006

Both their hands curled around each other. No matter how much they had been trying to deny it, They both knew that this was exactly where they wanted to be.

But as soon as the door to the library swung open, Lucas jerked back at once, his shoulder colliding with the book shelf. Ryan just as startled dropped his hand from Lucas waist and shoved it into his pocket as if it had never been there in the first place.

Emily stood in front of the door, get eyes narrowed from Ryan to Lucas. Both men were breathing heavily, rraces of sweat on their forehead as they struggle to keep their breath steady.

“What is going on here?” In a casual tone, she asked as if trying to solve a puzzle.

“We were just talking” Ryan lowered his head, afraid to look her in the eyes as he slightly pulled away from Lucas.

Lucas felt like Ryan's answer was too fast, almost like it was rehearsed. He could feel his cheek immediately turned red. His palm pressed hard against the shelves in his back.

Emily arched her brows. “Just talking?” she asked as her gaze slid from Ryan to Lucas, lingering on the flush in his cheek, then returning her gaze back to Ryan. A faint smirk tucked in her lips.

“It looked more intense than that”

“You are imagining things” Lucas swallowed hard.

Her eyes flicked to him, sharp enough to make him want to look away. But he didn’t. He held her stare, even though his chest wad pounding hard.

“I guess I am” a loud giggle erupted as she tried to ease the tension between both men.

Then, with the faintest smile still playing on her lips, she turned and walked further into the library, plucking a book from a shelf as if she had come there with that intention all along. When she finally swept back out, the air seemed to loosen around Luca’s chest, though his hands were still damp with sweat.

Ryan exhaled slowly, his shoulders sagging. “She suspects.”

“She didn’t see anything,” Luca said quickly, though he wasn’t sure if he believed it. His voice wavered more than he wanted it to.

“That doesn’t matter,” Ryan muttered, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “She’s smart. She doesn’t need proof—just a suspicion. We need to be careful.”

Careful. The word tasted like chains in Luca’s mouth. “But we are not doing anything wrong?”

He whispered, but he knew how much he wanted to be with Ryan, to show the world that he was in love with a man and there was nothing wrong about it.

Ryan narrowed his gaze through the direction Emily went, seeing that she was nowhere in sight, he pulled closer to Lucas and held both his hands.

“Yes. We are not doing anything wrong, but I don't know what would happen if my father finds out. You know how much he kicks about such relationship”

“Is that how much you care about what your father thinks about you?”

“What?” Ryan suddenly felt sore. “Don't you get it Lucas, this isn't about me, but you instead. Do you even know what would happen to you, your scholarship and all that you have worked hard for?”

Ryan asked, even though he try to keep his voice steady, it still went farther. Lucas parted his lip to speak but before he could even form a sentence, Ryan walked out of there.

*****

Later that evening, Lucas was flipping through his math notebook, preparing for homework, when a slip of folded paper slid out from between the pages. Luca frowned. He didn’t remember putting anything there.

Unfolding it with stiff fingers, he froze at the words scrawled across the page in thick, black ink:

STAY AWAY FROM HIM OR EVERYONE WILL KNOW ABOUT THE TWO OF YOU!

He felt his stomach twisted as his jaws dropped, his gaze still blankly fixed on the piece of paper.

Around him, his dorm buzzed faintly with the sounds of boys talking in the hallway, laughter echoing from somewhere down the corridor, but none of it reached him. His pulse was too loud in his ears.

He crumpled the paper into his fist before anyone could walk in. But as a result of it, he could barely focus on his homework and all through that night, Lucas could not get any wink of sleep, thinking about it and wondering who might be behind it all.

At lunch the next day, he sat next to Elvis, he gaze scampered around the cafeteria and everyone who was eighter engrossed in their meal on discussion, seeing that no one was paying attention to them, he slid it across the table right to Elvis.

Elvis grabbed it as he soothed it out, his eyes narrowing while he read.

“Where did you get this?” Elvis asked, his voice barely above a whisper with a frighten look on his face.

“I don't know–” Lucas swallowed hard. “I found it inside my math notebook.

“This isn't some prank!” Elvis let out a deep breath as he spoke, but there was clearly fear in his eyes. “This is a threat!”

“I know”

“I kept warning you all this while, you need to stay away from Ryan, he is trouble”

“I can't, it's not that simple”

“It is that simple!” Elvis shot back. “you walk away and stop sneaking around with him. Or don't you realize that you get to lose more if this goes out?”

Lucas shook his head, frustration and longing warring inside of him. “You don't understand Elvis. Each time that I think about staying away from him, it feels like I can't breath, being with him is the only thing that I understand and right now I think that all I have to do is find out who is behind it”

“Do you have anyone in mind?”

“Emily had caught us yesterday when we were making out at the library, I can't tell how much she knows but I am guessing that she might be the one behind it”

“Very well then, first we have to keep an eye on her for now and see if there is anything we would find out”

Lucas nodded his head, seeing that he had Elvis support, that felt like more than enough for him.