Rogue Affair

by Rhys Everly

  “No. It’s not you. I’m just. So. Angry,” he growled.

  “Will you tell me what happened? Maybe I can help. Is Maya all right?”

  Nathan shook his head, and I physically had to step in front of him to get an answer.

  “The douchewaffle she was dating had a bet that he could make her fall in love with him,” he gritted between his teeth.

  “What?”

  Nathan walked around me and continued his trajectory to Maya’s room, and I followed him, trying to wrap my head around what he’d just said.

  When we got to the dorms, he ran up the stairs to the second floor, and I chased after him until he came to a stop in front of door number eighteen.

  He knocked, and only seconds later, a beautiful woman with a tamed Afro and dark black skin that gave an almost silver hue where the light hit it answered.

  He barely acknowledged the woman, instead, running to his sister who was lying in bed crying.

  “Hi, I’m Hudson,” I said, and she smiled, extending her hand to shake mine.

  “I’m Becca, Maya’s roommate,” she said.

  I watched Nathan try to calm his sister down, but she was an absolute mess.

  Tissues were scattered around her bed, her hair was tangled and greasy, her PJ’s stuck to her skin like leeches.

  When he managed to get her to wipe her eyes, she glanced at me before turning her attention to her brother.

  She signed something at him, and he replied back in sign.

  “She’s asking about me, yeah?” I mumbled to Becca.

  “Oh yeah,” she chuckled.

  They continued to have a conversation, which I wasn’t privy to, and if there had ever been a time I wished I hadn’t forgotten how to sign, it was now.

  “Care to enlighten me?” I asked Becca.

  “I don’t think I should,” she hesitated.

  “Then tell me what the hell happened to her?”

  I saw her change from reluctant, cautious friend, to pissed off best friend.

  “Boys, that’s what happened to her. Why are you guys such big jerks? I’ve warned her about college guys. But she doesn’t want to listen to me. She wants to live the college life. Be the party girl. Be casual. But she doesn’t understand that boys only want one thing and one thing only.”

  I let her vent her frustrations and turned my attention to Maya and Nathan. Her eyes were puffy and darkened. Her nose was red, and her forehead beaded with sweat.

  Not that I knew from experience—but I did—but she must have been crying for a long time to end up looking like this.

  “So a boy did this?” I said, interrupting Becca’s rambling.

  “Yes, a boy did this. Haven’t you been listening?” she snapped and then deflated. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I don’t even know you.”

  “That’s okay. As long as you tell me what happened,” I said.

  “She’s been seeing this guy since the term started. She kept saying she’s not in love with him or it’s not important, that he’s just a fling, but I could tell she was falling for him. Last night, I heard him talk on the phone, updating his friends on the progress of their bet. He basically bet that he could fuck the deaf girl and make her fall in love with him.”

  “That’s… ugly. Disgusting,” I spewed.

  How could anyone play with someone’s emotions like that? How could someone bet on someone’s feelings? How could they get so close to someone to make them fall in love, and they still didn’t see the err of their ways?

  “That’s bullying. Plain and simple,” I said.

  “You think?” Nathan snapped his head at us. “Where is he? Do you know what he looks like? What am I saying? Of course you do.”

  Becca nodded.

  “Yes. I do,” she confirmed.

  “Take me to him.”

  “Nathan, that’s not a good idea,” I said before Becca could divulge the information.

  “How’s that not a good idea? That douchewaffle hurt my sister. I don’t care if it’s a good idea. He needs to pay,” he said.

  “And that’s exactly why you shouldn’t go find him right now. He will come out on top, and you will get in trouble instead of him,” I said. “You need to calm down first.”

  “Calm down? Calm down? I can’t calm down, Hudson. Not until my sister is herself again.”

  “No. I won’t let you. Trust me on this. I know what I’m talking about,” I said.

  “Oh yeah,” he said, “I forgot. You have experience with that.”

  Was he seriously going to throw it in my face right now?

  “Yes, exactly. And I know all the techniques that Derek used to use—,”

  “And you. It wasn’t just Derek doing the bullying,” he added.

  “I didn’t say I wasn’t. So you understand why I know what happens. He will goad you, he will make you go to extremes, then he will report you, and you will get kicked out of college.”

  “Oh my God. That’s why you look familiar. You’re Hudson Bell. The gym fire guy,” she said.

  “I didn’t set the fire.”

  “He didn’t set the fire,” Nathan said at the same time.

  “I can’t let him get away with it, Hudson. I know what you’re saying is reasonable, but I’m not thinking reasonably right now,” Nathan said.

  “Then I’ll come with you. I’ll talk to him. I’m much calmer than you.”

  He stared at me for a few moments, a few painful but silent moments. Painful because I could never get those beautiful eyes to look at me lovingly anymore.

  Nathan had made up his mind about us, and there was no changing it. There was no point even trying via Sweet_Peaches. Besides, I wasn’t feeling good talking to him through an alias any more. It was only helping those variants he’d mentioned. The variants of getting hurt.

  “Okay. You can come with me,” he said and turned to Becca.

  She nodded and picked up her jacket, but before we could leave, Maya grabbed Nathan’s wrist and begged him not to do anything stupid.

  He signed something to her, which Becca didn’t want to translate, but Maya glared at me as a result.

  When we finally came out of her room and Becca took the lead, I asked him what he said to her.

  “Nothing,” he shrugged.

  “Fine. If you don’t wanna tell me…” I said.

  “No. I meant I said nothing bad. I just said you’ll be there to make sure I don’t get out of line.”

  “I see. She doesn’t trust me,” I said.

  He elbowed my side with a sad smile.

  “She’ll learn to,” he said. “But I trust you.”

  “Just not enough to trust me with your heart,” I said.

  “That’s not the same,” he said.

  I didn’t get a chance to argue my case because Becca stopped in front of a door and leaned next to the frame, pointing at it with her thumb.

  “Cunt’s in there,” she said.

  Nathan raised his fist in the air and was about to slam it against the door, and he would have if I hadn’t stopped him.

  “Let me,” I said and pleaded with his eyes to let me handle this.

  “Fine,” he said and lowered his hand.

  I stepped in front of the door and knocked on it twice.

  “What’s his name?” I asked Becca just as the door opened.

  “Linc,” she said.

  Linc was ripped and muscly. I could tell because he was shirtless. He had dark, short hair and absolutely zero stubble. The guy was practically a kid. An asshole, but a kid.

  “Who the hell are you?” he asked when he saw me. Then his gaze darted to Becca, who could have slain him with her eyes. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “Go back to your stupid friend.”

  “Who did you call stupid?” Nathan said behind me and bumped his chest into my back, but I stopped him.

  “Fuck you, jerk,” Becca said at the same time.

  “Listen, Linc, as you can see, there’s a good two out of three ver
y frustrated people standing out here. I’d suggest you don’t say anything stupid to set them off,” I said.

  “Further,” Nathan added behind me.

  “Who’s that dude?”

  A guy appeared behind Linc, and another was sitting on his bed.

  “Are those your friends?” I asked.

  “Why? You wanna have tea with them?” Nathan muttered behind me.

  “Why do you care?” Linc replied.

  “Do they know what you did?” I asked.

  “Of course they do,” Becca said.

  “What does it matter? What is it to you dude?”

  The kid was trying to show what a big man he was, but all he was doing was making himself look smaller.

  He reminded me of Derek in so many ways that it was excruciating to watch.

  “There seems to be a misunderstanding. My friends here think you made a bet to screw with a girl’s feelings. I’ve tried to reason with them that someone would never do anything like that, but they don’t seem to believe me,” I said.

  It was strange being on the other side of such a confrontation.

  “And what if I did? I made her fall in love with me, dude. I don’t care what you guys think. I’m the king!” He shouted the last word, and his friends hooted behind him.

  “You bastard,” Nathan cried behind me and tried to reach for him, but I stood rock solid in front of him.

  “So you’re trying to tell me that you consciously bet that you could manipulate someone to such extremes that they would fall in love with you? That’s not something to brag about,” I said.

  “What you talking about, dude,” one of his two friends said and stood right behind him. Soon, his seated friend also stood up. They were gearing up for a fight. But I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction. “This man is a legend. He took that deaf chick and made her his bitch.”

  Both Becca and Nathan spewed insults at Linc and his friends until I had to speak over them to be heard.

  “I feel sorry for you,” I said. I could feel the hot gazes of my two companions like an itch I couldn’t scratch. “I feel sorry that you got so close to a girl and all you saw was a challenge. Especially a girl like Maya who has more bravery than any one of you and is more of a ‘ legend’ than you will ever be.”

  “Did you come here to insult me?” the douchebag asked.

  “Well, you came into my room and fucked up my friend,” Becca screamed at him.

  “You need to apologize to her,” I said.

  “Damn right he has to,” Nathan said.

  “I don’t have to do anything like that. Look, we had fun together. She enjoyed herself. She just needs to grow the fuck up. Shit happens,” he said, and I was starting to lose my patience. The same patience that I promised Nathan to keep.

  “I may not be that much older than you, but I know that shit tends to happen because of shit people. Trust me when I say you want to apologize to that girl before it’s too late,” I said.

  “You can’t tell me what to do. Fuck off,” Linc said.

  “Yeah, fuck off, asshole,” a friend said behind him.

  “Do you want to know why you need to apologize to Maya? Because she’s probably the best thing that ever happened or will ever happen to you in your life. Because one day, you will grow up, old, broken, and alone, and you will wish you never did what you did to Maya.”

  Linc huffed dismissively, but I didn’t stop.

  “Because one day, this will come and bite you in the ass. Because when you have your own children, when you have your own daughter, you’ll wish no one does to her what you did to Maya. Because when your grandkids ask you what was your biggest accomplishment, it will always be undermined by your memory of hurting her. When your wife asks you why you can’t sleep at night, you will be too scared to tell her that you let the best girl you could probably find slip from under your fingers because you were too much of an asshole to appreciate her. And that’s why you’re going to come with me and apologize.” My spit showered Linc, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was too busy rolling his eyes.

  “Are you here for a lecture dude or a fight?” one of the friends said behind Linc.

  “I’m here to save you from a lifetime of embarrassment.”

  Linc looked puzzled.

  “Do you think we won’t tell anyone what you did? You think we won’t tell your teachers and your classmates and your family and your friends? Dude, they will even hear about it in Virginia Beach. Or wherever the hell you are from,” I said, and Linc gasped.

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “And why is that? You think I’m scared of you?”

  “Yeah, have you seen his size?” Nathan said, slapping my shoulders.

  Linc tried to close the door on us, but I put my foot between the door and its frame to stop him.

  “Come on, big guy. Show us what a big guy you are,” I said, Linc’s nostrils flaring at the mention of his size.

  “Oh yeah? You want a fight?” he hissed.

  “You don’t wanna do that. You will lose. I meant show us what a big guy you are by apologizing to the girl you’ve hurt,” I yelled.

  Linc tried to push my foot away with his own, but I didn’t budge.

  “Dude, this twat wants a fight. Are you going to let him insult you?” one of his friends asked.

  Linc smiled and punched without warning. I stopped his fist with my hand and slapped it back into his face making him stumble.

  “I can do this all day,” I warned him.

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” the other guy behind Linc asked me.

  “I’m you from the future,” I said.

  Linc attempted to attack me again, but he only ended up on his ass.

  I looked around us and noticed many dorm doors open, their occupants standing outside, watching us.

  I felt like I was back at school. Amidst a fight, everyone looking at us. Looking down on us. Too scared to get involved.

  Only this time, I was on the other side. On the right side.

  I couldn’t believe I had once been like them. So full of themselves, so insecure, so stupid to think that this was the right way to treat people.

  One of Linc’s friends launched at me, but I was too occupied thinking what a terrible person I’d once been to notice the fist in the air.

  Nathan pushed me to the side and punched the guy right in the jaw.

  “I didn’t deserve that,” I told him.

  He should have let the guy punch me. Payback for who I’d been in high school.

  “No, you didn’t, tiger,” he said with a smile that I hadn’t seen on his lips since the day we’d tried to fuck.

  Thirty

  Nathan

  Linc ended up coming to apologize to Maya after a couple of days when the entire dorm and his classmates turned on him. He’d also been kicked off the college football team when his coach got wind of what he did.

  That was Becca’s doing.

  As for Maya, it had taken her a few days to get back to herself, at least on the outside, but she did. With our help.

  Becca’s. Mine. And even Hudson’s.

  By Friday, she had gone back to her classes and was catching up with all her homework.

  Hudson had checked on her every day that week, taking her favorite Espresso Blues coffee—Mint Chocolate Frap—to her in the mornings, along with a strawberry cannoli to snack on.

  This man kept surprising me with the aspects of his personality I hadn’t seen before.

  The way he stood up to Linc, the things he said, his patience.

  The way he looked after Maya and made sure she was okay, walking her to class, even if that made him late for work.

  Was I being hard on him?

  Probably.

  But the more I saw those aspects of himself, the more the fear of hurting him grew inside me.

  I didn’t know what I wanted. I had my list for a reason, and even though he ticked some of the boxes, well, all of the boxes really, it didn’t
feel right.

  Especially when my mind was on Sweet_Peaches half the time.

  If I was being honest with myself, I really liked Hudson. But every time I thought of being with him, Sweet_Peaches would invade my mind.

  I was in love with Sweet_Peaches. At least, intellectually. Or emotionally. And I would only be messing with Hudson’s feelings if I initiated something more. I’d already screwed with his mind enough.

  When did my love life get so fucking complicated? When did it become so easy for two people to tick all the boxes I was looking for?

  Where was my best friend when I needed him?

  I sent another text to Kyle to check he was still okay for tonight. Only a few short minutes later, I got a response.

  “Hey, sorry. We need all hands on deck at the bar. Rain check? I’m reeeeeallyyyyy sorryyyyyyy,” he said.

  The bastard was bailing on me. Even after all the bullshit at his house on Wednesday, he still bailed on me.

  Not only had he lied to me about having a booty call waiting at his house, but he also went back on his promise to meet me today so we can catch up and make up for being so absent from my life.

  I sighed. This was getting quite familiar. Was I losing my friend to a booty call? What the hell was going on with him?

  I was way too frustrated to even attempt a reply so instead…

  MrRomantic: Good morning.

  MrRomantic: What is it going to take to meet me?

  I sent to Sweet_Peaches while lying in bed with a morning boner I didn’t care to do anything about.

  Sweet_Peaches: Hey.

  Sweet_Peaches: I thought you had a boyfriend.

  MrRomantic: I don’t. Do you? Is that why you won’t meet me?

  Sweet_Peaches: No. I don’t have a bf.

  Sweet_Peaches: What happened to the guy from high school?

  MrRomantic: Not that again.

  Sweet_Peaches: Why? What did he do?

  MrRomantic: Other than be Mr. Perfect all the time? Nothing.

  Sweet_Peaches: Oh. Then why don’t you want to be with him?