Zane was pissed. He texted his brother saying he was leaving as he was walking out of the school. No teachers or students saw as he left through the back of the school, seething and beat red with anger. He dialed his old friend Officer Hope, then ended the call when he thought about the conversation and heard she was using the cops in her favor. Officer Hope texted asking if Zane was alright, and Zane claimed he hit the wrong number and was okay. Instead, he called Gavin, saying he needed to blow off some steam, and was on the way over and hung up.

"You aren't done with PT yet, no way," Gavin texted. "And I already got a kid in here."

"Don't care, I can only go to you," he texted back.

He pressed on Shane's contact and texted "Left early Little Emo, go to your aunts and I'll see you soon. Don't worry, everything's alright, just got something that came up."

The more he walked the angrier he got, so he started sprinting, pulling on the straps of his backpack to hold closely against his back as he ran. He got to Gavin's gym in 15 minutes, instead of the normal 40 minutes it would have taken him if he jogged. He pulled open the door, threw his bag on the floor, and slammed his locker open. He pulled his shirt over his head and grabbed his gloves, ignoring his wraps.

"Zane, calm down," Gavin was walking forward.

"Gavin, not now," Zane shook his head and took the straps off of his gloves and slid them in. He didn't tie his gloves, just pulled the straps closed with his teeth, and stomped over to the closest boxing bag hanging from the metal beams of the gym.

"Zane," Gavin followed. "What happened?" He asked as calmly as he could. Gavin hated it when Zane threw tantrums, but he knew it was always for a reason.

Zane ignored him and started punching aimlessly, simply releasing as much anger as he needed to. It only took him 10 minutes to calm down. He was breathing heavily, sweat dripping down his chest, back, and arms. His hair was drenched as if he was just in the rain. He was still seething inside, but no longer feeling the need to punch holes through the girl's face.

Gavin walked back over, leaving the 16-year-old boy who was watching Zane in admiration and fear. Gavin carefully put his hands on the boy's shoulders, then pulled him into a hug. Zane grabbed his gloved hands around the man he secretly called his uncle, being so thankful to have him there as support. Gavin was one of the biggest helpers when it came to Zane's PTSD and trauma with his biological uncle.

"What happened, Zane?" Gavin asked quietly.

"Nothin-"

"Don't fucking try that with me, Zane. I know you. What triggered it?"

Zane waited a moment before backing up and looking at the 16-year-old he didn't recognize. The boy had blue streaks in his black curly hair, but his skin was pale and his eyes were a bright green.

"Who's the kid?" Zane asked loudly.

"Don't try to change the subject," Gavin grabbed Zane nicely to keep him in place. "And don't try to intimidate that kid because you're feeling moody."

Zane rolled his eyes but stepped towards the kid and sized him up. The kid in question was skinny, but only 3 inches shorter than Zane. The kid didn't shy away from Zane's judging gaze.

"First time here?" Zane asked sternly.

"3rd," the kid corrects, raising his chin in confidence. "My name is not Kid either."

Zane raised an amused brow, "Fine. What is your name?"

"Cameron."

"Are you one of the city kids?"

"What?"

"Gav, where'd you pick him up from?"

"Zane, stop changing to conversation. Why the hell did you barge in here when I had a session going?"

Zane glared at Cameron, questioning whether he should be present during the conversation.

"I'm not talking in front of that kid," Zane looked at Gavin.

"Then go upstairs and calm down, go do your PT quietly, or come back in 30 minutes. If you need to go borrow my headphones listen to some music, and do your physical therapy. You shouldn't have boxed," Gavin grabbed his hand and started inspecting it. "You'll be lucky if it doesn't start swelling again, dumbass."

Zane ripped his hand away and went to Gavin's desk to grab his over-the-ear headphones. He hooked them up to his phone and started playing his rap playlist. When he was upset he listened to rap, and when he wanted to calm down he listened to rock. Very rarely did he listen to pop and he never listened to country, the only pop he listened to was his brother's songs when they were drinking. His brother was very much a romantic and liked to listen to romance pop.

He started his PT by bending his wrist up and holding it for 15 seconds, then bending his wrist down for another 15 seconds. Then to the left and right for 15 seconds each. He repeated this 4 more times, then stood up and grabbed a 3-pound dumbbell. Gavin kept small weights for people who needed physical therapy, and when Zane injured himself and needed physical therapy he was happy to have spent the money.

Zane holds the weight in his hand and faces his palm facedown, then bends his wrist up for 10 seconds, then down for another 10 seconds. He drops the weight on the bench and taps his thumb and pinky together, one of the harder tasks for him but he holds it for 10 seconds and belts go. The picks up the weight and repeats the steps 10 times. The repetition annoyed him, but he knew Gavin would yell at him if he didn't do his physical therapy properly. He dropped the weight back off in its designated area and started stretching out his hand and wrist again. There were still another 15 minutes until Cameron's session was over, so he decided to start weightlifting. He grabbed his fingerless popped gloves and dusted them with powder, then grabbed the things he needed. Before his injury, his weight lifted like it was a religion, and he mentally knew he needed to lower the weight significantly because of his boxer's fracture, so he did. Lowering the weight also meant he didn't need to worry about having his brother or Gavin spot for him. Before he knew it, 15 minutes was over and Gavin's clock went off saying the session was over. Zane took off his stuff and packed up, while mentally preparing himself to talk to Gavin. He watched the kid pay in crumbled-up cash, thanking Gavin before looking back at Zane.

"Ignore him, it's alright. I'll see you next week Cam," Gavin smiled and walked the 16-year-old out of the gym before locking the door. "Come help me clean then we'll go up and talk properly."

Zane complied and the two cleaned up the gym in silence, and 18 minutes later made their way to the back and up the stairs into Gavin's home. Gavin pointed to the couch, so Zane went and sat while Gavin got them two cold bottles of water. Gavin sat beside Zane and put the water on the table.

"Talk," he said simply and Zane admitted everything that happened at the school in the music room. Gavin sat there with his poker face, making Zane nervous. "Stop," he held up his hand and Zane stopped talking. "Why exactly is she blackmailing you?"

"I don't know. All she said was that she always gets what she wants," Zane shrugged. "But she knew everything about Jason, and about my record, and she visits connections to the cops, I know this crazy bitch isn't bluffing."

Gavin watched as Zane put his head in his hands, taking deep breaths. Gavin pats his back in comfort and starts thinking about how he could help. "What about your cop friend?"

"I don't know where she has connections. If it's at Hopes station then he and I will both be fucked," Zane shook his head. "She says I need to end things with Shane or she'll send Jason after us when he gets out, and I know he'll kill Shane just to get to me. He's never stopped hating me, even when the accident wasn't my fault. Gav, I don't know what to fucking do. Things were different, but I finally started adjusting and I'm finally happy, then this shit happens, and I can't fucking do this shit anymore. I'm tired of always being in fucking danger, and having people I love be in danger because of me," Zane let out a quiet sob as Gavin hugged his back and shoulders.

"First we breathe so you can get level-headed," Gavin says then moves to sit on the coffee table in front of Zane. He grabbed Zane's good hand and squeezed it. "Breathe in" he squeezed harder on the hand, but not enough to hurt him. Zane breathed in deeply. "And now out," Gavin said while releasing the pressure on Zane's hand. Zane breathed out.

They repeated this until Zane's breathing was even and normal. Gavin held his hand in a comforting manner while he asked yes or no questions so Zane could answer with a nod or a shake of the head while keeping control of his breathing. 10 minutes later Zane's phone rang, and it was his brother. Gavin answered and put the phone on speaker, then explained that he and Zane were doing physical therapy up in the house and talking. He said they got distracted while talking and Zane would be on his way out in a few minutes. Chance seemed pleased with that answer but said that Shane was over and waiting for Zane.  This made Zane soot up from the couch and grab his phone. He said he was on his way and hung up. He grabbed the water bottle and thanked Gavin.

"Hold on, what are you going to do?"

"Break up with him. I have to protect him, Gav, I love him with my life. If I have to please the bitch to keep Shane safe, then I'll do whatever I have to," he said before yanking open the door and running down the stairs.