That one last comment found the tiny chink in his armor and dug right through, bursting it apart. It was almost a surprise when Remi opened his mouth that words came out. It felt like he should have spit fire at them like some kind of dragon, burning them alive.
“I don’t care what Cade thinks! Fuck Cade and fuck you! I don’t want him! I DON’T WANT HIM!” Remi shrieked, completely out of control. He heard doors opening all along the hall as people came to see what was happening, but he couldn’t stop now that he’d started. “You’ve made my life a living hell for the past year, all for an alpha I don’t want! An alpha that you’re pissed won’t give you the time of day! You photoshopped me into PORN to fulfill your stupid fucking narrative because you, just like him, can’t get it through your thick fucking skulls that I DON’T FUCKING CARE IF CADE NASH WANTS ME OR NOT! IT’S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!”
There was a ringing silence for a few seconds, and his tormentors started to laugh, as if seeing Remi lose control was amusing to them, and he guessed it was. They had finally gotten what they wanted. A few people in the gathered crowd joined in with the laughter as well.
“Oh my gods… Are you actually in love with that old man you’re fucking?” Knotbreaker began, his friends quickly joining in.
“If he’s not paying you, then that’s even more sad.”
“Such a slut.”
“So you just love knots that much, huh?”
Remi was breathing hard. He could hear the rushing of blood in his ears as he watched the group in front of him go from smug and amused, to a surprised fear. Their wide eyes were all focused on something behind him, and Remi heard the one voice that could only make this situation worse.Cade.
“What the hell is going on here?” Cade asked as Remi looked around to see the alpha pushing through the gathered crowd.
Cade tried to pull Remi into a hug but the omega stepped back, not wanting his ex near him. Remi didn’t want Cade to touch him, and the fact that the alpha was still trying to touch him, made him furious. He was so done with Cade. This was his final straw.
“Don’t touch me!” Remi hissed as he moved away.
Cade glanced over at the little group who all looked panicked as their idol stood before them. They’d been caught ganging up on Remi, by the very alpha they wanted to impress.
All at once, they began flinging accusations at Remi, trying to get Cade on their side.
“He’s been leading you on!”
“We were just trying to get him to stop messing with you!”
“He’s dating some old man!”
“He’s a prostitute, look!”
One of the little group held up their phone to show Cade the photoshopped porn. The alpha looked at it, then grimaced and immediately looked away with a disgusted sound.
“Those are obviously fake. Why are you all attacking Remi?” No one answered, so he looked to Remi for his explanation. “What’s going on Remi?”
Cade stepped toward him, reaching up as if to touch the omega, but Remi was in defensive mode and he was still angry. Had he not told Cade just moments ago not to touch him? Remi hissed at him and scurried back a few steps as fear and discomfort clawed at his insides. He wasn’t afraid that Cade would hurt him physically, but touching him now would only make the situation worse. When the alpha tried again, Remi’s anger snapped. The omega glared at Cade and growled. Again, he felt that hot rush of anger pushing words up his throat and out of his mouth unheeded.
“What’s‘going on’is the same shit I’ve been dealing with for the past year because of you! Because we dated, no matter how short and unsatisfactory it was. Now your little fanclub here likes to make my life a living hell. Insulting me and my boyfriend, spreading rumors about me, and now spreading lies to the university administration to try and get me kicked out of school. That’s what’s going on.”
Remi thought for a second that he’d finally gotten through to Cade. However, the alpha just looked at him with pity and tried to step closer. Remi finally lost the last scrap of his patience for Cade. The omega reached up and slapped Cade across his face so hard that his hand throbbed afterward.
“I SAID DON’T TOUCH ME! What do I have to do to get it through your head that I’m not interested? I tried to turn you away nicely, I tried to be a good person. I tell you I have a date, and then you come out and hug me, knowing damned good and well he was there waiting for me! You and I didn’t even have sex and yet you act like we’re engaged or something! I show up to school limping, with hickeys, and covered in an alpha’s scent trying to give you all the signals that I’m taken, but YOU JUST KEEP GOING! SO FINE! I’ll say it so plainly that even YOU can understand! I HAVE A BOYFRIEND! I’m not limping because I got hurt, I’m limping because I got FUCKED! I got fucked into the mattress until I was limping and then I got fucked some more! So please get a damned clue and LEAVE ME ALONE!”
Cade looked shocked as he stared at Remi, his mouth slightly agape. The cheek that Remi had slapped was still red from the blow. The crowd that had gathered in the hallway were all silent, as well as the little group in front of him. Remi just shoved his way through the gathered watchers and headed for the exit as the first tears of shame and humiliation started to fall. He ripped the door open and ran as fast as he could.
Remi hailed a cab and hopped in before anyone could follow him. The omega wiped his tears as he gave the driver his address and did everything in his power to hold himself together throughout the short drive to his apartment.
Remi shoved a hundred dollar bill at the cabbie and scrambled out before the driver could even tell him his total. Remi was teetering. He was right on the edge of losing it. He ran up the stairs to his apartment and made it to the door, only to find a letter taped to it. The bold red letters at the top grabbed his attention at once and he let out a sound somewhere between a sob and laugh. It was a noise born of madness and grief.
EVICTION NOTICE
Remi snatched the letter off his door and wiped at his tears, trying to clear his vision enough to read it. The letter was a mix of legal jargon and overly formal apologies, but the gist of the letter was that the property of his apartments had been officially condemned as unfit for habitation. The property had already been sold, and Remi now had two weeks to find another place to live before he was put out on the street.
Remi could feel the tide of his emotions rising as he fumbled his keys out of his pocket to get inside before he broke down completely outside his apartment. He made it inside, slamming his door as he totally lost it.
Remi ripped his backpack off and threw it, unable to contain all of his emotions. He screamed as he violently swiped everything off his kitchen counter, not realizing or caring that there was a knife there. The blade left a nasty cut in the center of his palm and up his middle finger as he pushed everything to the floor with a clatter.
Several jars and dishes shattered, containers broke open, pouring their contents across the faded, peeling linoleum. Remi was sobbing uncontrollably, it felt like his entire life was crumbling around him. The careful order of his existence was collapsing and crashing down, breaking the very foundation of him.
Remi needed Dimitrios… but the alpha was at work. He felt impossibly guilty as he pulled out his cell phone and pressed the button to call Dimitrios. The blood dripping from his hand was wiped from the screen impatiently, leaving streaks of crimson.
He put the phone to his ear and tried to keep it together as it rang, once, twice, but then he heard Dimitrios' voice and any remaining strength that he had disappeared. The tenuous strings holding all his pieces together snapped and Remi shattered apart, just like his sugar jar on the floor in front of him.