Catching Feelings Ch. 03

"He's been harassing me," Jeremy finally said. "I've blocked him on quite a few things lately, because he's made new accounts. Mostly social media, but he's been messaging here on my phone for a while too. I haven't answered him, so he came out here. He, as you saw, came to the football field, and he picked up on why I was there. Jasper has always kind of been a master at manipulation, which he likely gets from his father. When he pushed me up against the wall, I started to panic and I froze. I was having a full blown panic attack by the time he kissed and grabbed me and I just..." Jeremy sighed, running his hand through his black hair, which was messy and mussed from sleeping so much recently.

Jimmy looked sympathetic. "That must have been a terrible experience for you," he said gently, unsure what to do to offer reassurance or even if it was too late to salvage anything.

"It was worse after you left," Jeremy admitted and he lifted his right hand which was in the cast and splints. "Broke my wrist and then lost it, and I barely remember the drive back here or the recording that Chloe took that night."

Jimmy reached toward him but let his hand fall to the table when he realized he couldn't stand to see Jeremy flinch away from him. "So what happens now?"

"I don't know," Jeremy said and looked down at the table. "I kind of figured you'd never speak to me again, so all of my thoughts were on my next steps, which included finding a job. You were the one who was wronged though, so..."

"It sounds to me like you were the wronged party here. All I did was make things worse," Jimmy said.

Jeremy shook his head. "Jasper was my problem. I'm the one who got involved with him, and I knew pretty well who he was by the time I was dumb enough to love him, minus the violence. You didn't ask for any of this, and you have a right to be upset and hurt."

Jimmy leaned forward, "I signed on to be your partner, which made your problems my problems. I asked to date you, which meant I did ask to be a part of this. I just wish you'd told me about him sooner."

"It's hard to," Jeremy groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. "This guy chewed me up and spit me out as soon as it came back on him, and I would have preferred to leave him in the past, Jimmy. It's where he belonged. I don't even understand why he's doing this right now. It could be he's just angry about losing his plaything, but I would think he could find a new one..."

"I don't know. All I know is that it's hard to come between us if we stick together. If you're done with me, I can understand that, but please recognize that I was only going off of the information I had at the time," Jimmy begged.

"I do recognize that," Jeremy replied, his voice wavering a little, putting his hand on the table palm up to give Jimmy the option to take it. Jimmy took his hand, gripping it tightly. "I..." He paused, because he wanted to say love but he couldn't, not right now, not with all of this hanging in the air. "...care about you too much to just walk away over Jasper's bullshit if that's not what you want, but you should also know that this probably isn't over. I can't imagine that Jasper will just let this stand as is."

"Well then, let's learn how to stand together, shall we?" Jimmy said.

Jeremy swallowed hard, not sure what to say to that. His fear and worry was plainly visible to Jimmy despite the fact that Jeremy was trying to keep it under wraps. Jeremy was about to say something but then they heard a sharp knock at the door. He looked confused for a moment and then got up, grabbed a shirt and put it on and then moved over to the door to open it, where two police officers were standing.

"Jeremy Thayer?" one of the cops asked.

"That's me," Jeremy replied with a nod. "Can I help you?"

One of the cops moved behind Jeremy to get his arms behind him while the one who had spoken before told him he was under arrest for the assault of Jasper Montgomery. They started to read him his rights while Jeremy looked over at Jimmy, shaking his head slightly as the pieces started to fall into place in his head. It took a lot to keep from laughing just at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.

"Find Ethan, tell him to call Ryder," Jeremy said to Jimmy.

"Okay," Jimmy said. "Be brave, I'm right here with you."

Jeremy gave a brief nod and then the cops pushed him out the door, continuing their explanation of his rights as he was led out to the cop car. People watched as he was taken out of the building and put into the back of the patrol car. Jeremy kept up an air of calm authority despite what was going on. Inside, though, he was freaking out. He could make an educated guess at the actual culprits, and while he was vaguely annoyed that they had taken such a risk, he had already decided he was going to take the fall for it because it wasn't like Wayne and the others had the money to get themselves out of a situation against the Montgomery family.

Jimmy had followed them down, and so when one of the cops asked Jeremy what happened and how he broke his wrist, Jimmy managed to catch Jeremy saying, "You already know how. Jasper has a hard jaw." And then the door to the car shut and anything else Jeremy was saying was cut off from his ears.

Jimmy stood there watching the police car pull away from the curb then he ran for Wayne's place. He arrived out of breath, but he explained what happened and Wayne immediately got on his cell phone and rounded up the team. While they waited for the guys to show up, Wayne filled Jimmy in on what they'd done to Mr. Jasper Bitchface, as they were fond of calling him now.

"Well, as sweet as that was, he went to the police and claimed Jeremy did it and Jeremy took the fall to keep you out of jail!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"That's easy enough," Wayne said, "I'll just tell the police the truth."

Jimmy was at a loss. Either his lover or his best friend were going to end up in jail over a stupid stalker ex. Once the rest of the team formed up, several of them said they knew where to find Chloe and they headed that direction en masse. Today was bound to be a dream for Chloe.

Ethan was the one who answered the door, and just about slammed it in their faces until he saw Jimmy. He stopped and held the door while he leaned against the door frame. "What is all this? Bringing the whole football team over to...I mean, I'm sure Chloe used to hope the whole team would rail her, but I'm not really here for that kind of action, so if this about us 'fixing Jeremy's messes' then you all can kindly fuck off."

"Actually this is about us fixing Wayne's mess," Jimmy said, then explained what had happened.

Ethan groaned and then opened the door to let them in, though it was clear it was begrudgingly. Chloe came out of her room and stopped as she watched a whole plethora of athletes filter into their apartment, shifting on her weight as she cradled the book she had in her arms in the crook of her left elbow and raising an eyebrow at the sight before her.

"Is this where the line starts for the gang-bang?" Brock joked, then Wayne punched him in the arm, hard.

Ethan whispered to Chloe what was actually going on, and she looked sharply over at Wayne, before Ethan disappeared with his phone.

"Hey Ryder. Well of course it's bad news if I'm the one calling you," they heard him say before his bedroom door shut.

Chloe put down the book she was holding, which was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and she came over to one of the chairs and sat on the arm of it while crossing her arms in front of her.

"So, you went and did a stupid ass thing, and now Jeremy has decided that he's taking the fall for it, huh?" she said, and her eyes were directly on Wayne now.

"Yeah, it looks that way. At the time, I was trying to make up for being a bone-head at the party, but it all seems to have spiraled out of control. Now I wish I'd put that dumbass in the hospital," Wayne said.

Chloe sighed and chewed on her fingernail. "Are you sure you didn't just do it for Jimmy? Jeremy wasn't a thought in any of your minds, despite whatever time we've spent trying to get to know you all and become friends."

"That's not true," Wayne pointed out, "While Jimmy is my best friend, and while I was upset with Jeremy for breaking his heart, once you all explained what really happened I wanted to find a way to make our ignorance up to Jeremy, only to ignorantly make things worse. But I have no intention of letting him take the fall for me. These guys are here as my witnesses that I beat the mealy-mouthed little shit up and that Jeremy had nothing to do with it."

Chloe dropped her hand back into her lap and leaned forward a little. "Well, as cute as that is, you can't. So let me clear up a few ignorances you all still have. You all see us as the weird rich kids that keep hanging around because Jeremy latched onto Jimmy, and in a way you're right. But you're in my world now, jock. It's not that simple. You see, the Montgomery family has money, and I mean serious money. So here's what will happen if you walk into that station and take the blame: They will destroy you with not only criminal charges, but also lawsuits. Your family will never recover. And then after that, they will make sure you never get to work a day in your life unless it's under what they allow for you. Your entire life will be destroyed.

"Jeremy, though, is smart. He's lived in this world, he's watched how it works, and his brother is a lawyer already. Money can fight money. So the Thayers against the Montgomeries will actually be much harder for them to destroy him, no matter how much Jasper wants to. I'm sure Jasper is already having hell rained down on him for doing this because him going to the police to get back at Jeremy after the press backlash will only look bad on them, especially since he had no good reason for being out here in the first place.

"On top of that, at this point it would be your word against Jeremy's, and Jasper's. And here's something you don't know about Jeremy. He's a good person. He's kind, he's loving, he's gentle, and he's fiercely loyal. And when he loves, he loves with his entire being and his entire heart. So since Jimmy loves you, and Jeremy loves Jimmy, he will do what he has to to keep you safe, even if it puts him at risk. So no, you won't tell them the truth because it not only destroys you, but it doesn't help Jeremy."

Some of the football team started applauding her speech while Wayne looked embarrassed. No one said anything else until Ethan came back out into the room, and he stopped as he looked at the silence that had fallen.

"I missed something good, didn't I?" he asked.

"Just the gang-bang," Brock said, already bracing for the punch coming from Wayne.

"I thought you were giving up the slut life," Ethan said casually to Chloe, and she just gave him a wan smile. "Is our bet back on?"

Chloe shook her head. "He's not interested. You won."

Ethan nodded slowly at that, not sure he believed her.

"Wait, who's not interested?" Wayne asked dumbly.

"Oh, not interested and clueless at the same time," Ethan said with a knowing smile to Chloe while he patted her on the shoulder. "A little contradictory, don't you think, Chloe Cat?"

Chloe simply pointed at Wayne to answer his question, ignoring Ethan's entirely before looking back at Ethan. "Ryder?"

"He said he's going to murder Jeremy himself, so we don't need to worry about him going to jail or anything," Ethan replied. "He also wanted the names of the people involved in the actual beating, and I told him that while they sure as fuck didn't do it for Jeremy, I wasn't going to hand those over because I know exactly what Jeremy will force up my ass if I do, and I am far from prepared to take that. So he's hopping on the jet. He'll be here in two hours."

"Wait, I'm not interested?" Wayne said, still trying to wrap his mind around that part of the conversation.

"Jimmy, do you need to take your friend somewhere and catch him up?" Ethan asked.

"Maybe," Jimmy allowed, eyeing Wayne sideways.

"Is this girl for real?" Wayne asked him.

"Real as they get," Jimmy assured him, "Now hush, the adults are talking."

"Too many hits to the head," Ethan said to Chloe who shushed him and then Ethan turned to Jimmy. "So, uh, I should warn you before Ryder gets here because I think Jeremy would want me to, and as annoyed as I am at your blockheads here, I am Jeremy's bestie first and foremost. Ryder is...well, he's Jeremy's older brother, and the whole family isn't incredibly fond of him. Jeremy that is. Not Ryder. Everyone fucking loves Ryder, but Jeremy is the youngest, friends with the resident trouble makers, and gay so, you know, the black sheep. Ryder isn't horrible but he's not going to appreciate meeting Jeremy's boyfriend because as far as the family is concerned, you're a liability."

Jimmy looked more than a little stunned by this news, but nodded. "Guess we should make ourselves scarce, then," Jimmy said, beginning to usher the football team out of the house. A couple of the guys made "call me" motions to Chloe, who ignored them with an expression that said that particular ship had sailed.

"Hold on, I wasn't saying you have to leave," Ethan groaned as he stopped Jimmy from leaving with them. "I'm just saying you need to be prepared for Ryder to be cold, and not just to you. You're probably going to be mad when you hear the family speak to him, or upset for him at least. You can stay. Your team can go...do whatever, but preferably not beating up more society assholes."

Wayne, on the other hand, tried to pull Chloe aside. Chloe looked at Wayne in confusion, like she wasn't quite sure what was going on as most of the team took Ethan's words to heart and left. "If something I said offended you or hurt you, I'm sorry, but I'm just telling you the truth of the situation."

"No, I got all that," Wayne assured her. "What I didn't get was that you think I'm not interested. What gave you that idea?"

Chloe's eyes widened just slightly and then went back to normal like she was surprised. "Uh, let's see. You're always tired when we offer to take you guys out or you're busy, the kind of ignoring my presence type of behavior, and the way you acted when all we did to start with was show up at the party. I think that's all pretty clear, Mr. QB! It's fine, I get it. Rich white girls are annoying at the best of times. No hard feelings, it just means that Jeremy owes Ethan a thou...um, some cash."

"I'm always tired because, for all that the Coach has been praised for being progressive by starting a black quarterback, I've had to run extra practices in private to make sure I don't get benched because I'm dyslexic. I've been busy lately because I'm a Junior now and my classes have gotten harder so I've been studying harder to make up for it so I don't get benched on Academics like Jimmy did. Plus," here he lowered his voice so only he and Chloe could hear, "don't tell the guys but I'm rushing a frat right now and they keep making me do random shit."

"The frat that had the party?" she asked.

"No, Omega," he responded.

It was clear that Chloe didn't get the Greek System, despite most of her family being part of it. "Alright, well, that still doesn't change the way you and the guys view us, Wayne. I'm fine being the little white rich girl to people, because whatever, but I'm not really my family. I didn't join a sorority, and unlike Jeremy, I'm not buckling under family pressure to do what they want for schooling. I'm studying to go into social work, which they hate, while Ethan is trying to work towards becoming a doctor because he hates politics too."

"That's cool. I never said you had to do anything, I just don't want you to mistake my circumstances for disinterest. I figured you were busy figuring your groove out and I didn't want to get in the way of that, but you've been on my radar for a couple years now. We view you 'rich kids' as weird because of your privilege," Wayne said, "It's hard to get past that, even if we know better, which many of us do not. We haven't been sure if y'all are slummin' it or if Jeremy's interest in Jimmy was real, before this anyway. So we've been kinda keeping things light until we figured it out for ourselves. If there's anything you should take away from the whole team turning out, it's that we recognize that we're in this together. They all look up to Jimmy, especially for being brave enough to come out the way he did."

"I mean, Jeremy didn't even want to get involved with Jimmy at first for that very reason," Chloe pointed out. "Because everyone would make their assumptions and he was tired of his romantic interests being turned around on him, and Jimmy knew that."

Wayne nodded. "I feel you. Any time you want to know where my interests lie, though, just ask," he said.

Chloe sighed, and looked over where Ethan was going through some things, talking to Jimmy. "I don't normally get crushes. Not since my high school boyfriend fucked off with another girl after graduation, but it's possible Ethan is right that money and privilege is too big a gap to bridge."

Wayne nodded, looking disappointed but understanding. "If that's how you feel, I won't push anything, but it'd be nice to have a sugar-mama," he joked, elbowing her in the ribs gently.

"It's not usually how I feel, but right now I don't know," she admitted. "It's expected that I'll find a partner who is part of money, since I am, but I would have greatly preferred not to because the men in our society, other than ones like Jeremy and Ethan, are...ugh."

"Too much like that Jasper creep?" Wayne asked.

"Maybe not as bad as him," she replied honestly. "But they use their money to get out of things, cheat, lie, and treat women like commodities. Mom only did as well as she did because she has a lucrative career too."

"Well, it was a blast beating the snot out of him, even if it didn't take," Wayne said. "Especially after what he said to me when I got in his way. That was some seriously racist shit."

"That's not surprising," Chloe grimaced as she spoke. "Honestly, my father would have a heart attack if I brought you home, but I don't really care to let them have opinions on who I date. You might not notice, but I'm one fourth Asian because one of my grandfathers took a wife from Thailand."

"I hope he took her back!" Wayne joked. "Damn rich people always taking folk from one place to another..."

"I always felt bad for her," Chloe admitted to him. "She wasn't allowed to teach me anything about her culture, so it just kind of died with her. She was a sweet woman though. Taught me to bake, stitch, knit, and crochet."

"Aww, have you considered going to Thailand some time? Surely your family's wealth could benefit you in some ways," Wayne asked.

"Yes, but I never wanted to go alone," Chloe said with a sigh. "I figured it was something I would do once I actually let go of some of my bullshit and fell in love and got married."

"I've never been out of this country. I've thought about trying to go to Africa at some point, though the likelihood of finding out where my family is from is impossibly small," Wayne mused.

Chloe smiled at Wayne. "There are tests now that can help, and genealogists, but yeah, I get it. Maybe you really do need a sugar mama."

"That's what I've been saying!" Wayne laughed.

Chloe let out another sigh. "You really are cute."

"I know," Wayne said, winking at her before turning to Jimmy and Ethan, who had finished talking a bit ago and were just watching Wayne and Chloe chat.

"I think I need to be ready to pay up to Jeremy now," Ethan joked with Jimmy.

Once Wayne and Chloe had come back over to them, Chloe got onto her phone to contact a reporter she knew well to send the video they had taken of Jasper. Ethan pointed out that Jasper had mentioned a boyfriend in the recording, and Jeremy wouldn't be thrilled they had leaked it for that reason alone, but Chloe felt the benefits outweighed the risks of reporters trying to figure out who Jeremy was dating.