A loud banging on my window wakes me up. Rubbing my eyes of sleep, I roll out of bed and see a bloody Whittney looking at me through the glass. With a sigh, I roll the window up and he stumbles into my arms.

Hot tears soak my skin while he holds me tight. I rub his back as he lets it all out.

"Can I stay over?" He asks when his crying lets up. "I can't go back there tonight."

I pull away from him before setting him down on my bed while I kneel in front of him. "What happened?"

Whittney averts his eyes and stays silent.

"Listen, Whitt. You can stay, but you gotta tell me what's going on."

"When I left the other night, I relapsed." He peaks up to see my reaction, but when I remain stone-faced, he continues. "I was really drunk and got into some of Jay's heroin, but it was supposed to be for one of his buyers. Normally, he wouldn't give a shit, but I must have used a lot of it, because he was so fucking pissed."

"And he beat you because of that?" I'm appalled, but I sound more surprised than I am.

"No, he beat me because Austin wouldn't give me enough money to fucking pay him back!"

My laugh holds no humor. "You're blaming Austin? This is just classic you, isn't it?"

I don't mean to sound so harsh, but he told me he wouldn't shoot up anymore and he broke that promise. It could have killed him, and he's complaining about Austin, as if that problem was more important. Standing up, I take a step back to create some distance between us before he continues.

"I'm blaming him for this." He lifts his shirt revealing newly forming bruises. "I got angry and started yelling at him and then his friends kicked the shit out of me."

Rodney had to have been at the head of this attack. There's no one else on the team who would have taken charge like that.

"Where was Austin during this? I can't imagine him just letting them do this to you."

"That's just the thing. He did and then he walked away." When he sees my shocked expression, he says, "Seems your sweet Austin isn't so sweet after all."

I cross my arms skeptically. "Part of this still seems weird. He wouldn't just let them do that if you were just yelling at him. What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing. That's what happened."

Part of me wants to believe him, but the other part feels there's more at play here. Whittney should know now that I'd take his side given Austin's recent animosity. I've barely spoken with Austin recently while Whittney has been there for me practically day in and day out. Even with our more frequent arguments lately, Whitt has remained a key point in my life.

"You don't believe me, do you?" He bolts up, fists clenched. "Fuck you. You always pick Austin over me."

He turns to leave, but this time I'm the one to stop him. Within seconds, my lips are on his. It's passionate and breathtaking, and I don't even care when some of his blood rubs off on my chin.

"You know deep down that's bullshit. It's you, Whitt. I'll always choose you." I smile lightly and brush some blood-stained hair out of his face. "Now let's get you cleaned up."

Whittney stayed over at my place the last couple days, but I woke up Friday morning to an empty bed without so much as a text letting me know where he went. I wasn't worried until I couldn't find him at school either. I finally find him at his house after school. His older brother's van wasn't in the driveway, so there's no hesitation when I crawl into bed next to Whittney.

Something is clearly off as we lay there in silence. His back stays turned to me when I wrap my arm over his side to spoon him from behind. Not even that causes an emotional reaction, but he does hiss like he's in pain. I grind my teeth and the thought of decking Rodney in the face crosses my mind. Ever since that day, Whittney has been having terrible pain in his ribs, and when I tried to convince him to get it checked out at the hospital, he brought up some bullshit about how Jay wouldn't let him and then something about his family's crappy health insurance.

Tears threaten to blur my vision until Whittney starts clinging to my arm for dear life, hugging it tightly against his chest. My heart is practically soaring when his fingers wrap around mine before bringing them to his lips, kissing lightly.

For the first time since we've slept together, the contact between us isn't sexual. He's being sweet and I love it, but the logical side of my brain is poking fun at my fantasy. The very fact that he's so quiet says it all.

There's something terribly wrong.

"I'm sorry," he finally says, catching me off guard.

I chuckle, nuzzling my nose against his shoulder. "You don't have to keep apologizing, you know?"

He sighs. "It's not about that. It's about something that hasn't happened yet."

Now I'm confused.

Grabbing his shoulder, I turn him onto his back and lean over him. His eyes give nothing away, so I force myself to ask. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing."

Liar.

"What are you going to do?" My heart rate immediately picks up and I tighten my grip on his shoulder.

When he stays silent, I shake him, regretting it instantly after seeing his face contort in pain. It pinches at a nerve that makes me shoot from the bed, face hot and fists clenched.

"That's it," I growl.

I roll out of bed and pull my pants on with an angry huff.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Austin's."

"No, wait!" His eyes are suddenly wide in panic. He must have realized it, too, because the look quickly dropped. "I mean... he's got that game at Rodnick tonight so he won't be home."

My eyes narrow. "How do you know where the game is? You haven't cared about football since you left the team."

"I didn't quit the team." He sneaks a glare in my direction before turning on his back to look at the ceiling. "I was kicked out for a bullshit reason."

I have to backtrack for a second to figure out why he was being weird.

"Do you not want me to talk to Austin?" It's a trick question, because I already know the answer.

"No. I don't." He doesn't even deny it. "Because I want you to stay here. With me."

That isn't exactly the answer I was expecting. Then again, I have no clue what to expect from him these days. One minute he's being all sweet, kissing me and holding me like he'll never let me go, and the other he's shoving me to the floor, calling me a 'faggot' or a 'piece of ass'. The constant hot and cold has definitely started to get on my nerves. It's like I've been dealing with the wildcard in the deck and I'm the joker who keeps getting played.

"You're the one who left me alone in my bed this morning," I counter. Crossing my arms, I send him an 'I'm onto you' look.

"I told you I wouldn't always be there when you wake up. Now come here."

"No." My defiance is greeted by a look of irritation on his part but I don't care right now. "Not everything is on your terms. That's not how a relationship works."

He raises a brow. "So we're in a relationship now?"

My eyes widen. I didn't mean to word it like that. "I would like something more than fuck buddies, Whittney."

"What?" He laughs and I immediately feel my chest tighten. "You wanna play boyfriend-girlfriend?"

"Boyfriends, asshole."

"Well I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not a-"

He stops talking when I pin him to the bed, my legs straddling his waist. "A what? A faggot?"

I can feel his muscles tensing underneath me and I smirk. This is a risk, since he's sober right now, but I don't care. I subtly grind my groin against his and his breathing increases.

"Yeah," his voice squeaks a little. "I'm not that."

"You sure?" I practically growl the question. I'm pissed right now and the nervous look in Whittney's eyes shows that he knows it.

His adam's apple bobs as he stares up at me almost helplessly. When he clears his throat the look is replaced with a heated expression.

"Turn over," he grunts.

And that's all the confirmation I need.

***

Thank you so much for reading! The chapter was actually supposed to have an Austin and Harry scene at the end there, but I'm saving that for the next time. It just didn't fit into what I was trying to do with this chapter, so for those of you Austin lovers (if you still exist) you'll have to wait til the next one. (:

Until next time,

TheWriterD