BANE

CHAPTER THREE - BLAME (Part 2)

Victor was waiting with his apartment door open when Holden arrived. "You sure I can stay here for a couple days while I look for a place?" Holden asked timidly. The two men had made amends after Layla had urged Holden to do so a few weeks earlier.

Victor smiled sympathetically. "Take as much time as you need," He closed the door behind Holden. "What happened?"

Holden removed his coat and promptly stuffed his scarf into its sleeve. He hung it on a hook by the door and turned to take a quick survey of the apartment. It was much smaller than Layla and Corbin's lavish place, and was furnished with a slapdash collection of chairs and a couch – none of which matched the other. There was a small galley kitchen to his left that opened up to the rest of the dining and living room. To his right was a small hallway with two doors, presumably the bathroom and Victor's bedroom. The sound of a beer being opened caught Holden's attention.

"Well?" Victor prodded as he handed the blond man a beer and gestured towards the living room.

"Corbin found out that Layla's been drinking blood. He assumed that I was responsible for that and attacked me."

"What?! Since when does Layla drink blood?"

"Since Kevin."

Victor swallowed his beer hard, trying not to gag. "Ew, sick..."

"What's wrong?"

"Kevin was thirty."

Holden quickly did the math in his head, and realized that Layla would have only been eighteen at the time, possibly even seventeen. "That's messed up."

"Well, I'm up for getting hammered tonight. How 'bout you?" Victor walked to his fridge and grabbed two more beers.

"Absolutely."

"Great!"

Three hours later and the two men were feeling no pain. "...So I told him he should be more nervous around me than Layla ever needs to be," Holden opened another beer.

Victor burst into raucous laughter. "Seriously?! What did he say?"

"Not much."

"What happened that night anyway? Did you kiss him?"

"Not exactly... I feel really guilty about it."

"Just tell me."

Holden busied himself with peeling the label off his beer bottle so that he could avoid eye contact. "I think I made him give me a hand job, or at least tried to. He wasn't too specific on the details, and I still don't remember anything. Corbin was pretty freaked out about being near me after that, so I believe he's telling me the truth."

"Wow. Dude..."

"I know, I'm a terrible person. I wish I knew what I was thinking..." He leaned back on his chair to stare up at the stippled ceiling. "He forgave me, but I have no idea why."

"He forgave you?"

"Once he realized I didn't have any clue what I had done, yeah. Corbin's been really sweet about it actually."

"Sweet?! That's the last word I ever thought I'd hear to describe Corbin," Victor laughed again.

"It's true!" Holden defended. "He's been really nice lately...until today," He sighed and continued to look at the ceiling. "I don't blame him for thinking I'm some creepy pervert, but it still hurts..."

"You two need to have a serious discussion. You should probably just come out to him already. It would save you all this 'chasing after Layla' drama, at least."