Chapter 5 Bloody

• Colton sat in the back seat of the school bus staring a hole into the back of Parker's messy blond head. He wondered what it would be like to run his fingers through it, to grip it in his fists while he held him firmly and kissed him, hard and deep.
• They had just won another away game, and everyone was pumped and the bus was rowdy, but it was just a buzz in Colton's consciousness. His attentions were elsewhere.
• The sexy little mascot had his dick hard as a rock. The way his body moved in that wolf costume... He was clearly athletic and could dance, and there was a hint of sensuality in those movements at the same time.
• Fuck, he wanted some of that!
• He unconsciously licked his lips as he thought of walking up the aisle, pushing Parker onto the floor and fucking the ever-loving shit out of him. The thought made his cock jerk in his shorts.
• Aware of a flash of movement, Colton refocused his eyes. Trey's hand waved in front of his face again.
• Trey turned his head towards Parker, then back to Colton. "Why don't you just go get him?" he asked quietly.
• Colton sighed and relaxed back in the seat. "You know why."
• "Since when do you care about rules?"
• "I wanna do this right. We have to both be over eighteen. I'm not gonna do anything that will fuck this up."
• Colton looked back at Parker, who seemed to be playing a game on his phone.
• "That old law was to keep old pervs from stealing teenage girls, claiming that they were mates. This isn't the same thing. Dude, you wait too long... You saw the way that guy from South was eyeing him up."
• Colton nodded, his eyes still watching Parker. The corner of Colton's lip turned up and he growled low. Some fucking bench-warmer from the school they just massacred tried to talk to Parker in the parking lot before he got on the bus. Colton was on his way to rip the guy's limbs off when Trey called for Parker. The asshole wisely backed off and Parker obediently got on the bus.
• "Besides," Trey added. "You can claim him as yours without fucking him."
• Colton wanted to kick himself. He was so caught up in his out-of-control hormone surges and nightly fantasies that the thought never occurred to him that he could just date Parker.
• "Thanks, man," Colton said.
• "That's what I'm here for. To tell you when you're thinking with the wrong head."
• Trey snickered and Colton couldn't help but laugh.
• "Look at this," Jed interrupted. He held up his phone, showing a picture of someone's backside. The dude was wearing a black jockstrap and nothing else. "This boy insists he's straight, but he's sending me a picture of his ass in a jock."
• Trey laughed. "That's an invitation right there."
• "I know right," Jed snickered. He pulled the waistband of his shorts out and put his phone inside.
• "What the hell are you doing?" Colton asked Jed.
• "Trying to take a picture of my cock."
• Trey looked at Jed and blinked before turning back to Colton. "There's something seriously wrong with him."
• Colton and Trey laughed at their pack-mate.
• Colton looked between his two friends. He had felt a strong bond between the two men as soon as he had arrived at the school.
• He initially resented having to pack up and move across the country, leaving the home he grew up in. After being ousted from the Santa Fe Pack, his father had petitioned with the Alpha of the Forest View Pack, one of the largest and strongest packs in the northern US. He got a job with the sheriff's office and within days, they had left the only home Colton knew. Of course, Colton was very familiar with the reasons they had to leave, but that didn't make it any easier to swallow.
• But that first day at Forest View High School changed everything. He met Trey and Jed. The pair of best friends immediately opened their circle for Colton, and the three became inseparable.
• Colton was a natural leader and the other two recognized his `alphaness' as well. He quickly became the trio's ringleader.
• And then he found Parker...
• It was like Destiny was smiling down on Colton, offering him a life he never imagined possible. And he was going to make the most of it.
• * * *
• Just a couple of months into the school year and Parker was tired. Cheer practice was exhausting. He felt stupid being the only guy there and he knew that some people made fun of him behind his back. He tried not to let it bother him since most of the cheerleaders seemed to like him. He was even friendly with a few of the football jocks, though he wouldn't say that any of them were his friends. While he wouldn't call himself popular, these days he felt that he was liked by more people than just Shell.
• Then there was Colton Butler.
• Parker didn't know what to do about him, or what to think. He hadn't made any further moves on Parker, but the big jock was always watching. Parker would feel the hair on the back of his neck start to prickle and nearly every time he searched with his eyes, he found Colton staring at him. There was an intensity in his gaze that was a little frightening, but also exhilarating.
• At first Parker loved the attention, but after two months of nothing going nowhere, it just got to be so damned frustrating. The couple of times Parker tried to approach Colton, the other man just turned and walked away before he could even get close. But still, Parker's crush-turned-infatuation never faltered.
• At least that asshole Seth Forrest was laying off him. For two months, the bully and his lackeys had steered clear of him.
• And now, after a four-hour bus ride, Parker was like the walking dead. Even though they had just won another away game -- their record was undefeated so far -- the adrenaline high was wearing off. Everyone else was so rowdy and keyed up, there wasn't any way he could sleep on the bus.
• Like always, he ended up sitting alone and ignored by the jocks. Not that they were mean, they were just indifferent. To pass the time, he played games or listened to music on his phone.
• He could hear Colton and his buddies in the very back of the bus talking and laughing loudly with the guys around them. He turned around in his seat and looked back. Colton instantly looked at him as if he knew that Parker was going to be looking. The tip of Colton's tongue swiped over his bottom lip. Parker gave him a quick, shy smile, then turned back around.
• He closed his eyes and took a calming breath. Parker's dick stiffened in his pants, just like it always did when he thought of Colton. Unfortunately, he couldn't whip it out and take care of it like he would have if he was in his own bedroom. He'd take matters in hand so to speak as soon as he got home.
• With a sigh, he put his headphones on and tried to get into his music.
• The bus finally pulled into the school parking lot. None of the jocks let Parker out and he waited patiently while they marched through the aisle to get off the bus. Trey finally paused and let him into the aisle. Parker shot the dark man a grateful smile and hurried off the bus.
• Parker stood by the curb and realized that the second bus with the girls hadn't arrived yet. He was stuck waiting for Shell to give him a ride home.
• He walked over to Shell's car and dropped his bag on the ground and sat down on the pavement. He leaned back against the car and looked up at the sky and covered his mouth as he yawned. The street lamp in this section was burned out, but the sky was perfectly clear, not a cloud in sight. The crescent moon was high and bright, bathing the earth in a soft light. As everyone cleared out of the parking lot, it got quiet.
• Parker's eyes started to droop shut.
• "Well, what do we have here?"
• Parker's eyes snapped open. He drew in a breath and jumped to his feet. Seth and TJ came around the front of the car and trapped him.
• Something told him that this wasn't going to end well. He recognized that look in Seth's eyes. He was no match for one muscled meat-head, let alone two. Parker tried to make a run for it, but Seth grabbed him. He wrapped his arms around Parker's chest, pinning the smaller boy's arms against his sides.
• "Let me go!" Parker shouted as he struggled uselessly against Seth's grip. The boy was impossibly strong.
• "Shut the fuck up, cocksucker," Seth hissed. He looked towards TJ. "Shut him up."
• "I got something right here that'll shut him up," said TJ with a smirk.
• "Yeah. A hole is a hole," Seth laughed.
• If he was gonna go down, Parker was at least going to go with a fight. Parker hawked and spat, hitting TJ square in the face with a wad of snot, then kneed him in the nuts as hard as he could.
• TJ grabbed his balls and roared. His face turned red with rage. "You're gonna regret that," he said as he wiped his face with his hand. The huge jock hauled his fist back and Parker braced himself for the impact.
• As TJ swung, Colton appeared out of nowhere. He grabbed TJ's fist midair and twisted. A snap had TJ howling in pain. He fell to the ground screaming, clutching his arm. A jagged bone stuck out of his bloody forearm.