41. Chapter 41 #2
Still confused, Ody walked over and picked up his phone. He unlocked it lazily, expecting something normal. The second he read the text, the air left his lungs. His whole body went rigid. His eyes turned back toward Mano, his breath catching in his throat.
Mano didn’t yell. He didn’t move, he just stared at Ody. Shock came first, cold and sudden. Then anger followed, fast and burning. And beneath it all, something worse. Hurt. The kind he would never admit to.
Kash. Of all people. The guy who beat him bloody. The guy Mano stepped in to protect Ody from again and again.
Mano swallowed. It felt like glass scraping down his throat.
When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet, almost calm.
The kind of quiet that made the air feel dangerous.
“Tell me something, Ody. When he was treating you like that… when I stepped in and got beaten for you… were you already letting him touch you behind my back?”
Ody’s lips parted as his gaze dropped. “No.”
Silence fell between them, thick and heavy. Neither of them knew what to do with the storm building in the room. Mano’s jaw flexed. He didn’t shout, didn’t accuse. He asked the one question that mattered. “Then why him?”
Not why Kash touched him. Not why Ody hid it. Why that guy. The one who broke him. The one who hurt Mano. Why him.
The question hit Ody like a blow. He had no answer. Not one he could say without tearing everything apart.
Mano’s voice cracked with anger. “I tried to protect you from him. He was your bully, Goddamn it!”
Ody lowered his head, guilt pressing down on his chest. The words stuck in his throat for a moment. “One day Kash came to my house,” he said. “He apologized for everything he did. And he told me that for the past year… he’d wanted me.”
Mano’s head jerked up, his eyes widening.
“He’s gay. No one knows except his sister,” Ody added but hesitated.
Stella’s name hovered on his tongue, but the words wouldn’t come out yet.
“I was confused,” he continued, voice uneven.
“But not because of Kash. He wasn’t the reason.
He was just… there. The opportunity. The experiment.
” He forced himself to look up. “The confusion came from you.”
Mano stared at him, stunned.
“I didn’t know what to do with what I felt,” Ody said.
“I had never looked at a man like that. Ever. And suddenly I couldn’t stop thinking about you.
It messed me up. It scared me. I didn’t know what it meant.
” His throat went dry. “So when Kash showed up acting different and kept pushing… I gave in for a moment. Not because I wanted him. Because I needed to understand what the hell was happening to me. What I was feeling for you.”
Mano slowly pushed himself up from the bed, stepping closer.
His hands curled into fists at his sides, knuckles whitening.
For a second he looked like he might hit something.
Instead, he forced the words out. “Did you like it?” Their eyes locked.
“Did you like what he did to you?” he asked, every muscle tight. “Did it make you feel good?”
Ody’s expression tightened, hurt flashing across his face. “No. It wasn’t like that.”
“Then what was it? Explain it.”
Ody dragged in a shaky breath. “I was trying to understand what I felt. I didn’t want him.”
“So you used him.”
The words hit hard enough to make Ody flinch. “He was the person who made me realize I like men too,” Ody admitted, stripped of the last bit of pride he had left.
Mano didn’t speak. He just stared at him, breathing heavier now, trying to make sense of everything crashing together in his head. “So you just hooked up with someone who—”
“I couldn’t kiss you, so I kissed Kash,” Ody cut in, shutting his eyes in shame.
Mano scoffed. “Kiss? The text says he can’t wait to do more to you. Sounds like more than a kiss.” His jaw clenched. “Did he fuck you?”
Ody’s eyes widened. “No.”
“Did you fuck him?”
“No, I…” Ody blinked hard as he looked away for a second, heat rushing to his face. “Please, don’t do this.”
“Be honest with me for once, Ody.”
Ody forced his gaze back to Mano’s, looking straight into his eyes. “You want honesty?”
“Yes.”
Ody took a breath that shook through his whole body. “I wanted you so bad I was going crazy. Kash came close to me and I didn’t push him away… because it felt like it was you.” He stepped closer, his voice dropping to a shaky whisper.
He swallowed hard, struggling before forcing the words out. “He was sucking my dick and all I could see was your face between my legs.”
Mano’s eyes widened, heat rushing to his face.
“How’s that for honesty?” Ody took another step toward him.
Mano reacted instantly, taking a step back. His eyes were still wide, the flush on his cheeks deepening as he tried to steady his breathing. The sudden shift unsettled him. A moment ago he had been the one pressing for answers. Now Ody was the one closing the distance.
He noticed the way Mano’s cheeks had flushed, the way his breathing had grown uneven. And he didn’t stop. He took another slow step forward. Mano’s back nearly hit the wall. His gaze flickered between Ody’s eyes and his mouth, something uncertain and unguarded creeping into his expression.
The anger was still there. But something else had slipped in with it. Something that made him hesitate instead of pushing Ody away. Ody knew he had crossed a line. But it was the truth Mano had demanded, and saying it out loud had made him bold.
Mano should have stopped him.
But he didn’t.