Scum (Wrong Side of the Tracks 1)

“You’re not here to hunt down a new dick,” Shane snarled, hiding in the shadow of a large tree growing by the road.

Dex shrugged and took off the woolen hat Frank had made him wear, releasing the fluffy mop he had for hair. “Who knows what’s gonna happen? Gotta be ready.” He tousled his blond mane, and Shane was beginning to regret bringing him here in the first place.

He’d only invited Dex in an attempt to stick to Rosen’s wishes. The boy had said he didn’t want to see Shane again, but he might talk to Dex and let himself be coerced into a quick conversation outside.

Was it a misguided idea? Maybe. But Shane would consider anything that got him closer to Ros a success.

He rubbed the recently trimmed hair at the sides of his head and took a deep breath, hoping it would release the unpleasant burn in his chest and throat. It didn’t work.

“Nothing’s gonna happen before I speak with Ros. Is that clear?” he snapped, glaring at the random collection of tattoos on Dex’s uncovered arm. So the guy might have come here in a car, but goosebumps were covering most of his exposed skin only minutes after stepping into the cold, because he hadn’t thought about taking anything to cover himself. The fucker was useless.

“Okay, okay, I’ll go find him for you,” Dex waved him off and didn’t wait any longer, leaving Shane by the car.

Two guys smoking cigarettes under the kitchen door awning kept glancing Shane’s way as they talked, until it started pissing him off. Had Ros spread rumors about him? They couldn’t have made a strong enough case to send police his way, but the intrusive stares still made him uncomfortable. Once Dex entered the frat house as if it were his own home, Shane emerged from the shadows and approached the building, which pulsed with lights and music as if the walls were about to fall down from the impact of the rhythm at their core.

Both young guys glanced his way, but then one of them patted the other on the shoulder and walked back into the kitchen where the lights turned blue. The frat boy in a puffy yellow jacket faced Shane, this time eying him from head to toe without a hint of shame.

Did he want a confrontation? Because if he did, Shane was ready to give him one.

“What are you staring at?” he asked, stepping onto the lawn and heading straight for the smoker, whose handsome, square face was well visible in the glow coming from inside.

The guy startled. “Hey, I was just wondering… You used to hang out with Rosen a lot, right?”

Shane stopped, the clouds lifting from around his head as he met the brown gaze. “Yeah.”

The frat boy took a long drag of smoke. “So are you, you know, like him?”

“‘Like him’?” Shane repeated, even though he knew what this was about. From up close, he could see the dark gaze sliding down his chest, but in light this low, this stranger wouldn’t get a good look at his package.

The guy huffed. “Gay? Or bi? Or…?” Was that hope in his eyes? Because he didn’t seem to speak with prejudice.

“Yeah. Why?”

He threw away the cigarette and bit his lip, sliding his hands into his pockets. “Are you, like, single now?”

Shane mentally rolled his eyes, but the question did flatter him. He opened his mouth, wanting to lie. That he and Ros were on break and would soon roll back together like a hot dog and its bun, but he stalled, realizing why Ros had been so cautious about the way they’d acted in public.

“Um… how do you know he’s gay?” The idea that Ros might have gotten together with someone else and was now out made Shane’s brain fry.

The guy chuckled. “Oh, it was this whole big thing, and his cousin told us all about it. He apparently came out over Christmas and had a massive fight at home. His dad isn’t having it. Do you have Twitter? Anyway, Ros hasn’t come back after the break, and his room was cleared out, so… I’m guessing you’re not together anymore if you don’t know any of this?”

Shane would have been less stunned if this frat boy pulled a gun on him. “What? What do you mean he’s not here? He—” Air got stuck in his throat until it felt as if it had turned solid, blocking proper air flow. “Where is he then?”

Fear drilled its way into Shane’s brain, rendering him cold. It hit him that believing he knew where Ros was had been the only thing keeping him at peace with waiting. But it turned out that he could be anywhere, possibly homeless, and that new knowledge spread through Shane’s mind like toxic rocket fuel for his need to act.