Chapter Thirteen                       

Troye

“And then she said… he already ate the egg plant!”

Dallas burst out laughing and Randy grinned from ear-to-ear, happy from the success of his latest joke. I could already tell Randy is one of those kids who was always laughing at something; there was never a dull moment in his day. And I loved that.

Still laughing, Dallas pulled open the front door with Randy and his various suitcases in tow---me following closely behind. We had just finished a couple more rounds of bowling and there was no reason to go school with only one more class, so we decided to head home for lunch.

Dallas’ laughter ceased as we entered the living room. I felt my eyebrows furrow, wondering what was up. I craned my neck around Randy’s tall frame to see the last person I wanted to see.

“Colette? What are you doing here?” Dallas asked, the first one to address her presence.

“Oh, I just stopped in to…” She paused, taking a dramatic deep breath. “Honestly I just missed you Dallees.”

I’m going to be sick.

I watched from afar as Dallas, smiling, enveloped her in a romantic embrace. After a few seconds, she pulled away and smiled broadly up at him. Dallas bent down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

A dull aching in my head formed as I bit my lip to keep myself from making a stupid jealousy-driven comment I would regret. Randy walked over to the two, quick to introduce himself and congratulate their “mateship” or whatever the fuck it was called. WHO cares? Not me.

“Randy I can show you where to put your things,” I said to him as soon as he finished speaking to the lovebirds.

Ugh, just saying that made my stomach churn.

“That’d be awesome, thanks Troye!” Randy was smiling again, and I had to say it was contagious. With him around, the Colette situation would be slightly more bearable.

“Follow me… You’ll be staying in my room with me since I have an extra bed,” I started to head towards the staircase with Randy in pursuit, but Dallas’ voice stopped me.

“What are you talking about? I thought you were staying in my room Troye?”

Before I could answer, he was leaving Colette and rushing over to us on the stairs. Colette sighed and mumbled something along the lines of “Not again… Dallees I will make zome lunch, come to ze kitchen when you are finished being a child.”

Dallas glanced up at me for an answer, uninterested in whatever Colette was saying.

I began to ascend the stairs, trying to seem casual and not make this into a huge deal. “Dallas I think its best if I stay in my room for now.”

He began following Randy and I up the stairs as he answered:

“Okay, then I will just sleep with you in your room and Randy can sleep in my room,” Dallas stated, making it seem as if everything was always his decision.

“No, Dallas. I mean I’m sleeping alone. I’m not sleeping with you.”

We had reached my bedroom by this point—Randy standing awkwardly by the door, Dallas and I in the center, my light blue walls surrounding us.

“What is this about Troye?” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me as if I was a child. Like he was my father and I had been acting out and he needed to punish me.

I clenched my fists, trying my hardest to suppress my intense desire to scream.

“This is about the girl standing in our kitchen waiting for you to claim her, Dallas!” I seethed through clenched teeth.

He looked at me strangely. “You heard her this morning, she’s fine with it Troye.”

‘That doesn’t mean I’m fine with it Dallas! I feel like I’m being used! You sleep with me then go…go have sex with her and I just can’t take it!”

“Use you? If I was going to be using someone Troye, trust me it would not be you. And furthermore, you have no right to be angry with me. I sleep with you to help you with your goddamn nightmares and to get some sleep around here, not because I fucking like it. Stop acting like a good damn princess, you fag.”

His words drove through me, making me feel as if someone was twisting a knife inside my gut. My mind started clouding. I stepped away from him, shaking my head at my own stupidity.

Of course.

Why would he ever like spending time with me? I’m just the good-for-nothing omega.  I can’t believe I convinced myself he actually liked me. Was this all just some stupid act? Was he trying to play the role of the caring Alpha?

I looked back at Dallas, wondering why he would ever put me through this. His anger had subsided and his face began to fall back to its natural state, his eyes beginning to widen.

Hurt itched at the back of my throat and I knew within seconds I’d be crying---I already felt the bottoms of my eyes begin to water. I looked towards Randy for some sort of help. I just needed Dallas gone.

Randy stepped away from his place in the corner, reading my silent pleas.

“Dallas I think its time for you to go,” Randy said, putting his hand on Dallas’ shoulder as he began to slowly guide him towards the door; Dallas’ eyes on me the whole time.

I felt the first tear drop. I prayed Dallas didn’t notice.

“Troye?”

He noticed.

“Troye! Oh my god…” Dallas had stopped walking with Randy. He was staring at me crying like a pathetic loser. I stood still, not daring to move because I know if I did, I’d run right into his arms and we all know how much he’d fucking like that.

“I… I didn’t...” Dallas started to speak again, but Randy gripped him again, trying to get him to leave.

“Get your hands off me!” Dallas ripped himself out of Randy’s grasp and began advancing towards me. I slammed my eyes shut, afraid of whatever would come next.

 “Troye, listen I didn’t…I don’t—I said get your hands off me, Randy—Troye!”

I opened my eyes to see Dallas being dragged from the room, still trying to get my attention.

He had my attention. But he doesn’t have it anymore.

                                                            ~~

Randy

I watched solemnly as Troye sobbed into his pillow, his entire body radiating heartbreak. I rubbed his back in silence, allowing him to release his emotions without interruption.

After a couple minutes, his head slowly rose to face me. His eyes were bloodshot and watery, his cheeks red from tears.

“I really just need to fuck someone.”

The words left his mouth so violently and even I didn’t see it coming. Get it? See it coming? Cause I’m a Seer? No? Okay.

“Troye that won’t solve anything…” I trailed off, not wanting to upset him further, but also trying to prevent him from making a rash decision.

“I know that. But it’ll make me feel better.”

I frowned at his words, wishing Dallas wasn’t such a thick prick. Troye pulled his phone from his pants pocket and slowly dialed a number I didn’t recognize. After a couple rings it went straight to the voicemail of some kid named Issac. But Troye didn’t stop there. He furiously punched in another number and held the phone back up to his ear. Once the person answered, I instantly knew who it was. Their conversation went like this:

Sam: Hey is everything okay?

Troye: *moaning* Fuck me, Sam. Please.

Sam: *Nervous laughter* You know I can’t do that, Troye--as much as I’d like to.

Troye: *laughs bitterly* Didn’t you hear? Dallas thinks I’m a useless fag! He doesn’t care what the hell I do, so get your pretty ass over here and do naughty things to me.

Sam: *growling* He thinks what?! I swear to God if this has to do with Colette… Troye, listen. Dallas cares about you, so so much. He said something he didn’t mean, I’m sure of it.

Troye: *shouting* You weren’t here! You didn’t hear him! You don’t know how I’m feeling Sam, so don’t you dare try to tell me he didn’t mean it! *Whispering* You weren’t here… you weren’t here…

Sam: Okay stay right where you are I’m coming over. Just stay right there.

I heard Sam hang up the phone and Troye let his slip out of his grasp and fall to the ground. I could feel another episode coming on.

“Hey kid, lets go get you something to eat. You’ll just be in the kitchen, nowhere else. Just you and me, how about that?” I attempted to avoid saying Dallas’ name directly because I knew there was no way he’d go. I just wanted to get him up and moving, he shouldn’t just be moping here like this. This isn’t his fault.

He looked up at me with those adorable doe eyes and slowly nodded his head, agreeing to come downstairs with me. I smiled and grabbed his hand, leading him to the door and eventually downstairs.

Troye

Colette’s ghastly smell was lingering in the kitchen from earlier, a plate of perfectly cut sandwiches on the table. Of course. This was her attempt at playing housewife for Dallas.

My stomach twisted into knots and my eyes prickled with tears at the mere thought of him. Why did he have such a god damn effect on me?

Randy glanced at me wearily, obviously worried. I swallowed back the lump in my throat and attempted a smile to make him feel like I wasn’t suicidal. He didn’t smile back.

“Why don’t you get something to eat?” Randy’s soft voice comforted my insides and I took his advice, reaching up to grab a cereal bowl from the cabinet.

But before I could open the door, I winced as a sharp pain invaded my head causing me to feel as if someone was knocking on my brain.

“Hey, you okay?”

I stood still as the sharp pain came to a stop, although a small malignant ache remained, reminding me of its presence.

“Yeah.. fine,” I muttered, reaching back up to grab the bowl again. I must have just knocked my head on the door or something. Weird.

My fingers traced over the decorative bumps on the glass bowl, my mind wandering as I brought it out of the cabinet, only to be met with another burning discomfort.

This time it was my entire head. It felt as if I was being compressed into a small box; my head feeling heavier and heavier every second. Suddenly the throbbing dulled, and an image projected itself onto the insides of my eyelids like a movie.

The picture was fuzzy at first but soon I recognized the unmistakable menacing eyes of Colette. She was hovering over someone, but I couldn’t see his face, only his arms. The image clarified and I was able to make out four small black lines on the upper bicep of the man. It was the legions mark. This guy was Dallas.

As soon as the tattoo registered in my brain, the image was gone and now replaced with throbbing that made me feel as if this was the end. I was dying right now. A virgin, nonetheless.

I heard an ear-splitting scream bubble up from my throat as a stinging pain erupted in my foot, none of which I could particularly feel due to the excruciating agony in my head.

The last thing I heard before I blacked out was Randy shouting my name.

Dallas

“I said get the fuck off me, I’m not in the mood!” I was growling by now, my eyes probably red, but she didn’t let up.

“Dallees zhis will make you feel better!” Colette pushed my squirming body back down on the couch began descending onto my lips when a tormented scream that could only belong to Troye flooded my ears and twisted my heart.

I pushed Colette off me, completely panic-stricken. She landed on the ground with a thud as I raced out of the living room towards the sound of my pup. I pushed myself around the corner of the hallway and into the kitchen.

“What’s going on here?!”

I turned to my right to see Sam entering the kitchen displaying an alarmed look on his face similar to my own.

“Sam get over here I need your help!”

My head snapped towards the voice. It was Randy. He was holding a blacked-out Troye up against the counter, clearly struggling. The scent of blood invaded my nose and my eyes began to scour Troye looking for injuries.

Various pieces of glass were sticking up out of his foot, blood oozing from the sides. Sam appeared next to Troye, Randy-muttering commands at him assertively. Sam lifted up Troye’s lower body and they laid him on the counter and began to go to work on his foot.

I rapidly looked from Randy to Sam, wondering what I could do to help. Sam now was holding Troye’s head up and Randy was slowly pulling out the glass pieces. My eyes focused in on Troye’s motionless face, everything I had said to him flooding my mind like a tidal wave. Guilt itched at every fiber of my being, but I didn’t have time to dwell over it because Troye’s eyelid began to flutter, signifying his impending wakeup.

My body instinctively shot closer, needing to be there for him, but I was stopped.

“Don’t come over here Dallas! Don’t come anywhere near him!” Randy was yelling and that was the first time in my life that I had ever heard him raise his voice. I stepped back, but only because of Troye. For Troye.

“My.. my head..” My eyes instantly snapped back to Troye’s face as his words had come out scratchy and pained.

Sam and Randy froze, not expecting him to be alert so soon.

“Well what are you waiting for?! Someone get ice!” They turned their heads, staring at me in shock. “Now!”

My command had Sam immediately making his way to the freezer, grabbing an ice pack and quickly retreating towards Troye again.

At the sound of my voice, Troye’s head turned slightly. “Dal?”

His voice was barely a whisper but it made my heart do all sorts of flips. I quickly advanced towards Troye, a smile forming on my face. He wanted to see me. He didn’t hate me!

“Wh-what are you? Get away from me! Don’t touch me! Sam get him away! Get Dallas away!” Troye frantically screamed, his body inching away from me like I was some rabid animal.

I could practically hear my heart breaking in half as he rejected me over and over again. This was it. He officially hated me. I felt a lump forming at the back of my throat as he continued to look at me with fear evident in his eyes, like I would hurt him. I began to back away from the scene, not wanting them to see me cry.

I took one last look at the three of them. By this time Randy had all the glass removed and was fumbling with a bandage around Troye’s foot. Troye was still half-awake, but now he was sitting up, his back against the cabinet and his head nuzzled into Sam’s neck while Sam’s arm was slung around him, rubbing Troye’s shoulder soothingly.

I tried my hardest to force down the jealously brewing within me. This was not the time. I sighed and slowly backed out of the kitchen, taking a seat on the staircase.

I shook my head. He doesn’t need me anymore. People love being around him. They care for him. I used to be the only one he would look at with this adorable bright doe eyes, but now he’s looking at Sam the exact same way—I’ve been replaced. And all because I said something I didn’t mean.

Why was I so afraid of admitting that I lived for the nights Troye and I spent together? Why was I so scared of admitting that I was the one that couldn’t sleep unless I felt his comforting presence around my waist?

I didn’t have an answer.

Running my hands over my face I sighed again.

“Dal?” My head sprang forward, eager to see the bright blue eyes that haunted my thoughts. But instead I was met with green ones and a mop of messy blonde hair.

Why would I think Troye would even speak to me after that episode? Of course it was Randy. I was just so used to Troye being the only one who called me Dal… it made him feel special. And he is special.

“How’s Troye?” I asked after a few seconds of silence.

“He’ll be fine. He’s a werewolf, you know,” he tried to laugh but it sounded strained. “Listen, Dallas. We gotta talk to you.”

I furrowed my eyebrows and stood up, curious to see what had Randy sweating.

“What? What is it?”

He shifted his weighted and eyed the doorway to the kitchen. Sam stepped through it a moment later, Troye hanging onto his arm.

Sam looked at Randy and Randy nodded, signaling some sort of agreement.

Sam stepped up to face me, leaving Troye standing behind him. “Dallas we don’t think it’s a good idea that you see Troye anymore.”

My heart stopped, my body beginning to panic. Not see Troye? Why were they punishing me like this? Because of what I said?

That panic quickly changed to anger as my wolf scratched at the surface, upset with the orders given to an Alpha.

“What is that supposed to mean, Sam? He’s my brother we live in the same house! It’s not like I am a danger to his health or anything! Besides, who are you to be giving me orders? I am the alpha around here, you better show me some respect.”

“I’m giving you orders because, frankly, you’re not in the condition to give them yourself. You need to figure your life out because you’re taking everything out on Troye and we’re worried about his safety. Today it’s calling him a fag, what will tomorrow be? A punch in the gut?”

I paled at the mention of the terrible thing I had called Troye earlier. I stepped away from Sam, trying to show some submission but I could tell my wolf would not give up as easily.

I took a deep breath.

“What do you mean, not see him? Like not in school or what?”

Sam looked back at Troye who had remained mute the entire conversation, a blank look on his face.

“I think it’s best if Troye comes to live with me and my uncle for a while.” His voice was calm and steady but I felt anything but.

“You think its best? What about Troye? What does he think? What will his mom say when he doesn’t come home at night? Don’t be irrational Sam.”

“Me, irrational? Look at your life right now Dallas! Troye has agreed to come stay with us and we’ll talk to his mom later. You just need to worry about you Dallas.”

My mouth opened and closed at Sam’s last statement. I looked over to Randy for help, being the rational Seer he was, but he just held a solemn look that I couldn’t understand.

“Troye? Can we at least talk about this,” I turned to face him, his face sheet white. “Alone?” I finished, indicating that Sam and Randy should give us privacy.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Sam replied instantly, crossing his arms over his chest and standing in front of Troye protectively.

“Who are you guys, Troye’s Secret Service? Just let us have a second… if that’s okay with you, pup?”

Troye licked his lips then shook his head. “I don’t have anything to say to you, Dallas.”

I didn’t think it was possible, but my heart broke more.

“Troye, come on. Please, you have no idea… you have no clue…Please, I promise I’ll explain everything…” I looked at him pleadingly, hoping for one last chance.

“You’ll explain? Dallas it’s too late for that.”

He looked at me, his eyes shining with tears. My shoulders fell, exhausted with it all. Troye brushed past Sam and began to walk up the stairs, the Secret Service not far behind.

“Troye, wait!”

 A guy can try, can’t he?

“Dallas just stop already!” Sam’s voice came out strained, obviously finished with this conversation. I so was not.

“Shut up, Sam. Troye, I’m begging you, just listen, please!” I quickly jumped on the staircase, taking the steps two at a time to catch up to them, but they had already reached Troye’s room and closed the door.

I bounded up the steps,