Part 25


Lance cleared his throat and averted Joey’s gaze.  “Uh, hey, Joe, I was just…uh..leaving.” Jesus christ, please tell me he didn’t hear all of that.

Joey nodded and continued to stare a hole through Lance. “All right man. Guess I’ll see you around,” he said, his tone unreadable.

Lance forced a smile and wormed his way past Joey, sprinting down the stairs and nearly tumbling head first in his haste to get out of the house.

His heart was beating a mile a minute when by the time he started his car.

And his cell phone rang the minute he pulled away from the curb.  

“Hello?”

“Tell me Joey didn’t hear that, because if he did…”

“FUCK Chris…FUCK FUCK FUCK.”

“Dude, I know! He’s already so pissed at me he’s ready to kick me out of the house! And he’s got all the guys against me.  If he finds out the truth—“

“I don’t want to think about that. I have to go,” Lance said, clicking off his phone and tossing it aside angrily.

Fuck.




He’d been crying for an hour straight, and his eyes were so puffy that he feared he wouldn’t be able to keep them open much longer.

It’s not fair, he thought, tugging at the covers. I love him

His heart jumped in his chest and his hopes soared when he heard a knock at his door. He flew from the bed and flung the door open, but Josh wasn’t standing there.

It was Britney.

An extremely unhappy Britney.

His face stung from the slap she suddenly laid there, and he decided that unhappy wasn’t the right word.

Furious was more like it.

“How the fuck COULD you?” she asked, pushing past him, storming into the room.  He touched his cheek gingerly and shut the door, almost afraid to turn around and face her.

“Do you have any idea how much he fucking loves you, Justin? Huh?”

Justin nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but she wasn’t finished.

“He would have done anything for you. ANYTHING. He would have given his fucking life for you and this is how you repay him?  You tell him you love him, you let him make love to you, and then two days later you fuck around on him? What the fuck kind of a person are you, Justin?”

That was all it took.  He collapsed into a heap on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.  “Brit…” he choked. “I…I love him…I…it wasn’t…my…fault…”

She frowned and folded her arms across her chest. “Oh really Justin? Then who’s fault was it? Josh’s?”

“I…said…no…” he gasped between sobs. “I swear, Brit…I said no…”

“What do you mean?” she asked, her expression softening just slightly.

“Please…” he whispered, trying to regain his composure. “Please, Britney…let me explain…no one will let me explain…”

She sighed and sat down on the chair, crossing her legs, arms still folded. “Fine. I’m listening.”

Taking a deep breath, he wiped the tears from his eyes and started talking. “I was drunk. I admit, I was drunk. Joey put me to bed. ALONE. You can ask him.  Then I wake up and someone’s…someone’s on top of me…and they’re pulling my clothes off…”

Fresh tears streamed down his cheeks at the remembrance of someone violating him like that, and he reached deep inside to find the strength to continue.

“I said no…I told him to stop…I knew it wasn’t Josh…and then he gave me these pills…sleeping pills he said…and after that…I don’t remember.”

Britney gasped and rushed to Justin’s side, kneeling beside him. “Justin..god, I’m sorry…I just…you know what it looked like…and…”

“He doesn’t believe me, Brit…” Justin whispered.  “He thinks I don’t love him.”

“Oh, baby…god, I’m sorry…”  She stroked his hair and held him close, suddenly angry at the thought of someone doing this to him. “Justin?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know who it was?”  

“Someone from the frat…I don’t know…I…I can’t remember.”

“Jesus…Josh knows though, right? Knows who it was?”

Justin nodded and let Britney lead him to his bed. “You get some rest, ok baby? I’m going to go talk to Josh. It’ll be ok, babe, I promise.”  She kissed him on the top of the head and whispered, “I’m sorry for hitting you.”

He laughed softly and closed his eyes. “S’okay.  You were just protecting Josh. I would have done the same thing if I were you.”  

“Get some sleep, Justin.  I’ll talk to him. OK?”

He nodded and pulled the covers to his chin, asleep before she was even out the door.




“So that’s what happened,” Britney said softly, hand tangled in Josh’s wild hair.  

Hot tears streamed down Josh’s cheeks, and he shuddered at the thought of someone taking advantage of his boy like that.  “I’ll kill him, Britney. I swear, I’ll fucking kill him when I see him.”

“Josh, you can’t do that. It’ll only make things worse.”

“They can’t get any worse, Brit.”

She sighed and pulled him close, rubbing small circles on his back.  “You need to go to him, Josh. He’s broken.”

“I was an ass, Brit. I didn’t even give him a chance to explain.”

“You saw what you saw, Josh.  He understands that.”

“He doesn’t hate me?”

“God, Josh! No! All he could say was how much he loves you. Go. Now.”

She released him from the embrace and nudged him towards the door, smiling when he stepped into Justin’s room and closed the door behind him.



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