More Than This: A More Novella (11 page)

I
blinked at him
.

He stared at me.

“Leo?”

I glanced at the door behind him. Thomas’ bedroom door. Which Leo was coming out of in the middle of the night—

“Oh.”

Roar shuffled behind me, drawing Leo’s attention away from me.

“Ahh—” I cast a quick glance over my shoulder at Roar, then faced Leo again. “I don’t tell your secret and you don’t tell mine?” I even thrust my hand out towards him.

“Uhh.” But he took my hand and we shook on it. “All right then.”

I pressed my lips together, gaze going from Leo to Thomas’ bedroom door. “So that’s what it’s like, huh?” I hadn’t even had a tiny flicker of suspicion of their relationship being anything but friendly.

“Yeah.” Leo seemed faintly embarrassed.

“Huh.” When had it happened? What the
hell
? “Okay then. Good night.” I turned to Roar, who stood with his head bowed. Didn’t he want to draw attention to himself? Had he turned suddenly shy? Or did he want to hide the bruise still adorning his eye?

We headed past Leo and down the hall into my bedroom.

Once the door was shut, I leant back against it with a sigh. “I had
not
expected
that
.”

Roar sat on the bed. “So your uncle’s gay?”

I tilted my head from side to side thoughtfully. “I don’t know. Seems that way?” Or he could be bi. I’d never actually seen Thomas with anyone before. He’d never introduced a special someone to the family. He’d always been alone.

“So who was that guy?” Roar looked at me steadily.

“That was Leo. Alex’s brother.”

“Alex, your brother’s boyfriend?”

I nodded.

“So your brother’s boyfriend’s brother is shagging your uncle?” He tried to wrap his head around the relations.

“It seems so, yeah.”

Why had I never noticed them? Sure, Leo’d been around ever since Christmas, and they always seemed to get along great, but I’d never suspected anything else to be going on between them.

“Does it bother you?” he asked, eyes narrowing a little as he studied me.

“No.” Of course it didn’t. “I just didn’t know. I didn’t notice anything off—or on in this situation, I suppose—between them.”

“Come here.” Roar motioned me over.

I went.

He put his hands on my hips, drew me in close, and I straddled his thighs.

“As long as Thomas is happy,
I’m
happy.” I hooked my arms around his neck. “He deserves someone special in his life. He’s always been alone. Taking care of Ben, of us. We’re all leaving soon now, and he’ll be all on his own. If he’s got someone, if he’s got Leo, that’s very good.”

Roar fell back on the bed—and he brought me with him.

I braced my arms on either side of his head and leaned down to kiss him.

He cupped my arse, hands running over, fingers teasing my crotch.

“We don’t have anymore condoms,” I muttered against his lips. We’d used the three I’d stolen from Ben, and I didn’t dare go down and steal more from him.

“I bought a pack before I closed the gas station.” Roar reached into his pocket and, yes indeed, he pulled out a pack of standard condoms.

I laughed quietly and nipped at his lip. “Good thinking.”

It was late, we had another day of school in the morning—but sex was too tempting to pass up.

When he had me spread on the bed, thighs parted, and he was eating me out… it was so good I had a hard time keeping quiet. Knowing Leo couldn’t be asleep yet, I did manage to keep my mouth shut, but it was damn difficult to do.

Roar worked his tongue expertly—and I was
this
close to coming when he pulled back.

I opened my eyes to protest, but once I saw him put a condom on, I kept quiet. I only spread my legs wider, accommodating him in-between them, and arched my back as he sank into me.

It was so good and I didn’t know what to do with myself until he flipped us around and I suddenly had to do all the work.

His hands cupped my tits—not that there were much to cup—while I rose and fell on him.

My thighs weren’t used to this kind of activity at all, and they burned, but it felt too good to stop.

His dick rubbed right up against my G-spot in this position and I was quickly coming undone.

He wasn’t far behind me.

After, I snuggled up against his side and he wrapped an arm around me.

We fell asleep like that without another word to each other.

* * *

R
oar left early next morning
, as school started eight thirty as usual for him. I lay in bed for another hour before I got up.

I had breakfast with Thomas and Leo, which was awkward. I knew about them, but Thomas didn’t know I knew, so Leo and I kept glancing at each other.

I headed to school early so I could catch up with Roar during break.

As soon as I entered the school yard, Jasmin came striding towards me.

“Is it true?” she demanded.

I frowned in confusion. “What?”

“About Jakob. Is he gay?”

I stopped dead. “Where’d you hear that?”

“Hedda’s told everyone.” Jasmin shrugged.

“She’s
what
?” That
bitch
. “Where’s Jakob?”

Jasmin shrugged again. “He left. After first period.”

Anger bubbled up inside me, replacing the shock of what Hedda had done. She’d done what Jakob had feared worst. “Where’s Hedda?”

Jasmin motioned across the school yard, where Hedda stood in a circle with Jakob’s male friends.

I strode towards them, ignoring the guys, and focusing fully on Hedda. She didn’t see me coming.

“How dare you do that to him?” I asked.

She turned, face set in a grim grimace. “He got what he deserved.”

She wasn’t even
repentant
. “You’re such a fucking bitch. No wonder he doesn’t want to be with you.”

Her lips thinned and whitened. “You’re the one who messed us up in the first place.”

I shook my head even before she finished speaking. “Oh, I’m not. But I advised him to tell you the truth. I thought you were a decent person who would keep shut about it. But no… you spread it around out of
spite
.”

This time around I was the one who hit
her
.

Hedda gasped in surprise, hand going to her cheek, but then she dropped her bag and jumped on me.

We fell to the ground with a loud
thud
, my back taking the brunt of it. But I wasn’t going to let her claw at my face and I fought her with all I had.

She screamed something, but I didn’t catch it, because I was too busy fighting off her slaps. Her nails were long and sharp and they’d do real damage if I let them anywhere near my face.

We rolled on the ground. There were sounds above us, but I couldn’t make out words. All that mattered was to get one over Hedda—and I did, because I was on top, pinning her down—

Except she managed to buck me off her, and now she was on top of
me
, and she raised her hand—

And a hand locked around her wrist, so she couldn’t budge. She turned her head, outraged, and I took my chance and bucked her off me.

“Let go of me!” Hedda tried to rip her hand out of the iron grip, but the hand holding hers didn’t budge.

I looked up—and saw it was Roar who’d stopped her from hitting me.

I pushed up on my knees, then onto my feet, and brushed dirt off my clothes.

Hedda still struggled to get her hand out of Roar’s grip, and when he suddenly released her without warning, she fell down on her hands and knees.

He strolled over to me without another look down at her.

“You all right?”

I nodded quickly, a bit too shaken up to speak.

He threw an arm around my shoulder and steered me away from Hedda, who got to her feet now as well.

“You’ve hooked up with him now?” Someone shouted, and when I looked over my shoulder, I saw it was my ex—Magnus. “You should’ve stuck to Jakob, made sure he wasn’t such a poof. You’ll only get in trouble with
that one
.” He spat the last two words out.

The weight of Roar’s arm left my shoulder, and in the next second his fist had connected with Magnus’ face.

I stood back silently, shaky from the adrenaline my fight with Hedda had brought on, and more than happy to let Roar beat some sense into Magnus’ idiot head.

Jakob’s friends gathered around the two, shouting and egging the fight on.

Hedda stood outside the ring, clutching her wrist.

I gave her a hard stare, daring her to try anything.

She glared back, but stayed where she was.

“Maria!” Iselin was at my side now. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” I turned back to the circle of lads. I couldn’t see Roar—I didn’t know if he was winning or losing. All I could hear were the yells and egging of all the other blokes gathered around.

Maybe not completely fine.

My back ached, from where it had taken the brunt of my fall earlier. Not to mention taking both my own body weight
and
Hedda’s.

Someone had stepped in to break up the fight—and Roar pushed his way past all the arseholes gathered around and stalked over to me.

He had a split lip, but seemed otherwise fine.

Iselin looked at him too, but with some trepidation.

“Want to skip school today?” I took his hand and squeezed.

He only nodded.

I looked at Iselin, who still stared at Roar. “You going to class? Or do you want to come with us?”

“Skip school?” She glanced back at the double doors, biting her lip. “I’ve never skipped school before.”

“There’s a first time for anything.” It wasn’t like her grades would suffer from one day off.

All the lads gathered around Magnus broke up as the bell rang. Magnus seemed worse for wear than Roar—he also had a split lip, but he was also swollen and red over his cheekbone and side of the eye.

Good riddance
.

Last year I’d thought Magnus hung the moon, before I started seeing him anyway, and during the start of our relationship. I’d eventually come to realise what a twat he was—sadly I’d already started to put out for him before it got to that point.

Hedda was at his side, and she glared at me.

The fucking bitch
.

“Does anyone know where Jakob lives?” I looked between Roar and Iselin, who both shook their heads. “I have to go see him.
We
have to.” It seemed his friends had abandoned him once Hedda spread the truth around—and whatever other vile lies she’d spun with it.

I took my phone up and quickly typed in a message to him.

Next I looked back up at Iselin. “You coming with us or what?”

Her teeth sank further into her bottom lip.

“You don’t have to,” I said softly, hating to see her struggle with what was right and wrong.

“I think Jakob needs someone more right now than I need to be here.” But she cast a hesitant look back at the doors.

My phone vibrated and I quickly unlocked the screen to see what Jakob had answered.

“He’s at the park.” I turned away from the school. “Shall we go?”

Roar, who hadn’t pulled his hand out of mine, turned with me.

Iselin nodded, face set, and came up on my other side. “Yeah, lets.”

So we left the school behind and headed downtown.

J
akob sat on a bench
, with his elbows on his knees and head in his hands. He seemed defeated and sad and lost.

“Hey, Jakob.” I let go of Roar’s hand, which I’d held onto ever since we left the school, to put mine on Jakob’s shoulder.

He slowly let his hands drop, but he didn’t look up. “She told
everyone
.”

“I know.” I sat down next to him and glanced up at Roar and Iselin, who hung back a little. Neither of them knew Jakob, after all. “Come on, lets head to BK, stuff our faces, talk, and have fun.”

He glanced at me—then at them.

“That’s what friends are for.” I stood up again and patted his shoulder.

He rose with a defeated sigh. “I’m not sure what to do now.”

“You be proud of who you are.” There was nothing else for it. He couldn’t skip school forever, or avoid everyone
at
school forever. And I wasn’t going to let him go around and be ashamed. “The truth’s out there. Own up to it.”

He scratched awkwardly at his neck. “Easy for you to say. You’re straight.”

“But I’ve got a gay cousin, a gay best friend, and a bi brother,” I pointed out. “Plus I know lots of other people who aren’t straight. There’s nothing wrong being attracted to someone of the same gender.”

I’d watched Ben struggle with telling Thomas, whereas Andreas had never told anyone at all—he’d simply brought Alex home, and he’d never left. And now Leo was part of our family too, somehow, besides simply being Alex’s brother.

“I’m straight,” Roar shot in, looking straight at Jakob with a serious expression. “But you don’t see me go around outing people or mocking them for who they like to sleep with. What people do in the bedroom is frankly none of my business.”

Iselin licked her lips, then hitched a thumb Roar’s way. “What he said.”

I hooked my arm around Jakob’s elbow. “See? You’re not all alone. We’re here. We don’t tell secrets, or spread rumours, or call anyone names. Except Hedda, but after what she did, she deserves to be called a bitch.”

That brought a small smile out on Jakob’s face.

“So you up for Burger King?” I asked him.

“Yeah, okay.”

I let go of his arm and fell into step besides Roar. He had his hands buried in his leather jacket now, but that was okay. I wasn’t
that
fond of public displays of affection—holding hands all the way over here had been more than enough PDA for me for one day.

We left the park behind and headed down to the main part of town.

Roar’s head turned to watch a man amble up the pavement across the street. He lugged three bags form the liquor store with him.

“My stepfather,” Roar murmured in a low voice so only I would hear.

I looked closer at the man. He seemed dishevelled, like he hadn’t showered in days or cut his hair in months. He wore baggy clothes, but he was quite tall and bulky, and not even the baggy clothes could hide that.

“He used to be into body-building,” Roar explained. “So he’s all buffed up. Now he’s all about drinking, but he’s still so fucking strong. I can’t take him.”

I moved my focus over to Roar. He was tall too, but not near the man across the street from us. And he was lanky. He had muscles, but he was more toned, not all bulked up like his arsehole of a stepfather.

“I’m sorry, Roar.” But he wasn’t alone anymore. He had me, and now he had Iselin and Jakob too.

“It’s not your fault.” He bumped me playfully. “Besides, if I could’ve taken him, I don’t think I would’ve stopped hitting until he was dead.” He looked over his shoulder, watching his stepfather amble up towards home.

Yeah, maybe it is a good thing
. Because if Roar had hit his stepfather until he died, he certainly wouldn’t be walking besides me now.

I wanted him beside me.

We fit so nicely together.

Iselin and Jakob had stopped, waiting for us to catch up with them. They hadn’t heard what we’d been talking about, which was good.

It had been private—and they didn’t need to know Roar harboured such deep-seated loathing for his stepfather to the point he knew he could kill him if he snapped.

* * *

F
our trays
of food filled the table and all four of us dug in. The chips were warm and crisp and salty, and with a healthy dose of ketchup on them, it was heaven.

Jakob still seemed down, but I hadn’t expected any different. His life had just been turned tits up, after all. He nibbled on his hamburger, a distant look on his face.

“Do your parents know yet?” I asked, as he’d told me he’d been worried about them. Not so much the gay thing, but the school thing. Still…

He shook his head. “I haven’t been home since I left for school. They’re at work anyway, it’s not like they’re going to hear about it anytime soon unless Hedda personally shows up at my house to tell them.” He grimaced, and it seemed like he wouldn’t put that past her at this point.

“Maria hit her,” Roar said, hitching a thumb at me.

“What?” Jakob’s eyes widened.

I gave Roar a
look
. “Thanks for that.” When he only grinned and took a bite of his burger, I turned back to Jakob. “But, yeah, I did. I found out from Jasmin. She asked me if it was true. Then I found Hedda—and I hit her. She deserved it.”

A startled laugh left Jakob and he put his burger down on his tray. “You
didn’t
.”

“She totally did,” Iselin shot in. “It was epic.”

“I’ve never hit anyone before,” I mused. “Except that time she hit
me
and I hit back. But that was more self-defence than anything.”

“Did you like it?” Jakob asked, a wry smile slowly spreading on his lips.

“Kinda did, yeah.”

Roar choked down a chuckle next to me.

“Right now I wish
I
could hit her.” Jakob folded his hands and rocked forward a little.”

“You could,” I offered, “but I reckon you’d probably get in trouble. It’s a bit double standard. Women can hit a man without getting in trouble with the law, but as soon as a man hits a woman, he’s an abuser. Many times that’s true—but some women deserve to be hit.”

“Amen to that.” He lifted his cardboard box full of Cola and tilted it against my milkshake.

“Second that.” Iselin joined with her Sprite.

Roar only shook his head, but he smiled.

We dug back into our food, but Jakob didn’t seem to be in better spirits. In fact, he seemed downright depressed.

“Whatever happens at school, we’re here for you,” I said, trying to console him. “Whatever they say or do, come hang out with us. We’re not judging.”

He managed a small smile around his straw. “I appreciate that.”

I twiddled with my own straw. “So… Are you going to tell your parents?” I was a bit worried about how that would go for him. But surely they couldn’t be as nasty as Hedda?

To think that Jakob had thought their chat to go well, only for her to turn around and do something so vindictive…

“I reckon I have to. They’ll find out eventually anyway.” He hitched one shoulder. “It’s better to break the news of my sexuality than what I’ve applied to school for, anyway.”

Iselin and Roar shot him wry looks at that.

“What have you applied for?” Iselin asked curiously.

“I want to be a teacher.” He gave her a small, sad smile. “They don’t think that’s a good career choice. Anything that isn’t lawyer or engineer or a doctor isn’t a good career choice.”

Iselin’s eyebrows drew together into a frown. “That sucks.”

“Yeah.” He sighed and looked down at his tray.

“So they’re not going to throw you out for being gay then?”

“I don’t think so.”

“If they
do
,” I shot in, “we’ve got a room available at my house you can stay in.”

Now Iselin shot
me
a wry look. “You do? Aren’t all rooms taken?”

“Christina’s is available.”

“But doesn’t Leo have that when he’s around?” she asked, frowning. She knew everything about what went on in my house, though she’d never met neither Leo nor Alex.

“Uhh…” Well, shit. That was supposed to be a secret, wasn’t it? “Not… really.” I wanted to have the offer out there, in case of worst case scenario for Jakob, but that meant I had to
tell
that secret. “Swear you won’t tell anyone?”

Iselin blinked. “Please don’t tell me he’s shagging Ben.”

A laugh escaped at that. Iselin knew just how much of a slag Ben could be. “No, he’s not. But you’re not that far off, actually. But really, you can’t tell
anyone
.”

“I won’t.” Iselin made a cross over her heart.

“Leo and Thomas,” was all I said as I hooked my middle finger over my index finger, “they’re
tight
.”

“What? Really?” Iselin leant forwards, voice falling a little. “I didn’t know your uncle was gay.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know what he is. As long as he’s happy, I’m happy. If anyone deserves to be happy, it’s Thomas. After everything he’s done for us during all these years… But this is
top secret
. I think I’m the only one who knows.”

“Secret relationship, huh?” Iselin got a dreamy look on her face. “That’s romantic.”

Both Jakob and I laughed, while Roar raised an eyebrow.

“What do you know about romance?” I asked through my laughter. “You’re not romantic
at all
.”

“I can still appreciate the romance of others.” Iselin made a mock-indignant grimace, before a giggle escaped.

“We’re a right bunch, aren’t we?” I looked around at the three of them. “But I think we fit together anyway.” Roar and Jakob hadn’t said much to each other, but I had a feeling they’d get there eventually.

That we’d all get there.

For so long it had only been Iselin and me. Best friends since forever. Then I’d started to get to know Roar and Jakob at the same time, and now here we were. A rag-tag group of loners.

Well, except Jakob as he’d been a part of the popular crowd, but now he was with us.

He’d fit in better with us, anyway.