Page 23 of Only ever you-Ana & Byron
His face drained of colour.
She leaned in, her voice low and lethal. "Don't flatter yourself, Byron. I'm not gonna sit around sobbing because I lost my virginity to a hairy ballsack like you. It's just one chore ticked off the list. Next time I'm with a real man," She smiled coldly. "I'll actually enjoy it."
Byron tried to speak beyond the massive lump in his throat. He scrambled for words, desperate. "Ana, please, just let me explain-"
"I AM NOT DONE," she snapped. "There's nothing you can say to make this go away... nothing that'll turn back time, you fucking twat. I thought we were friends. I trusted you."
She leaned in close, her voice a low, vicious whisper.
"Now I know what you are. You're a walking STD."
Byron paled.
"And let me tell you what's going to happen next. You're going to go back to your little pack of dickheads and tell them it never happened. You made it up. You were lying while high on something. Because if you don't..." She tilted her head. "I'll tell Cadi. I'll tell Gray."
That landed exactly on target.
She saw it in the way his face twisted with pain and panic.
"Gray is important to you, isn't he?" she said softly. "He's not going to like it. Do you want to lose your best friend over this?"
After a long moment of silence, she stepped back and tossed his phone at his feet.
"So, here's what you're going to do. You're going to walk away. Pretend we never happened. Pretend we don't even know each other."
"But before we do that, friend, I need to know why."
Chapter eleven
Chapter 11
Byron was slumped against the trunk of an old sycamore in the overgrown backyard, knees drawn up slightly, one hand pressed low against his abdomen. He was still pale from the brutal knee Ana had landed between his legs not half an hour ago.
Ana stood a few feet away, arms crossed, her mouth a tight line. Waiting.
After a while, he cleared his throat, though his voice was barely a whisper. He had to clear his throat before abruptly saying, "Dad's got cirrhosis. End-stage, the doctor said."
"Do you remember the time when I broke my ankle and he carried me off the field? I must have been what …thirteen? I must have been eight stone. You wouldn't recognise him if you saw him now. He's yellow all over now. Skin and bones. He can’t work. He can barely take a piss on his own. He is so deep in the bottle... He just... lies there." Byron's voice sounded far off. "Mum doesn't care. She is still with that bloke down the street. It's almost like she would like to forget we exist."
Ana's brows drew together but she said nothing.
"Sylvia's in Year 11. She's... she is not doing great either. Hanging out with that McCormac lad. Weed, shoplifting... stupid shit. She's barely home."
He looked down, nails digging into the grass beside him.
"I lost it for a while. Started smoking, skipping school. Got high. Got high a lot." She watched his Adam's apple move as he swallowed. "Cathy got everything on her new phone. She caught me off my face, high as a kite."
Ana's eyes narrowed.
"She said I had to sleep with you. Teach you a lesson. It wasn't enough; she wanted photos. Otherwise, she was going to send the videos to Newcastle. Kill my contract."
His voice was breaking now. "We need that money, Ana. The contract, the house. We'd lose it all otherwise. I want to take Sylvia away with me... And I-" he stopped, breath hitching. "I didn't know what to do."
Silence except the wind threading through the grass.
He felt the burn rising, like he couldn't breathe. The back of his neck felt hot despite the chill in the air. His eyes stung with tears unshed. He scrubbed his face with the back of one hand, but it was no use. His cheeks were already wet. God, he was crying like the idiot he was.
Ana's voice finally came low and razor-sharp.
