HIDDEN (Hide Or Die)

Chapter 28

KYLE'S P.O.V.

Tonight was especially lovely; stars twinkled like diamonds in the sky, and the air was filled with warmth and the promise of new beginnings as we glided through it gracefully.

However, despite its grandeur, it did nothing to alleviate the deep sense of dread that had taken up residence at the base of my chest.

I took a few glances at Andrew and it caused my heart to thud painfully. He seemed to have withdrawn into himself rather than being present with me. His face was buried in the crook of my neck, his eyes were tightly closed, and he had a death grip around my neck as his heart pounded against my chest. I couldn't get rid of the feeling of remorse that had developed in me after seeing him in this light. His muscular body felt fragile in my embrace, unlike the Andrew I'd grown to know.

This right here, Andrew in my arms and soaring through the sky under the protection of the stars, was the pinnacle of my dreams, but I couldn't bring myself to enjoy any of it because I knew it would all end the moment his feet made contact with the ground again.

Who wouldn't flee from a sly, winged demon like me? Yes, precisely! Nobody.

With a sigh, I pushed my fears to the back of my mind and decided to concentrate on running my hand up and down his back in soothing back rubs, while my other hand held him close around his waist and I focused my gazes on Becky's bird form as she led us through the sky to who knows where.

Many thoughts ran through my mind as I glided through the cold twinkling night, but the dominant one was keeping Andrew and our friends safe. I knew that once this was done, I would have all the time in the world to wallow in self-pity. Assuming Becky's crazy brother didn't find me first and end all the wallowing I was planning on accomplishing. The point was, this could very well be the last time I held him in my arms like this, so I wanted to savor the sensation for as much as I could before it all ended.

Becky let out a high-pitched whistle identical to the cries of eagles, and sour down into an alleyway formed by two apartment buildings, and then, not so gently, she released her claws dropping both Matthew and Albert on the dirt.

Albert wasn't moving despite the hard landing, so I assumed he'd passed out from shock again, whereas Matthew was a completely different story.

When Becky dropped Matthew on the ground, he scurried away from her like she had burned him, and quickly sat himself against the wall with wide eyes gazing into space as if traumatized, but as soon as the noise and wind around my wings alerted him to my presence, he leapt to his feet and, ironically, his first instinct was to pick up Albert, who was beginning to awaken, hugged him tightly to his chest and then began to back up against the wall as though he wanted to diffuse into it, and all the while doing this, he kept a sharp eye on me.

Ever since I met him, I always had the impression that Matthew despised gays, given that he assisted Andrew in bullying me. But, seeing how attentive he was to Albert ever since I had gotten them into this bizarre situation, I presumed the cute boy was an exception.

Even though I knew his actions were completely natural, I couldn't help but hurt deeply because I could clearly see the look in his eyes that said he was going to stay as far away from me as possible, and if he could, he was going to force Andrew and Albert to do the same, assuming they hadn't already chosen to do so on their own.

I tried to ignore his hostile stares and landed with a steady flap of my wings, putting Andrew on his feet and reluctantly releasing him from my grip, but to my surprise, he didn't let go of me immediately, nor did he release his strong grip on my neck; instead, he stayed frozen.

My suffering heart instantly leapt for joy at the prospect of Andrew deciding to stay with me despite the fact that he was now free to leave. Yeah, it quickly dawned on me that it was very stupid of me to think that, because as soon as that happiness appeared, it was rapidly squelched by my mountains of insecurities, self-hatred, and, finally, that dreadful thing called common sense.