The Bully - Epilogue (and Author's notes) (Patreon)

THE BULLY

Epilogue

“And who are you?” Clay asked.

Who was he? That was an excellent question for Dylan Ward.

At this point, he had no idea.

“I… I’m Luke’s friend…” He blurted out. “I mean, we were in the wrestling team together.”

“You do look like you’d be part of a wrestling team, man.”

Clay touched his shoulder in a friendly manner.

“Yes, well, I’m in a college team now.”

“You want to come in? Luke should be back any minute.”

“Thanks, but hum…”

How could he run away from this? Dylan thought.

Nothing seemed less appealing than chatting with Luke’s boyfriend…

Thankfully, they did not have to make conversation for long.

“Dylan!?”

It was too late to avoid Luke.

He was right behind him, also wrapped in a towel.

“Hey.” Dylan said sheepishly, as he turned around.

Luke could not hide his concerns seeing his current boyfriend and his former-bully chatting.

He could see the bullshit and problems coming.

“What are you doing here?”

“I… I was driving by and… I thought I’d come say hi, that’s all!” Dylan explained, visibly lying.

He was not bothered at first but now, Clay could clearly feel some tension in the air. Luke had never mentioned Dylan to him.

This did not sound good.

Was there anything between them?

“Oh. Cool! You did good coming here.” Luke replied, trying to sound casual. “Can I just put something on and we can have a walk or a breakfast together?”

“Sounds good! I… I’ll just wait for you here, then. Nice to have met you, Clay.”

Once again, he politely shook the hand of the guy who was fucking Luke on the daily.

The old Dylan would have normally punched him in the face instead… Maybe people do change after all.

Yet, the moment remained awkward and Dylan could hear Luke and Clay arguing in their room afterwards.

Damn, that was uncomfortable, for every party involved.

Dylan could not believe that he was about to make some sort of a romantic gesture, a love declaration…

How stupid could have he been?!

Of course, Luke had found himself a boyfriend!

Dylan’s ego was shattered but that seemed only logical when he was thinking about it. Luke was handsome, smart, and openly gay.

Dylan considered leaving even before Luke had a chance to get out of his room but he thought that he should, for once, handle this with a bit more maturity.

He waited while pacing around the door.

“Let’s go the cafeteria.” Luke suggested, once he was ready.

Apparently, Clay had not forbidden him to talk with Dylan.

“I follow you.” Dylan smiled faintly.

He tried to pretend like this was no big deal but he was not fooling anyone.

They sat down in a corner of the cafeteria with some breakfast, - food would help during their talk -, and then, Luke started the dreaded conversation.

“So? What are you really doing here?”

Dylan’s first reflex would have been to lie through his teeth but his exhaustion did not allow him to do so.

He was done with the pretending anyway.

“I’ve told you, Luke. I wanted to see you in person, I needed to talk to you.”

“And this could not wait three weeks until the holiday break? I thought this is what we had discussed on the phone yesterday.”

“No, it couldn’t wait. I drove all night to get here this morning.”

Luke put his hands against his head.

“God… Why? Why would you do that? Man, I’ve already barely slept last night and now, I have to deal with that.”

“With that? You mean, to deal with me?” Dylan snapped, getting upset.

“Well, yes! I didn’t ask for you to come.”

“I thought you’d be at least happy to see me! I thought we were friends!”

“What on Earth made you think I’d like to see you before going to class this morning?!”

Dylan did not feel like he deserved this.

He had come all this way with good intentions.

“I couldn’t anticipate you’d be with your boyfriend and I’d be a disturbance in your love life.” He replied, bitter.

Luke puffed.

“This has nothing to do with Clay… I just think that it’s not the best optic if people see us together after the news that we got yesterday.”

“It’d make sense that I’d want to talk to you, to a friend. I was very close to Gropper.” Dylan pointed out.

“Maybe…”

“That’s not why I’m here anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want to talk to you about us, not about the coach.”

Luke did not expect that.

He bit into his banana, took a deep breath to calm his nerves and to be ready to listen.

Whatever was about to come next, it would be a hard talk.

“Tell me…” He eventually said.

Dylan was nervous.

This setting and energy had nothing to do with what he had in mind before getting there, while he was rehearsing his speech in his car.

“First of all, I wanted to apologize. I know we’ve been through that already but I didn’t make things right… Time has passed and, trust me, now I realize how much of an asshole I’ve been to you. I sincerely regret it.”

Luke softened up a little.

“Thank you for this.” He spoke. “That’s nice to hear. I told you though, on my side, this chapter is closed. I’m not mad at you anymore.”

“I know… But I still wanted to say that to you, in person. It’s not only about the bullying, it’s about my behaviour afterwards. The way I left too. I’ve been an asshole through and through.”

“I won’t disagree with you, but I made peace with that.”

Luke showed the beginning of a smile as he talked, which was a good sign for Dylan.

“Luke, I miss you. I shouldn’t have gone that way. We could have gotten back together in September. I texted you.”

“Back together? We’ve never been together, you made sure of that.”

“Yes, well, we could have started things off, give ourselves a chance.”

“Dylan, please… What do you think? I’ve spent the worst summer of my life after what had happened… The incident, and then you, leaving me behind. I was stressed out 24/7.”

“Me too! That’s exactly why I’m saying that we could have gone through this together.”

“And who’s fault is that that we didn’t?!”

“I know!” Dylan had raised his voice. He lowered his tone again before adding: “This is why I apologize to you.”

“If that can make you feel any better, I’m very aware that I’ve dealt with the situation very poorly myself. The coach was in my ear but… That’s no excuse. I was an asshole too.”

Thirty seconds passed in silence before Dylan spoke again.

“Luke, you told me that the reason you didn’t want to talk with me was because you didn’t want to fall for me again? Right?”

“Right…”

Dylan dared a move to hold Luke’s hand.

He let him.

“What if I told you that I…. that I actually want to give our story a chance. Like, a real shot, not just mindless sex.”

Luke pushed back the hand that he was holding.

“You cannot be for real…”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

“Oh no, you look very serious and very tired too. In fact, you don’t look well at all, Dylan, and that concerns me.”

“This is why I need you. I’m losing my mind without you.”

“But it’s too late for that, Dyl!”

“Come on… Please…”

Seeing Dylan beg did nothing for Luke.

On the contrary, he only seemed pathetic now.

“Oh My God! Wake the fuck up, Dylan! You cannot treat people like shit and believe that they’ll still be there when you come back.”

“I know, trust me, I know! But I didn’t have any choice to leave because of my dad.”

“You told me that there would never be anything between us. You were loud and clear, your dad or not.”

“I was stupid!”

“You still are!”

People started looking at them, Luke sighed and they lowered their voices again.

“So, you don’t feel anything for me? Anything at all?” Dylan asked, his leg shaking under the shared table.

“Of course, I have feelings for you idiot.”

Dylan smiled like a kid.

“See! I knew it!”

“But man, I’m done. I’ve moved on.”

“I noticed that! The naked dude in your room was pretty clear about this.”

“His name is Clay.”

“Who cares?! I understand that you had to bounce back and live your life. I’m not mad at you for that.”

“I sure hope so! Why would you have any right to be mad?!”

“But please, Luke, listen to me. We can start over, I promise. I see things so differently now.”

Luke rolled his eyes.

Dylan was really not getting his point.

“Dyl, you’re hot, you’re privileged, and you’re used to have people crawling to you. You’re used to have me crawling to you. But I’m done! Clay and I have been together for a couple of months and he has been nothing but respectful to me. You think that I’d dispose of him like an old piece of cloth, just because you’ve decided that maybe, you’d give me a try? I’m not you! I don’t use people like toys.”

“No… I… I didn’t expect anything. Fuck, Luke. I just wished there’d be something to be done…”

“I’m sorry, mate. Actions have consequences. I…”

“Trust me, I’ve suffered enough in the past five months. I understand very well the notion of consequences.”

Luke searched for his words; he did not want this to turn into an ugly fight.

“Look, Dylan, I really wish you the best and I know it is very tough with your father, and dealing with what happened with the Coach. I will keep my word on that, I’ll protect you. I promise. But you and I, “us”, that doesn’t exist. You were right before.”

Dylan pushed back his tears.

He did not even know this was possible but his Alpha male’s heart was being broken into pieces.

He had nothing left to say though. Luke was right on every single point.

He had ruined everything and he only had to live with his choices.

“Are you happy with Clay?” He asked.

“Yes… I think so.”

“That’s good. You know that regarding the Coach, you shouldn’t be worried. I was the one who… I mean, it this were to blow up someday, I’d take full responsibility. I’m fully responsible. I promise.”

“Noone will ever know.”

Dylan looked around; the weather was sunny outside.

“You want to walk a little before I leave?” He proposed.

“Yeah… Maybe I can accompany you to your car?”

“Jesus, I can’t believe I have to drive all this way back again.” Dylan chuckled.

“You can take a nap in my room before leaving.”

“Sharing the bed with Clay? No thank you.”

“He’ll be in class.”

“Nah… I’ll just go now. I shouldn’t have come anyway, right?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s good that we have talked.” Luke recognized.

They started walking towards the parking lot.

“Yes, maybe. This conversation needed to happen anyway.”

“I should have told you that I had met someone. Frankly, I didn’t think that you would care.” Luke explained.

“I tried to move on too, you know, but college’s been very tough on me. I can barely wrestle anymore. Too many bad memories.”

“Maybe college is just not the right fir for you. Dylan, you really need to start living your life for you, and not for your dad or your family.”

“My psychotic dad…”

“Exactly.”

They both laughed.

“Will we see each other during the next break?”

“Sure, if you want to, I’m fine with that.” Luke told Dylan.

They had reached the car and they hugged.

It was not a lover’s hug but it was nice enough.

The big gesture Dylan had planned had certainly not gone his way, but there seemed to be a better understanding between the boys.

They were somewhat at peace with each other.

“See you in a few weeks, then. As friends.” Dylan spoke, getting in his car.

“Yes, see you in a few weeks!”

He smiled at Dylan.

This had not been easy for Luke either.

Dylan was his high-school crush, in many ways, his “first love”, and the first person he had had sex with. That meant something.

But he knew he had made the right decision. Their relationship could not work, there had been too much trauma and toxicity between them.

Dylan did not drive for four hours.

He stopped at a motel and he slept.

His first full night – or rather day – of sleep, in months.

A weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The conversation had effectively helped him, just not the way he had anticipated initially.

*

He picked up his phone to write a nice text to Luke. He wanted to thank him for being honest with him.

But while he was writing the text, he had another incoming message from an unknown number.

A chilling message.

The type of words which can turn your entire life around.

“I know what you did to Owen Gropper. I have been watching you. I will not let you go that easy.”

And fuck… Here they were again!

[THE END]

*

Author's notes

And with that, guys... This is a wrap for the THE BULLY!

With the chaotic week on this Patreon, I am just glad I was able to publish that epilogue on time. I will probably remove the few chapters from my archive in a few weeks because it does not make sense for a story to have some chapters on and others removed.

I hope you have enjoyed the story overall and that you are fine with this ending.

In my point of view, there was no way Luke and Dylan could have ended happily together.

After every event and trauma showcased in this story, this would have been a toxic relationship and would have never worked.

At the very least, not in this context.

If Luke has learnt from his own mistakes and has evolved in the right direction throughout the book, Dylan has still a long way to go to get rid of his demons and grow up.

The big question now... Will there be a sequel?!

If this book was a stand-alone, I would have ended it the exact same way, with Luke starting his life as an openly gay guy with a boyfriend; and Dylan starting his own path to maybe, one day, be at peace with who he is.

The only thing is that I would not have included the very last line...

“I know what you did to Owen Gropper. I have been watching you. I will not let you go that easy.”

This, of course, opens the door to a potential sequel, and trust me, I already have many ideas in mind, starting by the identity of the person who would have sent this chilling message.

A second book would give me the opportunity to pursue Dylan and Luke's journey, and allow me to explore minor characters like the mayor, the principal, Simon Dart, Grayson or even Luke's new boyfriend, Clay.

That being said, given the request from Patreon to remove The Bully from my archives since a few chapters were including too much harrassement (and literally, bullying...), that might definitely close the door on this one.

In any case, I was not planning to write the sequel in the following months since I wanted to focus on other stories.

Only time will tell then...

I am, of course, sad that Patreon has considered this story was going against their guidelines when I felt it offered an overall message that bullying and "eye for an eye revenge" were just wrong.

Still, I am happy that some many of you were able to read the book in its entirety and follow this journey, before it was removed.

In a way, you really have gotten access to an exclusive, temporary and rare story if you have been a member of my page these past three months!

I also wanted to thank the reader who had inspired me this story in the first place. Cheers to you!