***

By the time Mack and Levi returned from their walk, Lachlan had calmed down. So it took Grayson by surprise when the boys stood inside the front door, removing their coats, only for Lachlan to stand and yell, “This is a judgement free zone, dickwad. What the fuck were you thinking?”

The whole room froze and Giovanni came rushing out of the corridor, where he'd been checking on Darren. He had developed a migraine, something his boyfriend claimed happened when he was overwhelmed by his feelings and memories.

Levi made to take a step forward, but Mack got there first. He stood in front of his boyfriend, talking so quietly to him that Grayson couldn't make out the words. Then he was shoved aside and Levi let rip.

“Wait, so I say one innocent thing and you all jump down my throat, but Tam beat the shit out of Grayson, Konnor sent Cormag into a mental funk, Giovanni went batshit crazy and nearly killed my best friend and you have a problem with what I did?”

If he'd thought the room was still and silent before, it turned into a morgue the minute Levi stopped talking, his heavy, angry breathing the only sound he could clearly make out in the room.

“Great going, asshat,” Grayson snapped at him, shocked that he thought he had any right to protest to those things.

Tam reacted first, with a deep sigh and a step forward. Which, considering he was Levi's best friend, meant he was probably the only one who could talk sense into him. “How I choose to feel over what I've done and what's happened to me is my choice. Forgiving Giovanni and accepting Grayson's forgiveness is my choice. Because I don't want to spend my whole life drowning in hate.”

He shook his head, while reaching for Giovanni's hand, which he gave willingly. Tam stood beside Giovanni, who he'd been talking and laughing with for the entire three days they'd been here, so far. There was not even a whisper of animosity between them.

“Giovanni got hurt as much as I did by what happened–”

Grayson stepped forward and took Tam's other hand, before he could continue. “Just like you lashed out at me, because you'd been hurt.”

Tam smiled at him, while Konnor nudged closer to Lachlan, who had already folded his arms in anger. On his other side, Cormag lay an arm around his shoulders, his fingers briefly brushing over Konnor's arm. They were the picture of forgiveness and strength, just as they had all tried to be.

A creak from the doorway made Grayson turn to see Darren approaching silently. No doubt all the yelling had caught his attention and would make his migraine worse. Without a word, Giovanni released Tam's hand and rushed into the kitchen; he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, poured it into a glass and dropped a tablet into it, which quickly began to dissolve. Once armed, he bustled back over to Darren's side and hustled him through to their bedroom.

Away from the sizzle of the shit hitting the fan.

“We all do crazy things when we've been hurt,” Tam explained, though that much was obvious. “Nearly everyone in this room knows what it's like to have their heart ripped out over a guy, but we only got through it because we had each other.”

“Survival instincts,” Mack whispered to Levi, gazing at him with pleading eyes. “Fight or flight. Lachlan fought for Cormag when he wanted to run. Same with Casen and Tam, Konnor and Grayson, Giovanni and Darren...me and you. Case, Grayson, Darren and I fought for what we have, because Tam, Konnor and Darren had been so badly hurt, kicked when they were at their lowest,” he elaborated, making sure to include everyone, because they all mattered.

“Literally,” Levi bit out, turning to glare at where Giovanni had disappeared down the corridor.

Mack wasn't having any of it. He got there before Grayson could, raising his voice in protest. “They wanted to run. And they had every reason, every right. Hell, Darren is the only one in this cabin who fought his own need to run, to fight for what he wants. He's the bravest guy in this whole fucking town,” he argued.

Casen rushed out of his seat to hug his twin, pride written all over his face. Mack and Levi might have been best friends and relatively new boyfriends, but he didn't hold back on speaking the truth when it was necessary.

Mack hugged him tight, then took a slow, deep breath and released him to turn back to Levi. “What the hell do you have to be so angry about?” he asked his boyfriend. “Yeah, Tam's your best friend, but you don't get to tell him how to live. You and I? We had it easy, Levi. We haven't got anything to piss and moan about, so why are you looking for something to make you feel like a victim?”

Levi opened and closed his mouth, his eyes wide, evidently shocked by his boyfriend's outburst. Not that Grayson thought it should be that much of a surprise.

“The only victim here is Darren. And he's strong enough to know that he's more than that,” Casen said, talking just loud enough for them to hear, but quiet enough that Darren and Giovanni couldn't hear him as well. “No one is ever one thing or defined by one event in their lives. If that was true, the fact that you've had sex with a woman would make you straight and you wouldn't be allowed to be with Mack. The fact that Giovanni has schizophrenia would have him locked in a psychiatric ward for the rest of his life, not out in the world, free to live as and how he may choose, able to stabilize himself with medication and therapy,” he ranted, while somehow keeping himself calm and together.

“If we wanted to live by how others defined us, we'd all be locked up or shot for being with other men!” he continued, with a stomp of his foot. Whatever it meant, it made Tam wince and approach his boyfriend carefully. Casen, however, shrugged him off with a glare before he got so much as a step closer. “Don't you dare tell me to calm down.”

Tam held his hands up and backed away, clearly knowing that now was no time to argue.

Casen turned back to Levi and brandished a finger at him. “We don't live in Victorian times. We don't live by rules or demands. We don't live according to how other people see us or what they expect,” he warned, a low bite to his voice that spoke volumes of his anger. In the background, Lachlan nodded with practically every word he said. “We are free to be who we are, to be with who we want to be with, to forgive who we are able to forgive. Now, if you want to talk unforgivable, let's talk about that sweet boy you ranted and raved at.

“Without knowing any of us, but me and Lachlan, he came here hoping to make friends, to make sure Konnor was alright, to help Giovanni. He didn't come for himself,” Casen admitted, as though he knew a whole lot more about Darren than anyone else did. Which was entirely possible. “The only man who doesn't deserve forgiveness or a second chance is the one who put his hands on Darren and ruined his life. The one who took what wasn't his to take, who made Darren into a frightened, terrified child who was afraid to trust any man but his own father.”

Levi swallowed visibly, probably coming to the same conclusion that was dawning in Grayson's mind. He was about to say something, as Casen stopped and took a slow, long breath, about how they should all keep this to themselves and not mention it to anyone, especially Darren, when Casen spoke up again.

“The reason Darren has been quiet since he got here is because he's afraid,” he said, his voice shaking with emotion. “Not of us, so much. But of what he was afraid we'd discover. Well, thanks to you and your big mouth,” he frowned at Levi, his eyes taking on a look of total disgust that shocked Grayson, “Darren told me everything. Me and Lachlan. Because we're the only ones here that he trusts. And he told me I could tell you all, if that would make things easier to understand.”

Stepping back, Casen shook his head. “But no one deserves to know his secrets. No one has earned them but Giovanni. So if you want to stand there and call him selfish for not marrying Giovanni or claim he doesn't love him up to his eyeballs, then go ahead. But none of it will be true. That sweet boy has been through more pain than any of us can imagine, but he can still sit out on that decking, having a drink with us, cheering us on in stupid games and acting like the world is nothing but sunshine and beaches.” He shook his head one more time, then walked out.

Grayson wanted to cry. Not just because of his words or what they implied about Darren, but because Casen was falling apart in Darren's place. He had stepped up and taken on Darren's defence in a much more emotional, concrete way than any of the rest of them had.

When Lachlan followed him down the corridor, no doubt heading for Darren's room, Konnor walked over to his side and wrapped both arms around Grayson. He was crying softly, obviously feeling guilty for all the pain and blame Levi had lain on him. All Grayson could do was hold him.

Even as the front door slammed, announcing Levi's exit, he didn't let go.