The Good Side Of You | Monty and Winston

Chapter 1: Loneliness

"You wave that thing around like I give a shit."

The gun was pointing right at his throat. One small movement of Alex's finger and he would be dead. And who would care?

"Where are the polaroids?" Alex asked again, as if he couldn't believe Monty when he answered the first time.

"I told you I don't have them."

"Why would you do this, Monty? Why would you protect a rapist who would sell you out in a heartbeat to protect himself? Why would you do all those horrible things just to try to save his ass? Hannah is dead because of him!" The hand that was holding the gun shook as Alex said the last sentence, and Monty thought again how easily Alex could pull that trigger, even accidentally.

"Bryce, the team, they are everything to me, Alex. I can't run home, the team's my home. I have no one else on my side. Being an athlete, going to playoffs, winning state, that's not about fun for me. It's about survival. It's everything. So if you're going to shoot me, shoot me."

Montgomery looked into Alex's eyes, and Alex saw in them the fearlessness of someone who had nothing left to lose. Someone whose father had just tried to beat him with a hammer. Someone who had nowhere to sleep tonight, or the night after.  "So, are you gonna shoot me, Alex? You couldn't even shoot yourself."

"Fuck you!" But Alex lowered the gun, and Monty took it from him.

"By the time you get anywhere, I'll be long gone."

As Monty got in his car, Alex yelled, "Is he worth it, Monty?"

"You're the one with the hole in your head. You tell me."

And with that Monty drove away, leaving Alex stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Monty had no idea where he was driving to. He had only a few dollars on him. He thought it would probably be smart to buy some food with it, but he bought some beer instead. The guy behind the counter sold it to him, no questions asked. He was used to Monty buying beer for his father all the time. He didn't even notice his dad was not in the car. All the better for Monty. He didn't want to think, or feel. He just wanted to be numb. And he knew the beer would help with that.

The sun was beginning to set, and he found a secluded spot near the beach that he thought would be safe enough to spend the night. It was beautiful, you could see the sun setting down towards the waves, and the salty air felt good against his bruised skin.

He was on his fourth beer when he heard some kind of clicking noise. Monty looked in the direction of the noise and saw a curly-haired boy taking pictures of the sunset with what looked like an expensive camera. He hadn't even noticed Monty, so absorbed as he was in what he was doing. Monty thought it was probably because he had only a few minutes to get the perfect shot before the sun completely disappeared. He looked like he was a rich kid. Monty could see a blue Audi R8 parked not far away. Hot anger bubbled up suddenly inside of him, like it so often did. He wanted to be alone. He got out of his car to yell at him.

"Hey! Get out of here!"

The boy jumped, startled, and would have dropped his camera if the strap hadn't been around his neck. But when he looked at Monty with his wide hazel eyes, when he noticed the bruises on his face and the way he was carrying himself, like he was tired of having to be tough all the time, he saw a kid who was suffering. He wasn't afraid.

"What happened to your face?"

"Why do you care?"

The boy ignored that and took a step closer to him. "I'm Winston."

Monty looked at him. Those hazel eyes were still looking at him strangely. No one looked at him like that, like they were really seeing him.

The gun was still visible inside Monty's car, but Winston hadn't seen it. Monty slid it under the driver's seat to hide it. "Montgomery," he said, and Winston nodded.

Instead of going away, Winston was walking towards him. Monty wondered why he was still looking at him so intently, and he took an unconscious step back. But Winston noticed how often Monty's eyes rested on his lips, and that encouraged him to get closer.

"You should really take care of that," Winston said, and he tentatively raised his hand before very softly running a finger down the bruised side of Monty's face. The touch made Monty shiver slightly, and his eyes darted to Winston's lips again. A part of Monty was screaming that this wasn't right, but another part of him wanted to close the distance between them. He swallowed, and the choice was made for him when Winston pressed his lips against his own.

Winston's first thought was how cold Monty's lips were, and how they tasted of beer, when Monty suddenly grabbed his shirt and pushed him away. Monty was breathing hard, and his right hand was clenched in a fist, as if he was thinking about punching him.

"Easy," said Winston.

Breathing hard still, Monty looked from Winston's eyes to his lips, again and again, and Winston could see in his eyes the internal battle he was fighting. With what sounded almost like a whimper, Monty finally gave in and locked their lips together again, this time losing himself fully in the kiss. His hands buried themselves in Winston's hair, and he felt himself growing hard quickly. Winston felt it as well, and he grabbed Monty by the waist to press their bodies even closer together. Monty moaned in Winston's mouth and Winston broke the kiss with a smile.

"Wanna get out of here?"

Earlier, Monty had said to himself how he didn't want to think, and he certainly wasn't thinking when he followed Winston to his house, or when he followed Winston to his room, or when they started making out again, before taking off their clothes. He wasn't thinking about anything except about how hard he was and how good it felt what they were doing.

Winston noticed how dominant Monty was, so he adopted a more submissive attitude, letting Monty do whatever he wanted. But when Winston got the lube out of a drawer from his nightstand, laid on his back and spread his legs for Monty to enter him, Monty hesitated. Winston thought this was probably his first time with a guy, or his first time ever, period. He lubricated both Monty and himself before he wrapped his legs around Monty's waist and kissed him softly on the lips. Winston guided him, enjoying Monty's gasp as he pressed himself inside of Winston. Once Monty was fully inside he took control of the situation again, grabbing Winston's shoulders and moving in and out. Winston was groaning with every thrust and it was driving Monty crazy. He whispered in Winston's ear that he was going to come soon, before burying himself deeply inside of him with a moan of absolute ecstasy.

"Holy shit," Monty breathed out.

He laid there on top of Winston for a few seconds, still throbbing down there from his orgasm, before he noticed how sticky Winston's belly was—he came too. Monty smiled and kissed Winston's lips one more time before pulling himself out of him and lying next to him on the bed.

Winston raised himself and leaned on his elbow to look at Monty's face. "I can give you a ride somewhere, if you don't want an Uber."

This surprised Monty, who was still in that post-sex afterglow. He didn't want to go.

"Are you trying to kick me out?" Monty asked, and Winston's heart melted.

"No, I just figured you would want to go."

Monty turned his whole body towards Winston so that he was lying on his side before grinning and saying, "Well, maybe I wanna stay and do that again."

Winston's smile at that took Monty's breath away. "Yeah? Okay."

The fact that Monty found Winston so beautiful disturbed him, and he felt compelled to say "I'm not... fucking gay."

Winston looked at Monty's eyes and said without judgement, "Okay. Cool. You can be whatever you want to be."

It was the kindest thing anyone had ever said to him, but Monty knew it wasn't true.

"No... I can't."

Monty's eyes shined with unshed tears. Winston put an arm around him and rested his head on Monty's chest. He wasn't ready to come out, and Winston understood that. He could tell Monty's life wasn't easy somehow, and the rush of affection he was feeling for Monty kind of scared him. He had just met him. He showered Monty's face with kisses until Monty smiled and reversed their positions, so that Winston was lying on his back and Monty was on top again. They had sex two more times that night before they fell asleep in each other's arms.