Every night for the past week, Whittney has stayed over. Things at his place have gotten worse, and he has the bruises to show for it. I wish I could help him, but this is something way out of my depth. Besides, his brother wouldn't hesitate coming after me if I got involved.

We lie in silence, waiting for my alarm to go off, just like all the mornings before. I know he's awake, yet, his arm is still wrapped around me. The heat of his stomach pressing against my back and my breathing starts to get shaky when Whittney's hand slowly traces along my arm. At this point, I'm not sure if he's awake, or not. I mean, if he was, he wouldn't be holding me like this, right?

Whittney's fingertips linger on my knuckles before lacing his fingers with mine. My breathing stops for a second, when his thumb lightly brushes my own. A shiver runs through my whole body, and I try keep from jolting. His hold on me is so comforting. It's just what I want in this moment, but I need to know what's going on, because right now, I don't.

Staring at our conjoined hands, a small smile tugs at my lips. "Whitt?"

He stills, but his grip on my hand tightens. "Hm?"

"What is this?" I finally dare to ask the question that's been on my mind every morning we've woken up this way.

A rough chuckle vibrates my back. "This is nothing."

I frown, glancing down at our hands again. "You're holding my hand."

Whittney clears his throat, pulling himself from my grip. When his hold is gone, I immediately regret opening my mouth. The bed shifts, the sound of the mattress creaking as the warmth of his body leaves mine. I can breathe easier now, but at the same time, I don't want to.

"Look," he says, pulling his sweatpants over his boxers. "Don't make this out to be more than it is. I just like holding you, okay?"

There's a small twinge in my chest, but I ignore it. I roll out of bed, too, grabbing my jeans off the chair next to my desk. "You're sure there's nothing we need to talk about."

He starts pulling his shirt over his head, and I try to avoid staring at his flexing muscles. "Yep, positive."

I sigh, "Whittney-"

An aggravated grunt cuts me off. "Hare. There's nothing to talk about."

Trying to hide my deflated expression, I turn towards my closet to pick out a different shirt. "Do you want to borrow some pants?"

"Nah," he declines. "I'm good just going in my sweats."

"No one's going to know that they're mine, if that's what you're worried about."

"And why would I worry about that?" He squints at me.

I shrug. "I don't know. Never mind."

"Right." He starts heading for the door. "See you at school."

"You want a ride there?"

For a moment, he looks conflicted, but then smiles. "Yeah, sure."

This is the first time he's agreed all week and I grin. "Awesome."

We head downstairs and my mom greets us with a smile. "Morning boys. Breakfast?"

She holds up a pan of eggs and bacon and we both nod enthusiastically.

"Thanks for letting me stay over these last few nights." Whittney shows his gratitude towards my mom with a relaxed smirk.

"You know you're always welcome, Whittney," she says, shoveling some eggs onto his plate. "I know how some parents can be."

Whittney shoots me a dangerous glare, which says: 'you didn't say anything to her, did you?'

I stop mid chew, and my eyes widen. Shrugging, I silently let him know I had nothing to do with her comment. Coming from a family with an alcoholic father, she probably has noticed the signs and put the pieces together. My mother is very smart that way, picking up the slightest details.

She knew I was gay even before I did. For a while, I feared everyone would know just by looking at me. Luckily, that isn't the case.

After I've downed my orange juice, we get our stuff together to leave through the garage door. Charlette follows behind us, but heads for her car instead.

"You're not riding with me?" I ask her, already opening the front door to my car.

Charlette rolls her eyes. "How many times do I have to remind you that I have cheer tryouts today after school?"

"Right," I grunt.

When we get in the car and I put the keys in the ignition, Whittney looks at me with confusion.

"Everything okay with you two?" he asks, concern in his voice.

"It's nothing," I say, giving him the same response he gave me this morning.

"Doesn't seem like nothing."

I laugh. "A lot of things don't seem like nothing."

An annoyed groan comes from him as he puts his seatbelt on. "This again?"

"She's been sleeping around." I give in, not wanting to start an argument with him.

"You didn't know?"

"You did?" I exclaim. "Why didn't you say anything?"

He holds his hands up in surrender. "Hey, I thought you knew."

I look behind me while pulling out of the garage, Charlette is already long gone.

"Well, I didn't. And now it's been weird between us." I turn onto the street. "I told her that I didn't like that she was sleeping with so many people. She could catch something."

"Whoa, hold up." He stops me. "You told her that?"

"Yeah. I'm her brother. She needs to hear the hard truth from me sometimes."

He shrugs. "I guess you're right, but girls take that kind of stuff really personal. It's going to take her a while to get over that one."

"I know." I sigh. "But I couldn't help it."

The rest of the car ride is mostly silent, besides the music that makes up for it. When we pull into the parking lot of the school, I already see Austin and his friends hanging out in front of the school. Judging by Whittney's look of disapproval, he noticed them, too.

He and Austin have been going through a rough time with their friendship lately, Whittney claiming that all Austin cares about now is his jock friends. I, on the other hand, have been in denial that our trio isn't as strong as before. Letting go is not something I'm good at.

Grabbing our bags from the back seat, he heads for the front doors when I lock the car.

"Well if it isn't our favorite couple," Rodney says, smirking at the two of us when we walk by.

Whittney lets out a snarl and approaches Rodney with a vengeance. "What the fuck did you just say?"

Here we go.

The whole group laughs, except for Bradley. I look to Austin, thinking he'll step in, but he doesn't.

Rodney stumbles back a few steps when Whittney shoves him. Brett immediately comes in between them, pushing Whittney against the brick wall of the building.

"Watch yourself, tweaker," Brett growls, a wicked expression on his face.

Austin finally steps in, but he's clearly conflicted on which side to take. "Come on, man. It's not worth it."

Luckily, Brett listens, letting go of Whittney's shoulders. "You're right, Griff. He's not worth the effort."

"Hey, I didn't mean-" Austin tries his best to argue, but is cut off.

"This trailer trash isn't worth anything," Rodney chimes in again.

Whittney's nose flares, his face flushed as he bares his teeth. The veins in his neck are bulging as his pupils burn as hot as coals. "The fuck you calling trailer trash, douchebag?"

Rodney charges towards Whittney, their foreheads mere centimeters from each other. "Do you have a death wish, Rhodes?"

A smirk I often see on Jay now reaches Whittney's lips. "You want to hit me, Reid? Go ahead. Your coach will be the first to hear about it."

I look towards Bradley, my eyes pleading for him to do something. Immediately, he grabs Rodney by the arm.

"Dude, come on." Bradley pulls his cousin away from Whittney. "You don't want to take the chance, right? Let it go."

Brett and Cole are already starting to back away, and to our luck, Rodney backs off.

"This isn't over, asshole." Rodney follows the rest of the group after one last glare towards Whittney, his piercing eyes falling on me.

I can't hold his gaze, looking down at my feet.

When their backs are turned, Whittney spits at them. "Fucking asshole."

"Are you surprised?" I chuckle. "Rodney's always like that."

Whittney shoots me a dirty look, "Not Rodney. Austin."

I roll my eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"You're kidding, right?" When I stay oblivious, he sighs. "He's supposed to be our friend, but he was laughing with them. At me."

"Hey, he tried to stop them," I defend him, like always.

"The only one who really tried doing anything was Bradley. He's the one that got Rodney to back off, not Austin. He's the only decent guy out of all of them."

"Austin's not a bad guy."

"Of course he's not. The guy walks on water as far as you're concerned."

"Th-that's not true," I deny.

Whittney rolls his eyes. "Whatever."

We walk into the school together, and he waits with me by my locker while I grab my stuff for my morning classes. He leans against the locker next to me, watching me intently.

"What are you looking at?" I ask, getting weirded out.

A chuckle bubbles up his throat as he looks down, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Nothing."

I shake my head. That seems to be the word of the day.

"I'm gonna head to class," I huff.

Before I can turn away, Whittney grabs me by the arm. "Hey, what's the matter with you today?"

I shrug him off, deciding to give him a taste of his own medicine.

"Nothing."  

***

Thank you so much for reading another chapter! So Whittney is continuing to show some behavior that's really inconsistent with what he's saying. Or more so, what he isn't saying. Is 'nothing' really just 'nothing'? While Harry and Whittney seem to be getting closer, him and his sister seem to be heading downhill. The newfound information is still getting to him. 

Then we have Rodney, mostly everyone's least favorite jock of BMR. With a constant need to humiliate both Harry and Whittney, it's no surprise he's won an unspoken 'Fan Least Favorite' award. He's surely slowly making his way to becoming the main 'villain' of Crooked, and for good reason.

What did you think about the chapter, and the character interactions this time around? Do you think that Whittney was right to be more upset with Austin than Rodney? Why do you think so? Was Austin not in a position to step up and protect the people who he calls his friends, or did he actually have a choice to help them out when they needed it. What do you think about Bradley? He's sort of a hero in his own right, to be honest. 

Hopefully you decide to leave a comment, letting me know what you think. I would LOVE to know your thoughts. If you're liking the book so far, if there's anything I can improve on. Any rants? Go ahead and type it in the comment section below, and maybe even click that little star in the corner if you thought the chapter was deserving. It would make my day/night/week/year.... 

Til next time,

TheWriterD