Setting Fire to the Stars (a MM Sci-Fi Romance)

Chapter 28: Tobias

**Trigger Warning: This chapter contains past instances of bullying, mentions of suicide, profanity, physical violence, and blood. If any of the above makes you uncomfortable, please skip.**

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Peter
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Pain exploded up my nose as the blow sent me sprawling. The ground quickly rose in a punishing embrace, the wind knocked from my lungs on impact. Exhaling a groan, bits of crusted stone grazed my cheek as I spat out a gritty mix of dirt and blood onto the ground, the bitter tang bursting across my tongue.

A burly hand seized the front of my shirt and roughly jerked me to my feet.

"You fucking bastard," Tobias growled, anger wrapping around him like a cloak. "You have a lot of nerve approaching her after what you've done."

Holding up my hands seemed like my best option in that moment. "Wait a second, just hear me out."

"Why should I?"

"Because Lauren—"

The words had barely left my mouth before his fist reconnected with my cheek, stars spilling across my vision as I was knocked back on my ass. Sharp, pulsing agony radiated up the nose and into my skull. Before my world could stop spinning, a hand latched around my neck and lifted me to my feet.

"Don't you fucking dare say his name." Tobias bared his teeth and shook me like a ragdoll. "Not after what you put him through."

I gripped his wrist, mentally clamping down the relentless impulse to scream from the pain. Drops of dark red dripped down into his hand. Fuck, I really hoped he didn't break my nose. I'd hate to have it break again.

"I know everything," Tobias snarled, teeth gnashing together like grindstone. "Didn't take much to find out that you and your dickless buddies were treating my brother like shit."

Renewed guilt plowed through the pain, the heavy weight of my sins crushing. The fact that they were all true made me want to crawl out of my own skin.

Struggling to keep my voice steady, I let go of his arm and raised my arms in surrender. "Yeah. You're right. I know no amount of excuses can make up for it. I just want Laure—" I stuttered under Tobias's fierce glare. "—for him to know how sorry I am."

"Sorry?" Gunmetal eyes narrowed into slits as he tightened his choking hold. "You're sorry?!"

Without warning, the soldier hauled me backwards so quickly that I nearly tripped over my own feet, slamming my head against the splintering wall. Rough, jagged wood scraped my spine, the sting scarcely noticeable compared to the painful pressure of the muscular forearm baring down on my windpipe.

"Do you even have any fucking idea what the hell he went through every goddamn day, month after month, because of assholes like you?" he roared, shoving me again. "Do you know what the fuck he had to endure even when you weren't around?"

My stomach tied itself in knots at his haunting implication, my fingers digging into the meat of his forearm while I fought for air. "I . . . don't know what you . . . mean."

"Don't pretend like you don't know," he sneered, eyes burning so full of hate I thought he might actually take the chance to kill me. "The threatening texts, the phone calls, the rabbit—"