Hanlon’s words make my throat burn.
I don’t know whether ten-year-old me ever consciously thought that I was helping him by making him do everything on his own, or if I was just being an angry prick. But I’m grateful that by the time I was fourteen, I’d started to catch on to the fact that Hanlon liked a challenge, and I’d gotten my head out of my ass enough to make sure he had plenty of opportunity to prove himself and gain the confidence he’d need for life. Of course, that didn’t mean that I wanted to hang around and babysit him forever, and I still left.
I imagine I’ll feel like shit about that for a long,longtime.
“That still doesn’t excusethis,” Lana says, waving a hand back and forth between us.
I grab Hanlon’s wrist and pull him into me, wrapping an arm around his waist as Lana’s eyes darken in disgusted fury.
Before more can be said, the front door opens, and my dad strolls in.
Just great.
“Hey, honey. They didn’t have that cake mix you wanted, so I grabbed—” he cuts himself off mid-sentence when he sees the stare-down happening. “What’s going on?”
Lana props a self-righteous hand on her hip and aims a pointed glare at me.
“Stone, would you like to tell your father what I just found in the hallway?”
“Not really,” I grumble. “Seeing as this is my house and what you found isn’t really any of your business…”
“Stone!” my father bellows. “Watch your tone when you talk to Lana. What the hell has gotten into you?”
“That would be me,” Hanlon says.
I’m pretty sure he means he’s the reason I’m acting out, butconsidering he’s literally beeninsideof me, I can’t help the snort that escapes, and I bury my face in his neck to hide the rest of my laughter.
“Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Hanlon says in a tone that tells me he’s resigned to the absolute clusterfuck this is. I’m proven right a second later when he turns toward me, cups my face, and says, “Might as well rip the Band-Aid off,” right before he gives me the most soul-burning kiss of my life.
He makes it very clear that he doesn’t care about our parents standing four feet away. His lips part, and his tongue slowly caresses my top lip before he angles his head and deepens the kiss.
“What the fuck?” I finally hear my dad say. “Have you two lost your goddamn minds? You’rebrothers,for crying out loud,” he says, parroting Lana.
“No,” I say, pulling away from Hanlon’s decadent mouth, but still holding onto his waist. “You twoare married. Han and I lived under the same roof and spent time together as kids. If you remember, I moved out when he was fourteen, and I haven’t been home since he turned eighteen.”
“Is this why you stayed away?” my dad asks with a look of horror on his face. “He was achild, Stone.”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now, Dad?” Hanlon barks. “Do you honestly think Stone would go there?”
“Apparently, I don’t know where he’d go.”
“Why do both of you assumeStoneseducedmeand not the other way around?” Hanlon asks. “From the time I was six years old, you both pushed for us to get along. To love each other. To take care of one another. You pushed and pushed, and the resentment of that bond being forced to take place immediately pushed Stone and me apart. Now, with time and distance, we’re brought back together…byyourdoing, apparently,”he says, pointing to his mother. “And suddenly, we’retooclose. Love each othertoo muchand in the wrong ways. But we don’t think so. Our relationship finally makes sense for the first time in our lives.”
“Well said,” I say quietly, pressing a kiss to his shoulder.
“I just…I can’t,” Lana says, not completing the thought.
“Can’t what?” Hanlon asks. “Can’t watch me be happy? Can’t believe I could find someone to love me despite the needs my diagnosis brings?” He grows more bitter with each statement.
“Stop it,” Lana says. “You know it’s neither of those things.”
“Then what?”
“I can’t stay. In my eyes, you boys are just as much brothers as if I’d birthed you both, and this is wrong. I can’t be a part of this.” Turning to look at my dad, she says, “Please see if you can change our flight to this afternoon.”
“Mom, come on, ignoring us isn’t going to make this better,” Hanlon pleads.
