Unforgettable (Haven Falls 4)

“Oh, no, no. I don’t need you guys to do anything. I’ve got it handled, but what I’m trying to say is that this whole mess has made me realize that I need to stop fucking around. I have a shot at an actual future with football and I’m screwing it up. I’ve burned too many bridges these past few months and I wanted to tell you guys that all that bullshit is behind me. From now on, you won’t have any problems with me.”

Noah silently steps into him, studying him for a moment.

Spencer holds out his hand. “What do you say?” he murmurs, nervously. “Are we good?”

“What the fuck is happening right now?” Tully grumbles beside me, watching the strange show with the same confused gaze that I am.

“I’ve got no fucking idea,” I laugh, knowing the boys can hear us perfectly well, “but if it means we don’t have to put up with any more shit from Spencer, then I’m on board.”

As if Noah takes my comment as a go ahead, he raises his hand to Spencer’s. “All good, man. But come even close to crossing the line again and you’re fucked. I won’t hold back and I’ll lay your ass out.”

“Got it,” Spencer says before giving me a nod and a smile to Tully, because let’s face it, Tully never really had any issues with the guy.

Noah releases his hand and just as he goes to step away, a few of the guys from the football team walk past. I don’t think anything of it until a hand shoots out and slams Aiden into the locker. “Faggot,” the football player barks out in disgust.

I spin around, unable to believe what I just heard. “Excuse me?” I question, stepping forward as Aiden rights himself. I guess the secret is out. Noah’s instantly at my side and Spencer is right there with him, defending his cousin from these douchebag homophobes.

The footballer player eyes me with a scoff. “You heard me,” he says, glancing back up at Aiden who stands behind me with fury rippling off of him. “He’s a faggot. I want him off the team.”

“Back the fuck off, Troy,” Spencer growls, stepping forward and letting his team know exactly where he stands on this. “He’s not going anywhere. Aiden can play better ball than all of you fuckers.”

Troy rears back. “What the fuck did you just say?” he demands.

Spencer grins and not a second later, Troy’s fist is flying through the air.

Noah grabs me and hauls me out of the way as Aiden does the same with Tully. They instantly take our places and in true ‘Hully’ style, we find it impossible to hold back.

I charge forward and take a fucking stand. These fuckers need to learn that they can’t mess with us, and they sure as hell can’t mess with Aiden just because he happens to like dick. I mean, fifty percent of the population enjoys a bit of dick – hard, soft, big, small. Why should Aiden be shamed just because he has one of his own?

That’s the issue with people these days. Being gay is so freaking normal but the world is too set in its old-fashion ways that it can’t accept change. It needs to be normalized so people like Aiden can get through a day at school without being discriminated against.

From this day on, I’m going to make sure that Aiden stands tall about who he is. He’s a gay man and should be proud of it. In fact, he shouldn’t even be defined as that. He’s just a man who plays the best game of football you’ve ever seen and that’s what people are going to remember when they think of Aiden. Well, that and he can certainly kick the asses of the douchebags who try to put him down.

I hope all the other fuckers in this school are watching right now because this is a lesson to them all. When it comes to Aiden, he has the protection of my pack, but watching him now, he barely needs it. In fact, he can more than hold his own against these guys.

When my nails have drawn enough blood and Tully’s knee has slammed into more balls than one of those kids’ ball pits that you see at fairs, Noah somehow manages to pull us away. “It’s over,” he tells me, making me realize that I’ve turned into some kind of crazed animal. “Let’s get you idiots cleaned up.”

Chapter 16

I lay on my bed, propped up on my elbows as I flip through the pages on my new Kindle. I’ve been dying for a chance to finally use this thing. Dad’s home with Aria and Noah’s spending the day working with Maxen at the new track.

It’s been a week of fending off douchebags and Aiden letting the world know who he is and that he can’t be touched. Really, he’s become a whole new version of himself. Confident and untouchable. Before he was awesome, but now he’s comfortable in his own skin and that has him slotting even further into our pack.