Page 20 of Make Me Scream (Visceral #2)

PERIS

Abel walks over to me and drops his bony ass right into my lap. My legs open for him, even as my eyes widen in shock, unsure of what the fuck is going on.

“Uhhh…” Gabriel balks, gaze darting between the two of us, lips parted in the shock I feel coursing through my veins.

“‘Sup, guys,” Abel says, all fucking nonchalantly , as he adjusts his headphones, bopping his head to the beat of his music. I glance down at him in my lap, back at Gabe, down again, then around the table, at every-fucking-one staring at us.

“What?” I snap at no one in particular.

“Isn’t he your foster brother?” Corbin questions, lips curled upward.

“Not for much longer—not that it’s your fucking business,” I snap. My arms wrap around Abel’s waist. He leans back into my chest, legs spread around the outside of mine. It gets really quiet, really fast.

“Okay,” he says, holding his hands up. “If you say so.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“We just didn’t know you were gay,” Grady adds quietly as he chews his bottom lip. His eyes flicker up to meet mine for a flash before they drop back to the floor. I try to swallow the lump in my throat, but it remains lodged, nearly choking me.

“I’m not,” I bite out.

“Dude.” Corbin laughs. “You’ve got the twink in your arms. And holding onto him like that?”

I glance down, not having realized. But I don’t release my hold on Abel—I’ll never fucking let him go.

“He’s mine,” is all I say to that.

A few chuckles float around the table. Gabe shakes his head, his dark curls bouncing as he knocks his leg into mine. I jerk my head in his direction. “What?” I snap.

“You’re being… pissy,” he says, seeming to settle on that word. Abel’s fingers tickle my wrist, and I grab them tightly, twining them around mine.

“No, the fuck I’m not.”

He holds up his hands in a placating gesture, shoulders shaking as he laughs, head shaking, too. “If you say so, dude.”

“I do.”

“ Mhmmm. ” He curls his lips in, dimples popping out as he smirks.

“Gabriel,” I nearly growl, my eyes narrowing.

Abel pulls his headphones off and wraps the cord around his discman. He leans back, pressing the entirety of his back against my front. “He’s saying you’re in denial, baby boy,” he says against the side of my neck. All the blood drains out of my face.

“Baby boy?” Gabe splutters.

“W-what?” a few resounding people repeat.

“Abel,” I hiss.

He blinks up at me with wide, beautifully gray eyes, feigning an innocence I know he’s never fucking had. “What, baby?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I bite out through clenched teeth, fingers tightening past the point of pain on his waist. My face is aflame, and I can feel every set of eyes on me.

“Oh, so much,” he drawls slowly, face splitting into a grin—a grin I want nothing more than to wipe off his fucking face.

“I’m going to beat your ass, runt.”

“I look forward to it,” he rasps, pupils dilating and breath coming out shorter.

“Uh, guys,” Gabe drawls, drawing my attention. I sit up a bit, readjusting Abel on my lap. The little shit rubs his ass on my half-hard dick, making it twitch and fill with more blood. I barely manage to bite back the groan that threatens to spill from my lips.

“What, Gabriel?”

“We’re in school. Might want to cool it with the PDA.”

“You’re one to talk,” I mutter but still put some distance between me and Abel because the last thing I need is a detention when I’m trying to get a scholarship.

And by distance, I push him up until he’s sitting in my lap again because that’s the furthest away he’s getting from me now that he’s made the moves he has.

He’s made the choice, and now, I’m living with it.

There’s no going back now.

“Hey, I’m a lot more discreet than you two fuckers.”

“He’s right. We’ve never been subtle, baby… speaking of,” Abel drawls, and my muscles lock up tight, wondering what he’s going to say because whatever it is isn’t going to be good. “Why hasn’t your mom caught on yet? It won’t be frowned upon soon enough…”

“Oh, boy.” Gabe laughs loudly. “That’s my cue to fuck off. Come on, y’all. Let’s leave these… love birds to it.” He stands and swings his bag over his shoulder, shooting Abel a wink, which I’m sure he returns. I just glare at him.

I reach behind me and chuck the closest thing to me at Gabe—which happens to be a bun from lunch. It hits him in the shoulder, and he laughs, shaking his head. “You’re so fucked, buddy,” he says as he walks away from me.

“You’re telling me,” I mutter, knowing he can’t hear me.

Abel curls his upper-half around and brushes his fingertips along my cheek. “Do you wanna be fucked?” he asks, blinking up at me with his very not-innocent eyes. I scowl, even as my heart capsizes, chugging so hard, I feel the beat at the base of my throat, choking me.

“Shut the fuck up, runt.”

This makes him smile—and I realize my fuck up immediately. My defensiveness.

“Never going to happen.”

“If you say so,” he says with a smirk, reaching around to pop a french fry into his mouth. He chews loudly and swallows obscenely, and I can’t look away for a second.

My hands around his waist tighten, and Abel falls back against me easily, a soft sigh falling from his lips. It’s nice to be alone, but not alone like this.

My heart is no longer racing, even though I know there are still eyes on us—I can feel them. Watching. Taking us in.

“Can you feel them?”

Abel doesn’t question me. He just knows.

“Of course, I can.”

I flinch, my left eye twitching as I curl inward a bit. Luke’s voice echoes like it always does, but it’s been easier to ignore these last few weeks—nearly nonexistent to the point I haven’t really thought about him…

And that makes me pause.

I’ve barely thought about him and what he’s done to me—for the first time in forever.

What is Abel doing to me?

“Does it not bother you?”

“No,” he says resolutely. “I’m used to it—and so are you. Just not in this context, but it’s not any different, baby boy.” He reaches around and trails his fingers down my jaw, back and forth until my skin feels numb and I’m leaning into his touch like the ravenous man I am.

“Just take a breath ‘cause you’re already doing it.”

“So, what,” Gabe remarks, dribbling the ball back and forth. The sound echoes in the shadowed depths of the park. “You are just… together now?”

I dip forward and steal the ball from his hands, rushing past and jumping up to shoot. The ball swishes through the chain net, and I turn to him with a grin. Gabe’s got his hands on his hips with a deep furrow in his thick, dark brows.

After a moment, he shakes his head. “And this is why you’re team captain, I guess. Fuck,” he chuckles, and I snort, rolling my eyes.

“Fuck off, dude.” I chuck the ball back at him, and he catches it with a grunt, doubling over.

“Damn, I’m wounded.” He clutches his chest as he tosses the ball back easily.

“Don’t act so surprised, Gabe. It’ll piss me off.

” I try to shrug off the sensation crawling all over my skin, but it won’t budge, so instead, I focus on the ball in my hand.

On the way it bounces on the cracked, worn concrete.

Concrete that has become so familiar in the years I’ve lived here. For years, this has been home.

“I am, though, Peris,” he says seriously—and that makes me pause.

“Why?” I ask, but I can’t look at him.

“You really have to ask me that?” he deadpans, and I laugh but not because it’s funny.

“No.” I grip the back of my neck and squeeze. “I guess not.” I bounce the ball between my feet a few times to fill the silence.

“How is that going, your feelings regarding that?”

“Are you seriously asking me about my… homophobia, Gabriel?” I snap in a hiss, hating the way my hackles rise, but I can’t help it.

“Yes.”

I glare at him, and he stares right back, resolute.

And I know it’s not a fight I’m going to win—not that I really want to.

I shiver against the cool breeze shuffling around as I make my way over to the picnic tables.

Gabe follows me silently, and when I drop the ball between my feet, he straightens his shoulders, preparing himself for the conversation.

But then, I hunch, losing my bravado.

“It’s just me, Peris.”

I chuckle coldly. “It’s not that simple. None of it is—and I can’t even explain it. It’s still there—and it always will be, I think. But losing him… it’s changed some shit inside me. All I can fucking think about…” I pull my bottom lip in between my teeth and sink into skin until I taste copper.

I gnaw on the flesh, shredding it until little pieces flake off inside my mouth and I have something to chew on. I lick the blood off my bottom lip as I contemplate how to say what I need to say—but I can’t even put it into words.

“He’s all I can think about. I just know…

” I pull in a deep, shuddering breath. The cold air feels good in my lungs, so I hold it for a long moment before letting it go.

I stare out into the dwindling darkness and the shadows it casts across the park.

“I just know that I want him, and I can’t let him go.

” My jaw aches from clenching it so tight.

Gabe is quiet for a while as we listen to the breeze, to the nothingness beyond it. “I thought you hated him, Peris.”

I smile. “I think I do—and so does he.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It does if you’re us.”

“Okay…” Gabe drawls, and I can sense his confusion, but I don’t elaborate further because even I don’t fucking understand us.

“But he’s going back to live with his mother, isn’t he? That’s what you said?”

“In less than a week,” I grit out.

“That changes things.”

I laugh darkly and sit up from my hunched over position. I roll the ball around between my numb hands. My sweatshirt does nothing to block the cold, but I find I welcome it, need it, even. “It changes everything for me.”

That makes Gabe pause for a minute. “For you? Not him?”

“Never for him. He’s one selfish fucking runt.”

“Peris…”

“I don’t want to talk about him anymore. I want to play ball until I can’t fucking think, and I’m already halfway there, it’s so fucking cold, so are you down, or not?”

Gabriel sighs loudly, but he slaps his hands down on his sweatpants-clad thighs. “I guess that’s what best friends are for.”

“That’s the spirit,” I drawl sarcastically and chuck the ball at him. He catches it and jumps up, shooting a three-pointer with ease. I tsk. “It’s gonna be like that?”

“You wanted a distraction, didn’t you? Get ready for some real competition then, Baxter. Since you’re making me freeze my ass off out here,” he mutters the last part.

I take the ball from him with a chuckle, feeling lighter than I have in a while, but my runt is still heavy on my mind and the way he sat in my lap today, like it was as easy as breathing to be seen like that with me. Like it wouldn’t completely fuck me up inside…

Fuck it all. I’m utterly and irrevocably destroyed over this boy.

My runt, my puppy.

My dangerous obsession.