couldn’t bear the thought of causing him to lose the upper hand, of him getting hurt anymore.
“Are you done?” Rogan growled out in a hoarse voice. Mitch didn’t answer and Rogan shook him. “I said, are you fucking done?”
“Yeah, I’m done. I’m done with your ass for good. Go ahead and ruin your fucking life with him like Cam did.”
Rogan released Mitch, pushing off him as if he were something rotten. Lenny rushed to get between Rogan and Mitch, Rogan walking backwards a few steps to give him room. Lenny reached down to offer Mitch a hand, but he batted it away as he rolled onto his side before rising to his feet.
Mitch wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes as he put two fingers to his split lip, wincing before drawing them away. Tate’s gaze darted to Rogan and he noted his Daddy had a dark spot on his cheek that would probably bruise up pretty bad, and he was holding the side Mitch had been punching.
“Lenny,” Rogan gritted out. “Please get him the fuck outta my house.”
Mitch grunted and stomped out the door, Lenny following. When Lenny reached the threshold, he turned and regarded Rogan with a sheepish expression.
“I’m sorry, Rogan, I really am. I had no idea he was going to do that, man, I swear. I thought if I brought him by you guys would work things out.” Lenny clutched at his hair again. “I swear, I didn’t know. We go way back, I never thought—”
“Lenny!” Rogan interjected. “It’s fine. I know you didn’t mean for things to go this way.” Rogan sighed, his shoulders slumping. “Neither did I.”
“Look, he was wrong, dude.” Lenny’s faced squinched up as if he might start to cry. “He shouldn’t have called you those awful names.” Lenny’s gaze turned to Tate. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here, I swear.”
Tate tried to answer Lenny, but the words got stuck in his throat. He didn’t blame him. Lenny seemed like a sincere friend who’d found himself stuck in the middle of a bad situation. Rogan responded for him.
“Please, Lenny. I need to be alone with my boy right now. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
Tate almost swallowed his tongue at how casually Rogan had referred to him as his boy in front of Lenny.
Lenny didn’t seem to react to that morsel of info, but Tate thought the guy might be as shell-shocked by the fight as he was, so hadn’t fully processed what Rogan said.
“Sure, sure.” Lenny nodded. “Tomorrow.” He was almost all the way out of the apartment when he paused and glanced over his shoulder again. “Sorry.”
Tate felt bad for him. Rogan made his way to the door then closed and locked it with a heavy sigh. Tate lowered his head in shame, mortified that he was the reason for a rift between the two men—yet another friend Rogan had lost so soon on the heels of Cam’s death.
That’s when the tears came and he could no longer hold back, big hiccupping sobs breaking free. He covered his face with his hands again, terrified of what would happen next. As much as Rogan might care about him, Tate had only been a brief part of his life so far. Letting him go was not only the right thing for Rogan to do, it wouldn’t be all that difficult.
Warm, strong arms wrapped around him, but Tate stiffened. He didn’t want to grab hold of Rogan, cling to him in desperation out of the fear he would hurt him more after Mitch’s pummeling.
“Are you angry with me, sweetheart?”
Tate frowned, confusion taking hold. He inhaled several shuddering breaths in an attempt to slow down his crying enough to answer. Tate peered up at Rogan through blurry, water-filled eyes.
“N-no. Are y-you angry with me?”
Rogan shook his head, brushing his hands up and down Tate’s back in a soothing motion. “Of course not. But you’re very tense, like you don’t want me to touch you.” Rogan’s eyes held a glimmer that surprised Tate. “Not that I blame you after what Mitch almost did.” His eyes filled with more tears, until one escaped and trailed down his cheek. “If I was even one minute later getting home…”
Tate cupped Rogan’s cheek, using his thumb to wipe away the lone tear. “But you weren’t, and I’m totally okay because of you.” He furrowed his brow. “Then you got hurt because of me. I didn’t want to hold you back in case I made things worse than I already have.” He