“And, instead, they kicked me out.”
Linc whistled softly. “Just like that?”
“It took my dad nine seconds to decide he didn’t have a son anymore.” And maybe another thirty seconds before Avery fully understood the words that had just come out of his dad’s mouth. His mom cried, but she hadn’t done anything to stop her husband as he spewed hate at Avery.
“Jesus, Red, I’m sorry.”
Avery put everything he could manage into a backpack while his dad had shouted at him through his bedroom door. He’d walked maybe ten blocks, on an evening a lot like this one, before he’d realized he wasn’t going to call anyone to help him or give him a place to stay. Shame. Fear. Call it what you want—he couldn’t drag any of his friends into this, too afraid their parents would see him the same way his dad had.
“My aunt and uncle brought me here to live with them,” he said eventually. Linc was keeping pace with him. While Avery didn’t want to look at him, the angry tension wasn’t bleeding off him anymore. “It was a bit of a thing. I came in the middle of the school year. My first day at Seacroft High was a Wednesday. I was suddenly just there, and because of the way I look—” he waved a hand over himself, “—and the way I talk, it was hard to blend in. I don’t know who found out what happened with my parents, but by Friday, it was all over the school. So… yeah.” All these years later, he could still recall the exact sequence of events in those first days at a new school. Avery risked a glance at Linc. “They all know me. This whole town. If I didn’t go to school with them, they know Uncle Theo through work or my aunt through one of the billion committees she’s been on. But I’m sorry you had to get mixed up in it.” His throat hurt. He’d been so excited for tonight, and now his baggage had ruined it.
They walked a few blocks in silence, leaving downtown and moving into Avery’s residential neighborhood. The longer Linc didn’t say anything, the more anxious Avery became. His story wasn’t uncommon, but this version was his, and now he’d let it out, he needed to know what Linc thought.
“Did your dad hit you?” Linc said finally.
Avery tripped over a seam in the sidewalk, but Linc caught him; his strong hand on Avery’s biceps kept him from face-planting on the concrete.
“What? No. Why would you ask that?”
Linc’s mouth was pressed into a grim line, and he wrinkled his nose, but eventually he said, “Derek might have said—”
“Derek doesn’t know shit.”Fuck him.This was supposed to be a fun night. A friendly night. And now Avery had gone and told Linc the whole sad story, and Derek was responsible for all of it.
“Sorry. I just...My dad used to...He’s in jail. I just found out that he’s being released.”
That brought Avery up short. “Oh.” He walked ten more steps, waiting for Linc to say something else. It felt awkward, like he was prying, but at the same time, Linc had brought it up. “Why?”
Linc shrugged. “Good behavior, I guess.”
“No.” Avery chewed on his lip. “I mean, why was he in jail?” The idea of someone hurting Linc, hitting him like he’d been afraid Avery’s dad might have, made Avery feel sick.
More silent footsteps. Ahead, a possum ran across the street, illuminated by a streetlamp, then disappeared into the bushes that lined a dark house.
“He beat up a guy outside a gay bar in Raleigh.”
Avery’s blood went cold. “He—?”
Linc’s face had gone pale. His lips were thin, and his eyes were haunted.
“Did you—” Avery started to say, but Linc interrupted him.
“I’m not like that.”
“Not...” Not gay? Not a criminal? Not—
“An asshole. Like Derek. Like my dad. I don’t care if you’re gay.”
Avery sucked in a breath. He hadn’t even considered Linc might have a problem. He’d been way too nice. About everything. But that he needed to say it out loud basically sealed any of Avery’s secret yearning down tight.
“I know you don’t care,” he said quietly. “But I appreciate you saying so. What happened with your dad?”
They turned the corner. Avery’s house was at the end of the street.
“They gave him nine years. It wasn’t his first conviction, but all the previous ones were for stupid shit. Theft. Small con jobs, stuff like that. But it meant they could put him away for longer after...” Linc blew out a big breath and laughed, shooting a quick glance toward Avery. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to turn this into a competition as to whose dad was a bigger shitball.”
Avery bumped his shoulder against Linc’s. “Is it weird if I say it’s kind of nice? I mean, not likenicenice. But...yeah. I get it.”
They were at the curb, walking toward Avery’s front door.
