Nitro sat next to me, his body tense, and his mouth firmly closed. No love was lost between him and Hyde, and I knew if he got into a heated discussion now, the fists would likely come out. Nitro was a smart man and extremely disciplined at keeping his mouth shut where Hyde was concerned, but today he lost the fight to contain himself. Cold eyes pierced Hyde and his voice was deathly calm when he spoke. “Clearly you’re the only one who is forgetting Kick’s loyalty to Storm. He’s done shit for us that no man should ever have to fucking do, and he does it without a fucking word of complaint. I think you need to step the fuck back, pull your fucking head in, and shut the fuck up.”

King smashed his fist down on the bench and stood, fury circling him. “Enough!” he roared. Pointing at Hyde, he yelled, “Sit down, Hyde, and don’t say another fucking word.” He watched as Hyde followed his orders, and then he turned to face everyone. “We’re not fucking announcing anything to the world. Everyone is to keep their ear out and if you hear anything, you bring it to me. We clear?”

I looked around the table and found everyone nodding their agreement. Hyde nodded but his body language screamed his resistance.

“Right, that’s settled. Anything else?” King asked, a look of impatience plastered across his face. He glanced around the table and when no one spoke, he brought the gavel down to signal we were done.

Hyde stormed out, and I watched King as his gaze followed Hyde. He’d always had a close relationship with his Vice President, but Hyde seemed to be causing him headaches lately. He eventually tore his eyes from Hyde and looked at me. “Don’t worry about Hyde. I’ll take care of him,” he said, mistaking my concern for something it wasn’t.

I shook my head. “I’m more concerned for you, Prez,” I admitted.

A frown creased his forehead. “Why?”

“Your VP doesn’t have your back and he’s the one who’s supposed to have it more than anyone else.”

He processed that silently. “Yeah,” he muttered, deep in thought. “He’ll fucking have it soon enough, brother,” he added, before stalking out of the room.

King could be persuasive, but I feared Hyde was in one of his moods at the moment and when Hyde was in a mood, nothing could get through to him.

Fuck.

***

Kick

17 years old

I placed the joint between my lips and inhaled its magic. The magic that would help numb me and make me forget, for even just a few hours, the shit I had to deal with at home. I sucked it deep into my lungs and held it there for a long while before slowly exhaling and letting my head drop back against the wall. I passed the joint to Jeremy and heard him take a hit.

When he was done, he passed it back to me and stretched out on his back on the floor. It was three o’clock in the morning and his house was silent as his family slept. We’d just gotten back from a lame party. He turned to look at me. “That party was shit.”

I nodded. “Yeah, not one chick worth scoring.”

He laughed. “That’s one way to gauge it.”

My brows rose. “How else would you gauge it, dude?”

“The lack of alcohol there, for one.”

“Well, there is that, too, but I could have lived with that if there had been at least one hot chick, but there wasn’t even that.”

He turned silent and I moved my head from the wall to see what he was doing. Jeremy had been off all week and tonight his mood had shifted into something else again and I struggled to pick it. “What’s up, man? You’ve been acting strange all week.”

His body tensed but then he sat up and stared at me. The light from outside splashed across the room and I could make out the strain on his face and the rigid set of his shoulders. “Do you have secrets, Kick?” he asked, his voice heavy with burden.

“Jesus, man, we all have secrets. What the fuck’s going on?”

The moment stretched before us, long and deathly silent. Whatever the hell he had on his mind was eating him up. I’d never seen Jeremy so troubled. Usually, he was the kind of guy who was confident and not fearful of anything.

Finally, he spoke. “I’m gay.”

I stared at my best friend, taking in the torment he obviously felt over this revelation and hating that he felt that way. Hating that society made him feel that way. “I know,” I said softly.

His eyes widened but he didn’t say anything.

“I’ve known you for six years, dude, and for half of that time I’ve figured you were gay.” I shrugged. “So?”

Anger clouded his face. “So? Do you have any idea how fucking big this is?”

“It’s not big to me. Like, if you thought it would affect our friendship, it won’t.”

He sat and stared at me, and I couldn’t work out the thoughts running through his mind. When he eventually blew out a long breath, he said, “Fuck, I never knew you knew.”

I took another long drag of the joint and then passed it to him. After I blew out the smoke, I asked, “Did you really think I wouldn’t support you?”

“I didn’t know, but I should have.”

“Yeah, man, you should have. I’ve always had your back and I always fucking will.”

“Shit, Kick . . . yeah, I know.”

I eyed him, curious about something. “Does Evie know?”

He shook his head. “No, you’re the only person I’ve told.”