Pretty Boy

Chapter 17

Harley

He had gotten it right.

Their team had been the first one to come up with the conclusion, one that had satisfied Coach Langley, but Harley found that he couldn't enjoy the win as much as he had expected to. Not when guilt was gnawing at his throat.

Guilt for lashing out at Liam, guilt for getting pissed at his friends for defending him. It had been irrational yes but, in that moment, when they had spoken up for him it had reminded Harley of the time his family had found out about Declan and the shit he had done to Harley, it had been the same 'Oh poor Harley can't handle his own shit' look and as much as Harley appreciated them for being there for him, he wanted to be independent for once. He wanted to be strong.

Maybe Jason had been right, maybe he was trying to make up for it by forcing himself to excel in his school work. This need for validation was the only thing keeping him going, making him religiously do things without wanting a break. He didn't know how long he could go like that before he burnt out.

For once, Harley Hayes had wanted to be strong in front of the people that had seen him at lowest but instead he had potentially hurt the man who always tried to be there for him.

Not potentially, scratch that. Harley had hurt him.

The way Liam had immediately fallen silent and the crest fallen look he had worn had made Harley want to drop to his knees and kiss his fingers until he smiled again. He wanted to apologize and he was going to, if only he could find Liam.

Since school had ended almost half hour ago, Harley hadn't seen Liam but he knew the other man hadn't left yet considering that his car was still in the parking lot. Harley had checked the bathrooms and classrooms and there still was no sign of him.

He shot a small smile at Charlie when his brother thumped his back, "You're not going home?"

Harley shrugged sheepishly, "Got something I need to do."

Charlie nodded, gaze falling to the school and then back to Harley, "Liam?"

Harley hoped Charlie couldn't see the way his face flushed as he fidgeted, nodding, "Yeah, shouldn't have lashed out at him like that."

Charlie lips turned down at the edges, looking at him quizzically, "Since when did you care about hurting Liam's feelings?"

Harley turned to his brother, mildly offended, "Wow, you make me sound like a shitty person."

Charlie chuckled at that, "I didn't mean it like that dumbass, it's just you've never really actively cared about Liam," he shrugged, "Hell, I even thought you hated him for a while."

It was true. Back when they had met Liam for the first time, he had immediately gone from friend to his parents almost adopting Liam as their own and since Charlie's falling out with Jason, they had gotten really close. For a while, Harley had been scared of losing his brother's attention. It had never happened but that was the thing about irrational fears, it didn't matter if it was actually plausible because in his mind, it was.

Harley snorted, "You're a dumbass."

"Me?"

Harley shook his head, chuckling, "Charls, I was jealous of him. You and me, we were best friends and Liam comes along and suddenly you had a new best friend, of course I didn't like him."

Charlie gave him a tight smile, "You're one to talk man, you stuck to Jason the minute he dumped me."

"Whoa," said a voice from behind, startling the twins and sending Harley into a mild panic, "Pretty intense conversation to be having in a parking lot don't you think?"