Micah Johnson Goes West (Get Out, #2)(54)

Declan Tyler, mentor to Will, is visibly relieved at the latest news. “Will’s been through so many emotions the past few weeks, but finally he is happier. He’s had to accept that his life has changed, but it is looking a bit more hopeful than it was before.”

Will has every reason to be grateful. But he is still a young man who had his dreams crushed. And as Micah Johnson next runs out onto the field, Will may just be reminded of what he has lost.

Will Deanes was reached for comment, but did not respond.





Chapter 16


SAM WAS as good as his word, and since their talk on the Reid Highway, he had even entered into cahoots with Rick and Joanne, keeping them up to date on Micah and letting them know he was okay; in return, Sam seemed to be more in the know than Micah about how the Johnson family’s plans for moving to Perth were shaping up.

“Your mum might be able to get a transfer, and your dad’s handed in his notice,” Sam told Micah, after one such call. “He says he’ll just apply for lecturing jobs once he gets here.”

Micah had also been keeping in regular contact with his folks. It was Alex he was worried about the most. Alex, however, seemed to be pretty okay with it all. He was only in his first year of high school and the thought of starting a new one didn’t seem that traumatising to him.

“I’ll be the new kid from the big city,” he said one night on Skype, sounding remarkably upbeat. “Maybe I’ll even have some street cred. Especially with my famous footy player older brother.”

Street cred was the last thing anybody would associate with Alex, and being the younger brother of the gay Docker might be more of a hindrance than a help, but Micah wasn’t going to burst that bubble. He was just grateful that he wasn’t being thought of as a villain for totally upending his little brother’s life.

“Besides,” Alex continued, “everyone always talks about Perth’s beaches. Maybe I’ll learn to surf.”

“Maybe I’ll learn along with you.”

Alex’s face brightened on the computer screen. “That would be cool.”

Yeah. It would be. Micah was already starting to feel much more at peace with himself, knowing that his family were on their way to be with him again. Once upon a time he would have been embarrassed at being seen as too reliant upon them, but he didn’t care. Maybe not caring was a sign of maturity?

Or maybe a lack of it. Anyway. It was what he wanted.

Even the Mitchells were seeing a difference in him. Like Dane, he was coming out of his room more often and joining them sociably of his own accord. He hadn’t even checked out Grindr—he was in self-imposed abstinence mode until he was through his testing period anyway, as his overworked hand would attest because the desire of a still-teenage boy continued no matter what other dramas were going on in his life. He was going to delete the app, but first he wanted to see if that boy he still felt guilt over—the lovely business student whose name he couldn’t even remember now, and it shamed him even more—was still on there once Micah unblocked him.

He even managed to keep his cool when Jasper Brunswick’s insensitive column about him and Will was released. He had been sent the link by Emma, who was always in the know before he was. He had fumed for an hour, and ranted at Simon over Skype. Simon informed him he had already had words with Jasper, and Micah could just imagine the screaming that would have taken place. As usual Jasper’s partner, and Simon’s friend and co-worker, Coby, would have been caught in the middle. Dec was also ropable, as Jasper had asked him for a general update on Will in normal conversation, and it now appeared as if Dec had been aware of the article’s true nature.

But when Micah spoke to Will, he was surprised by Will’s reaction. Maybe it was due to the fact Will was feeling better now his fate wasn’t so much up in the air, but his slightly pixelated face on the computer screen contorted with laughter when Micah asked him how he felt about Jasper’s column.

“It’s just representing the soap opera my life has become.”

Glad Will was looking for a funnier side to it all, Micah played along. “So is your evil twin going to turn up at some point?”

“He’s always been here,” Will replied. “I can finally admit it was him in that change room.”

“And I’ve been blaming you for knocking me out?” Micah punched his chest in sorrow. “I apologise wholeheartedly.”

After signing off from Will, Micah’s mood was so improved he finally opened Grindr for the first time in weeks. A wave of old messages filled his screen and he deleted them without mercy. He went into the list of blocked users and found the guy he was looking for—Pikachu95, man, he hadn’t even remembered him being a Pokémon fan—and unblocked him.

Pikachu95 wasn’t online, but had been on the day before so Micah knew he was still active.

I haven’t been around much, he said in a private message. Okay, it was a lie, but if this guy gave him a chance he would come clean about what he had done. I was hoping we could meet up again. But for a coffee.

Was it presumptuous to get on an app notorious for its promise of hook-ups and simply ask for coffee with a person you’d done the beast with two backs with?

Oh well. There was no going back now. The message was sent. All he could do was wait for a response if it was forthcoming. He had wanted to delete the app from his phone, but he really wanted to see this through first. It’s not like he thought Pikachu95 was pining away after him, but Micah knew he had been pretty coldblooded with a guy who had actually wanted more from him than Micah was willing to give at the time. And Micah could have been honest with him, but had basically treated him like a wadded tissue to throw in the bin after the deed was done.