The King Brothers [BoyxBoy]

29. Zephyrus

"Of course we won." I laugh. Gladys walks up and hands me an envelope.  I read the return addressI and it says Duke University. I breathe in deeply, and I run upstairs to open it with Ced.

When I reach his room, I can see him sitting on the roof outside his window. I throw my duffel bag on his floor and I walk to the open window.

"Wassup man?" I ask, climbing out to sit beside him. There was no alcohol thank God.

"What's up?" I ask, looking out into infinite darkness, until it met the downtown lights in the horizon.

"I fucked everything up." He says, looking down.

I sit up, puzzled, and look at him. "What do you mean?"

"After I talked to you in the gym, I ran into someone in the hallway.

"Oh you saw TJ?" I say, clapping. He straight faces me, and looks back down.

"No."

"Then who??"

"Hykeem." He says.

"Oh for real?? Why didn't you tell me? Did he say where he disappeared to?" I ask, impatiently.

"He tried to kill me." He says dryly.

I look at him again. "Why would he do that...?"

He sighed and leaned back against the window. I do the same.

"Spill the beans bro." I tell him.

"The day we had that meltdown at dinner, and I left, I saw him at a spot I used to chill at whenever I had something on my mind. And he asked me to sit with him in his car." He begins.

I shake my head. I almost forgot Ced and Keem used to talk. I would've never known he swing that way though.

"We only sat there for about five minutes, until he got angry. I tried run away but he followed, and one thing led to another, and I kicked him in his stuff, and escaped." I'm not really processing this just yet. He's not telling me something.

"I feel like there's some missing screws here. Matter of fact, there ain't shit constructed for the screw to fall out! Can you start from he beginning??" I snap at him, he scoots over and puts his face in his knees. I knew I upset him just then. With all this going on, I know whatever it is he had to say was too much for him.

"He raped me." Cedric whispers. My mind functioned like a broken record after he said that, the words replayed over and over. I was beyond mad.

"Zeph." Ced says, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"When did this happen?" I ask.

"Ninth grade." He utters out, sounding nauseous. I bang my fists against the roof in rage. I can't believe someone I was close to since the beginning could turn around and do this. Who would do that?

"What happened when you saw him today?" I ask trying to get all the information in before I went off.

"He tried to beat me up but I fought back, and when he was too strong, I gave in." He explains.

"What do you mean?"

"I pretended to give him what he wanted... I-I kissed him."

"Why would you do that shit man?" I ask shaking my head.

"He was trying to kill me Zephyrus! And the only thing that could save me was my body." He excuses himself.

"Okay whatever. What happened then??" I say.

"Well why you were slaying on the court, TJ was watching the whole thing. And now he thinks I couldn't wait for him, and I've been fucking with Hykeem all along. He only caught the end of it." He tells me.