“Shocked.”Asher’s father smiled grimly and shook his head.“Grateful. Overjoyed. Proud.”
“It was like our prayers had finally been answered,”Suzanne added.
Moving to the edge of his seat, Landon clasped his hands together between his knees.“It must have been overwhelming.”The camera panned to the Derringers to show them both nodding in agreement.“If you could talk to him right now, if you knew he was listening, what would you say?”
Suzanne stared directly into the camera.“I’d say I’m so sorry that I wasn’t there to protect him. I’d say that I’ve missedhim every single day since he left. I’d tell him I love him, and I hope that one day, he can forgive me.”
Cameron had seen enough. With a snort of disgust, he set his laptop aside and shook his head. With parents like that, it was a wonder Asher could function at all.
On the surface, they looked like people who truly loved their son. They said all the right things, and the tears certainly didn’t hurt. Even if Cameron didn’t know Asher, even if he didn’t know the truth, he still didn’t think he’d be convinced by the Derringers’ theatrics.
For starters, there was so much about their version of events that didn’t add up for him. A teenage boy terrified of his parents finding out he was gay wouldn’t have brought a boy home. Even if, against all logic, he had, there was no way he would have been distracted enough to miss his mother calling for him. Moreover, what provocation would he have had to react violently at being discovered, to the point where his parents had feared for their safety? If anything, he imagined Asher had been frozen in fear, not rampaging through the house.
Cameron accepted that he might hold a small amount of bias to the situation, but honestly, it just didn’t make sense.
It also hadn’t escaped his notice that of all the places Lawrence Derringer had listed, he hadn’t mentioned searching the bus station or questioning the employees there. Asher had packed a bag before he left, but they hadwhat? Assumed he was just walking around town in plain sight to clear his head?
Then, there was everything that had happened after he’d made it to New York. Asher hadn’t gone into details about being picked up for shoplifting at fourteen, but one had to assume that the courts had at least made an effort to contact his family. A social worker at the group home he’d been sent to had surely done the same.
When he’d been sent to the hospital at seventeen, had no one thought to call his parents? Where had they been then with their tears and apologies? It was rather convenient that the video had skipped over those parts of the story.
To Cameron’s absolute delight, a quick scroll through the comment section proved he wasn’t the only one who questioned Suzanne and Lawrence’s authenticity.
She really needs to take acting lessons.
So, their kid disappeared, and that’s it? They looked at the school, then just said to hell with it? What fucking kid runs away to school?
They kicked their kid out for being gay and are surprised he wants nothing to do with them. God, I’ve never seen anyone more clueless.
The Mitchell Faraday thing came out when Asher ended up in the hospital. He was seventeen when it happened. By law, shouldn’tsomeone at the hospital have notified his parents?
There was a reply under that one.
Not to mention the police, the courts, his attorney. Sounds fishy to me.
Cameron bobbed his head and grinned. Same, random commenter, he thought. Same.
“You look very pleased with yourself.” Dressed only in a pair of loose-fitting boxers, Asher flopped down on the end of the sofa near Cameron’s feet. He didn’t appear to be completely awake yet. “What are you looking at?”
Cameron hesitated, but they’d agreed not to hide anything from each other for their own good anymore. “I was watching your parents’ interview on Sinematic.”
Asher tensed, all signs of grogginess gone. “How bad was it?”
“About what we expected.” He shrugged at Asher’s raised eyebrow. “Lots of crying. They were wrong. They’re really not bad people, and they miss you. Your mom really hopes you can forgive her.” He couldn’t have kept the sarcasm out of his voice if he’d tried. “You get the idea.”
“Okay,” Asher answered slowly. “Then, why are you smiling?”
“Because it’s bullshit, and people are starting to see it.” Sitting up, he scooted closer and slid his laptop onto Asher’s lap. “Look at the comments.”
Though he looked skeptical, he took the computer and dutifully began reading, his eyes widening as he scanned the page. After a few silent minutes of this, he threw his head back and snapped out a sharp laugh.
“Did you see this one?” It took a second for him to stop laughing before he could continue. “Their story has more plot holes than a Michael Bay film.”
Cameron chuckled. “Well, they’re not wrong.” It was nice to see some of Asher’s confidence returning. He’d missed this side of him. “Check the subscriber ticker.”
“Oh,” Asher mouthed. “Wow.”
Wow was right. In the past week, the web series had lost nearly ten thousand of its subscribers. Granted, Cameron wouldn’t be really happy until the videos were taken down completely, but in the meantime, seeing things falling apart for Landon and Kyle was extremely satisfying to witness.
