Coffee

If he wanted to live? That meant he was going to die if he did not meet this person. Why would someone send him a death threat? He didn't do anything wrong.

Hilary plops down in the seat next to him and pulls out her lecture pad. "I've sent him like a thousand texts already and he hasn't responded to a single one," she says with a heavy sigh. There's still a small moony smile on her face, leftover feelings from her time spent with Kai almost two whole days ago.

"Has he opened them at least?" Tyson asks her.

"No" she replies with a shake of her head. "He hasn't seen them."

A nasty feeling creeps up his gut. "Let me get this straight, he hasn't replied to any of your texts since you two had sex?"

Hilary looks at him, then says no.

Tyson takes a deep breath. His friend seems clueless of what is going on here. He realizes he has to tell her. "Hil, he's ghosting you."

"No, I don't think so. He's probably busy with some organization stuff and didn't get the time to read my texts."

"The guy is a jackass. You know what everyone calls him."

"Tyson, Kai's a really sweet guy once you get to know him." She pats his hand.

"And you've known him for like, what, a week?"

The professor walks into the class at that moment. Hilary grabs a pen from her pouch and gets ready for the lecture. She only acknowledges him with a distracted half-reply, "That's enough time."

"Has he even talked to you properly once? Because whenever I saw you with him he had his hands all over you."

The class starts.

"Yes, and that's because he cannot keep them off of me." Tyson rolls his eyes. She was not going to see reason. Arguing with her about Kai's true intentions was hopeless. "Now focus or you're going to fail. This lecture's topic will be included in tomorrow's quiz."

Tyson sits back and flicks open his pen cap with a finger. "Shapiro is so boring," he comments referring to the professor.

"Shut up" Hilary hisses.

His last post had gotten a hundred and three likes. It was a photo of him and Max smiling side by side with streaks of paint in different colours on their faces, taken at the Greek carnival held at their college last week. Tyson smiles as he walks down the stairs with his phone in hand. He checks out the fifty or so comments under the post. They're all mostly thumbs up and party emojis or just the usual "looking handsome!"

There is one that is slightly confusing and creepy though. "Such a pretty face. Would be a shame to see it fucked up," it says.

Tyson frowns. Who were they referring to? Him or Max? He clicks on their username and finds out their profile was newly created. Anonymous trolls. Tyson puts his phone away and shoots a happy grin at Kenny who is waiting for him at the bottom of the steps. "'Sup, Chief?"

"Hey, T-man!" Kenny jokes with a suppressed chuckle. Tyson gives him a soft punch on his shoulder. T-man. It's what his grampa calls him. They all constantly make fun of the nickname.

"Where's Max?"

"Vegan club"

"For fuck's sake" Tyson pulls in a breath through clenched teeth, scanning the grounds. The courtyard is full of students just out of classes, some hanging out, some rushing to libraries or after hours clubs. "When will he quit that thing?"

"Tyson" Kenny says in an admonishing tone.

Tyson pulls on the strap of his backpack and glances at him from under his lashes. It's a conversation they've had many times before. "I don't care."

"Keep it to yourself."

Tyson's about to sass him when a sudden thought strikes him. "Shit!" He slaps his forehead with a palm.

"What?"

"The death threat! There's someone I have to meet today!"

"Uhh.." Kenny stares at him confused.

"I'm late. I'm going to die." Tyson takes off down the side of the building. "I'll explain later," he shouts over his shoulder at his friend.

Kenny waves dumbfounded at his back.

When Tyson reaches the parking lot, the first thing he notices is the amount of posh cars sitting idle in their spots. This fucking university was packed full of rich kids. God, he curses in his head as he scans the area for someone who looks like they want to kill him. Which is not hard, because there are only a few people around. And the car is parked in the biggest spot available in the entire lot. It's sleek and dark grey. An elegant monster. Tyson's gaze sticks to it three seconds after he gets there.

He's leaning against the spotless body of the vehicle. The setting sun paints the sky in vibrant hues of red, orange and yellow. The light catches his side profile perfectly. And Tyson has a hard time looking away from him too once he sees him standing there.

"Hi" he greets, slightly dazed.

Kai turns his head to face him and all of Hilary's words come back to Tyson. They echo in his head like mantras as he waits for Kai to recognize him.

"You left a note?" he asks when he doesn't get any further response from the guy. "On my desk?"

"Oh you're the skunk," is the first thing he says to him. His voice is jarringly deep. "I was wondering why you were reeking so much." He pushes off the car.

Tyson is speechless. The insult washes over him like a hot wave. "That is so rude," he manages in a faint whisper.

"I'll tell you what's rude," Kai says walking closer to him. "You going around campus talking shit about me."

He's in his face now. Breathing coffee against his lips.

"I did no such thing." The scent of his cologne is strong. It makes Tyson dizzy.

"You're so scared you're shaking. The wise thing to do now would be to speak the truth."

Tyson snaps to. His senses return. "Look dude, I don't know what you heard, but I never talked shit about you to anyone."

"Lie"

"No, I-" Tyson stumbles confused. The rumour that was going around was about Tyson defending Kai. Not this. Who told Kai Tyson was telling people stupid shit about him. Or wait a minute, may be they were not communicating properly. "Define 'shit'" Tyson asks Kai.

His eyebrows raise. Tyson gulps involuntarily in response. Kai grabs his jaw and tilts his chin up. "You think you are so smart you can wise-ass me?" he growls.

"Dude" Tyson clamps down on his arm. "Stop. I'm just trying to understand you."

This only makes the situation worse. Kai slams him against the side of the car and Tyson cries out as a last resort: "I mean no harm."

His eyes are closed and his palms open beside his head. Kai stares at him, deciding whether or not to believe him. When Tyson looks at him again, it's in the moment Kai chooses to give him a chance to explain himself. He lets go of his face, his hand descending to rest threateningly on his stomach. That palm effectively trapping Tyson between him and the car.

"The rumour started around 10 in the morning yesterday. I'll give you ten seconds to recall exactly what you were doing at that time."

It's latte. The coffee he can smell on Kai's breath is latte. Tyson's lips tingle where the heat from his mouth brushes. "I was talking to my friend," he tells him, his voice trembling slightly.

"And what were you talking about?" Kai asks with a sneer.

Tyson rewinds the conversation in his head. He couldn't tell him. It would sound hella inappropriate if he said it now. He curls his fingers into fists and replies with a closed expression. "That's between me and my friend."

He sees Kai's temper flare. His patience wearing thin. A muscle ticks in his jaw. "Who is this friend of yours?"

He doesn't know, Tyson realizes with a start. Kai does not know about his relationship with Hilary yet. Which means he and Hilary talked very little when they met up. He was only using her. Tyson had been right about him all along.

The fact makes him angry.

This guy thought he could use people and dump them like tissues however he wanted and whenever he wanted because he had money and good looks. Tyson fights against his hold and manages to push him off.

"You know what? You don't own this place. Just because your parents are loaded it doesn't mean you can jump people in parking lots in broad daylight. And I didn't talk shit about you. I was defending you against my friend because she said you had a small dick." The lie comes quite easily and when Kai's eyes narrow at it, he fills up with bravado. "Now I realize I shouldn't have. You deserve all the slander that comes your way." Tyson grabs his bag that had fallen when Kai had manhandled him earlier off the ground and flips him the middle finger. "Fuck you." He spins on his heel while he still has the upper hand and storms off with his head held high, Kai staring after him with a blazing fire lit in his chest.