Mary threw a rock at Kacey’s head. He ducked to the side, shielding his lit cigarette. The rock slammed on her car’s back windshield. 

“Hey, cunt!” Mary screamed for everyone left on the street to hear.

Varian ducked his head, flushed from his chest to his cheeks. Padriac laughed out loud. His shoulder slammed into Varian’s as they continued to walk on the rocky path to the car. 

“What the fuck was that for?” Kacey covered his head with both hands. He ducked behind the car as Mary circled after him. 

“Hazel told me you’re the local peeping Tom!”

“You really think I want to look at that ugly hag?” Kacey ducked around to just look at Varian for a second. “No offense.”

Varian shrugged it off. “It’s not like she thinks you’re good looking either.”

“She’s only saying that because you’re her boyfriend! She doesn’t want to hurt your feelings that she’d fuck me too!”

“She would not,” Varian said under his breath.

The image that came to mind made him sicker than someone touching him. He was revolted by what he saw in his head for more than one reason. Not only did he hate Kacey saying it, but he loathed the idea of Kacey taking the last thing he could call his own.

The man had ruined so much of himself that all he had to hold onto was his friends and Hazel. He couldn’t have those taken away as well.

But Hazel would never sleep with Kacey. She hated him so much she would rather throw herself off a cliff than let Kacey get close to her. After what she said about him to Varian, he wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to hurt him even if he didn’t do anything to her. 

“Can you stop?” Kacey was running around the small car while Mary chased after him. She had another rock in her hand and she was waving it around.

She threw it and it flew over Kacey’s head by a hair. He hissed as he turned around, gaping at where it hit the ground.

“Are you fucking crazy?”

He was more than just angry. He was pissed. He stalked toward her, hand raised. Varian panicked and started forward, but Padriac grabbed his arm. He pulled him back so hard his back hit Padriac’s chest.

He forgot the sickness he should feel by being touched. He was too focused on the bloodbath that he was sure was going to happen.

But Kacey dropped his hand. He balled over, hands on his knees. His shoulders shook. A low laugh came rumbling from him. It was unrecognizable. It wasn’t a laugh Varian had ever heard in his life. If he could describe it in anyway, it would be the laugh of the devil.

Mary didn’t seem bothered by it. She merely touched her pointer finger to his head. 

“I’ll stop once you apologize to Varian.”

Kacey stopped laughing.

A silent moment passed between them all. Varian had no fucking idea what was going on. It felt like Kacey and Mary were talking a different language. He didn’t recognize these people as his friends. They were strangers acting out some kind of ritual that was scaring the fuck out of him.

Padriac’s secure arms around him made him feel better. He felt safe. Like he was in a cage, but a cage that was strong enough to not let him get hurt by attacking bears. 

Kacey stood up to his full height. He looked at Varian.

“Kacey…it’s fine,” Varian said. He choked on the last word. 

But Kacey ignored him. He walked up to him. He grabbed his face gently. His cold hands pressed against Varian’s cheek like he was afraid that if he touched him too hard Varian would break. Varian did feel as if he was about to burst into a million little pieces. He could feel himself giving away under the pressure, but it had more to do with the sudden tightening in his gut than it had to do with the look on Kacey’s face.

He couldn’t focus on just the hands touching him. He thought about the warm body pressed against his own and Padriac’s large arms around his chest. 

“I’m sorry.”

Kacey’s hardened face was cryptic. Varian wanted to believe he was sorry for how much he scared Hazel.

But knowing Kacey, he didn’t apologize for anything.

Kacey eyes flickered to Varian’s lips. Varian furrowed his brows, but before he could even fathom what was going on, Kacey pressed his cold lips to Varian’s own.

Varian balked. He jerked back, but there wasn’t anywhere to go. His head almost hit Padriac’s. He gazed up and met Padriac’s just as cold eyes. His heart skipped a beat. For a moment, he was suspended in time. It felt like he was dying. He couldn’t breathe and his heart wasn’t beating.

It all came to an end when Kacey stepped away once more. His shoes crunched the gravel as he made his way to the car. He relit his cigarette and took a drag as he jumped into the front seat. 

“What was that?” Varian barely managed to get the panicked words out. 

“What was that?” He stumbled toward the car. Padriac didn’t try to hold him back. He let Varian make a fool out of himself as he almost fell face first into the backside of the car. 

He flung the backseat open and stared at the back of Kacey’s head. “Are you listening to me?”

He didn’t know he could convey this much anger in his voice. It was like someone else was speaking through him—a demon of some sort that wanted to rip the flesh off of Kacey’s face for doing something so crazy.

His lips were burning from where Kacey’s had touched him. It wasn’t just the graze of skin. It wasn’t just the implication of something personal. Kissing was far more than personal.

He was at a lost of words for what happened. This was crossing more lines than he could count. He didn’t like like being put into a situation that would make their friendship weird. It was hard even now to look at Kacey. And he was just looking at the back of his head!

“It was a kiss, Varian. It wasn’t like I grabbed your dick or anything.” Kacey’s long drawl pissed Varian off even more.

He sputtered. “Just a kiss? You had no right!”

He looked around, unsure of what to do next. Mary got into the car with a small smile on her face. She didn’t look at all like she’d just witnessed something that was out of the ordinary nor was she backing Varian up like she did earlier.

The last person he looked to for help was Padriac.

But just like when Varian had come to him for help at school, he wasn’t helpful. He merely raised a brow like it was Varian who was blowing things out of proportion. 

This was the first time he felt so alone with his friends. Well, there were other times when he got so low in life before the man kidnapped him. They weren’t as bad as this time. Other times his friends just didn’t know when to stop being dickheads. This was intentional. They were doing this to him for no goddamn reason and they well knew he didn’t like it. 

He made a choice then. He wasn’t going to play along with this dumb game any longer. He wasn’t going to stand there and let Kacey be the big man he always pretended to be. He was going to show them all he wasn’t little Varian anymore. He wasn’t the shy kid that went along with their shit because he was too scared to speak up for himself. 

“Fuck you guys.”

He slammed the car door so hard the force ricocheted up his arm. The car rocked under the force.

Before anyone could tell him otherwise, he ran down the street as fast as he could.