BBY Ch.33

Chapter 33: I Trusted Him

            Flint was my person. He was supposed to be the one person I could always trust who wasn't Demeter. Why was he spending so much time away from me? I just couldn't figure it out. I was his best friend. One day I ended up sitting in the main lobby of the building watching T.V. and just killing time when he walked in with a friend.

            I looked at Flint and raised an eyebrow. He motioned for the stranger to stay where he was. "Devlin, a word."

            I shrugged. "If you're bringing in someone new you know how they have to join."

            He shook his head. "This isn't a recruit. He's someone I wanted to have over. We've been spending a lot of time together lately and I wanted him to finally see where I live."

            I shrugged. "Whatever." I wasn't really paying attention to him. I had the news on instead. Some report about same sex rights. "This is a load of crap. Why is it they get so much special treatment just because they want to bump with the same sex? It's stupid. Same sex orientation can promote their rights all they want, but if someone who doesn't go that way says something about their rights then they get the blame for it and called all sorts of things."

            "And you don't think that's what happens to those same sex couples? The ones who don't get insurance because they can't by law? The ones who love each other more than a straight couple? The reason straight people get those bad words is because it's a given that anyone who's straight has those rights and no one wants to tell them they can't get married or that they can't have their spouse on their insurance. Same sex couples face a lot more challenges than straight ones."

            "Oh don't tell me you side with those people. You know we need opposite sexes to reproduce."

            "And no one's saying we don't. I'm saying everyone should have the chance for love. No matter what their orientation is."

            "Next thing I know you're going to be standing here telling me you're gay and that you think werecreatures should have the same rights and are the same as shifters." He was silent for a few minutes, looking down as he waved his friend inside.

            "Maybe that's what I'm doing, Devlin." He said softly, rubbing his arm.

            "No, you're not. My best friend can't be gay. And he definitely can't think that a were of any type is equal to a shifter in any way, shape, or form."

            "Then maybe I'm not your best friend."

            "You're the only one I have left. You want to bring your little fuck toys here then you're going to have to fight me for that right. I'm not letting you trash this place with your same sex sex."

            "Here's a little newsflash for you, Devlin. I don't NEED your permission. For anything. I don't need to get your permission before I have someone over, I don't need your permission to go anywhere, I don't need you to keep an eye on me, and I certainly don't need you telling me that the way I am is wrong. If I'm really your best friend then you're not going to pressure me into change or anything like that and I won't force what I feel on you." He said, wrapping up his hands. "I train with you because it's what you want and because it's what Demeter would have wanted. You know why you got a higher place in the gang then I did?"

            "Because I'm better than you."

            "No. It's because you WERE better than me. How many nights were you gone doing other things or out doing little piss ass missions for Demeter while I was here cleaning or with nothing to do? How many of those nights do you think I ended up spending in the weight room or hitting the bag to train? How many of those nights do you think it took before Demeter, himself, saw me as a threat and kept a close eye on me saying I couldn't rise up in the gang because he knew how powerful I was? Back then, I thought he knew I was gay, but now, now I'm not so sure. I think he might have been bluffing that whole time. It would make sense since your brother beat him."

            "No one saw that fight. No one could know. And besides, no one could beat Demeter." I said, puffing my chest out with pride.

            "No. They only think that no one ever saw the fight. I saw everything. Not live, mind you, but I do run security for the building, remember. I have cameras in all the legal locations. So I keep an eye on everything that happens. Everyone going in, everyone going out, and all the in between. There's a lot that happens around here that you have no idea about, Devlin. That's why I'm the one who should be leading everything here. Why I should have been the one to lead from the beginning, but Demeter knew I was going to obey him. Your brother makes such a better leader than you and you have no idea about it because you're too blinded by discrimination to actually look around you and pay attention. You think Demeter's been running this place alone all these years?"

            I growled, throwing a chair at him because it was the only thing I could reach. "Don't you dare claim that Demeter is gay."

            "No. The way he chases women? He's just a horny bastard and nothing more. My point was that your brother is the one who made all of this possible. Demeter was running us all into the ground and then we'd have had nothing. None of us would have. Your brother fixed everything when he didn't have to. He kept fixing it because he cared enough about all of us that he wanted to make sure we were all taken care of. I helped him a time or two. When he asked what this stood for or what was meant by that word or what we needed such and such thing for. Really it was all your brothers doing to keep this place floating. Your precious Demeter was too busy trying to get tail. Quite actually."

            I watched as he caught the chair and just sat it down beside him. "You can try to deny it, and you can try to make me stop, but I've had it. You're not going to listen to anything anyway so I might finally get everything off my chest. Yes, I'm gay. Yes, I'm dating a weretiger. Yes, I side more with your brother than you. No, I do not think Demeter is the most amazing person on the face of the planet. No, I don't care what you think about him and I'm tired of being forced to listen to your opinion and being called your best friend when all our "friendship" consists of is you telling me crap and making me fight with you when I can't really let loose and fully beat the crap out of you."

            "Then don't. Don't hold back. Fight me. Actually fight me."

            "Even if it results in you losing your place? Even if it results in you being humiliated? Because that's what's going to happen. I'm going to dethrone you, then embarrass you, then I'm going to just beat the crap out of you until you can't really move. Then I'm going to leave you there in pain and suffering. Alone. Like you always think you've been. You always thought you were alone in being what you are, but the only reason you're alone is because you refuse to see those around you who really cared about you."

            "Just shut up and fight me you coward!"

            "I'm going to let you think about it. For now, I'm going to take my boyfriend and go into my room and spend some time with him. You might want to really think about what could have been for you and where you could have been instead of here. Where you could have gone in life." I watched as he walked to his boyfriend and took his hand, leading him into his room.