Sheets rustled, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps dragging across the room. “I’m coming,” Ody finally called groggily. He fumbled with the lock and pulled the door open. His brown hair was tousled from sleep, eyes barely open.
Mano was mid-knock, fist frozen in the air inches from Ody’s face. His eyes ran over Ody’s sleepy face, the messy hair, then finally his bare torso.
“Mano?” Ody asked, voice hoarse.
Mano looked away and scratched the back of his neck. “Uh... the guys wanted me to wake you up. They’re at the pool.”
“Uh... yeah. Um, come in.” Ody stepped aside, still half-asleep. “Give me a sec to wake up.” He dragged himself into the bathroom to splash water on his face.
Mano walked in and sat on the edge of the bed. His thoughts spun, tangled with everything that had happened lately. Thatkiss on the beach. The bathroom stall. The way Ody looked at him.
None of it made sense anymore. Every time he tried to push the whole thing out of his head, another image shoved its way in. Ody pinned against the wall, breathing hard, his eyes dropping to his lips… His own body reacting before he could think.
He rubbed his palms against his shorts, trying to steady himself. This was supposed to be a normal trip. Friends. Sun. Pool. Nothing complicated. Instead his chest felt tight, like something was building in there and he didn’t know how to stop it. And he hated not knowing. He hated even more that Ody was the reason.
He looked around the room, trying to ground himself. Ody’s clothes thrown over a chair. A necklace on the nightstand. The faint scent of his cologne on the sheets. Mano dragged a hand through his hair. He didn’t come here to think about this. He came to wake him up. So why did it feel like walking into this room had knocked the air out of him?
A light suddenly filled the room. Ody’s phone screen lit up on the nightstand. Mano glanced at it without thinking, then looked away, ready to ignore it.
But the name registered in his mind. His eyes snapped back.Kash: How’s the trip? I miss you... Can’t wait to do more things to you when you get back...
Something dropped hard in Mano’s chest. He stared at the message, reading every word twice, then a third time, as if it might change. He checked the sender. Checked the profile picture. Checked the name again.
Heat rushed through him. Shock. Anger twisting under his ribs. This could not be real.
The bathroom door creaked open. Mano didn’t move. His eyes were wide, disbelief carved deep into his face.
“I’m awake now. Let me get dressed and we can go,” Ody said with a sleepy smile as he stepped out.
Mano just stared at him, like he was trying to put together pieces that didn’t fit anymore. “This can’t be real,” he murmured under his breath. “This is not real.”
Ody’s brows drew together. “What?”
“This has to be a joke,” Mano said, voice low and strained.
“What happened? What are you talking about?”
Mano jerked his head toward the nightstand. “You have a message.”
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. Whythatguy. The one who broke him. The one who hurt Mano. Whyhim.
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.”
