“Truth?” Trent leaned into the center of the car.
I nodded.
“I’ve never been happier in my life.”
“Me either.”
His smile was fast. “That’s what I like to hear.”
“It’s dark out. Dark in here,” I said.
“I noticed,” he murmured and leaned farther toward me.
I met him, and our lips brushed together. Once, then twice.
“I’ll see ya soon, Forrester.” He stood in the center of the parking lot and watched me drive away.
I watched him in my rearview until I turned out of sight. I turned up the music, but it was Trent that dominated my mind.
I was almost back to the house when my cell rang. I probably wouldn’t have heard, but the screen lit up in the dark. I picked it up and grinned. Trent’s name flashed across the screen.
“Miss me already, frat boy?” I answered.
It wasn’t Trent that replied.
I slammed on the brakes. The scent of burned rubber floated up into the air along with a white cloud of smoke. Cars laid on their horns and swerved out of the way when I made a sudden U-turn and laid on the gas.
Thank God my car was fast.
I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but I was damn sure gonna find out.
Trent
They materialized out of the dark.
Four men I knew well. My Omega brothers. One of them had even pledged with me.
One of them was Conner.
“Guys,” I said, feeling a note of warning creep up the back of my neck. What the hell were they doing out here in the dark, essentially lurking around the house?
“Told you,” Conner intoned. “He’s queer.”
My back teeth came together. “What the fuck is your problem, Con?” I snapped. “I’ve been listening to you sling hate at me for weeks. I thought you were better than that.”
“He didn’t deny it,” one of the other guys said. He was a close friend of Con’s.
“I bet they were making out in the car just now,” the guy I rushed with said.
I looked at him, incredulous. Was this for real? Were these guys really standing here harassing me because they thought I was gay? I knew they didn’t see me actually kiss Drew. It was too dark. “Were you sitting out here waiting for me to get home?”
“You’ve been sneaking in and out a lot lately,” Conner observed.
“I don’t sneak,” I snapped. “And I’ve been handling everything Omega. This house is still on point.”
“We don’t want a fag for a president,” Con said.
“The entire campus will think our house is full of them.” Another agreed.
“I gotta admit it looks bad, Trent,” my old “buddy” said. “You’re loyalty isn’t what it used to be.”
“Take it up with the dean,” I said hard and started to walk away. Goddamn, I couldn’t wait to be rid of this place. To think, up until a couple weeks ago, I’d been kinda bummed about moving on. Now I just wanted to wash my hands of it all.
Fucking unbelievable.
A hand grabbed my arm and jerked me around hard. The punch came immediately after, and I had no time to react. The blow landed on the side of my jaw and snapped my head back.
Adrenaline and disbelief assaulted me. I stumbled and righted myself, knocking away the hand that grabbed me.
Fuck this. I was gonna kick their asses.
I swung, nailing the guy beside Con. I rotated and rammed into the guy I thought was my friend. He fell back, and I kicked him in the side.
“Grab him!” Con yelled, and I sneered.
My hand caught his throat and squeezed. I was beyond thinking about how much damage I was going to inflict. All I saw was red. All I heard were the hateful words he’d spewed at me for weeks and then again tonight.
“Dick licker,” Con rasped, a twisted look in his eyes.
I pulled my arm back to nail him, but something caught it and held. I let go of Conner, and he fell in a gasping heap. Arms like vices pinned my arms behind me, and I started to kick.
More ugly words were yelled, and I got another hit to the side of my face.
Before I knew what was happening, it was four on one. The one was being pinned down and beaten.
I was a strong guy. Even in a less-than-fair fight, I could have kicked some ass. But this wasn’t a fight. It was an ambush driven by hate and jealousy.
The odds were not in my favor.
“Enough,” a voice above me yelled. “You’ve made your point, Con. Let’s go.”
Pain radiated in my side, and my eye was already swelling shut. I felt a hand patting down my leg, and I threw my arm out, blindly trying to hit someone.
The hand reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.
“I need to make a call first,” Con said. I hated the smugness in his tone.