(Again, I apologize for the LONG delay, but you will find out why it took me so long to post this chapter. Please enjoy, vote and comment!)

(Also follow my Twitter or I delete this story #Seraphina_R)

[Derek's Point Of View]

A day after getting back home, things in my small apartment got chaotic. Nicole decided to move in while my grandma kept trying to catch me while I was home, but I still worked at the electronics store so I wasn't home every hour that she showed up. I didn't want to keep working, but relying on money from someone else wasn't a good idea. What if they stopped? Then I'd have no job because I stupidly decided to quit everything. I was always smart with my money, so most of it was being saved and what was used was for food and some rent. I'd still use my paychecks for rent and what was necessary.

Sasha was completely anxious all day, fearing that my grandma would show up and kill us all with her elderly good looks and rich people teeth. Nicole wanted to be around because she was protective of Sasha and my grandma made him nervous. He'd randomly shout things in Russian like he was having war flashbacks without ever actually going to any war.

I received hourly text messages from both of them describing 'fancy people' cars driving by and mysterious dudes in black suits looking at my empty parking spot in front of my apartment building.

Everyone was being weird and I hated it.

After I finished work, I reluctantly drove home. Nothing was suspicious when I arrived. There were no fancy cars or men in black watching my apartment. I was still hesitant walking up the stairs and taking out my keys. I wanted the rest of the day to be peaceful and not ruined by my grandma or Sasha freaking out.

Luckily, it was only Sasha.

"Nicole got called into work," Sasha said as I locked the door behind me. "She said she might be getting promoted to manager."

"That's good for her," I said, trying to sound enthusiastic but failing.

"You okay?" he asked as he followed me inside the bedroom.

"Just tired and confused."

"Yeah, same."

I glared at him as I began to undress, throwing my uniform into the basket. "Why are you tired? You did nothing but stay here all day."

"Oh, Nicole gave me a really long blow job and put a finger up my butt. It left me really tired and confused."

"Please tell me that didn't happen on my bed," I said.

"It didn't happen on your bed."

"Are you lying to me?"

"No," he said, keeping a straight face. Sasha never truly lied, so I let it go. I didn't want him to think I wanted more details anyway.

As I grabbed my towel and a fresh set of clothes, my phone rang. I didn't recognize the caller I.D. so I assumed it had to be someone on my grandma's side. I was starting to feel stalked.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Yo, Derek."

"Who is this?" I asked. The voice was familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Eddie."

Eddie was one of the guys from my construction job. One of the nice ones, actually. We were the only ones there who were close in age so we got along fine, it was the other meatheads that I didn't like.

"Hey, Eddie. Something wrong?"

"I got your number from the boss, hope that's okay."

"Yeah, sure. What's up?" I said as I moved to the bathroom and undressed all the way.

"Are you busy tonight? It's Peter's birthday and we're going out to the bar and celebrate. They also wanted you to come so we could properly say goodbye and thank you for being with us for two years."

That was unexpected. They were never nice to me, except Eddie. None of us were exactly friends and it never bothered me. They mostly just bitched about me and I ignored them. It had to be the boss' idea, since he was the only one who was always respectful and professional about his job, the rest were monkeys.

"I don't know," I said, but strongly contemplating it.

"Please? I really want you to come. There's gonna be food and drinks and chicks–oh, wait, sorry."

I chuckled. "At what time? Not saying I'll come, but I'll think about it."

"We're going to the bar at 11."

"I'll text you if I decide to go, okay?" I said as I waited to end the call.

"Hope you show up, Derek."

Now I felt stressed. I got in the shower and washed away any bad feelings. I knew Eddie liked me, it was obvious since the day I first met him. He was deep in the closet and might not ever come out. He was the type that would rather please his friends and family by pretending to be something he wasn't than to let his true self flourish and exist.

But I felt him. He didn't have much of a choice. Our co-workers, his friends, family, everyone around him was homophobic. They only ever talked shit about gay men and how disgusting and wrong they were, but would never dare say anything against hot lesbian chicks. Oh, no. That was crossing the line. Girls making out? Fuck yeah!

The testosterone suffocated me every time I was around. It pissed them off because no matter how loud they were with their thoughts, they never got to me. I did my job quietly and never said a word to anyone unless it was needed. That was why I didn't want to go, but I would for Eddie. I felt bad for him. Even though he didn't have anyone to talk to about these things, I still felt like I had some kind of responsibility to show him that it was okay and he could do it one day.

The day everything changed for me at that job was the day I came out, which was a year after I started working there. I never came out to anyone anymore. People would find out eventually one way or another – either by meeting Leo or people just straight up asking me. If someone asked if I had a girlfriend, I'd say no. If they asked if I was single, I'd say no, but I never felt like I had to say that I was with another man, it felt dumb.

One day I was at work, lunch was in an hour, and I had forgotten my wallet at home so I wouldn't be able to go out to lunch with everyone. Fortunately, Leo was home visiting me, so I asked him if he could bring it to me.

I never fucking thought that he'd show up shirtless, a Lady Gaga beach towel tied around his neck like a cape while Nicole blasted Ariana Grande in the car. They came from the beach and were probably wanting to go back, but having my wallet was important so I was thankful that they got it for me.

Everyone was walking up behind me heading for their cars to go to the bar we went to for lunch, which was owned by one of the guy's family, so we all got a huge discount. I remembered being frozen as Leo walked to me, being terrified as the guys laughed as they walked past me because 'oh look! A faggot!' and I got mad at myself for being scared at them finding out that faggot was my boyfriend, who I loved. So when Leo handed me my wallet and turned to leave, I grabbed his hand and pulled him back, kissing his lips and grabbing his ass.

I always tried not to give a fuck, but gay people will always have that fear inside them.

Honestly I wanted to kiss him anyway. How dare him arrive shirtless when he knew his body made me crazy. He was beautiful, tan and glistening. I had to. If it wasn't illegal I would have sucked his dick in front of everyone too.

But that was the way I came out to them. Let's just say I didn't get to go to the bar after that.

They made fun of me, said gross things, but as long as they didn't talk about Leo again I didn't care. They never once mentioned him after that, like they knew that was what would make me flip, and they didn't want that, because deep inside they were nothing.

I worked quietly for over a year after that – until now. I quit because I didn't need to work there anymore. It never made me feel good and it left me tired all the damn time. With all this free time, I could do so much more. I started going to the gym with Sasha and even watched some shows that I never could begin because it was time consuming. And because I quit, I was able to visit Leo.

I texted Eddie two hours after he called and agreed to come, but only to hang out with him. We might not ever see each other again after this. I felt so bad for him but he could keep my number if he wanted. It was just hard to be friends with someone that only hung out around brainless worms. But a lot of them were his uncles, cousins and even a grandfather, so he couldn't just tell them to fuck off.

Getting away from my own dad was hard enough, I couldn't imagine being surrounded by all of that while keeping a secret that important.

"Sasha, when are you gonna stop looking out the window?" I asked.

"When your evil grandma stops sending spies to watch over us," he said.

"She's not sending spies, can you please get away from the window? You're making me nervous."

"I'm making you nervous? You weren't here when she was looking at my bulge."

"W-Why did you have a bulge?"

Wait, why did I ask?

"Because being nervous makes me hard, and?"

I puckered my lips and shrugged. "I'm not judging."

"Why are you doing that with your lips?" he asked, body turned towards me, finally not giving the window any more attention. "Do you want to kiss me?"

"Nope."

"Then?"

"Just a facial expression, Sasha."

"Hm."

"We're not kissing," I said quickly and looked at the time on my phone. I had to meet up with Eddie in two more hours. What the hell was I supposed to do until then? Leo wasn't answering my calls because he was busy, Priscella and Nicole were busy, Jesse was probably with his boyfriend, Dakota might be with Nathan. "Wow, I don't have a lot of straight friends."

"You don't have a lot of friends period."

"Wow, thanks."

"You're too weird. I heard you were cooler in high school."

I rolled my eyes. "What did Nicole tell you?"

Sasha walked over to me on the couch and sat next to me, resting his arm too close to my shoulders. "You used to be the popular football player. You had a lot of friends and constantly threw parties."

Now I was furrowing my eyebrows. "First of all, that doesn't mean you're cool, teenagers are just stupid and think that's what makes you cool. Second, I didn't throw a lot of parties, but I went to a lot of parties. They helped me forget a lot of bad things going on in my head, so did football."

"But you don't deny you had a lot of friends and was mega popular."

"I mean . . . I was hella cute and social and everyone thought I was straight, so yeah."

"Was Leo cute?"

"Yeah, I never got to see what he looked like before he moved in. I once saw a picture that his mom showed me when he was younger but that was it. The first time sleeping in the same room gave me like ten boners. It happened too often, actually, a lot of the time I had to hide it between my legs so it wouldn't pop out."

"Hm, I never thought of doing that."

"Yeah, cause you don't care who sees it."

"My brother once tried to get me to–"

"Please," I interrupted, "no more incest stories, I beg you."

"What?" he said, his eyes innocent and big. "I didn't actually suck it but he tried to get me to."

"Oh my god."

"I said I didn't!"

"Remind me again why I let you move in with me?" I said as I covered half my face with my hands, holding my laughter in.

"You also let me sleep with you, a weird and questionable decision, by the way," he said with the most serious tone.

"You're not trying to suck my dick while I sleep, right?" I said, studying his facial expressions to make sure he wasn't lying to me.

"I'm not gay. I'd do it to save Nicole, though."

"I'll make sure she's always safe then," I said.

"Why did you let me stay with you?"

"We've already talked about it, Sasha. We became really good friends in the hospital and I didn't want to see you be homeless. I trusted you and I trusted my judgement."

"Thanks," he said quietly. "At least someone cared about me."

"And now you have a bunch of us who care about you. Including Leo."

He made a noise of disagreement. "Eh, he's in love with me so he doesn't count."

"I think I'm the one he's in love with," I muttered.

"I get why he loves you, I don't get why you love him," Sasha said.

Sasha was always critical of Leo and I never understood why. I once approached him about it but the guy never made sense. He wasn't exactly your normal person, he was special and had a unique way of seeing the world, but disliking Leo so much for no reason? I had a pretty good guess, but it was a bit sad and it angered me.

I honestly believed with all my heart it was due to homophobia. Sasha was very open about his life and his thoughts, so I knew that his family was extremely homophobic, especially his dad. Leo and I were different when it came to our personalities, Leo was sometimes super flamboyant or super chill and relaxed, there was no in between, but when he was around us he was pretty free and energized, so Sasha only saw a flaming homosexual. When Sasha looked at me, he just saw some moody dude who just happened to be gay but not obvious about it. Somewhere, his brain was wired by his family to hate on feminine guys. I wanted to help him out of that mindset because I knew Sasha wasn't a bad person. He never said anything offensive, only strange things no one understood.

I loved Leo for understanding and being patient with him. Leo was smart and knew before I did.

"He makes me happy," I answered. "And he's cute. Super cute."

His phone rang suddenly and he picked it up in half a second.

"Hey, bitch," he said. "Yeah, I'll be out in a minute."

"You leaving?" I asked as he got up to stretch.

"Yeah, Nicole is outside. We're gonna hang out for a bit."

I blinked. "Wait, that was Nicole on the phone?"

"Yeah?"

"Nevermind."

"If I'm back late I'll just sleep on the couch," he said as he grabbed his wallet from the kitchen counter and walked back to me. "Are we still going to the gym tomorrow?"

"Yeah, have fun."

"Thanks, talk to you later."

Now I was alone and I had no idea what to do for two more hours. I went on my computer and played a few games to pass the time. I decided I was most likely only going to hang out with Eddie for an hour then leave. I might also have to face the fact that I needed to talk to my grandma about these spies. One night out could be a good thing. Eddie was funny and didn't give me headaches like most people.

I had no idea what to wear. I had something in mind but quickly scribbled it off because I was not Leo and I had nothing fashionable that screamed GAY. Yes, I wanted to mess with them one last time, but the only thing I could work with was colors. I mostly wore black, but I had these purple jeans Leo once bought me that I never wore and had been sitting in my fancy drawer for a year. Since they were a little on the darker side, I could pick out anything else to wear as a top and it would look good and gay.

I had a black sweater that looked really good with the pants, but I'd have to roll the sleeves up or I'd die in an internal fire. Leo would be proud that I was able to choose something by myself.

Before it was time to go, I snapped a few pictures of myself on the bathroom mirror and sent them all to Leo. He replied back instantly even though he was busy all through the night.

WTF! DAMN? THAT'S MY BABY???

Yup. That was me. His baby.

I double checked that I had everything with me before leaving my apartment. As I got in my car, I remembered how jealous they had been of it. Maybe I should park in front of the window where they usually sat so they could see what they could never have.

Yes, I really hated them. I drove nervously to my destination. I was left confused why I even felt scared in the first place, but I guessed a part of me knew that Eddie wanted to tell me something and we spent a lot of time together, so even if he didn't consider me one, he was my friend. If my gut was right and he wanted to tell me something, it better be that he was gay and not in love with me, because I really couldn't handle another guy telling me I was hot and then get mad cause I wasn't single.

Like all of Leo's friends.

Just this month alone I gained over a hundred followers on my instagram because they found my tag through Leo's old photos. I told him to delete it but he didn't want to waste an hour scrolling to find them. So I banned him from ever showing my face on his instagram again.

I screenshotted every message I got and sent it to him so he knew what kind of friends he had.

Thirsty ones.

Sometimes I wished I wasn't so straight-acting, but putting that much emotion and energy into my being seemed exhausting.

The bar had the light up text all around and wasn't too busy, but definitely wasn't suffering from lack of customers. It was cute and small and in between some quiet apartment buildings with broken street light. The colors of the bar's name lit up in red and green, giving it a friendly and welcoming vibe that the street lamps did not provide.

I parked down the street instead of in front the windows because the spot was already taken. Strange how it being night or day changed the mood of a place, but I really got the urge to want to drink and laugh and have fun.

But was I going to do that? Nope.

I texted Eddie that I was here and he came out a minute later with a drink in his hand. He was his usually happy and jumpy self as he approached me. I had not yet turned off my car.

"I'm so happy you came," he said as he leaned in through the car window and turned my key, letting my car go to sleep. "Get out of there and let's get inside, dude."

Eddie was not your typical white dude – actually that was a lie. What I meant to say was that he was your extremely typical white dude. He came from a family of trucker loving, Christ worshipping, mud fighting isn't gay if you have clothes on, blue jean wearing, bending hats are the only way to go, disappointments.

But Eddie was special and unique. He always smiled with his laugh lines and freckles. He wore his hat backwards but could never pull off the same "I hate everyone that isn't us" look. He was good.

"I'm just letting you know that I'm not drinking tonight," I told him as I got out of the car, completely forgetting what I had chosen to wear until his eyes looked me up and down.

"You look like you're going to a hipster cafe," he said, snorting.

"What? It doesn't look bad!" I defended.

"I didn't say you look bad, it's just . . . different than what I'm used to seeing you in," he said.

"I could take it off?" I joked.

"I bet you'd give the moms inside a heart attack," he said, laughing as he nudged me with his elbow.

I followed him inside the bar and immediately got some nasty looks from two ex co-workers. Too bad the lady who owned the bar was on my side, her husband was not happy with the decision when he tried to ban me from it.

The bar had two sections with a wall splitting the building in half and a long counter snaking around both sides of said wall – Both sides of the wall had a tremendous selection of alcohol and had two different bartenders. The outer bits had tables and booths. Eddie took me to the less packed side and we sat down on one of the small booths next to a wide window that overlooked the street.

"I was about to ask why there's a lot of people on a Tuesday night," I said, starting the conversation.

"Yeah, the birthday party started a while ago but it was family only."

I noticed he was more jumpy than regular; his hands were fidgeting under the table and he kept looking anywhere but my face. I knew I was right about him wanting to say something.

Sighing was all I could do in this moment.

"Um, so how is everything?" I tried.

"You quitting really pissed off the guys since it was during a construction," he said.

"So? Can't they find another idiot in like a second to replace me?"

He shrugged.

They just wanted a reason to be mad at me, but no way did me quitting make it hard on them. They'd use any excuse to talk shit about me, even make up ones.

"What about you? You didn't even tell me you were quitting, what happened?" he asked, bringing his eyes to look at me.

"I just didn't need the extra job anymore," I replied with not too much information.

He raised his brows, impressed. "Finally making some money?"

"You could say that," I replied, grinning.

"I wish I could make more money, but you know . . . times are tough."

We talked for a while, ordered some light food, but mostly conversed and caught up. I spotted some of the other guys but they paid no attention to me, meaning they finally didn't give two shits about me. They left us alone for most of the hour.

And then came the time I was waiting for.

"Hey, can I talk to you in private?" he asked nervously after staring at his phone for too long.

"Sure–where do we go?"

"I guess outside?"

"Lead the way," I said.

I left some money on the table for the food in case the waiters thought we were trying to skip out. I followed him through some groups of people who were dancing and drinking, mostly older people, also a big reason why I clicked with Eddie and nobody else.

It was too dark outside, even down the creepy alley that wasn't at all creepy during the day. It was actually the only way some people got to their apartments because the building had a bunch of entrance doors on the front as well as the side. It wasn't big enough to fit a car through so I could cross out being hit by a car blindly because of the poor light.

Eddie was pacing around back and forth, too nervous to stand still for more than a second. I could only see him because of the little light that the bar gave from this side and the moon above us. It had also been raining recently so the puddles reflected some light but not a lot.

"Everything okay?" I asked him.

"No, nothing is okay," he said, breathing heavily.

"It's okay," I told him.

"No, don't say that!"

Eddie crouched down, looked at the ground and removed his hat, twisting it in his hand until it was pretty much ruined. I slowly approached him and he stood back up really fast and kissed me.

It didn't register immediately, but once it did I walked back from him. I hadn't expected that at all. I was totally joking when I thought about him being in love with me, that was not possible. But here I was with a stupid look on my face.

"Eddie, I have a boyfriend, why did you do that?" I asked.

"I had to."

"No, you didn't."

"I had to do it before they–" Eddie stopped talking and began to walk backwards.

"What?" I asked. Confused, I looked behind me and saw six shadows. It came to me all at once. I was smart about these things. I tried to avoid letting my burning eyes show how betrayed I felt, but I needed my strength right now.

"I'm sorry," Eddie said as he dipped into the darkness and disappeared forever.

"It's okay," I whispered as I turned around to face them.

"I know what you're thinking," one of them said. "Six to one? Don't worry, everyone will get a turn."

Nothing came out of my mouth. Speechless was far from the truth. I had no intentions on making it worse for me. Maybe I deserved it. Maybe I should have seen it coming.I mean I kind of did, in a way. I just didn't think it was realistic.

The first guy – a short, but buff and bald man – strode towards me and swung. I jumped back and avoided his fist. He tried again but he was too slow and relied on his weight to attack me, so I grabbed his arm and pulled him around until he hit a wall. I punched him in the face when he turned, face red and veins popping. He managed to hit me in the gut and it hurt like hell.

Really fucking cliche to get beat up in a dark alley, but I wasn't going down without fighting back.

These were guys I worked with for hours, days, months, some over a year. I did not have any relationship with them, but it still sucked that this was happening. The only problems we had were that they hated me and what I was. I just wanted to be left alone and do my job in peace. I did that, even better than some.

"We should go after your little fairy boyfriend next," the first guy said – he was the tallest of the six and stayed behind, watching as another joined the bald one. I got distracted by the thought of them going after Leo that they both got the chance to punch me in the face. I went down fast.

Still, I said nothing. My begging would not suddenly make them stop, it would only make it more exciting for them.

"Get up, faggot!"

I stole Leo's thing for a second and rolled my eyes.

Get a new word, idiots.

They let me get up, but it was slow and pathetic. I winced with my hand on my rib. It hurt and felt hot like fire. They weren't hitting super hard, but this might not be everything, especially with how much free time they had; no one was coming to help me.

Three of them charged at me and I could not defend myself from every direction so I tried my hardest to protect my face as they unleashed a fury of punches. I got hit in the stomach, all over the arms that were protecting my face, and my chest. I cried out in pain as I fell back on the floor.

One managed to knee me in the jaw and that sent me falling back, exposing my face. I tasted blood as the taller one named Luke towered over me. I expected to be kicked in the face or stomach, but he pulled me up by my sweater and punched once, twice, and then another two times until my vision was blurry. The pain was brutal but I was holding on.

"You won't guess what we're going to do to little Leo."

How did they know his name? I never spoke about him to any of them, not even Eddie. The fear was overwhelming me and I couldn't help imagining this being done to him.

I cried.

"Y-You will not lay a finger on him," I said through bloody teeth.

"Who is gonna stop us?"

I was forcefully pushed down on the ground and the back of my head hit concrete. They surrounded me again, blocking the moon in the sky, and began to beat me until I was spitting out blood.

"You better pray we don't have an accident with Leo."

Leo's face bloody and bruised appearing in my mind, mixed with the pain I felt all over my body was something from a nightmare. I couldn't hold back the tears as they kept going. I would have been silent and taken every single beating, but once they started mentioning Leo I knew this was more serious.

A burst of adrenaline hit me and I stood up and punched one of them so hard that I knocked him out cold. I tackled another and we rolled on the ground. I was so angry at the thought of them doing something to Leo that I used every bit of strength I had to make the fight even and beat the shit out of whoever was under me. I swung with both hands until I felt my fingers crack and bleed. I was pulled back before I could do permanent damage and I was back on the ground, shielding my face as hard boots came in contact with more of my stomach. I had used every bit of energy I had on those two guys and I was not able to stand up anymore.

"If you're wishing you weren't born, save it," Luke said. "Save it for your boyfriend, because you're gonna wish he never met you."

"STOP!" I screamed.

"Stop what? This?" he said as he kicked my ribs, sending a wave of agony through my body. Everything ached and breathing felt like knives were traveling through my throat.

I dug my nails into the dirt around me and tried to crawl away but it was no use. They had beaten everything out of me in less than five minutes. I was coughing out blood, couldn't see through one eye and my bones felt like they all shattered into dust.

"Here's the bat."

A bat?

"Get the fuck away from my grandson," said the familiar voice.

I looked towards the voice and saw my grandma standing a few feet from us, pointing a gun at the men. There was no doubt in her eyes that she'd pull the trigger if they didn't obey, almost like she had done this before. She wasn't scared, she was furious.

"You're not gonna s–" She shot at his feet and made him start running.

As the rest ran behind Luke, she pulled out her phone and said something I didn't hear. I dropped my head back down and closed my eyes. I let my hearing do my seeing and heard a car stop really close. Doors opened and closed. My body was lifted from the ground by two strong hands and I blacked out.

I woke up again and it was still dark. I was in an unfamiliar room, on a hospital bed, but nothing about my surroundings said I was in a hospital. I was somebody's home. There was a tall window in front of me and I saw the familiar front yard. I glanced over at the figure sitting next to me when I saw it move from the corner of my one working eye.

"Hello, Derek," my grandma said, standing up. "Don't talk. You'll be okay, you're in good hands. I just need to ask you one important thing and then I'll let you go back to resting. Your friends and partner have been notified of your whereabouts, so no need to worry about anything." She walked closer until her body was hitting the side of the bed. She lowered her face until her lips lingered closely. "Should we take care of the ones that attacked you?"

"W-What do–"

"I'm sure you can imagine what I mean," she said, her voice deadly serious. "All you have to do is say yes and everything will be taken care of."

When I thought of Leo and what they had said, the answer was crystal clear.

I nodded.

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[Message]: You guys have no idea how much I suffered with this chapter. It took me so long because of this. You have NO idea! I had to rewrite THE scene because the original one was too much. It was too violent, too sad, too freaking triggering to write, so I had to take some time in order to write something that got the message across but also didn't scar people. I did warn you guys that things were going to start getting serious. I DIDN'T COME TO PLAY ANY GAMES. Recent chapters are taking longer, but it's because I care a lot about them and I want them to be good, also because I get writer's block a lot lol. But I promise I'm ALWAYS thinking about the book and I will not abandon it, ever. Please vote and leave nice comments and especially your thoughts on what you think is about to happen. <3

(Let me know if you spotted any errors, I finished writing this from like 12AM to 7AM so my brain is a little off)