Page 10 of The Locker Room

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He told Chris he needed the job but not why, exactly, and until that

day in late September, Chris never realized how bad that need truly was.

“What"s with the shades?” Chris had grown four inches during his

freshman year in high school, but Xander had grown four as well.

Together they still managed to walk comfortably, and Xander never felt

like he towered over his friend, which was nice, since he towered over

nearly everyone else.

“S"bright,” Xander mumbled, and Chris stopped and looked at him,

square and irritated.

“It"s the same bright every other day. And those look… Jesus, Xan,

you"ve still got the tag on the front of them, and they"re hella

expensive….” Chris"s eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head dangerously,

looking both betrayed and furious at the same time.

“Xander, did you steal those?”

Behind the sunglasses, one of Xander"s eyes went wide. The other

one was swollen shut.

“I had to,” he rasped. “I"m… I"m sorry, Chris. I… I just fucking

needed them, okay!” He tried to make his voice angry, but Chris looked

so hurt. His own voice ended up breaking, and he turned his face away,

so he could run away from it, all of it, but before he could take his first

step, Chris"s hand came up and snatched the shades away.

“Fuck.”

“Your mother know you talk like that?” Xander snapped, taking the

shades back and shoving them down on his face. His eye was swollen

shut and his nose was just swollen, and now that Chris could see his

10

Amy Lane

wholeface, he could probably see that what looked like achappedlip

was really asplitlip.

“Xan… Xander! Wait! Goddammit, wait!” Chris broke into a run

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