Page 45 of Bend Him, Break Him

Days turned into weeks as Colton took a break for space.

Three and a half weeks, to be precise. Isaac hadn’t texted once during that time.

Colton didn’t know if he admired the gesture or envied the attitude.

Was Isaac offering him this time to get his head on right, or was Isaac okay disappearing because he never truly cared?

Maybe this didn’t cut as deep for him as it did Colton.

All he knew was that after almost a month, he was ready to commit to his daily routine again.

Classes had been grueling, whether he attended or skipped them.

If he went, eyes locked onto him for the entire lecture; if he skipped, he ended up with a mountain of confusing work to handle on his own and a reminder that the scandal didn’t make his academic probation vanish.

Baseball practice was a joke since he ended up benched the entire time to ‘respect his privacy in this difficult time.’

Most days, Colton wandered in a daze, wondering where Isaac had gone. He stopped showing up to the one class they had together where he was the TA. He’d stopped waiting outside of Colton’s other classes; he’d stopped everything.

Even when sending news on the apartment locks, that came through the proxy of Jazz.

She kept insisting that Colton return to GSA, but he didn’t have the energy to be gawked at any more than normal.

Yes, he knew they’d support him, but they’d still stare.

He was so tired of the staring. He hated people knowing the exact details of his most intimate desires.

Colton hadn’t been able to work up the nerve to say he enjoyed bottoming, but now tens of thousands of strangers had seen him getting railed.

Despite the mortification that came with people having an inside look at his private sex life, Colton had received a surprisingly high outpour of messages supporting him, condemning the video, hating whoever would do something like this, and a thousand other things that all started to blur together when he scrolled through his DMs.

“You’re starting back up again,” Coach Wilson said, startling Colton out of his daze.

“Seriously?”

“Too many people are questioning why you’re being punished because of what happened,” he explained.

Colton scoffed, wondering the same damn thing.

“To be clear, this wasn’t a punishment,” Coach Wilson said. “We were all looking out for you. We’re a team.”

Colton left the conversation at that. He couldn’t stomach the bullshit, but he didn’t want to risk being benched again.

Halfway back to the apartments, Tim hailed him down, shouting from the campus bus that looped the grounds for students who didn’t want to walk from one end to the next like Colton, who’d used the nearly two-mile trek as a distraction.

“Colt, are you listening to me?”

“Nope,” he mouthed until Tim slapped a hand on his back. “Oh, I didn’t see you there.”

“Lying ass.”

Colton smirked, leading the way into their building where Tim rambled about a half dozen different topics until they reached the end of their hallway and opened the door to their apartment. It was then that Tim got serious.

“Tonight’s the night we undo the damage dealt to you.”

Colton raised a brow in confusion.

“Very ominous.”

“Party at Alpha Tau Omega,” Tim said as if Colton should be keeping up with such things.

Yes, they were the go-to athletic fraternity, the default community for sports, but Colton wasn’t following any social itinerary as of late.

“I have no idea what you’re trying to say.”

“It’s time you stopped hiding in your room and started reminding folks who you are.”

“Oh, they know who I am,” Colton said with wide eyes as he opened their apartment door.

“If you plan on getting off the bench—”

“Already am.”

“Even better reason to go out and celebrate.” Tim wrapped an arm over Colton’s shoulder. “It’s the perfect time to gloat, just a little. That’ll rattle Leon and Devon, which will help with my plan.”

“Your plan?”

“To get Devon drunk as fuck so he’ll admit to helping Leon sneak into your room and film you.”

“Even if he did know something, how do—”

“Devon definitely knows,” Tim interrupted. “He’s a little ass muncher. No offense, man.”

“None taken.” Colton shrugged. “I don’t really eat ass.”

“Seriously?” Tim shook his head and tsked. “Ass is the best part.”

“Then why did you say no offense?”

“I dunno. Not sure how gays feel about ass jokes. Or bis. Or other guys. Well, actually, I do. Devon hates it cause he’s a little cuck bitch boy ass muncher who I’m about to butter up all night so I can pry every secret out of his cock sucking mouth.” Tim smirked. “No offense, dude.”

“None taken. Sucking cock is pretty awesome.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, if we end up murdering Leon tonight, I’ll remind you that when we’re in prison.”

Colton shoved Tim. “Shut the fuck up, man.”

It didn’t wash away the shame and exhaustion of the footage, but Tim had a way of distracting Colton from his own pain, his own frustration, and he managed to keep Colton afloat these past few weeks.

Colton wouldn’t have had to rely on Tim so much if he hadn’t pushed Isaac away.

More like shoved him away. Sitting alone in his room for hours, he streamed something for background noise but spent all his energy fixating on whether or not he should talk to Isaac.

It’d almost been a month. He was probably tired of Colton, over him, over the drama their sex scandal caused.

Or maybe Colton was overthinking it, interpreting it wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.

He sent Isaac a text.

Three dots bubbled immediately afterward. Typing up a storm of words, or typing and erasing because Isaac preferred to keep his replies short and succinct?

If that wasn’t the most to-the-point message ever. Colton smirked, slightly annoyed but mostly entertained, especially given how the three dots returned because clearly, Isaac wanted to say more, even if his need to be brief prevented it.

Colton texted the address of the party and a long-winded explanation that Tim was hassling him to get out of his room.

He left out the part where Tim planned on getting proof of Leon’s involvement. It seemed unlikely anything would come of it. Even if it did, Isaac wasn’t big on drama. Colton didn’t want to scare him away any more than he already had.

Without waiting for Isaac’s reply, he stuffed his phone in his pocket and got ready for the party.

When Colton and Tim arrived at the party, they stuck together for a bit.

It helped with the initial stares and whispers, but soon enough, Tim was off to enact his plan, and Colton found himself drifting to the outskirts of the party.

That wasn’t his style. Then again, being the center of attention because he liked to get fucked in the ass wasn’t his style either.

Colton needed a drink, something to wash away his own second-guessing thoughts and the anxiety that clung to him with every breath.

Two girls intercepted Colton as he reached the drink table in the kitchen.

“Oh my God, Colton!” the brunette called out. She rushed to his side like they were best of friends when he was absolutely certain they’d never met before. “Tell me you’re getting off the bench soon!”

She stumbled a bit, and he helped steady her stance. A fan. It’d been a while since he interacted with fans. With anyone baseball-related.

“Actually—”

“He’s the best goddamn pitcher they got,” she added before Colton could answer her question, talking to her friend, who seemed almost as dazed as her.

“And they benched him because of a little… Well, there was nothing little in the video…” She snorted, then caught herself and grimaced.

“They need you back on the field where you belong, baby.”

“Are you here by yourself?” the blonde asked, her voice pitchy and her steps wobbly. “So brave.”

“Not here by myself.” Colton gestured at the crowd. “My friend’s around here somewhere.”

“A friend friend or a boyfriend?” the blonde asked with a smile.

“Better not be the same guy from…” The brunette caught herself, eyes wide with embarrassment. She sipped her drink then turned to Colton and smiled. “You can do so much better.”

“He’s actually a pretty great guy.”

Colton regretted coming to this party. Not for the interactions. He was beginning to navigate his way through the awkward conversations with those bold enough or drunk enough to bring it up. No, he regretted being here and wasting his night when he should be with Isaac, making things right.

They’d each kept a healthy distance from each other so Colton could get the space he needed, but he didn’t want space to think, to process anymore. He wanted Isaac.

A small group wedged their way into the kitchen, and two of the guys broke away just long enough to mingle next to the girls.

“So brave,” the blonde said, reiterating Colton’s bravery as she sloshed about, held up by her boyfriend who looked almost as hammered as her.

Brave wasn’t the word he’d use, but he’d take it if it meant more people were on his side than he realized. The group wandered off, and Colton poured a beer from the keg.

“Finally coming out of your shell?” Leon materialized beside Colton like a monster from the shadows, slapping a hand to his back in a friendly act but intentionally too hard so it’d provoke a response. “Seems like everything’s returned to normal for you.”

Colton glared, his jaw clenched, and the desire to punch Leon became more and more palpable.

Even if he wasn’t behind the film, he had to know Colton despised him, hated him.

What kind of person pretended to be buddy-buddy with someone like this?

He’d spent the entire year trying to replace Colton on the team, trying to push his way to starting pitcher.

Which he’d done successfully, except everything had gone back the way it was, just as Leon stated.