Destroy Me Gently:Ex-Enemy Becomes My Lover! Chapter 44: Unexpected admission

Chapter FORTY FOUR

**Kieran Morrison**

"So what’s the deal with you and Oliver?" Heath cut through the afternoon air as we stood around the basketball court. All day, they’d all seem to be dancing around the edge of my behavior which according to them was strange.

I’d be damned if I said I understood myself too, I bounced the ball once against the wall, the sound echoing off the empty gym. "What do you an?"

"Co on, man." Claude grinned, leaning against the fence. "You’ve been acting weird all day, ignoring him completely when usually you’re all over the guy, and don’t even get started on that kiss this morning. What was that all about?"

My grip tightened on the ball, I didn’t even know the answer to that "I’m trying a different approach."

"Different approach to what?" Claude asked, pushing off from where he’d been slouching against the wall.

I kept bouncing the ball, the rhythm steady, controlled. The truth was sothing I wasn’t about to spill to these idiots.

I couldn’t let Oliver go, I couldn’t not let him go either. If he was no longer my enemy, he would have to beco sothing else, or I felt I was going to tear apart from everything .

"Does it not bother you that people think you’re gay?" Heath asked suddenly, and sothing flickered in his eyes, it was gone before I could read it properly. Why did he look so serious too?

My shoulder lifted in a careless shrug. "Why would it?"

"I an, it’s just weird, you know? The whole school thinks you’re dating a guy now."

"So?" The ball hit the wall harder than before, my lips tightened into a grim line.

"So is it true?" Claude stepped closer, genuinely curious. "You’re going to date the one person you bullied so much? I still don’t understand you."

My jaw clenched. "There’s not much to understand. I can fucking do whatever I want, it’s no one’s business,"

"Dude, that’s pretty intense," Heath muttered, his eyes studying . "I kind of feel sorry for him, I don’t know what he ever did to you, or what you’re planning. You’re really not going to let this go, are you?"

"Never." The word ca out sharp as I suddenly rembered how friendly he’d been toward Oliver in the past few days.

"Why do you feel sorry? You’ve been quite close lately to him, anything I should know?"

Heath looked at as though surprised, then he clapped my shoulder "Easy man, no one is taking away your favorite boy, I just thought he was interesting, that’s all."

Interesting.

This was the problem, I didn’t want anyone to find Oliver interesting at all. I loved when everyone completely ignored him, because it ant only I got to think about him... to ss with him.

I looked to see both Heath and Claude still watching closely, and I tensed up defensively "What?" The word snapped out from .

Everything was grating on . My skin felt too tight, like I needed to move, to find sothing, to...

"I’m leaving." I grabbed my jacket from the bench.

That’s when I caught it. A flash of ssy hair disappearing around the corner. That familiar backpack.

My heart slamd against my ribs.

Oliver.

Had he been...? My mind raced backward through every word we’d just said, every careless comnt that might have reached his ears.

How long had he been standing there, and why?

Vince strolled into the court with that lazy confidence he always carried, and I caught sothing in his eyes that made my spine straighten.

Amusent. Like he knew a secret.

My eyes followed him suspiciously as he walked up to us.

"You’re not going to play?" He asked, nodding at my jacket, but his tone suggested he already knew the answer.

I studied his face, searching for clues. "Did you see Oliver outside? What was he doing?"

The amusent in Vince’s eyes grew brighter, his mouth curving into a slow smirk. "Your boyfriend seems pretty interested in you too."

Claude snorted. "What’s that supposed to an?"

"Nothing," Vince said, but his smirk told a different story. "He was just snooping around, did you say any bad words? He looked pretty scared"

My chest did sothing strange, like my ribs had suddenly beco too small.

Oliver had been watching ? The thought sent heat crawling through my body, even this small attention from him fed a hungry part within I didn’t know I possessed.

The idea that he had been there, listening, watching, caring enough to spy on my conversation, made sothing dark and possessive unfurl in my stomach.

"I have more important things to do." I was already racing out of the court.

"Like what?" Heath called after .

"It’s obviously because he wants to take his boyfriend ho, you idiot." I heard Claude respond and I could hear them begin to argue.

"I’m not an idiot. I was just asking."

"You asked a stupid question," Claude replied matter-of-factly. "Therefore, idiot."

"That’s not how logic works."

"Since when do you know anything about logic?"

Their voices faded as I headed for the parking lot, my pulse hamring in my ears

When I reached the parking lot, my legs instantly halted. Everything stopped for in this mont, not actually everything because I could feel the slow chill of ice flooding into my veins. A bitter feeling brewed in my chest as I followed the sight.

Oliver was climbing into William’s car, and they were already pulling away from the curb.

My vision went red around the edges. He was supposed to wait for , I was ant to take him ho!

My hands shook as I watched them disappear down the street, that bastard taking Oliver away from when I needed to see him, needed to know what he’d heard, what he was thinking about everything.

"Kieran!" The annoying female voice called from behind .

I turned slowly, but every muscle I possessed ached to break sothing, preferably the neck of that friend of Oliver’s.

Amanda took a step back when she saw my face.

"I’m so glad I caught you," she said, but her voice was shaky with panic. Good.

Because I didn’t have an extra second to spare on her. I badly needed a smoke.

"I wanted to invite you to Sarah’s party this weekend. I thought maybe we could talk things over, you know? Clear the air between us."

I gazed at her with barely concealed frustration. Wrong timing. Wrong person. Wrong everything.

"Clear the air?"

We had nothing to clear between us, because we never had anything.

"Well, I just thought... since you’ve been acting so strange lately, maybe we could do sothing fun" She smiled suggestively.

"Let make sothing very clear to you." I stepped closer until she had to crane her neck to look at , until I could see my own reflection in her widening eyes. "Whatever you think we had, whatever you think we’re going to have, you’re wrong. I don’t want to talk to you, I don’t want to see you, and I sure as hell don’t want to go to any party with you. Keep your distance from !"

Her face crumpled like paper. "But Kieran, I thought..."

"You thought wrong. You seem to do that a lot."

"Is this about him?" Her voice cracked with tears that nearly had crashing out.

Fuck.

I really needed to smoke right now, or I was going to lose my sanity. "Is this about Oliver? Because I can change, I can be better..."

Her words earned a humorless chuckle from , "You’re going to transition into a boy? I’m gay. Now, even if you do that, it still won’t make like you any better,"

I saw the shock and disbelief etched on her features, but I was already walking away, leaving her standing there like a broken doll.

I didn’t know how this sexuality shit worked, but I guessed the fact that I was deeply obsessed about a guy pretty much made that.

Her shrill outraged screams followed all the way to my car, as she told to co up with a better lie than that. Her words blurred out the mont I slamd my door, all I could think about was Oliver in William’s car, driving away from when every instinct I had was screaming at to chase after them.

After him.

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