, with absolutely no malice behind it, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s there somewhere. It has to bother her. It has to. “Uh, we rode to school together.”

---