Fuck this.
With years of practice yelling across a football field and over the cheers of fans, I found that big boy voice and yelled, “Both of you, shut the fuck up!”
And they did.
My words echoed back at us, and the silence that followed was a loud, uncomfortable ringing in my ears.
Momma and Daddy turned to face me, blinking in shock. Their stunned ceasefire wouldn’t last long, so I had to make this count.
“Listen to yourselves,” I continued in the same booming voice. “You both’re terrible parents. Hateful. Spiteful. Self-involved. Apathetic to anything outside the need to bicker like children. More concerned about topping each other than who you step on to get there.”
“Cal—” Momma said, but I wasn’t finished.
“I said shut up. Both of you, the absolute worst. I’m sick of you using me and Cara as a soapbox just so you can preach to each other about how the other fucked up. Guess what? You both fucked up! And you’re still fucking up!”
Daddy opened his mouth, but I didn’t give him the chance.
“For over a year, you’ve been doing this, putting us in the middle, yellin’ and brayin’ worse than a bunch of stubborn asses. You’ve resolved nothin’, and I don’t even think you want to anymore.”
“This”—Daddy gestured between himself and Momma—“isabout you, Cal. You’re in the middle because of your behavior.”
“You picked a fight with a little girl,” Momma added. For once, they were actually fighting on the same side.
“No, he didn’t,” Cara said.
I shook my head and snorted, happy that they weren’t yelling any longer and actually talking. But it was time to set the record straight. “I dunno what you heard, but you heard wrong.”
Daddy took a deep breath. “The school said you and your girlfriend—”
“Goddammit, would you listen to me? I’m fucking queer!” I heaved in air, hating I’d cursed so much already, but by their wide eyes, both of them heard me, at least. “Sasha is not my girlfriend. We broke up. I’m into guys. I have a boyfriend.”
“You’re …” Dad trailed off.
“That got your attention, huh? Yeah,” I said. “I’m dating Jack. You know, the guy you yelled at earlier. The one you told to ‘get out of your fucking house.’”
Daddy almost looked regretful for a second, then squared his shoulders. “But you’ve dated girls. I’m confused.”
“Have I? I only ever hung around Sasha, not girls plural. And if you’d ever bothered to get your head out of your ass when I tried to talk to you, then you’d know how messed up I was over it. I don’t think I ever wanted to be with her, but I didn’t know what I wanted until Jack.”
“You two dated for a year,” Momma said.
I reached over my head and between my shoulder blades, then yanked my shirt off.
Momma gasped and rushed forward. “Who did this to you?”
“Sasha, Momma,” Cara said softly. “She’s mean to him.”
I hated like hell that Cara had seen any of it, but what could I do about it now? If I was okay with her standing beside me, facing our parents over this shit, then I had to be okay with her knowing all of it. Maybe I needed more people to know all of it.
Daddy moved nearer as well, and I kept my gaze on him as I answered with a tired sigh. “Thatlittle girlboth of you want to defend. Sasha isn’t weak.”But I have been. “She abused me, harassed me, for a long time.” Shit, that hurt to admit more than her stabbing me had.
But it was done. It was out there.
Daddy’s gaze roamed over me as if for the first time in years, then locked on my arm. “And this?”
I nodded. “Thanksgiving. The rest has healed. She never did anything that would scar.”
Cara silently cried, and my gut twisted so hard I hunched forward.
