Same Time

twenty-four.

j a i m e e

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TRIGGER WARNING: detailed description of a sexual assault

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The following day, Shayden and I spent our time playing on his game console and arguing about everything from who was a better player to why the fuck I'm not allowed to throw the pad at him when I lose.

Now we were being dragged to the diner by Taylor and Libbie.

"About time." Libbie said impatiently, practically bouncing in her seat as we joined them. "Taylor called us for a group meeting and you both left me to deal with him longer than humanly necessary."

"See what I've had to put up with?" Taylor exclaims dramatically, eyes wide as he stared at Libbie. "This treatment could be classified as bullying. I've spoken to you twice since we arrived and still, you can't say anything nice about me."

"Don't speak to me then."

"I said Hi!" He huffs, "And then asked if you were okay, to which you put your middle finger up at me and told me to get you a coffee."

"And you came back with a lemonade instead," Libbie stuck her tongue out at him, "And you wonder why I don't like you."

Shayden and I just watched their banter in amusement.

"What's the group meeting about then?" I question, interrupting their petty arguing.

"Ask the dummy." Libbie gestures to Taylor, sipping her lemonade.

"Cameron." Taylor says. I feel Shayden tense up at the name, hand grabbing mine yet I had a feeling it was more to ground him than comfort me. "We don't know a lot so far, but I thought it was worth us trying to find out more about it."

"What's there to find out?" Shayden deadpans, not managing to keep the hostility out of his tone. "He got sent down for rape. As far as I'm concerned, fuck him."

"What?" Taylor forces out, obviously shocked by Shayden's stance. "Think about how terrifying this must be for him. Someone's made something up and he's practically serving a life sentence."

"People don't just make things like that up, Tay." Shayden tries to explain, gripping my hand tighter. "He was sentenced to a few years, and he doesn't even need to serve that. Why are you feeling sorry for him? He raped someone."

Taylor's eyes widened in shock at Shay's tone, "Shay, man, you don't actually believe it, do you? It's Cam. He wouldn't have done that."

"How do you know that?" Shayden counters, his jaw locking. "Stop fucking defending him. He raped someone, he deserves to suffer."

"He's our brother. How can you say that?" Taylor raises his voice. Libbie puts her hand on his arm, shaking her head but Taylor doesn't listen. He turns his gaze to me instead, "Jai, tell him he's losing the plot. We all know Cam isn't capable of that."

My gaze flickers, goosebumps decorate my skin as I can physically fucking feel all of them looking at me. My throat locks up, tightening until my words are hoarse. "I can't do that, Tay."

His jaw drops, staring at me as if I've gone crazy. "So if some random slut accused me of that, you'd just believe her? Like that? No question? Wow, that's the finest loyalty right there."

"You wouldn't do that. That's the difference between you and him." Shayden moves to stand up, obviously intending to take Taylor outside to settle their differences. I grab him.