Chapter 21
Katt paused in the rec room doorway. He didn’t announce his presence as he watched Franco playing pool with Lucas, Derek, and Sean, while the others looked on.
Franco didn’t look nearly as uncomfortable with the porn stars as Katt had felt at first. But then, Franco wasn’t expected to fuck one of them.
The urge to turn around and go back upstairs to Samson and the twins was almost irresistible.
The trio had quickly become a “safe space” for him.
Not only them, but Garrett as well. Even the guys here in the rec room.
They had all welcomed him with open arms, quick to offer friendship and camaraderie.
Even after learning he had lied to them, they hadn’t judged or condemned him.
Katt understood now why Sean had stayed.
Sensing someone behind him, Katt turned around. Royal’s boyfriend, Scotty, stood looking at him. Royal and Scotty hadn’t been present when Katt revealed he had lied.
“Who’s that?” Scotty spoke quietly, almost timidly, as he glanced past Katt into the room. Something about him reminded Katt of the twins.
“He’s…” Katt sighed. “Here to see me.”
“He’s your friend?”
Katt looked at Franco. “I thought so,” he whispered. “I don’t know for sure anymore.”
Scotty moved closer to the doorway. “Is he just a friend, or…?”
Shaking his head, Katt mumbled, “I don’t know that either.”
For a long, quiet moment, Scotty stared into the room at the other young men.
“If he matters to you…” Scotty’s voice dropped to hardly more than a whisper.
“… tell him.” He turned his eyes to Katt’s face, and something in them tugged at Katt’s heart.
“Nothing hurts more than walking away from the one you love, and always wondering what might have been… if you’d just been honest with them. ”
“Telling on me, are you, babe?”
Katt jumped and turned to see Royal walking their way.
He wrapped his arms around Scotty from behind and hugged him deeply.
“Lucky for me,” Royal murmured, kissing Scotty’s head as he looked at Katt.
“I got a second chance.” He drew the boy tighter against him.
“Not everyone is so lucky. So, best not to waste your first chance.” He winked. “Just in case it’s your only one.”
Royal whispered something in Scotty’s ear that made the boy smile, and the two wandered away, arms wrapped tightly around each other, and heads together.
When Katt turned back to the rec room, he was caught in Franco’s stare. Katt felt himself backing away before he could consider his actions. Passing the pool stick to one of the other guys, Franco followed him into the spacious entrance area.
“Katt, wait…”
Katt was headed toward the stairs, but paused when Franco spoke. He didn’t turn around. “Why are you here?” Katt asked, his voice low and thick.
“I… I wanted to make sure you were okay,” Franco murmured, his Italian accent somehow softening his tone.
Katt realized just now that he had come to love the sound of Franco’s voice.
One of those things he hadn’t been previously aware of.
Franco walked forward slowly, with an air of caution.
“You sounded upset on the phone. You wouldn’t talk to me. I was… worried about you.”
“How did you know where I was?” Katt whispered, refusing to turn and look at him.
Franco let out a deep breath. “Todd.”
“He just… told you?” Katt asked doubtfully.
“I insisted.”
Katt sniffed as his throat grew tight and his eyes burned. “What did he tell you?”
“Just what he told you. The lie about the initiation.” A tightness entered his voice. “None of the brothers fucked a man as initiation. That was total bullshit.”
“Yeah,” Katt rasped. “I got the memo.” He wanted to ask if Todd said why he had done this, but then realized it didn’t matter anymore. There was no “acceptable” reason for what he did.
“Katt…” Franco closed the distance between them. “About what happened upstairs—”
Katt turned on him. “It’s none of your business,” he snapped. “Go back to school and tell everyone I’m a fag, I don’t give a fuck. I’m not coming back there anyway.” Katt spun back around toward the stairs, but Franco caught hold of his arm.
“Katt, wait.”
“Why?” Katt jerked loose of his grip and stepped back. His jaw clenched, causing his face to ache and his eyes to water. “What do you want? You saw what I did. Why are you still here?”
“I wasn’t going to condemn you,” Franco replied sharply before his tone softened. “I just… I don’t know… I just wanted to know why you went through with it when you knew Todd had lied.”
Katt just stared at him, eyes swimming, a fear he couldn’t account for coiling in his gut.
“Are you… gay?”
Katt swallowed. “What if I am?” he asked with a note of defensiveness. “What? You don’t want to be friends with me anymore? I don’t care.”
A shadow of hurt drifted behind Franco’s eyes. “You don’t care?”
Katt licked his lips, his throat straining. “Why would I care? I mean, if you stopped being my friend for… that reason.”
“A real friend wouldn’t do that,” Franco whispered.
Katt looked at him in silence.
Franco nodded, something unreadable moving behind his eyes. “You’re wondering what kind of friend I am.” He pushed a hand through his dark hair, and that was when Katt noticed it—the scuffed, slightly swollen knuckles, the bruise already spreading across the back of his hand.
“What… What happened to your hand?”
Lowering his arm, Franco looked at his discolored knuckles, then at Katt. “Todd’s face.”
“You did what?!” Franco straightened, his fists clenching. “Why the fuck would you do that?”
“I thought he might be fag. I needed to know.”
Franco shook his head. “Why did you think he was gay?”
Todd left the chair and moved out from behind the desk. “I knew him when we were kids. There were… signs… back then. There are no fags in the brotherhood, and I didn’t want one to slip in.”
“What?” Franco glared at him. “You invited him to join. If you thought he was gay, why invite him?”
“I have my reasons.”
Franco narrowed his eyes. “He’s your friend from the fort, isn’t he?”
“What?” Todd visibly trembled. “What the fuck are you talking about? What… fort?”
“The fort you told me about the day we graduated high school,” Franco said.
“I never told you anything about a fort.” A flicker of fear skittered through Todd’s eyes. Of course, he didn’t remember.
“You did,” Franco insisted, experiencing a level of satisfaction from what he was about to reveal.
“It was after the graduation party. You were drunk off your ass and leaning on me because you could barely walk. Your face was close to mine, and you asked me if I had ever kissed a guy. I asked if you had, and you said when you were thirteen, you kissed your best friend. Then you told me everything that happened in the fort that day.”
Todd stared at him wide-eyed like a deer caught in headlights.
“Everything,” Franco emphasized. “Even the things your best friend didn’t know.”
“No,” Todd rasped.
“Yes.” Franco held his anxious stare. “Like the fact that you stashed that magazine in the bushes, so you guys would conveniently find it, and it would give you an excuse to test if Katt liked boys. Because you liked boys, and you thought Katt might, too. But instead of just being honest with him, you coaxed him into doing stuff with you, pretending you were just goofing around. And how, when you wanted to do more, and he didn’t, it pissed you off and made you feel ashamed and embarrassed.
So you dumped him as your best friend, angry that you were gay and he wasn’t. ”
“I’m not a faggot,” Todd snapped, jabbing a finger in Franco’s face. “And don’t you fucking spread it around that I am.”
“If I were going to tell people, I would’ve done so by now.”
“Why didn’t you?” Todd asked suspiciously.
“Because we were friends. And you were drunk when you told me those things. You didn’t remember.” His eyes narrowed. “And friends don’t pull that kind of shit on each other.” His stare chilled. “Like you did with Katt—back then and now.”
Todd scowled and moved away from Franco. “I didn’t make him do anything back then,” he muttered. “And I’m not making him now. If he’s really straight, he won’t do it.”
Franco stepped toward him, somewhat threatening. “You made him think you wanted to be friends again. Clearly, he missed his best friend—or who he thought you were.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Todd said. “No straight guy is gonna fuck a man for any reason.”
“So, what if he was gay?” Franco asked. “What would you do? Disown him again? Try to get him in bed?”
“Shut up!” Todd bit back. “I don’t fuck guys!”
“Say it a little louder,” Franco drawled. “And you’ll out yourself.”
Todd clamped up.
“Where is he?”
“What?”
“Where is Katt? Where the fuck did you send him? I want the fucking address.”
Todd frowned. “Why?”
“Because I’m going to go get him and tell him the fucking truth.”
Todd scoffed. “Why? You barely know him. You and I have been friends since high school. So, what? You’re gonna blow me off for him?”
Franco chuffed. “Trust me, I ain’t blowing you, any way, shape, or form.”
“Fuck you.”
“Not that either.”
Todd seethed. “Maybe you got a hardon for him. What? You think if you play the best friend and tell him I was lying, he’ll drop to his knees and thank you? Or maybe you’re hoping he’ll just bend over and take it up the ass—”
Franco’s fist caught him square in the jaw.
Todd went down sideways, knocking into the desk on his way to the floor.
He got one knee under himself, and Franco hit him again, harder, splitting the skin across his own knuckles.
Franco crouched, grabbed a fistful of his collar, and held a finger an inch from his nose.
“I’m not playing best friend. I am his friend.
You say one more goddamn thing about him—just one—and I’ll make you wish you were never born.
” He let go, stood, and looked down at him. “Now, where the fuck is he?”
“You really… hit him?” Katt whispered.
Franco’s mouth twitched. “Hell yeah, I did.” He massaged his hand. “Hurt like a bitch, but it was worth it.”
Katt stared at him. “Why?”
“Why did it hurt?”
“Why did you do it?”
Franco let out a soft chuckle and continued rubbing his hand, his eyes lowered. “I thought that was obvious.”
Katt swallowed. “Maybe not obvious… to some.”
Raising his eyes, Franco gazed at him. “Because you’re my friend. And no one fucks with my friends.”
“He was your friend first,” Katt said quietly.
“Casual friend,” Franco corrected. “Yeah, I knew him longer than I knew you, but I never felt that bond with him.”
Katt’s heart beat a little faster. “And with me…?”
Franco smiled. “I felt it the second we met. I’ve always liked you better than him. You’re a stand-up guy. He’s a douchebag. I think I always kind of knew that.”
Katt sat down on the stairs, suddenly aware of the soreness in his body, especially in his backside. In retrospect, it was a wonder he was even walking.
Sitting next to him, Franco leaned forward on his knees, staring across the spacious entry hall. “So… what now?”
“What do you mean?” Katt mumbled.
“If you’re not coming back to our college—where are we transferring to?”
Katt frowned. “What?”
Releasing a short laugh, Franco looked at him. “You think I want to stay there without you? I quit the fraternity. I don’t want anything to do with Todd. I’d prefer to transfer somewhere else.”
Katt flexed his hands against his knees, lowering his eyes to the floor. “You still want to be friends with me after…” He licked his lips. “… after what you saw? Knowing… knowing what I am?”
Franco breathed deeply, then let it out slowly. “Ever heard that saying?” he murmured. “Birds of a feather… flock together?”
Looking up, Katt met his gaze. “What’re you saying?” he whispered, a slight quiver in his voice.
“I’m saying…” Franco leaned closer and brushed his lips across Katt’s mouth. “… I’ve been wanting to kiss you since the first day I met you.”
Katt trembled. “I think maybe… I wanted you to.” He touched heads with Franco and closed his eyes. “I just didn’t know it until now.”