“You’re obviously feeling a little more like yourself if you’re using my clothes as a snot rag, so tell me what in the fuck is going on, Baby J. Do I need to go kill handsome stranger?” Athena tugged her skirt free from his hand, entangling her fingers with his instead.
Joel let out a snort of derision. “Don’t call him that. He’s a selfish asshole. That’s all he is. A selfish–” He couldn’t finish the sentiment, his body racked with another sob. Athena took him squarely by the shoulders and gave him a little shake. She lowered her chin and raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to tell her.
“He’s my uncle,” he rushed out, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Your what?” Athena’s voice became loud. “He’s your what?”
“Uncle,” Joel supplied. “And that’s not all of it. God, Theenie, it’s fucked up. Like,reallyfucked up.”
“Well I’ve got all night.” She wiped his wet cheeks with her thumbs, offering him a smile.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have started with the uncle part, actually. Because that’s not where it starts. He, uh, well… Gabriel was stalking me.”
“Stalking you? He was stalking you?”
“Athena, your questions are really not furthering this story at all. Can I tell you before I lose my fucking shit again, please?”
Athena made the motion as if she was zipping her lips and nodded.
“He was stalking me, yes. But he told me about it, and it’s so fucked, Theenie, because I was fucking okay with it. He told me about all the fucked-up things he’s been doing over the past year and I loved it. And he told me and I let him fuck me afterwards. I told him I loved him.” Joel choked on the words. He let the silence wrap around them both, and Athena squeezed his hand, pulling him closer to her. “I love him. And I hate him. And it was fucking perfect, Theenie, the most amazing thing, and I understood it. It made sense to me, the things he did and the way it made me feel made sense. It was all fine, it was okay. And then my mom and Thomas showed up.”
Athena opened her mouth and then snapped it shut.
“And I was in shock to see them there, you know? Then Thomas said Gabriel was hisbrother, and mom kept talking about trying to get money from Gabriel to fix me, then about him fucking his nephew and shit. God, Theenie, it’s so fucked up.”
“I gotta stop you there, Baby J. Hold on. There’s a lot to take apart there, okay?” Athena stroked his hair and he nodded, resting his head on her shoulder so he wouldn’t have to see the judgment on her face. “Who said Gabriel was your uncle?”
“Thomas. Thomas said Gabriel was his brother.”
“Okay, well he’s not actually your uncle then, because Thomas is your stepfather, so, non-issue there,” Athena surmised. Joel opened his mouth to interject, but she silenced him with a hand over his mouth. “What about your mom trying to get money to fix you? What the fuck is that about?”
Joel shrugged into her chest. “I don’t know, I didn’t ask.”
“Well, wouldn’t that have been prudent? Maybe, you think? To find out what the hell your mom was going on about before you got all mad and huffy and stormed out?”
“I can deal with her later, that’s the realnon-issue, Athena. Theissueis Gabriel lied to me. He fucked me and said all these wonderful things to me. He made me believe he loved me and he fucking lied to me.” Joel kneed her in the thigh and she oomphed out a grunt of pain.
“Joel. You’re not seeing this clearly, and I get it, but let me lay the truth down for you, okay?” Athena untangled herself from Joel and held his face between her hands. “I don’t know the details of whatever this stalking shit is, but you were okay with that, and you’re upset because Gabriel is your uncle, but not actually your uncle? Baby J, that seems a little, well, skewed.” She wiped more tears with her thumbs.
“He stole my favorite shirt from the dryer at the laundromat, and it was in the closet in his spare bedroom. He bought the books I had been looking at when I was at an estate sale last week. The soap. Fuck, the soap in his bathroom is the same soap I use. The sheets, the sheets were red, because it’s my favorite color.” Joel pinched his eyes shut, and Athena pulled him close, pressing a kiss to his forehead.
“And you love him,” she whispered. It wasn't a question.
“And I love him.”
Silence stretched between them.
“He came clean, Theenie. I found my favorite shirt, so I asked him and he told me. But he didn’t tell me about being my uncle. Fuck, Athena, I fucked my uncle, Jesus Christ.”
“Joel. He’s not your fucking uncle. He’s your shitbag of a stepfather’s brother. That does not an uncle make. And you didn’t even know Thomas had a brother, which means they weren’t even close, so it’s practically as non-familial as you can get.”
Joel opened his mouth to protest and Athena covered it again with her hand. “You’re not thinking clearly about this. Come to bed. We can try to sort this out again in the morning, okay?”
Joel nodded in defeat and let Athena usher him down the hall to her bedroom. She pulled back the blankets on her bed. “Get in.”
He crawled under the blankets and she lowered them over him, tucking in around him like a burrito. She pressed another kiss to his forehead before walking to the other side, shedding her skirt and crawling in behind him. She reached a hand across the bed, pressing it solidly against his spine, flexing her fingers lightly before dropping them.
“Thank you, Athena.”
