Page 2 of Taste of Surrender
“Dude, no one wants your gay ass hitting on them,” Dustin continued despite what I said.
“Yeah,” Jeremy added while buttoning his pants. “I definitely didn’t want that.”
I glared at the guy I now saw for the asshole he was. I had been willing to keep his secret, but he had no problem throwing me under the bus to save himself. I threw my hands in the air. “I’m outta here.”
I shoved past Dustin so I could leave, but he grabbed my arm before I got too far and said, “Don’t let me catch you looking at any of us in here when we have gym together. I won’t be as understanding as Jeremy.”
I pulled away from Dustin’s grip and saw my older brother Jesse storming toward us. “What the fuck is going on here?”
In the middle of everything, it took a minute to realize my brother’s best friend Malachi was with him. As if the situation couldn’t be more embarrassing, the guy I had a secret crush on was getting a front row seat to my mortification.
“Nothing’s going on, Jesse. It’s just a simple misunderstanding.” I pushed on my brother’s chest so we could leave before his overprotective side made matters worse. “Let’s go.”
For a moment, I didn’t think he would budge, but after one last scowl in Dustin’s direction, my brother and I began moving toward the exit.
“That’s right, Jesse,” Dustin spat. “Get your brother out of here. No one wants that fa?—”
In a flash, Jesse grabbed him by the collar and pinned him against the wall. “The fuck did you just say?”
“N-n-nothing,” Dustin choked out.
“No one talks shit about my brother. Do you understand me?” Jesse growled.
Dustin nodded, and Jesse glared at the others standing around until they all mumbled their agreement.
“Now get the hell out of here.” My brother shoved Dustin away.
Everyone, including Jeremy, scrambled to the exit.
When the door slammed shut behind them, Jesse turned to me. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but I was fine before you got here too.”
“It didn’t look that way to me when we came in here,” Malachi cut in, and I could feel my face burn with embarrassment.
“What was going on, anyway? Did it have something to do with Jeremy and the two of you sneaking around lately?” my brother asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb,” he chuckled. “I’ve seen the two of you hanging out recently, and you guys were never friends before. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”
I glanced toward Malachi, his dark green eyes watching me closely. It wasn’t a secret I was gay, and none of my brother’s friends ever acted as though they had an issue with it. However, I’d dealt with my fair share of teasing and mild bullying from classmates since coming out right before my freshman year, so I never really talked about it around others.
Turning my focus back to my brother, I said, “You can’t say anything. I promised him I wouldn’t tell anybody.”
“Even after he stood there and didn’t make any effort to defend you?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. I’m not going to sink to his level.”
“You’re too nice of a guy,” Malachi said.
I didn’t know if he meant it as a compliment, but I chose to take it as one.
“Going forward, I’m going to need to approve of the guys you decide to date,” Jesse interjected.
I stifled the laugh trying to escape. “Are you kidding me?”
“No.” Jesse crossed his arms over his chest. “You deserve better than some asshole letting you get bullied and not having the balls to stand up for you.”
