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“HEY, MR. I’M too Good to Sit with the Rest of Us.” Donovan stepped out in front of me on the way to my next class, blocking my path. “Where were you this morning?”
For fuck’s sake.An interrogation was the last thing I needed, not after the last few hours and no sleep.
“You keeping tabs on me too?” I rolled my eyes and pushed past him, only for East to move in front of me.
“Too?” he asked, arching a brow. “Who else has a death wish?”
“Move, you nosy shit.” I brushed by him, but Donovan and East flanked me like escorts.
“You’re an even lovelier shade of surly than usual today,” East mused. “Why is that? Gavin piss in your Cheerios?”
At the mention of Gavin’s name, I clenched my molars. He was the exact source of my mood this morning, and I’d gone out of my way to avoid him by leaving our apartment before he woke up. I didn’t trust what I’d do or say if I saw him, not after he’d put himself in danger and we had it out in the alley.
God, he drove me crazy. All those claims of concern and giving a damn when he was just snooping around and spying on me. I had no doubt I’d get another inquisition from him at somepoint, unless I’d finally managed to scare the shit out of him. My knuckles hurt like hell from the way I’d lost my mind trying to get to him last night, and since he wasn’t blind, thatshould’vebeen enough to warn him away from me for good.
But this morning, I just hadn’t been willing to take my chances.
“Looks like you hit the nail on the head with that, man.” Donovan shook his head, and when his blond hair fell into his face, he ran his fingers through it, pushing it back. “Regretting letting my brother move in with you already? It hasn’t been that long.”
“Long enough,” I muttered, and the two of them exchanged a look.
“Okay, seriously, if things are getting worse between you two, he can always come back. It wasn’t my decision for him to leave?—”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, cutting Donovan off. I was an asshole, but I wasn’t going to force Gavin to leave unless it was on his terms. I’d gotten used to his noisy ass now. It’d probably be too quiet if he left.
“Um. Excuse me.” The timid voice to my left was one I’d usually ignore, until I saw who it belonged to.
Harry the Hacker, as we called the underclassman we used to get ourselves out of some tricky online situations, pushed his thick glasses up his nose and shifted his weight nervously. Usually we approached him, not the other way around.
“I don’t recall your being on our payroll today,” East said, giving Harry a look that told him in no uncertain terms to get lost.
The fact that he didn’t go scampering down the hall away from us told me there was something more important than his pride here.
“East, give it a rest,” Donovan said before turning toward Harry. “Everything good?”
“Actually…” Harry tightened his fingers around the straps of his backpack. “I saw something on my way to class.”
When he didn’t elaborate, Donovan gestured for him to go on.
“I-I wasn’t sure if you knew, but…there were a few guys harassing Gavin.”
My head shot up, and East and Donovan went still.
Donovan was the first to speak. “What do you mean, harassing?”
“Be specific,” East added. “And we want names.”
Harry nodded, looking a little less anxious now but still awkward as ever. “That guy he dated, Joey and a couple of his friends. I think their names are Carl and, um. I think Dan? I’m not sure?—”
“Doug,” I said, my voice clipped. “Keep talking.”
Harry’s eyes widened, and he swallowed. “They were outside his class saying things like was Gavin ignoring them or threatening them. It just seemed like they were trying to get a reaction out of him, and he kept ignoring them until one of them shoved him?—”
“They what?” I said at the same time Donovan demanded, “Who?”
“Doug. But then Joey grabbed Gavin by the shirt, and they were surrounding him like they were going to hurt him…”
The buzzing in my ears grew louder, blocking out the rest of what Harry said as pure fury filled my veins.
