Chapter 22

"I asked around," Sam explained in anger. "Casen got bullied badly. Those same assholes who were after him before? They didn't hold back this time. After they locked Casen in the bathroom, Casen…Casen he..he..

Hunter's chest heaved furiously. He could already imagine it—the whispers, the shoves, the bruises Casen must have been hiding.

"Where the hell are they now? Where can I find them?!" Hunter growled, stepping forward.

Sam immediately put a hand on Hunter's chest, stopping him. "No. I'll take care of it. You stay here, see what the doctor says."

Hunter shook him off, his eyes blazing maliciously. "The hell I will. I'm not letting those bastards get away with this and wait until they try something like this again."

Sam let out a bitter chuckle, running a hand through his messy hair. His entire posture screamed frustration.

"You don't get it, Hunter. We can't get the school involved. Those assholes? Their parents are rich and powerful. They'll twist the story and get their kids off scot-free, and Casen will still be the one blamed in the end." Sam's fists clenched. 

"In my world? They don't have daddies to save their asses." Hunter let out through gritted teeth. "Stay here. Make sure Casen doesn't do anything stupid again. I'll handle them."

Sam narrowed his eyes, studying Hunter for a while before nodding. "If you need backup, call me."

"I won't need it."

Sam smirked, but there was nothing humorous about it. "Find them at The Black Pit Bar. They always go there to drink after school like they own the place."

Hunter nodded once before turning on his heel and storming out of the hospital.

The Black Pit was dark and filled with the bitter scent of cheap alcohol and sweat. Hunter looked around like a wild animal ready to attack. His mind was consumed by a single thought—pain.

Pain for Casen. Pain for what those bastards had done to him. Pain that could only be returned tenfold.

And there they were. The cowards.

The group of bullies sat in their usual booth, laughing, drinking, their arms draped around girls who giggled at their every word. They were relaxed and carefree. Like they hadn't just driven someone to slit his own damn wrists.

Hunter's fingers twitched as he saw red.

He stormed forward and the moment he reached their table, he grabbed the nearest guy by the collar and slammed his face into his beer glass. The glass shattered with a sickening crunch, and blood splattered onto the table. The bar fell silent in a blink. 

"What the fu—" Another didn't even get to finish his sentence before Hunter's fist crashed into his mouth. And a tooth flew out. The guy dropped like a sack of bricks, choking on his own blood.

Screams erupted everywhere. The girls jumped back, their drinks spilling, their heels clattering as they fled away to save themselves. 

The remaining bullies shot to their feet. "You crazy son of a—"

Hunter grabbed a beer bottle from the table and smashed it over another guy's head. The bottle exploded into jagged shards, and the guy stumbled back, clutching his bleeding scalp.

One of them rushed at him. Big mistake.

"Urghhhhhhh—-ahhh!" Hunter sidestepped, grabbed his wrist, and bent it backward until it snapped. A bone-chilling scream tore from the guy's throat.

"You think it's funny?" Hunter spat in his face. His honey-brown eyes, usually warm, were now cold and soulless. "You think it's funny to drive someone to death?"

One of them, the biggest of the group, lunged at Hunter with a broken beer bottle. Hunter didn't move and instead waited. At the last second, he dodged, grabbed the guy's wrist, and slammed his elbow down with his full strength. 

CRACK.

The guy howled as his wrist shattered. The bottle clattered to the ground. "You…you freak—!"

Hunter grabbed his throat and squeezed until he completely stopped his air.

"Say that again," Hunter whispered, leaning in close. His breath was warm against the guy's trembling face. "I dare you."

The guy choked, clawing at Hunter's hands, his legs kicking desperately. His eyes rolled back. Hunter finally let go, shoving him back. The guy collapsed, coughing, gasping for air.

The rest were trying to crawl away but Hunter wasn't done with them yet. He stalked toward the one who had insulted Casen the worst, the one who had laughed about it. The ringleader.

The guy tried to run but Hunter caught him by the hair and yanked him back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hunter's voice was mocking but eerily calm. He drove his knee into the guy's stomach. A broken wheeze escaped the guy's lips as he crashed to the floor, vomiting from the impact.

"You like humiliating people, huh?" Hunter grabbed his face, forcing him to look up. The guy whimpered in unbearable pain. "Laugh now," Hunter demanded and his grip tightened until the guy whimpered like a dog. "I SAID LAUGH!!" 

Suddenly, the doors slammed open and heavy footsteps interrupted the loud crying. 

A deep voice rumbled. "Well, well, well…what do we have here?" 

Hunter turned his head and saw Sam's uncle. And he wasn't alone. Men in dark suits flooded in like shadows swallowing the room.

The remaining bullies paled. They finally realized, this wasn't just a street fight. This was a massacre.

Sam's uncle smirked. "Looks like you kids forgot your place."

A snap of his fingers.

Chaos.

Hunter stepped back, watching as Sam's men descended like wolves, their fists merciless.

One of the bullies screamed as a bat cracked against his ribs. Another cried out as he was dragged across the floor, his nose breaking under a boot.

Instead, he stood amidst the wreckage, his chest rising and falling with ragged breaths. Blood, none of it his own dripped from his bruised knuckles, splattering the ground. He wiped the blood off his knuckles. He didn't need to do anything more.

His eyes landed on the ringleader. The guy lay curled up, trembling like a beaten dog, clutching his shattered ribs. 

Hunter crouched down and grabbed his head by the hair, forcing him to look up. The guy flinched, his swollen eye barely able to open.

"Tell me," Hunter's voice was calm, but his grip tightened painfully, making the guy wince. "Why?"

The guy was scared to death. "W-why what?"

Hunter's eyes darkened. "Why Casen? Why did you keep going after him?" His voice dropped lower, more menacing. "Tell me, or I swear to God, I'll break something you'll never recover from."

The guy's entire body shuddered. His mind raced to come up to excuses to save himself from getting killed tonight. 

"I…I swear, I was just—" He choked on his own words, desperate to come up with something that wouldn't end with another bone snapped. Then, his eyes lit up as he saw a way out. A scapegoat. "I was just helping you!" 

Hunter's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Helping me?"

The guy nodded furiously, grabbing onto the excuse like a lifeline. "Yeah! That gay kid, he was always clinging to you, right? We were just making sure he didn't ruin your reputation! We did it for you, man!"

Hunter's jaw clenched. Bullshit.

He yanked the guy closer until their faces were just inches apart. "You think I'm a fucking idiot?"

"N-no! I swear! If you don't believe me, ask your friend Aiden!"

The moment Aiden's name left his mouth, Hunter's grip tightened like a vice. The guy whimpered, his breath hitching.

"What did you just say?" Hunter's voice dropped dangerously low.

The guy gulped. He knew he was walking on thin ice, but he was desperate to save his own skin so he twisted the truth. 

"Aiden!" he repeated quickly. "Your friend, Aiden! He was the one who told us that Casen keeps bothering you! That you don't even like him, but he won't stop clinging to you! He said you wanted help so we just warned that kid nothing else. We didn't know he was that weak to try to kill himself."

Hunter froze at his words. A strange, unsettling coldness crawled down his spine.

"What?" His voice was a whisper, but it held a deadly edge. The guy saw the hesitation in Hunter's expression and pushed further.

"It's true! If you don't believe me—look!" He fumbled with his phone, his fingers shaking as he pulled up a video.

Hunter snatched the phone and watched. The hallway. The students. Aiden. And then…

"Hunter is not gay. It's Casen who keeps clinging to him. Not the other way around."

Hunter's blood turned to ice. His grip on the phone tightened as he replayed the words, again and again, as if they might change. But they didn't.

The phone cracked under the pressure of his fingers.

The guy flinched as Hunter's entire expression twisted. His face darkened, his jaw clenched so tightly it could snap. Hunter felt his pulse pounding in his ears. He felt betrayed. 

Aiden…Aiden said this?

Before he could even think, his fist moved. The bully didn't even have time to scream before he was out cold, his body slumping against the floor.

A thick silence settled over the bar. The remaining men from Sam's uncle's crew looked at Hunter with quiet approval.

Sam's uncle smirked. "Feeling better? Come on, kid. Let's go back to the hospital."

Hunter exhaled sharply, his breaths were deep while his eyes burned. "No." 

Sam's uncle raised a brow. "No?"

Hunter's fists clenched. His entire body was tense with fury. "There's somewhere I need to go first."

And with that, he walked out while pulling out his phone and texting Aiden to meet him.