Part Fifty-One
Xander watched Caid work for a few minutes, thinking. Did he want to go with this guy? He certainly didn’t want to sleep in the park, and right now that was the only other choice he had. And Corey’s words echoed through his thoughts: ‘I was sent to keep you away from Iam.’
When Caid’s attention returned to him, Xander grinned, a bit shyly, “So, you gotta nice place?”
Caid smirked, “It’ll be a whole lot better with you in it. I’m off in a couple hours. Do you mind having to hang around and wait?”
“Not really.”
“Great,” Caid flashed a huge grin at Xander.
Corey sat mutely in his apartment, wondering what to do now. He didn’t really have anyone he could talk to about this. Absently, he reached for his cigarettes, and realized he was out. “Shit! Just what I fucking need. Oh well, maybe a walk will help.”
As he wandered down the street, Corey kicked at a rock. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have told him. No, I had to. If I had kept it from him for years and then he found out, he’d hate me.’ He sighed heavily and amended the thought, ‘Well, even more than he does right now.’
Walking into the convenience store, Corery nearly smacked into Oz. “Jeez, sorry, man.”
“Eh.” Oz took a good look at Corey. “You okay?”
“Not really.”
“Oh.”
Corey went up to the counter and bought a couple packs of cigarettes. As he went to leave, Oz grabbed his arm and tugged him out the door. “Talk.”
“Huh?”
“You gotta problem, man. Talk.”
“Don’t you hate me?”
“Nope. Iam does.”
After packing his cigarettes, Corey pulled one out and lit it as he leaned against the building. “I fucked up, man. Big time.” He took a drag off the cigarette and continued. “I was keeping something from Xander. Something big. And I told him tonight. And, well,” Corey grinned sardonically, “he didn’t take it as well as I had hoped.”
“Give him time.”
“What?”
“You kept something really important from Xander for like two years, man. Did you think he’d just be all okay about it right away?”
“Oh, well, I guess I didn’t think about it like that. You’re probably right.”
“Yep.” Oz grinned.
From a different spot in the parking lot, Veruca watched the two guys talk. She knew this guy wasn’t the one Oz was with right now, but she didn’t care. If she couldn’t have Oz, no one would. Putting her car into gear, she backed up nearly to the street and then blasted forward, bearing down on the two oblivious boys.
She slammed into Oz and Corey just as they turned around, crushing them between her car and the building. “I win,” she whispered, just before everything went black.
“So, where do you live?” asked Xander as they got into Caid’s car.
“Not far, I have to stop at the gas station. Want anything?”
“Nah, I’m good.” Xander watched the dark scenery roll by, suddenly nervous about what he was doing.
Caid glanced over and saw how nervous Xander looked. “Hey, if you don’t wanna do this, you don’t have to.”
Xander looked over at Caid, “I want to, I just…”
Caid gave him a reassuring smile, “Alright.”
Their attention was caught by a flood of flashing lights at the convenience store. “Jesus, what do you think happened?” asked Caid.
“Dunno.”
Caid pulled up to one of the gas pumps and got out of the car. He flagged down one of the bystanders. “What’s going on?”
“Some crazy chick just plowed her car into the store. She hit a couple guys, too.”
“Woah, that’s seriously messed up,” said Xander, coming to stand next to Caid.
The clerk caught sight of Xander and rushed over. “Xander, Xan! Man, are you okay?”
“What are you talking about, Andrew? I just got here.”
The blond boy’s eyes widened, “Then you don’t know?”
Xander was starting to feel panicky. “Know what?”
“The guys that got hit, they were Oz and Corey.”
“Corey?” whispered Xander, then passed out.
Caid managed to catch Xander before he hit the ground. He cradled the limp form in his arms, then looked at Andrew. “So I take it Corey’s the boyfriend.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Hello?” Liam answered the phone sleepily, curled comfortably on the couch with Giles.
“Liam? It’s Xander.”
“Xander? What’s wrong?”
“Can you have Dad go get Iam and bring him to the emergency room? There was an accident.”
“Are you hurt?” Liam was seriously alarmed. Giles looked at him, concerned.
“No, it wasn’t me. It was…”
Liam listened as Xander started sobbing and heard a male voice saying something too low to be heard. Then an unfamiliar voice came on the line. “Mr. O’Malley?”
“Yes?”
“I’m Caid, a friend of Xander’s. He said it’s Oz and Corey who were in the accident.”
“Jesus. No wonder.”
“Anyways, I think it would be best if you got his dad here. And the other guys he was asking for.”
“We be there as quickly as we can. Thank you.”
Liam hung up the phone and turned to look at Giles. “Corey and Oz were in some kind of accident. Xander’s at the hospital right now, but he wants you to bring Iam over.”
Giles sighed sadly, “Will it never end for those two? I only hope Corey and Oz are alright.”
TBC...