Chapter 144 Chapter 145

Chapter 144 Chapter 145
The flailing intensified at the threat, the senior gasping wetly against the counter. Nobody was coming to his rescue; there was no one at Ravi’s back, banging their fists against his shoulders and demanding he let the metal-bloke go. He waited as the senior did his utmost to break free, legs kicking against Ravi’s shins, but the force was weak – it wasn’t enough. Nothing the senior could do would be enough.
“Fuck you.” His voice was wet, and there were tears budding in those dark pools. Ravi watched him, grin widening.
“No, fuck you.” He felt the bloodlust rush to the surface.
“That’s enough, mate.” 
Suddenly, there were several sets of hands grabbing Ravi, pulling him back with a force not even he could resist. He dragged the metal block along by his hair, the senior wailing as he hurried to follow, scrambling not to get his hair pulled out at the roots. Ravi fought the force, turning around with a snarl just to realise that it was not only Sebastian, but it was Theo, Dean, and Seamus as well. They were all holding onto him, eyes wide as they stared at the senior kneeling on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. 
His hair remained captured in Ravi’s hand, slim fingers braided together around the big lad’s fist, not trying to pry it open, but trying to ease the strain on his midnight stripes.
“Let him go.” Sebastian was standing in front of him, hand coming down to fit around Ravi’s thick wrist. The redhead had a firm grip as he braced Ravi’s gaze, worried brown meeting enraged green. “This is not you.”
Ravi laughed. “Didn’t you say I could do this? If people were a tit to me, I could smash their fucking face in.”
Sebastian winced, shaking his head violently, like a dog in the rain. “No mate, no. Please.”
He was doing something worse than being angry with Ravi – he was pleading. For a moment, they were at a stalemate, the rugby team holding Ravi and Sebastian standing in the front begging him to let go of the senior whimpering beneath his fist. Ravi looked down, watched the long fingers gripping around the back of his hand. The digits were smooth, neither nicked nor bruised. Not like Ravi’s.
He hesitated, the world swaying as he noted the audience they’d gathered. Students were standing in a circle all around, faces ashen, lips bitten. They were whispering, the music still blaring loud enough for Ravi not to hear. 
“Ravi. It’s Denis, isn't it?”
Eyes snapped to Sebastian, hating him for talking, for saying the worst possible thing. 
The redhead was looking at him with large eyes. The brown in them appeared honey and wet. He didn’t need this, didn’t need Sebastian staring at him like he was watching a dying dog. Each breath felt hard, his throat constricted, the air a whistle as it escaped. “Shut up.”
“I’m sorry, mate. Like, I really am so sorry. I thought the professional rugby thing would be good. It shouldn’t have changed anything.”
Ravi was shaking his head, the telltale sign of an oncoming headache sending tendrils up the back of his head. “He didn’t know. I didn’t tell him.”
Then Sebastian did the most peculiar thing. He looked guilty. 
Ravi was perhaps drunk and messy, but he wasn’t stupid.
“You told him.” He let go of the senior’s hair, the bloke falling to a heap on the floor, curling into a fetal position. Ravi didn’t spare him a second glance. Instead, his hands found the collar of Sebastian's shirt, fisting the fabric. The music was so loud, Ravi wondered if he was hearing words or reading lips.
Sebastian didn’t appear scared, his teeth worrying his lower lip as he faced Ravi’s onslaught. 
“You fucking told him.”
For a beat, there was nothing but honey-brown and blazing green. Then Sebastian nodded, hair flopping over his forehead as he confessed to his sins. 
Ravi jabbed him over the nose. He wished he could have gone harder, wished he’d been able to put his hips into the move, to let rotation fuel his knuckles with enough force to bury themselves in the back of Sebastian's skull. But he still loved the bastard, so he held back, his fist free-ranging as it jabbed him, using just enough force to make him bleed, but not break. 
Sebastian stumbled back, blood pouring from his nose.
Hands grabbed Ravi harder, holding him so tight he wondered if they thought him a feral animal? Something that, if unleashed, would tear Sebastian to shreds. Fingers dug into his shoulders, upper arms, and the side of his neck. He showed Sebastian his teeth. Let him see the monster he’d created.
“You’re a fucking traitor. I trusted you. I trusted you with him.”
Sebastian was trembling, his hands gingerly touching his swelling nose. Tears poured from his eyes. There was something small about him, his large stature fitting in the hollow of a teacup. Ravi didn’t pity him, felt nothing as he snarled at his best friend, who stared at him as one might stare at a stranger.
“Ravi,” his voice escaped in a garble, the words hard to decipher. The music didn’t help. “I wasn’t an asshole to him. I swear.”
“Yes, you are .” Ravi wondered if anyone else could hear the loud ringing. “Since the beginning, you’ve been such a piece of shit to him. Fucking awful. How hard is it to let me have something good? Something fucking good.”
Sebastian was talking, head shaking. He’d been wearing a light blue T-shirt. Now, ugly red spots had ruined it, the splashes sticking to it like mud to your shoes. Theo was also screaming, but Ravi didn’t care. He could tell him to calm the fuck down, however many times he wanted. It didn’t matter – nothing did.
Sebastian didn’t know when to back down. He swayed in Ravi’s direction, spewing a bunch of bullshit about how he’d tried to be nice, that he’d really tried to put in an effort with Arnold. He’d just told Denis about the scout because Ravi wouldn’t do that, would he? Sebastian had told Denis, because he had this awful suspicion that just maybe Ravi would do something stupid, something like walking away from his dreams without letting Denis know.
“You don’t get to decide that.” Fuck it, Ravi was crying. A right mess. He was still imprisoned, the lads’ hands like shackles. “You don’t get to decide what I do with my life.”