Josh tossed his bat aside in disgust. "I missed nearly every fucking pitch."

West slapped him on the back. "Hey, you had an off day no big deal."

He snorted. "Man, I've had an off week."

West shrugged. "It happens."

Josh dropped onto the bench with a sigh. Practice had been over for an hour, West had stayed behind to help him work on his hitting. He'd failed as badly as he had during practice. "Yeah, I guess it does."

"Give it time, it will pass."

"Not any time soon."

"You stressing about college applications and shit? My mom has been riding my ass for the last couple of months to get them done," West told him.

He grunted. "I wish that was all."

West shrugged. "Whatever it is I'm sure it will all work out."

He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not so certain it will. At least not anytime soon."

"Josh, come on, what's up?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, forget it."

"Josh, how long have we been friends?"

He sighed. "Since fourth grade."

"Right, so why can't you talk to me?" West asked.

"Because it has to do with Zayden."

"Ah, I see. And you think you can't trust me to keep it to myself. Come on, I'm not going to blab to the entire school," West assured him.

"That isn't what I was worried about."

West sighed and sat beside him. "Then what are you worried about?"

"You and Zay had a thing, no matter how brief, and I don't think it's my place to trot his problems out to you."

"We didn't have anything. It was one kiss and then he told me to get out of his life," West replied. "Come on, Josh, if Zay's problems are big enough to affect you then I think you need to talk about them."

"He told his parents and it went worse than I'd expect WWIII would go."

"Told his parents?"

"That he's gay," Josh replied.

"Ahh, I see. Wanna tell me what happened?"

"His parents flipped out," Josh said with a shrug.

"I got that from the WWIII reference. How exactly did they flip out?"

"You have to understand a bit about his parents, they belong to some church from what Lyssa has told me it's more of a cult than an actual church. Anything they deem unnatural or outside their religious teachings they condemn. Homosexuality is at the top of their list. Anyone admits to that and they ship them off to some camp to be brainwashed into admitting they aren't gay."

West released a low whistle. "Now I understand why he was so afraid of telling them. I thought it was normal paranoia of parental disapproval. I can't believe they'd want to do that to their kid."

Josh shrugged. "Yeah, well they were pissed. They had expectations and Zay being gay wasn't one of them."

"I feel awful," West said quietly.

"Why? It was his parents that did the condemning, you had nothing to do with it," Josh assured him.

"I pushed him and called him a wimp for not standing up and living his life on his terms. I had no idea about his parents. Shit." West put his head in his hands. "I'm such an asshole."

"No, you're human. You liked him and you were disappointed in the fact he wouldn't admit to any feelings in return."

West raised his head and smiled at Josh. "How did we go from me comforting you to you reassuring me?"

Josh chuckled as he stood "I'm not sure. Listen, can you not tell Zay I told you about his parents, I don't think he wants anyone to know?"

"Don't worry I won't tell anyone." West stood. "Other than his parents, has he ...you know, told anyone else?"

"No I don't think so, he's still dealing with shit. The fact his parents reacted predictably upset him, I think he harbored a small hope they would accept him."

"Is that why he hasn't been in school this week?" West asked.

"Yeah, I think his current state is best described as depressed."

"Shit."

"I gotta go, Lyssa is probably waiting on me." He gestured toward the parking lot.

"Yeah, go ahead. I'm going to sit here and stare into space while rethinking my entire life."

Josh chuckled. "Let it go, West you couldn't have known. Go grab a burger with Marlow or something. Zay's a big boy he can take care of himself."

"Let's hope you're right."

Josh slapped him on the shoulder and left, heading for the parking lot.

West watched him go. He felt awful, he'd pushed Zay and he couldn't help thinking he'd shoved him into admitting he was gay and it was his fault Zay had lost his parents from his life.

"You can never leave well enough alone, can you shithead?" he asked himself. He pulled his phone out and sent Marlow a text. Josh was right, he couldn't dwell on it. If Zay wanted help then they had to wait for him to ask for it. He wasn't going to shove himself in Zay's face again, but he'd be there if the guy wanted help. He may not completely understand the way his parents had reacted to his announcement but he did have experience with a disapproving parent. His dad hadn't accepted that he was gay. He sighed, gathered his things, and went to meet Marlow. There was nothing he could do to improve Zay's situation. He frowned as a thought hit him and he pulled his phone out and sent Josh a text.

He stared at his phone until Josh answered and he sighed in relief. It occurred to him that if Zay's parents hadn't accepted the fact he was gay he might not have a home to go to any longer. Josh said his dad had allowed Zay to move in with them. At least he wasn't homeless.

***

Marlow knocked his knuckles against the table. "West, are you paying attention?"

"What? Sorry, my brain is occupied with shit it shouldn't be thinking about." He sent Marlow a small smile.

"Wanna talk about it?"

He shrugged. "Not really my problem to talk about."

"Ahh, a friend crisis?" Marlow asked him.

"In a way it is, but it's more of a friend of a friend issue."

Marlow chuckled. "Problems by association?"

He grinned. "Yeah."

Marlow patted his hand. "Whatever it is I'm sure it will be fine and if it isn't well ... that's life, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. It still sucks."

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?"

West shook his head. "No, thanks I appreciated it but I promised I wouldn't go spreading it around."

Marlow snorted. "I'm not a leaky faucet, West, I won't release it to the world."

"I know and it isn't that I don't trust you, but I don't want to break my promise."

"All right, I can understand that. If you aren't up for date night we can forget it."

He shook his head. "No, I need to put it aside, and enjoying an evening with my boyfriend is the best way to do that. I'm sorry if I was ignoring you, that's gonna stop right now."

Marlow grinned. "You know you are the perfect boyfriend."

"I am not."

"Mmmhmm, you are. Gorgeous and considerate."

West chuckled. "Thank you, Low."

"Any time. Now, what do you want to do tonight?"

Though they had a fun evening, part of West's mind remained occupied by Zay and his problems. It was difficult to let it go when he felt as if he had a hand in things. He dropped Marlow off and headed for home. Somehow he found himself in Josh's driveway and cursed his idiocy.

"I'm here, might as well add to my stupidity." He pushed the car door open and marched up to the front door and rang the bell.

Alyssa opened the door with a smile. "Hey, West, what are you doing here?"

He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "Uh, I'm not actually sure but I think I want to talk to Zay."

One of her brows climbed upward. "You think?"

He sighed and dropped his hand to his side. "Yeah, because I'm not sure he'll want to lay eyes on me much less talk to me."

She giggled. "All right, I'll accept that. Come on in."

He smiled and moved past her into the house. "So, where is he hiding?"

She gestured toward the stairs. "In his room. Third door on the left."

"Thanks." He went slowly up the stairs knowing that Zayden would probably tell him to get lost. He stopped before the door and stared at it for several long minutes.

"Nothing is gonna happen if you don't knock!" Alyssa called from downstairs.

He grinned and lifted his hand to knock on the door, it was pulled open before he got the chance. Zay was grinning, but the smile dropped from his face when he spotted West.

"Oh, it's you."

"Expecting someone else?"

"As if it's any of your business," he muttered before he turned away. "I don't want to talk to you so just leave."

"Zay, I wanted to apologize."

"For what? Kissing me or running away when I wouldn't immediately fall at your feet?"

West sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Both I guess. And for shoving at you to admit you were gay. I had no idea about your parents."

Zay's eyes narrowed on him. "What about my parents?"

"You're living at Josh's and you haven't been to school for an entire week, I am assuming they didn't take your announcement well."

"Yeah, well nice deductive skills. How did you even know I told them?"

"Josh, how else."

"He had no right to tell you."

"He's worried about you and it's affecting his play on the field. Don't blame him, I was trying to help him with his batting and I prodded him into telling me what was bothering him."

"Yeah, that's your way, right? Shoving at people until they admit to shit."

"Zay, come on I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say. If I'd known about your parents I never would have pushed you so hard! I understand how you feel."

"No, you don't. You could never understand it!"

"When I told my parents my dad looked at me in disgust and told me that they must have switched babies at the hospital because no son of his was a faggot. He packed a bag, left, and served my mom with divorce papers within a week. I haven't seen him since that day."

Zay scowled at him. "I've seen your dad at games, nice try."

West shook his head. "No, you've seen my stepdad. My real father wants nothing to do with me, as far as he's concerned I no longer exist. When you said you couldn't say anything I assumed that was what you feared, not losing your home and your family. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well I decided to tell them, it had zero to do with you. Not everything is about you, Weston. Regardless of what you want to believe you are not the center of the world."

"I never thought I was. Zay, please—"

"Please what? Why are you even here? You're dating Marlow, go sob to him about how bad you feel! Stay out of my life!"

"Uh, am I interpreting?"

West saw Zay relax and a smile appeared on his face. He turned slowly to face the guy standing in the doorway. "Seth," he growled.

"Hey, West, how ya doin'?"

West spun to face Zayden. "Do not tell me you're going out with this douche?"

"It isn't any of your business if I am!" Zay shot back and he stepped past him.

West's hand shot out and he grabbed Zay by the arm, pulling him back. "Do not do this, Zay, you don't know him the way I do."

"Fuck off. I can date whoever I want, you have no say in my life asshole!"

Seth chuckled. "Jealous, Weston? Here I thought you had a boyfriend."

He spun to face Seth. "You know exactly why I hate the idea of you dating anyone I know. You fuck with his life and you'll regret it, I'll come after you regardless of the consequences."

Seth shrugged. "Your choice."

Zay stalked from the room. "Come on, Seth, let's go."

Seth chuckled. "Pictures have a way of leaking out, Sawyer, you might want to take a step back and leave me alone." Seth sent West a salute and followed Zayden.

With a growl, West went downstairs. Alyssa was sitting in the living room and he stopped. "Is he dating Seth?"

She shrugged. "I can't say, they've been spending a lot of time together. Zay says it's nice to have someone to talk to about shit now that he's out."

"He could have chosen any other guy except Seth Bradford!"

She laughed. "Jealous?"

"No, trust me, Seth isn't what he seems. Keep an eye on Zay because Seth will fuck with his mind and leave him holding the bag for some serious shit."

He stomped away before she could ask questions he didn't want to answer. Zayden had no idea what he was getting into with Seth. Bradford was smooth and he could get inside your head, he'd tell you what you wanted to hear so he could manipulate you. It was what he was good at. Everyone thought Darrel was the brains of their little gang, but the truth was it was Seth. Darrel was an empty figurehead, he fit the stereotypical image of a badass gang leader, while Seth was short, slim, and tended to fade into the background. But the guy was brilliant, like Mensa level, think tank, inventing new science intelligence. It was too bad he chose to use his brains to scam people instead of changing the world in some positive way.