“I’m just saying,” Tyler went on, clearly not reading the room. “I couldn’t do it. Living with a gay dude? No thanks. It’d be too weird.”
“Why?” The word came out harder than I intended.
Tyler blinked. “What do you mean why? It’s just... you know. Different.”
“Different how?”
Marcus shifted uncomfortably. “Kent, man, he’s just talking.”
“No, I want to know.” I set my beer down, turning to face Tyler fully. “What exactly would be so weird about it? You think every gay guy is just sitting around trying to fuck their roommates?”
“I didn’t say that?—”
“That’s exactly what you said.” My heart was pounding, adrenaline flooding my system. “You implied that James would be checking me out, like he can’t control himself. Like being gay means you’re some kind of predator.”
“Whoa, dude, calm down.” Tyler held up his hands. “I was just joking around.”
“It’s a shit joke.”
Derek’s hand landed on my arm. “Kent. Take it easy.”
I shook him off, standing up. The bar suddenly felt too small, too loud, too suffocating. “You know what? James is a better person than any of us. He works his ass off, he’s got his shit together, and he was nice enough to let me crash at his place when I had nowhere else to go. And all you assholes can do is make stupid fucking jokes about him being gay?”
The table had gone silent. People at nearby tables were starting to stare.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Tyler said, his face flushed. “Jesus, I was just?—”
“I don’t give a shit what you meant.” I grabbed my jacket from the back of my chair. “I’m done listening to this bullshit.”
“Kent—”
But I was already gone.
I pushed through the crowd, ignoring Derek calling my name behind me. The cool night air hit my face as I burst out of the bar, and I gulped it down like I’d been drowning. My hands were shaking, adrenaline still coursing through my veins.
What the fuck had I just done?
I’d basically outed myself in front of my coworkers. Not explicitly, but the way I’d reacted, the way I’d defended James so aggressively… They had to be suspicious now. Derek wasn’t stupid. He’d put the pieces together eventually.
I started walking, no destination in mind, just needing to move. My phone buzzed in my pocket. Probably Derek or Marcus trying to figure out what crawled up my ass. I ignored it.
The thing was, I wasn’t even sorry. Listening to Tyler spew that ignorant bullshit, hearing them laugh like it was nothing… It had made me see red in a way I’d never experienced before. Because that could’ve been me they were talking about. Thatwasme now, in a way. And more importantly, it was James.
James, who’d taken me in without hesitation. Who’d fixed things between us even though I’d been a complete asshole to him for years. Who made me feel things I didn’t know I was capable of feeling.
My phone buzzed again. This time I pulled it out.
Derek: What the hell was that about?
I stared at the message, my thumb hovering over the keyboard. What could I possibly say? Sorry for freaking out, just really sensitive about homophobia now that I’m sleeping with my stepbrother?
I shoved the phone back in my pocket without responding.
The walk home took twenty minutes, and by the time I reached the apartment building, my anger had cooled into something closer to dread. I’d probably just torpedoed my reputation at work. Derek was going to want an explanation. Tyler would probably spread it around the office that I’d lost my shit over some harmless jokes.
But when I thought about sitting there and laughing along while they talked about James like that, my stomach turned. I couldn’t do it. Not anymore.
I let myself into the apartment quietly, half-hoping James would already be asleep. But the light was on in the living room, and I found him on the couch with his laptop, probably working on that rebrand project he’d been stressing about.
