Alleyway BxB

VII (Again)

SUNDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER
NATHAN COVINGTON

"Nathan, I swear to-"

"Shut up," I grumbled as I slipped past him and into the house. It was quiet and I guessed everyone was upstairs or out cold. Probably out cold because River would have bounded down the stairs the second she heard the door knob twist. She loved to wait by the window for me, and to be fair, I needed something like that, needed something to cool down before I imploded from sheer rage. "Sorry I'm late, I had things to take care of."

Matt almost refused to let me go and I wondered why. These past couple months he had always been so excited to run off to his friend's place, but he was far more hesitant and upset this time around. He never explained what was wrong, only asked to stay with me at home for longer but we couldn't have. I had to do something, needed to figure something out. No doubt, I would have stayed with him for longer if it was safe to do so.

Ryder yanked the duffel bag off my shoulder and dropped it somewhere on the floor by our feet. It landed with a soft thud on the rug from all the clothes I needed to return to him. He grabbed my shoulder and clamped a tight grip on my chin as he leaned forward to examine my face. "Did you ice that?"

I knew he was trying to help, but I smacked him away anyway. "I didn't have time to do that." The asshole swung at me the moment I raised my voice at him. Just the mere sight of him pissed me off and his stench made me wish she was still around.

The worst part was that I was still obligated to check in on that fucker from time to time-had to make sure he was still alive. With everything I did for him, you'd think he at least cared about my birthday but I should have never have raised my hopes up.

What a fucking disappointment.

He grabbed my forearm with an inescapable hold and dragged me toward the kitchen. "You better hope this heals up before the next game. Bennet and coach are going to send you to the counsellors if this happens again." He yielded a fresh ice pack from the freezer and wrapped it in a small tea towel before pressing it against the forming bruise around my left eye. "A part of me wished you'd go anyway," he mumbled.

I winced as I took hold of it. I should probably check in on Matt to see if he was feeling okay. "Maybe I ran into another glass door."

"Maybe you said that last time."

"Oh please, Ry," I rolled my eyes. "Bennet's easy to convince and coach doesn't care as long as I can play." I pulled out my phone and turned on the front camera to get a good look at myself. The blotch of red was easy to notice amid the paleness of my skin and I felt the warmth from the progressive swelling. Not to mention the split lip too. I huffed in frustration.

Questions. There would be so many questions about what happened-especially with Marcello constantly floating around me like some ubiquitous overseer. It was impossible to get away from him with Bennet's consistent encouragement for the council to work with them.

"You turned eighteen last Thursday," he stated.

"What about it?" I was older. Did it really matter? I never told many people about it, always liked to keep it small and never wanted to make it a big deal.

"You're basically living with us already..." He trailed off and I continued to stare at him, "We have enough room for one more person. You know that."

Enough room for one but not two. I wanted a place where I could stay with Matt but no one knew I had a brother. Of course, I could always tell them but the expense that Ryder's family had wasted to take care of me was outrageous. "The week on/week off thing is fine." It gave me time to catch up time with Matt too and I wanted to keep it that way. On the plus side, it saved them some money. "This is nothing." I motioned to my face. "Just an argument. Trust me."

Hesitantly, he looked me over again. "You're sure?" He'd seen me in worse conditions. These were mere surface level scratches.

I wasn't some charity scheme either. "Out of all schools, the Lockhearts chose Monarch, huh?"

"Nate-"

"Isaiah never mentioned them before?" They were extremely close for a solid few years, even closer than Ryder and I's current friendship. If the Fraziers and Lockhearts were as close and knew each other for as long as they claimed to have been, how could Ryder have never known?

Defeated, he loosely shrugged. "I'm just glad they don't treat me the same way he does. It's like they don't even know."

"I'm sure they do. They're probably just being nice." They were actors and damn good ones too. Everyone expected that much from Antonio Lockheart's children.

Suddenly, his somber and guilt ridden expression morphed into one of curiosity. "About you and Marcello..."

Here we go... "He's annoying."

He quirked a brow. "Annoying," he teased. "You heard him. He's looking for a guy, and you just turned legal." He clasped his hands together. "It fits."

I scoffed. "He lives with Dallon, Ry. That entire house hates me. That's a disaster waiting to happen."

"You'll never know! It looked like he was eyeing you up at lunch on Friday. Don't cross it out. That's all I'm saying."

The incident with Zach flashed in my mind again. Never in my life would I have ever expected Marcello to pop in that day. I knew I was an asshole but he made me feel like a complete piece of dog shit smeared into a rusted sewer vent. It was as if reality smacked me in the face and reminded me that I couldn't get away with everything even when I normally did.

Marcello was a major advocate for young LGBTQ+ teenagers and an extremely charitable public figure that had donated millions towards all sorts of causes and his first impression of me was the worst possible side of me. "I'd rather not know." As long as Blaine didn't get with him, I couldn't care less about his next romantic endeavour. His list of exes was endless and I sure as hell didn't want to become one of them.