I nodded. “In what way?”
Keaton sighed and looked away. He was looking at a spot on the ceiling like he couldn’t meet my eyes when he answered. “You know how I told you that beating in the locker room that day wasn’t the worst thing that ever happened to me?”
I nodded once.
“The worst thing that ever happened to me was my Dad,” Keaton said. He touched the bridge of his nose absently and then pulled his hand away. “When he found out I was gay he broke my nose.”
I stared at him. I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting, but it wasn’t that. I hesitantly lowered myself down, laying beside Keaton on the bed. Our heads were at the same level now. I watched him as he spoke. He still didn’t look at me.
“He punched you?” I asked. A strong protective urge clenched my stomach as I said the words. I wanted to kill anyone who did that to Keaton. I wanted to stand in front of them and take every blow so he would be safe. I didn’t know what to do when the danger was already in the past.
“Not just my nose,” Keaton said wryly. I couldn’t tell it had been broken. It must have healed well. “Several of my fingers, too. He managed to beat me up just about as badly as the whole football team did, all on his own. Then he threw me out of the house and told me to never come back or try to contact any of my family again.”
I sucked in a breath. I fought back the urge to reach for him. “Just because you were gay?”
“Yep.” Keaton chuckled but there was no real humor in it. “Now you can see why I was able to brush off the bullying at school like it was nothing.”
“It wasn’t nothing,” I said quietly. “Even if you had worse, all of that still counted.”
Keaton bit his lip silently. He looked at his own hands on his stomach. “Anyway. That was the only time he ever hit me or any of us, so I guess it seemed like an isolated incident. My Mom stood by him and for the last year and a half of high school, I stayed with my friend Xavi’s family.”
“I didn’t know that,” I said. I knew some from the gossip I’d been fed by the few of my old teammates that still spoke to me. There were rumors about them being in a relationship. There were also rumors Keaton had been living on the street. When I showed up here and he looked fine I thought it must have just been an exaggeration. “Isn’t Xavi gay too?”
“Yeah, he was the first person I ever knew who came out,” Keaton said. “His parents were completely cool with it. I guess they wanted to adopt the poor little gay boy whose family didn’t want him.”
The words he was saying about himself stuck in my chest like shards of glass. I wanted to soothe him and tell him he was wrong. That people did want him. But I didn’t know his family. If they truly treated him that way, then he was right.
I couldn’t imagine anyone not wanting him.Keaton. He was so kind. So generous. Always seeing the best in people. Even in me.
“You didn’t deserve that,” I blurted out.
“I know,” Keaton said. His voice was somewhat distant. “I know. I’ve made peace with all of that. Kind of.”
“But don’t you have calls with your sister every week?” I asked. He usually went out of the room to answer them.
“Yeah, Clara’s been great,” Keaton said. A smile came over his face. “She never abandoned me. Not once. She’s my baby sister, but she’s felt like the older and more mature one of us for a while. She kept in touch even while our parents banned her from speaking to me. I told her it was too much of a risk, but she said she could handle it. And she has.”
“So what happened today?” I asked.
Keaton looked at me, then away again. It was like he had only just remembered what we were really talking about. He opened and closed his mouth once. “My Dad beat up my Mom and hit Clara as well,” he said.
I sat bolt upright. “Do you need me to go and get him?”
“Get him?” Keaton asked. His brow furrowed as he half-sat up beside me. Gravity made his glasses fall back into place.
“You know…” I made a furious gesture with my hands that mostly related to grappling and throwing. “Get him.”
Keaton gave me a look. “I’m not fighting violence with violence,” he said and slumped back down.
“Oh,” I said.Of course not, idiot.“Right.” I settled down next to him again. I didn’t want him to tell me to get out. I hated the way he looked at me. Like I was violent, too. I wasn’t. I didn’t mean it like that. I just…
For Keaton, I would fight anyone.
“They said they’re safe. They threw him out and changed the locks, and I guess the police know about it as well in case he comes back.” Keaton sighed and threw an arm across his forehead. “I just… I feel useless all the way over here.”
I wished I had something to offer him. I didn’t have a car. I couldn’t take him home. Even if I could get someone from my family to pick me up and take us back, they didn’t live there anymore. All my other high school friends were at college now, too.
Once again, I was completely useless. Just like always.
