Breaking Free (Second Chances Book 4)

by Megs Pritchard

  "Of course it's over. Why would I want to be with you after this? All because I wouldn't answer some questions." Luke turned to Sarah giving her a hard stare. "Did it ever occur to you that I didn't want to be reminded of my shitty past? That I didn't want to go over all the shit I went through? That my foster father wanted to rape me? No, all you could think about was you not getting what you wanted. I used to think you were great, but I was fucking wrong, wasn't I?"

  "At least I'm not some used up whore!" Sarah retorted.

  Luke took a step closer to Sarah, bending close. "I would rather be a used whore than be with someone like you."

  Luke stepped back, glaring at Sarah, and then walked towards his building, ignoring the shouts from Sarah and her friends behind him.

  As he entered the lecture hall, Luke was aware of the few stares in his direction, and he heard his name mentioned a few times. Obviously, some of his fellow students had noticed the rumours Sarah had spread online.

  He saw Jack and Toby, and sat down next to them, pulling his work from his bag.

  When he felt Toby nudge him, Luke turned his head to look at him. "Have you seen this?" Toby handed him his phone and Luke stared at the screen, his mouth dropping open.

  Just because Toby was his friend, he was receiving messages asking if Luke gave him free sex.

  Luke looked at the phone and Toby several times before handing it back to him. "I'm really sorry, mate. I never thought you'd get dragged into this."

  "It's not your fault, mate. Sarah's a fucking bitch. Why did you split up?"

  Luke leaned back in his chair, sighing. "You know I told you how I was in foster care and had to leave my last place?" Toby nodded. "Well, Sarah was asking questions about it, and I told her how I ended up living on the streets for a couple of years. Well, next thing I know she's asking me whether I was a prostitute just because I'd been on the streets. She wouldn't believe anything I said."

  Jack leaned forward. "You're well rid of her, mate. I told you not to get with her, didn't I?" Jack hadn't hidden the fact that he didn't like Sarah, and had told Luke on several occasions, but Luke had ignored him.

  "Yeah, I know." Luke sighed. "Not much I can do about it now, is there?"

  All three turned when they suddenly heard laughter coming from a couple of rows behind them. The three women were staring intently at Luke and then glancing down at the phones.

  "Hey! You shouldn't believe everything you read. Ever thought that the bitch is lying because they split up?" Jack shouted up at them.

  "Stop it, Jack," Luke muttered. "Just let it go. This time next week it will be someone else. You know what it's like here."

  "Doesn't mean I have to sit here and listen to that lot makeup shit about you. You're my mate, and I'll stick up for you."

  Luke turned away, his stomach churning. If only Toby and Jack knew the truth. That he had been a rent boy and had sold his body. Would they still defend him? Would they still want to be his friend? He bit his lip hard until the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. He breathed deeply, trying to control his pounding heart.

  He looked up, glancing around the lecture hall, noticing more than a few stares in his direction.

  "Ignore the fuckers," Jack told him, leaning across Toby so he could get close. "You know the truth. Let them believe what they want. Me and Tobes, we've got your back."

  Luke didn't say anything. What could he say? The rumours were true.

  At that moment, Prof Stapleton took to the stage and clicked on the overhead projector. He ruffled his papers and then coughed, attracting the students' attention.

  As he began talking, Luke looked down at his pad, picked up his pen and began taking notes. This was only the first lecture of the day, and he dreaded what was to come.

  Chapter Six

  Krish looked up from where he was sat on the side of the stage and glanced at the students in the lecture hall. As always, he paused at Luke, drinking in his features. Ever since the first lecture that Krish had seen him, he'd always found himself drawn to him.

  Krish would seek Luke out, watching him, coming to lectures he didn't need to so he could simply watch Luke. The way he would stare intently at Prof Stapleton as he listened and took notes, the way Luke interacted with his friends, and unfortunately, the way he was with his girlfriend.

  Krish knew Luke was straight and he didn't have a chance in hell of ever having anything meaningful with him, but he could still dream. And he did dream of Luke.

  He would often find himself lost in the middle of lectures thinking of scenarios with him and Luke. Luke on his knees sucking his dick, Krish bent over the bed as Luke pounded into him from behind. Yeah, he didn't mind topping, but he preferred to bottom. And all he could think about was Luke being the one fucking him.

  Frowning, Krish looked more closely at Luke. He looked tired, his skin pale and dark circles under his eyes. He saw the way Luke nervously glanced around the room, chewing the end of his pen. Krish also glanced around the room, and he began to notice people glancing furtively at Luke and then talk to their companions. Then they would look at their phones and giggle before looking back at Luke.

  What was going on? Krish hadn't heard any rumours regarding Luke, so was at a loss as to what could have happened.

  Maybe he's split up with his girlfriend? Krish smiled slightly to himself. He wished. He could then swoop in and show Luke that he needed to be with a man. Krish chuckled quietly. Yeah, there was no chance of that happening, was there? In all the times Krish had watched Luke, he'd never seen Luke look at another man. He'd only ever had eyes for Sarah.

  Krish slumped back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. What he wouldn't give to have Luke gift him with one of those smiles, the ones he always gave Sarah.

  As Prof Stapleton droned on, Krish began to imagine a night out with Luke. He'd take him out for a nice meal at some Italian restaurant, enjoying his company and having a good time together. Later, they would go back to his house, and both Danny and Simon would be out, so they'd have the place to themselves. Going back to his room, they'd have a few more drinks before things ended up moving to the bed.

  God, all Krish wanted to do was to strip the clothes from Luke's body and feast on him. He could imagine what Luke would look like naked. Even though Luke was a few inches shorter than him, Krish could tell that he had muscles. He clearly worked out and took care of himself.

  Kissing and licking and sucking all over Luke's body, tasting Luke's skin. Further south, taking Luke's hard, leaking...

  Banging on the desk by Prof Stapleton jerked Krish out of his daydream. He looked around the room and noticed more than a few people had lost interest in the lecture. Prof Stapleton banged on the desk again until everyone was looking at him.

  "I'm not standing here for the good of my health. You are here to learn, and if you're not interested, then leave. I'm not wasting my time on lazy individuals like you. I should be glad you're here. At least you turned up. I pity your parents. Now as I was saying..."

  Krish rolled his eyes, listening to Prof Stapleton rant. As soon as he turned up this morning, Krish had known Prof Stapleton had been in a bad mood. He'd had words with several TAs already, and after this lecture was over, Krish was hoping to be able to avoid him for the rest of the day.

  Sitting up straight in his chair, Krish looked at his watch. Only twenty minutes left, and he'd be free.

  ❊❊❊

  Later that night, when Krish got home, he spoke to Danny and Simon about Luke. They both knew that Krish was attracted to Luke, and they also knew that Luke had a girlfriend. That hadn't stopped Danny from teasing Krish and telling him that he should ask Luke out anyway. Krish had laughed it off but was grateful that both Danny and Simon weren't concerned about his sexuality. He knew how lucky he was. His family and friends had stood by him when he'd come out, and other than the occasional derogatory comment, everything had been fine.

  He knew it hadn't been that easy for other people, and that th
ey hadn't had quite the welcome that Krish had had. He knew that some were thrown out for their sexuality, that some had been beaten or even murdered. It infuriated Krish that people were treated that way because of their sexuality and that others thought it was okay to abuse someone mentally, emotionally, or physically because of who they loved.

  The fact that in certain countries it was still illegal to be gay and you could be put to death astounded Krish. In this day and age, you should be able to love who you wanted, without repercussions.

  "Do you think they split up?" Danny asked.

  Krish shrugged. He really didn't know. Luke had left the lecture hall as soon as Stapleton had finished. "I don't know, but he didn't look right. You know what else I noticed? Other people were staring at him."

  "My guess is they split up then, and its spread around already," Simon added. "Girls love nothing more than gossiping and spreading rumours. They can be complete bitches at times." Simon turned to Danny. "Didn't Katie have problems last year?"

  Danny nodded, swallowing the toast he'd been chewing. "Yeah, fucking cunts. Saying shit about her 'cause she colours her hair. I wanted to smack one of them when she ran her mouth off at me, asking what I was doing with Katie."

  Krish nodded. He remembered it. Poor Katie had been in tears, and Danny was ready to kill someone, male or female. No one was upsetting his Katie. It had taken them a long time to calm him down.

  "You won't find out for sure unless you speak to him," Danny told him. He pointed his toast at Krish. "You have the perfect opportunity. You're concerned, you've seen him around, and he doesn't seem himself blah, blah, blah."

  Krish smiled at Danny. "If he's just split from his girlfriend, then the last thing he needs is me asking questions."

  "That's where you're wrong, Krish. What he needs is a good man to lean on."

  Krish shook his head, smiling at Danny. "Maybe later. I'll give a few days first, then I'll see how he is."

  Danny waved the toast at him again, then glanced at Simon. "Come on, Si, stick up for me here. Tell him I'm right."

  "He's right, Krish," Simon agreed with Danny.

  Krish held his hands up, palms out. "Stop now. As I said, I'll give it a few days and then I'll speak to him. He's got exams coming up, and if he has split up with his girlfriend, the last thing he needs is me poking around."

  Both Simon and Danny burst out laughing. "Poking around," Danny sniggered.

  "For fuck's sake, you're grown men." Krish sighed.

  "I know, but every time you say it, it makes me laugh," Danny gasped out.

  Krish shook his head. "I've got work to do. I'll see you later."

  Chapter Seven

  Luke could only describe the following two weeks as hell. He was struggling to revise for exams and complete assignments with everything that was going on.

  Sarah, the vindictive bitch, continued to say things about him, spreading rumours and embellishing existing ones. And every lecture he attended, he was aware of the whispers and glances--or outright stares-- directed his way. And students being students, several times a day, he'd have people shouting at him, asking him how much he charged, had he had tests, what diseases did he carry?

  Luke wasn't sure how he managed to keep going in for his lectures, how he kept attending university. The only thing he was looking forward to was Christmas break, and hopefully, when he started his new modules in the New Year, it would all have blown over. The fact that the abuse was still occurring was more than likely down to Sarah's persistence in persecuting him.

  He'd never realised that Sarah could be like that. He'd only seen the beautiful, young, sweet girl who he'd enjoyed spending time with.

  He could count on one hand the number of times they'd had sex, but that had been down to him. With his past, the last thing he'd wanted to do was to push Sarah into having sex. He wanted to make sure both of them were ready, even though he was well aware that people were sleeping around and having one night stands.

  He wasn't like that. Living on the streets, he'd seen and done things that he was ashamed of, but he knew they had been necessary, otherwise the likelihood was that he would be dead.

  Staring at his laptop, Luke began deleting more messages, tweets, emails. It was never-ending. The things that people could say, but how many of them would say it to his face? None. They were happy to say things from the safety of a computer, but would never have the guts to say it to his face, in front of everyone.

  Opening the book in front of him, Luke stared at the text in front of him, barely comprehending it. He usually found it easy and absorbed the information quickly, but with the last two weeks, he'd struggled to understand the simplest part.

  Sighing, Luke pushed his chair back and stood, picking up his empty mug. He left his room and went downstairs to the kitchen. The house was empty. Both Tom and Seb had gone out for a meal together, and Matt was over at Josh's. They would be moving in together soon, and they were clearing up Josh's apartment to make room for Matt's belongings.

  Sighing, he grabbed what he needed to make a cup of coffee and then leaned back on the counter waiting for the kettle to boil. He stared out of the kitchen, looking at the garden.

  The flowers had died, and all the leaves had fallen from the tree. Winter was here, and the garden showed it. Bleak. The garden reflected how he felt.

  Once the kettle had boiled, he quickly made his coffee, then went back to his room. Sitting in his chair, he tried reading the coursework again and had a bit more success.

  The next few hours, Luke was able to complete his assignment and do some revision. When he heard the front door close and voices drift upstairs, he knew that both Seb and Tom were home.

  He closed his books, slid his chair back, and went downstairs. He needed some company.

  Walking into the living room, Luke found Tom and Seb sat close to each other on the sofa. Tom had his arm across Seb's shoulder, and Seb was leaning on him. When he walked in, both looked up and smiled.

  "How's the revision going?" Tom asked.

  Luke grunted. "It's going. Can't wait for the exams to be over and done with. My fucking head hurts." Luke dropped in the chair near them and slumped back, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. He had a headache, and it wasn't just revision that had caused it. Not that Tom or Seb knew. He'd made Matt promise not to tell anyone about what was going on because he didn't want them to worry. Tom had his exams coming up, and Seb had been helping him to revise, but he knew Tom was worried about them.

  "Have you had something to eat?"

  Luke opened his eyes and glanced at Seb, who had asked the question. "No, not yet. I'm going to get something now. I wanted to sit and relax for a few minutes first."

  Seb nodded. "You need to eat, keep your strength up."

  "Yes, dad." Luke smiled over at Seb.

  "Yeah, he's been doing that with me as well," Tom added, bending down slightly to kiss Seb on his forehead.

  Luke groaned, and then stood up. "Do you guys want anything?"

  Both of them said no, so he stood up and went into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and found a ready meal, quickly read the instructions, and popped it in the microwave. Within minutes, his food was ready, and he walked back into the living with it on a tray. Lasagna, that would do. Once he finished eating, he put the tray on the floor beside him and leaned back in his chair.

  He watched a detective show on the TV, and when it had finished, he said 'night' to both Tom and Seb, then went back upstairs to his room. He had a full day of lectures the next day, and no doubt would run into a few of Sarah's friends, which was something he certainly wasn't looking forward to.

  He did what he had to do in the bathroom, quickly changed, and got into bed.

  Lying there, he stared at the ceiling before closing his eyes. Breathing deeply, he tried to go to sleep, but as usual, struggled. Since the fallout with Sarah had begun, Luke had only been managing to get a couple of hours sleep a night.

  He couldn't wait for
the semester to be over.

  ❊❊❊

  Luke left the lecture hall having just finished his last exam. He'd effectively now broken up from University. It wouldn't be long and he would be celebrating Christmas.

  As he walked away with Toby and Jack, he saw Sarah stood with a group of her friends, watching.

  "Doesn't she ever give up?" Jack muttered, glancing over in their direction. "She's made your life fucking hell the past couple weeks with her lies and spreading rumours about you." Jack turned to face Luke. "You know you can get her done for that, don't you? It's called cyberbullying. You can go to the police, and they'll trace everyone who's spread those rumours about you, and you get them done for it. I would if I was you."

  Luke shook his head as he continued walking. "What good would it do? Something else would be said, and it would all start up again. At least now we have a few weeks off, and hopefully, when I get back, it'll all have blown over. I've seen Sarah hanging out with someone else. What's his name?" He glanced at Jack and Toby.

  "I think it's Gary, but I'm not too sure," Toby said.

  "Hope she treats him better than she did you. She's a bitch. I can't wait for something to happen to her. Fucking karma." Jack was pissed, glaring at Sarah and her friends.

  "I just want to forget about it and forget about the fact that I was ever with her. Luckily, we don't have any lectures together next year, so I should be able to avoid her." Luke sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I just want it all over and done with."

  "Well, no more exams. I say we go out and have a few drinks," Toby nudged Luke.

  Luke nodded. "Not the student bar, though. I don't want to run into her."

  "No worries. We'll go to our local, won't we, Jack?"

  Ignoring the shouts from Sarah's friends, Luke walked with Jack and Toby to their local pub. They only lived a few minutes away and had often asked Luke to move in, but he was happy with Seb, Tom and Matt. Soon to be just Seb and Tom.