Wait, what?
Now, I was the one caught off-guard. He wanted to flip it back on me, embarrass me into shutting up.
“Well, for starters, you do know I read MM books, right? And you know what this means. Do I need first to describe to you how two men have sex?”
I smirked at him, fully aware it would make him shut up.
“There is no need to explain it to a gay man,” he deadpanned.
I froze.Literally.I tried to croak out a question, but it was pointless. No words left my mouth.
“What?” he snapped.
“You’re gay?!” I choked out the question.
He snorted. The bastard snorted!
“Excuse me, I didn’t know I needed your permission,” he said, amused. “Also, great way to contribute to the stigma about what a gay man issupposedto look like.”
“But… but… no way!” My heart was racing. “And I didn’t say it because of how you look. If you’re gay,whythe hell did you torture me for reading MM books all these years? What the fuck, man?”
He glanced over, confused. Even worse was the sincerity in his confusion, which made me, in turn, confused. Did this even make sense?
“You thought it was because you were reading gay romance?”
“Yes, why else, asshole?”
“The only asshole here is you. Asshole.” His grip on the steering wheel tightened. “And no, it wasn’t because of that. It was because you read.”
“For fucks sake, that doesn’t make sense.”
“Why the fuck would you spend time reading about fictional characters, their happy and sad times, and their love lives? The sex I can maybe understand, even though, porn is better.”
My jaw dropped.
Had we seriously just had the lengthiest conversation in years, just the two of us, and it was about books and sex? I must’ve died somewhere along the road. Yep, that was the only explanation. My spirit was here, imagining a world where Dagon and I didn’t act like we hated each other.
“I don’t give a fuck whether you’re gay, straight, pan, ace or something else. It was never about your sexuality.”
He shrugged, and I could see a slight blush on his cheeks. Did I make Dagon Hughes blush? I should write the hour and date right now on my phone. Laughing, I relaxed back in my seat.
“You know, I thought you taunted me because of that. Now that I know it’s not because of the gay part, I guess I hated you for nothing.”
“No need to fall in love with me so fast, Di.”
He smirked, and my heart skipped a beat when I heard my name fall from his lips.
Shaking the feeling away, I focused on the road ahead. I couldn't dwell on the fact that my brother – who I never saw as a brother – and on whom I had a crush, was gay. Nope. My mind chose to divert the attention to something else instead. Though I wasn't sure this new train of thought was much better. Our fights, the cold silence, and the way we ignored each other replayed like a movie before me.
“Why do you hate me?” I blurted.
He nearly lost control of the wheel. I gripped the door handle instinctively.
“What?”
“Why do you hate me? What changed?”
A few seconds passed, and I thought he’d ignore me, true to his typical pattern. But suddenly, he swerved and pulled the car onto the shoulder. There were no other vehicles around. Just a stretch of empty road and a forest to our right. He was out of the car so fast I barely registered what was happening. I didn’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t for him to storm into the woods.
