Chapter Ten #2
“Really.” Ethan placed his empty glass back on the table. “Not that it stopped Zayne from being a total pain in the ass. For two months he tried to get me to talk to him. To ‘be’ friends with him.”
Zayne chuckled. “I was relentless.”
“But you didn’t want friends?” she asked.
Ethan turned serious. “I didn’t want anything—until Zayne.”
“I knew it.” Chloé’s heart thumped a little faster at the potency in his stare. “So what changed? What happened to make you two closer?”
“His father.”
Chloé’s eyes widened, and Ethan nodded.
“Ironic, isn’t it? The one man who wanted us to have nothing to do with each other is the one who brought us together.”
“How?”
Ethan once again shifted his eyes to Zayne, as though he were asking for permission, and when Zayne didn’t say anything to stop him, Ethan continued…
* * *
THE INCESSANT BEEP of Ethan’s alarm invaded his sleep, so he rolled over and reached out to shut the damn thing off. It felt as though he’d just climbed into bed, as restless as his night had been, but that was always the case around this time of the year.
October. He hated this month.
And he hated October twentieth even more.
If he had his way, he’d lock his dorm room door on September thirtieth and skip the month altogether.
Unfortunately, Principal Morton had only let him get away with that the first year he was there.
Now, the deal was that Ethan was to be present in all classes, and only then would he be excused from the extracurricular activities that came with the spooktastic month—and it wasn’t like he could argue.
Kings Boarding School had been his home for the last six years, and with no family or friends to claim him, he had no other choice than to conform or be homeless.
Yeah, fate had really screwed him over. One day he’d gone on a family vacation.
The next, he’d woken up with no fucking family.
But he’d survived this long on his own, and that was the way he liked it now.
If no one got close, no one could hurt him.
So that was the way he kept it. He went to class, did his work, and then he came back to his dorm and stayed the hell away from everyone and everything.
At least, he had until the new kid showed up—Zayne.
What kind of name was that? An annoying one that wouldn’t leave him alone, that was what. Every time Ethan turned around, there Zayne was, watching him, smiling at him, talking to and about him.
Yeah, he’d heard his name in his mouth and didn’t like it.
Though he didn’t hate it either, and that made Zayne even more annoying.
The guy couldn’t take a hint. Ethan must’ve told him a hundred times now to leave him the hell alone—it was literally all he’d ever said to him—and still he showed up every day to sit at Ethan’s lunch table.
Zayne was a glutton for punishment, apparently, because Ethan sure as shit hadn’t rolled out the welcome mat.
When the alarm went off a second time, he cursed Zayne’s name and tossed his covers aside.
The last reason he wanted to be late was by thinking about that guy.
So he quickly brushed his teeth and threw his uniform on, then grabbed an apple from the bowl on his desk, picked up his backpack, and headed out to his first class.
The sooner he got this day started, the sooner it would be over.
Ethan hurried through the east hall on his way to first period. As he came around the corner to head downstairs, he heard an argument taking place below.
“I couldn’t believe it when Principal Morton called me out here. What have you done now?”
Ethan stopped on the stairs and moved over to the side to see if he could see who it was talking, but they were out of view.
“How the hell should I know?”
“Don’t play stupid with me. You know exactly what you’re doing and why every time. So I’m going to ask you again. Why am I here, Zayne? I only dropped you off two months ago.”
Ethan groaned and almost turned around. But they were in his way, and he had to get to class.
“You didn’t drop me,” Zayne said. “You dumped me. And I’m so sorry to be such an inconvenience to you.”
“You’re not an inconvenience—you’re a waste of time. Mine, your mother’s, this school’s—”
Ethan’s annoyance took a back seat as he peered over the rail, trying to get a look at Zayne’s asshole father.
He wasn’t sure why he cared; he didn’t know Zayne, who’d been nothing but an irritation from the moment he got here.
But to hear Zayne’s father talk to his son this way really pissed him off.
“Then why are you here?” Zayne fired back. “I don’t want you here. Oh, lemme guess. You were worried if you didn’t show when the principal called that you’d look like a bad father.”
“You know what your problem is?”
Zayne scoffed. “What?”
Something about that show of bravado had Ethan moving down the stairs. It sounded forced and unsure—the complete opposite of what Zayne was trying to project.
“You’re under the misguided belief that I want to be your father. That I want people to know you’re my son.”
Ethan strained to hear what Zayne said in response, but when there was nothing but silence, he moved down another step.
“That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Zayne’s father sneered in a voice that made Ethan’s skin crawl. “You are on this planet for one reason, to make me look good. You are a product of necessity, and you are failing at your purpose.”
Ethan had gone through a lot in his fourteen years on this miserable earth: grief, anger, torment.
But one thing he’d never experienced was the kind of abuse this disgusting human being was dishing out to Zayne right now—and no matter how annoying he thought the guy was, Ethan wasn’t about to stand there and listen to it anymore.
The silence in the stairwell was telling. He understood when someone was retreating, when someone was disappearing inside themselves to protect what little was left of them. Zayne was doing it now.
Ethan jogged down the stairs, and as he came around the corner, all he could see was the broad back of a man crowding over someone like the bully he was.
He marched up behind him and, without a moment’s hesitation, said, “Hey, asshole?”
The man’s back stiffened and he turned to face Ethan, and Zayne’s eyes widened.
“Excuse me?”
“I said , hey, asshole.”
Shock crossed the man’s expression, right before he narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know who you think you’re talking to—”
“I’m talking to you .” Ethan took a step forward, refusing to back down. This man didn’t scare him—nothing did anymore. “And I heard what you said to Zayne.”
Zayne sucked in a breath, but Ethan didn’t dare take his eyes off the father. He had no idea whether this guy was physically abusive or just verbally. Either way, he wasn’t about to let his guard down.
“And what’s that got to do with you?
“Nothing. But I’m sure Principal Morton would be interested. Plus, we’ve got class, and you’re in our way. So can you get the hell out of it?” Ethan looked around his shoulder to Zayne, who was watching with an expression full of shock and awe. “You coming?”
Zayne pushed off the wall, his eyes locked on Ethan’s, and something in the air shifted.
His father grabbed his arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”
A fury like he’d never known bubbled up inside of Ethan. “Let him go.”
Zayne’s father glared at him. “I don’t know who the hell you are, but—”
Zayne yanked his arm free and moved to Ethan’s side like he belonged there.
“ Zayne . Where do you think you’re going? We are not done here.”
Zayne shrugged his bag up onto his shoulder. “I am.”
For the first time years, a feeling other than melancholy filled Ethan. “Me too. Now, can you move?”
Zayne’s father looked like he wanted to strangle him but reluctantly stepped aside. “Don’t think I won’t find out who you are.”
“You don’t scare me.” Ethan stopped and looked Zayne’s father in the eye, then said under his breath, “But I bet I scare you. He listens to me…”
Ethan couldn’t help his smirk as they walked away from Zayne’s father.
Okay, that felt fucking good . For the first time in years, he felt alive.
“Let’s go.” Ethan headed down the hall, and when Zayne followed, a deep sense of satisfaction filled him.
He couldn’t explain it, the rush he got from knowing he held the power and control in that moment.
But it was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before.
Not only did it make him feel alive, it made him… excited.
“Uh, hey?”
Ethan paid no attention to Zayne, too busy trying to understand where this new feeling was coming from.
“Hey? Hang on a second, would you?” Zayne moved in front of him and turned to walk backward up the hall. “What the hell was that back there?”
Great. Of course, the first thing Zayne wanted to do was talk. “What’d it look like?”
“I dunno. You kinda stuck up for me.”
“Kind of?”
Zayne came to a stop, forcing Ethan to also. “Okay, you did. But why? I thought you hated me.”
Ethan shrugged. “So did I.” He stepped around Zayne and continued down the hall.
“You’re really fucking weird—you know that, right?”
He did know that, but still… “If I’m so weird, why do you keep trying to talk to me?”
There was a pause, and for a second he thought Zayne might ignore the question.
“Maybe I’m bored.”
Ethan scoffed but continued on his way. “Yeah, okay.”
“What?” A hand grabbed his arm. “You don’t believe me?”
Ethan turned and looked down at the hand on his wrist. It was big, strong, the nails were painted black, and on two of Zayne’s fingers were chunky silver rings. Something about Ethan seeing it on his arm reignited that excitement from minutes ago.
He took a step forward, and Zayne automatically backed up—but Ethan kept coming. He walked Zayne into one of the side alcoves until his back was up against the wall.
“Still bored?” he asked, crowding in so close that their shoes touched.