Chapter 22

'What the hell, Foster?!' The boy yelled, receiving a powerful blow to the jaw with his fist.

'For touching her, you son of a bitch!' James shoved Nick, violently pinning him against the wall.

'When will you fucking realize she's not some kind of whore!' Yelled the blond man, grabbing the young man across from him by his T-shirt and slamming his back hard against the shabby wall behind him.

The boy moaned in pain, contorting his face.

'Get in the back!' Nick pushed his friend away, quickly punching him in the eyebrow. 'Don't make me laugh, Jay, that you're really going to protect that bitch!'

'Shut your mouth, Miller!' Foster snarled as he landed a left hook into his friend's chest but got hit right in the shoulder in response.

And so, blow after blow.

'Never, can you hear me?' Nick was spitting blood from his mouth, completely ignoring Jay, not caring that a person was talking to him now. 'Fuck, I'm warning you that if you touch her again, I'll break all your bones.'

'You fucking try, man,' Miller lashed out at Foster, bringing the whole thing into even more conflict than it is now.

'Damn it, don't piss me off!' James dodged the fist in his direction, making a blow from below in the stomach.

While the guy did not move away from the pain defect, Jay pressed the brown-haired man against the wall, again striking his body with his fists.

'I warn you,' the blond man rapped out syllable by syllable, stopping himself so as not to beat his friend to death.

'Fuck you,' Louis spat blood right into Foster's face, his eyes flashing insolently and his lips stretched into an evil smirk.

James clenched his jaw as he felt Miller's blood and saliva run down his face. They both stood and stared into each other's eyes, one smirking while the other kept his demon inside of him. Foster grabbed Nick by the neck in an instant, quickly tightening his fingers around his throat, tightening his grip more and more, feeling the veins in his neck throbbing. The brown-haired man grabbed his hand with his hands, trying to unclench his fingers in order to take a sip of air. The blond man tilted his head slightly to the side, peering into the face of the man opposite. Looking at every little thing, or rather, looking at the integrity of what damage he managed to inflict on a friend for this 'conversation'. James leaned into Miller's ear, leaning cheek to cheek, specifically wiping his spit against his jaw.

'If I hear from someone or see that you touched her clean, tender body with your rough, dirty hands, then keep in mind, I will tear out your manhood and shove it up your ass,' Jay growled, poking his finger in the chest with each word guy.

'Why?' Nick barely squeezed out the question, greedily gasping for oxygen. 'Do you care about her that much?'

'Yes, because I feel something for her, holy shit!' Foster yelled in anger, releasing his hand and moving away from Nick.

Grabbing the roots of his hair, the blond man rolled down the opposite wall, sitting down and lowering his head to bent knees. The young man himself could not believe his words, which escaped from his heart in anger. Nick coughed, clutching his neck and trying to catch his breath. Then, sitting on his feet in the same way, he leaned his back against the wall, throwing his head back, and grabbing fresh air with his mouth to restore his breath.

'Are you serious?' Miller asked hoarsely, glancing at the blonde in front of him.

'I didn't say that, okay?' Jay growled, raising his head.

Miller chuckled as he looked at his friend's face. The red liquid dripped down his chin — it was Nick' spit in his face. His own crimson blood trickled down his nose. The left eyebrow was shattered, and a smeared liquid was visible on the cheek. Dark blue almost like black eyes wearily looked at the person opposite right in the face.

'I thought she really was a whore,' the brown-haired man broke the silence.

'Closed the topic, I just warned you very nicely not to touch her again.'

'You look like a pig,' Miller remarked, looking at his friend's appearance, as well as his bloody white T-shirt.

'You're not better,' Foster snorted, getting up from his seat and sitting next to Miller, taking his T-shirt by the bottom, he wiped his dirty face. 'Do you have a lighter?'

The boy nodded, then cleared his bloodied appearance in the same way. Jay pulled a pack of cigarettes from the back pocket of his black skinny jeans, pulling out a cigarette and pressing it between his lips. Silently holding out a cardboard pack to a friend, he waited until he took it for himself, and then put it on the ground between them. Nick took out a matte black lighter, lighting tobacco for himself and the person next to him. They both did a deadlift and then tilted their heads back in sync, enjoying the tobacco smoke in their lungs.

'Give me your word that you will no longer try to rape her, and indeed touch her, as well as mock her.'

'I will think about this proposal,' the brown-haired man said calmly, exhaling smoke from his mouth.

Because Nick found the thing that attracted her. Sexy, definitely.

Foster turned his head towards Miller, looking at him with a look in which it was impossible to read a single emotion:

'Don't give me a reason to get up and hit you again.'

'Come on, Jay,' the guy quickly raised his two hands up, showing that he was giving up. 'I won't touch Hailey again.'

'That's good.'

James brought the cigarette to his mouth, wrapping his lips around it and inhaling the tobacco smoke into his lungs.

'I really thought she was one of the ones you slept with and I thought I could borrow her from you for a while.'

'Why are you always so rude to her?' The blond man asked, exhaling smoke along with his words.

'You know how I feel about girls like that. Like I always said 'whores get fucked, not made love to'.'

Nick took a drag on his cigarette, feeling the nicotine flow into his lungs, and then exhaled the acrid smoke in front of him, watching the misty cloud with his eyes.

'Continues to flow?' Foster asked, turning to face his friend and raising his head slightly.

Miller nodded, pulling one last time and quickly putting out his cigarette against the wall behind him, reaching for the bottom of his black T-shirt with his hands. He tore the thing in half, and then tore off a small piece of fabric, twisting it like a joint.

'Shut this up,' the brown-haired man handed the young guy what he had done a couple of minutes ago with his own hands, giving instructions along the way. 'must stop.'

'Thanks.'

Jay carefully tucked a piece of cloth into his right nostril, trying to stop the bleeding.

'What's wrong with my eye? It's hard to see now, like in a fog, you know? Fuck, it hurts when you look around,' Miller exhaled tiredly, rubbing his face with his palms.

'Show me,' the young man next to him reached out to him, simultaneously removing his hands from his eyes. 'It's bloody red, I think the capillaries have burst. Hmm, I hit you well, that's what you need for your naughty hands.'

'You should fucking be sorry.'

'Go to hell, I'm still mad at you.'

James Foster quickly got up from his seat, offering a helping hand to a friend who was not in the best condition, in fact, like himself. Nick Miller rose, grasping the outstretched hand, noticing that their hands were too bruised. Silently heading towards the right hull, each of the two present rubbed their bruises, trying to relieve the pain. Miller walked beside him, thinking about how he felt about Hailey, how he would treat her now, and whether he would ever approach her at all. Apologizing to a girl was not even in his mind, a guy never says the word 'sorry' to anyone.