Page 65 of PET

The clicking sound from everyone’s phones echo around us, and as I peer up, I look into about fifty phones looking back at me. Some are taking pictures, others are recording. Whispers run through everyone like a wicked wind—why are they fighting? Christian beat up Billie? Do you think they’re both fucking her? Ew, what a slut.

I relax beneath him, hoping he feels my version of a white flag being waved. He looks into my eyes and sees it, leaning back while releasing my wrists. I don’t care what everyone thinks about me, but I refuse to let another motherfucker bully her. This all started because of Christian, and I’m going to make sure he fucking ends it.

Once he gets off of me, I scramble to my feet, shoving him away when he gets too close. I pin him with a furious glare before I stalk toward Billie and take her hand.

“Tell everyone,” I urge, waving my hand toward our audience of peers. Christian glares back at me when I add, “Tell them why we’re fighting right now, then tell them how you ruined Billie—how they all bullied her because you told them all to! Go on, tell them.”

Billie steps between us, her face transforming from shocked to pained in a flash. It hurts me to see her like this, but she needs to hear the truth. She needs to know the reason we’re here right now.

“Shut the fuck up, Zeke,” Christian hisses, stepping forward as he reaches out to Billie.

She swings her hand down, slamming it against his. “No,” she cries out in a voice that makes your heart ache. “Please tell me he’s lying, Christian.”

My jaw tenses when Christian looks over at me, my heart sinking into my gut when I realize my best friend officially hates my fucking guts. He’s my boy, my brother, and I’ve shattered it. No, fuck that,heshattered it.

“Billie, I’d like to explain,” I say, stepping forward because I put my foot in my damn mouth, and I need to fix it.

Her hard glare whips to me, halting me dead in my tracks. “Don’t. You’ve done enough with your outburst.”

The pit of my stomach drops out again, and I realize I’m also a bastard. I’ve humiliated all of us in front of our classmates---the ones who’ve been giving her such a hard time already. I should kick my own ass right now. Goddamn my emotional outburst. This should have been said in private.

“So, everybody was bullying me because you asked them to? Because you cut me off?” she asks, her voice cracking on a sob. “I went through hell with my mom, losing my best friends—” she points at him. “And then I had to deal with everyone at school. Nowhere was safe for me, Christian. Then you assholes came swooping back in to win me back like I was some sort of fucking prize. But I can see now that ithasalways been about getting into my pants. Neither of you give a single fuck about me.”

Not a sound can be heard except my racing heart pounding through my veins. Neither of us moves toward her as she backs away because we both know we’ve fucked up. I never understood what Christian’s motives were for alienating our girl. She’s always been ours. We could have had her at any point.

He’s not telling me something and that fucking guts me. We’re brothers—till death, but now I’m not sure what we are. Brothers don’t keep secrets from each other. And because of it, we’ve lost the only girl who actually meant a thing to us both.

Yeah, I said it—Christian likes her too, probably as much as I do, but I’ve been ignoring all the signs. At one point, I wanted her to choose me, not realizing she might be in love with him. And I’m hoping she loves me back, at least somewhat. Honestly, we could have been together—the three of us. Now I’m not sure we can even be friends.

We could have both had her together because our love would be pure, and the love I had for him…? Fuck, we could have been unbreakable.

But just like physics taught us in middle school, you can’t build something strong on a weak foundation, and right now, this motherfucker is about to collapse.

I pull my attention to the side when a few kids step out of the way, allowing Dana to step forward. She looks between the three of us, sizing up the situation, but doesn’t defuse it. I’ll bet this was her plan all along. Damn it, now I’m pissed off again.

“Your master is here, Christian,” I say sharply, nodding toward Dana. “We wouldn’t want you to miss another opportunity to hide some more shit from me.”

Billie tucks her bright orange hair behind her ear, looking away from Dana. My gaze flits between them as the wheels turn in my head. Are they working together, too? Did I miss the signs? I’m just trying to figure out what she could possibly want from Billie.

“Dude, you are so fucking out of line right now.” Christian shakes his head, moving toward Billie again. “Billie, come on, let’s not have this conversation here—now.” He waves toward the crowd.

I step forward, trying to take back the situation because he’s the bad guy here. “No, Billie, come with me so I can protect you.”

She guffaws, throwing her head back. “I’m not going with either of you! You’re both lying, backstabbing bastards, and this—” she points between us, “—is over!”

“Billie!” We both rush out in unison when she runs through us and into Dana’s arms.

“Don’t worry, boys, she’s in excellent hands.” With a grin, Dana wraps her arm around Billie’s shoulder and guides her away, saying empty words of comfort.

We scramble to get to her, shoving and pushing our way through the crowd as Dana and Billie disappear into the house. In my fit of jealousy and rage, I called out my best friend, humiliated my girl… and lost them both. Right now, I don’t know if I want to work things out with Christian, but I need Billie to forgive me. I won’t forgive myself if she grows to hate me, never speaking to me again. That sounds worse than death.

“Dude, back off!” Christian barks, elbowing me in the ribs.

I shove him away with all my strength. He stumbles, crashing into the stacked bookshelf behind him before springing up in a rage. His eyes are wild as he charges toward me with a primal yell.

He barrels into me and we go flying over the back of the couch, landing on the coffee table before it collapses beneath our weight. I groan out when my back snaps, Christian is right on top of me. Screams erupt, and everyone moves out of our way again.

We swing wildly at each other, throwing punches that painfully connect and make us groan out. The air fills with the sound of fists meeting flesh, and I can feel my face growing hot with rage.

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