“What do you think?” I didn’t know the guys that well, but I was pretty sure I knew the answer.
He burst into laughter. “We should chance it. This is startin’ to feel a little unpleasant.”
“Just wait till it’s leaking out of your ass,” I told him right as he stood up.
The shock on his face and his nearly falling over was totally worth the pillow he hit me with when I couldn’t stop laughing.
“Oh. Oh, you’redisgusting.”
I glanced up from my bike and stared at Kent, who was glaring at me like I’d just insulted his firstborn. “What?”
“You haven’t said a word in ten minutes, and you keep smiling,” he said. “You got laid.”
I flushed. Hard. I’d promised Kent I wouldn’t give him details about Creek and me to avoid any sort of conflicts of interest during PT, but we weren’t at PT. We were in the parking lot working on our bikes after his shift.
“What was he like?” he asked after a long beat.
My eyes widened. “You seriously want to know?”
He looked conflicted. “I don’t need details. Just…he’s nice to you, right? He respects you?”
I sighed and set the wrench down, then rested my forearms over my bent knees. “I know he fucked up, but please don’t let that moment define him for you. He was confused, and he was angry, and…”
“You don’t need to sell me on this whole thing,” Kent said. “It’s not about him, anyway. It’s about guys like him. I’ve had enough of them roll through here. Repression is a bitch, man, and it makes people do bad shit when they don’t confront it.”
I nodded. I understood totally. I’d had my encounters with my fair share of older, closeted men who were so far from admitting who they were and what they wanted. And too often, it created bad decisions that left someone getting hurt. But that wasn’t Creek’s journey.
“I think once he realized he was bi,” I said slowly, turning back to my bike, “a lot of things made sense. He’s not angry about it. He’s got a support system at home.”
“And his family?”
I shrugged. “He’s got a brother he loves a lot, who doesn’t sound anything like mine.”
Kent winced. “You heard from them recently?
“I—” Like always, the universe decided to play FAFO. I fucked around by invoking their names and found out when my phone began to buzz with my brother’s name on the screen.
“Ignore it,” Kent said when he noticed the look on my face.
I hesitated. I was still struggling to take that advice. Every time I told myself it was nothing—that it was just them calling to berate or insult me—a small voice inside my head said maybe it was something else. Maybe someone was in trouble. Maybe someone was dead.
My hand shook as I lifted my finger and hit the Answer button. I ignored Kent’s disappointed sigh as I turned away from him. “Hey, Branson.”
There was an irritated sniff. “I thought I was going to get your voicemail.”
“Did you want my voicemail?”
He scoffed. “You’ve been ignoring Mother’s emails.”
Technically, that wasn’t true. I’d filtered them to a folder so I wouldn’t have to know they were there. Every single one of them was a guilt trip and attempted bribe with some backhanded compliments that were meant to cut to the quick. I was tired of feeling like shit, so I just stopped reading them because nothing was going to change my mind.
“Is there something you need?” I asked tiredly. I pressed my fingers to my temple and wished I was back in Creek’s room with his warm arms and the soft smell of laundry soap.
“I just wanted to know if you enjoy being like this?”
“I’m sorry?”
“A disappointment,” he said, his tone more matter-of-fact than mean. “You ignore our parents, you spit in their faces, you embarrass everyone. Do you know what it’s like for them to have to explain your whole situation to everyone who asks?”
