Chapter 47

From the moment he faced the police, Alex’s entire body trembled.

An officer approached clutching an incident report printed on recycled paper and asked about his relationship with Nathan, whether he had witnessed the event.

Staring blankly at the baton strapped to the officer’s waist, Alex forced out answers through a voice thick with the remnants of tears.

After confirming that he hadn’t directly witnessed the altercation, the questions pivoted to his relationship with Nathan. The moment the word “friend” slipped past his lips, the sobs he had been fighting to suppress threatened to tear free, because now they weren’t even friends. They were absolutely nothing to each other.

When asked why he had been in the alley, Alex hesitated.

A truthful answer would force him to lay everything bare. The moment David was mentioned, the situation would spiral beyond containment, and if the police contacted him, David would undoubtedly leak Nathan’s photo in retaliation. Based on the time Alex had spent observing the older boy, he knew David was more than capable of following through on that threat.

So Alex offered a vague half-truth, stating only the surface-level facts, that he had come to see Nathan and happened to run into him as he was leaving the alley, carefully burying the malicious background connecting them.

The officer studied him quietly before asking once more if he was okay. The terrifying realization that he was lying to the police made his heart hammer against his ribs. He had no idea how this situation would unfold. Part of him desperately wished the two Alphas who had fled would be caught so the entire truth could surface, but the horrifying image of the photo kept flashing in his mind, paralyzing him.

He answered the remaining formalities mechanically. After submitting his contact information, address, and guardian details, Alex was told to go straight home, unlike Nathan, who was being held at the station.

Driven by gnawing anxiety, Alex asked if Nathan was alright, but the officer only provided a brief overview. Nathan would be taken to the hospital for an examination, his parents would be contacted, and a formal investigation would begin. Beyond that, the police offered nothing.

Alex stood rooted to the spot until both the police cruisers and the ambulance vanished from sight. Sitting in the back of the patrol car, Nathan had not looked out the window even once.

It was only after the final vehicle pulled away that Alex forced his legs to move. The neighbors who had trickled out to spectate the commotion quietly dispersed back into their homes, their hushed whispers feeling like physical daggers of condemnation sinking into his back.

On the bus ride home, Alex stared blankly at the dirt-caked wristband resting in his palms. He was so detached from reality that he missed his stop, only stepping off a station late. Upon arriving home, he trudged straight into his bedroom, entirely lacking the energy to change out of his sweat-drenched clothes. He placed the ruined band gently on his desk, right next to the suppressants and bandages Nathan had carefully organized for him.

And the second he saw them side by side, the dam broke.

Pressing his lips tightly together, Alex stood frozen over his desk and wept. The image of Nathan’s vivid green eyes glaring at him as he viciously ground the wristband beneath his shoe flickered endlessly in his mind. The voice calling him disgusting, the razor-sharp accusation branding him a hypocrite, they circled relentlessly through his skull.

Tears fell in heavy drops, instantly soaking his cheeks and jaw.

Scrubbing at his raw, bloodshot eyes, Alex curled into himself.

Muffled, suffocating gasps slipped through his parted lips as he desperately fought to swallow his wails.

A crushing wave of sorrow washed over him, and he repeatedly clenched and unclenched his hands around the ruined band. He knew he deserved far worse than what he had received, but the simple fact that Nathan had destroyed the band hurt with an indescribable grief.

He would never be able to speak to Nathan again. The crushing weight of the infinite tomorrows he would have to face without him brought a tidal wave of regret crashing down. Alex wanted to sprint back right now and confess the entire truth. If he didn’t, he felt like he might actually die.

But the terrifying possibility remained: if David caught wind of them interacting again, there was no telling what psychotic lengths he would go to next.

Alex racked his brain, desperately trying to think of someone, anyone, who could help. But his father would never understand, and he lacked the courage to confess to Tina or Jude. To any objective observer, Alex was the one who had dragged Nathan into this nightmare. He was terrified of being condemned and left entirely alone.

Standing in the quiet isolation of his room, Alex cried for a very long time.

It was only when the skin around his eyes felt raw and painfully swollen that the tears finally stopped. He couldn’t even begin to fathom tomorrow. Unable to comprehend what a single day of his life would look like without Nathan in it, Alex tumbled into a deep, exhausted sleep, as if fleeing from reality itself.

☂