Looks are thrown in our direction as we park our bikes; we definitely don’t belong here. Fucking old money, places like this piss me off. Luckily the Winbrook graduation is a few days after Tynerston, so there are still plenty of people on campus.
We ask around and it doesn’t take us long to find him; judging by how easily everyone gave him up, I get the impression that he used to be popular, but not anymore. Looking at him from a distance, we’re clearly not the first people who’ve decided to teach him a lesson. He’s leaning against a wall with his head down, avoiding eye contact with everyone who passes, but the black eye he’s sporting is obvious.
“What’s the plan?” Tank asks.
“I dunno yet,” I murmur.
My gut response is to beat the shit out of him for what he did to Stephen. If this was six months ago, I wouldn’t even be thinking twice, but things are different now. I’ve got Elizabeth to think about; I can’t be making stupid decisions anymore.
“It looks like people have already gotten to him,” Pretty Boy says.
“Yeah,” I sigh, “it doesn’t mean he’s learned his lesson though.”
“Then let’s see where his heads at,” Tank says.
We walk towards him and as he sees us approaching, he pushes off the wall to try and get away. I easily fall into step with him though, placing my arm around his shoulders, guiding him off the path to a quieter place.
“You must be Kyle,” I say.
“Y… yeah,” he stammers. “Do I know you?”
“Nah, you don’t know me, you know my brother though. I think you know his boyfriend too, Stephen Choi.”
His face pales and he gulps, eyes darting to the guys behind me. “You… you’re Donovan’s brother? Did he send you?”
“Send me? Nah, he’s moved on, couldn’t give a shit about you. He’s happy with Stephen, so he’s ready to let this go. But that’s because he’s a nice guy. Me? I’m not so nice.”
“Look, I’m sorry for what happened, come on, bro—”
“Bro? Did you just call me bro?” I step closer to him. “I’m not your fucking bro!”
“Alright, alright.” Kyle raises his hands in front of him, desperately looking around for someone to help. “I said I was sorry…”
“You said you were sorry for what happened, but what I’m not hearing is you taking any ownership. See, I’ve learneda lot about apologizing recently, you have to mean it. You have to take the time and think about what you did, and when you apologize, it has to be real.”
“I’ve done that,” he says quickly, “I’ve thought about it.”
“Go on…”
“I was an asshole, and what I did was wrong. Doing that to Stephen, making money off of something I thought I knew about him… it was a shitty thing for me to do. I was angry after he broke my nose, but I should have never outed him like that.”
I stay quiet, watching him, there’s more he’s not telling me, and I want to hear it.
“And, well, I don’t know what Donovan told you about what I did to him, but I’m sorry for that too.”
“Which part exactly?” Donovan didn’t tell me any of this, but I’m damn sure going to find out now.
“All of it, when I took him up to my room, and I was a dick to him, I shouldn’t have treated him like that. Then when I said what I said in the club, in front of everyone… I just wanted to hurt him, I don’t even know why, and I’m sorry. But he’s happy now, yeah? You said so yourself, so it all worked out for them.”
I shove him into the wall, pressing my forearm against his throat so he can’t move, even going up onto his tiptoes to try and alleviate the pressure on his airway.
“You hurt my brother?”
“I… yes,” he chokes. “I’m sorry.”
Tears well up in his eyes, I’m not sure whether it’s from a lack of oxygen or whether he’s upset, so I ease off slightly.
“I’m gonna level with you. Usually I wouldn’t think twice about putting you in the fucking hospital, you hurt my family—”
