Page 101 of Arctic Titans of Northwood U: Volume 2

“That woman has spent hours preparing this dinner and you can’t be bothered to eat it,” Michael cut in.

“Oh, shut up, Michael,” I said.

My older brother threw his hands in the air. “He’s a lost cause, I’m telling you. They’ve completely brainwashed him. What are you thinking about, Sebastian? Your queer teammates?”

Mom choked on a sob.

“Michael has a point,” Dad said. “Your mind seems distracted. The longer you are exposed to that filth, the less of you we recognize. Now, listen here, Sebastian. Your brother wants what’s good for you. He has a right to be concerned. We all do.”

“You’re all obsessed,” I said. I’d made the worst possible mistake I could have the other day. I walked out on the wrong person.

Fuck. I wasn’t supposed to let those thoughts intrude on me. You were setting him free. You don’t want to draw him into this shit. But the more I told that to myself, the less I could believe it. The selfishness in me was skyrocketing. I wanted him. Even if I was weighing him down, I only wanted to hug him and hear him promise that everything would be alright. He had the power to make things right. He had that easy swagger that lifted all the burdens like they were feathers. He could blow them all away by doing little more than batting his eyelashes.

I loved him.

And that was why I had to send him away.

You wouldn’t drag someone you loved to sink with you, would you?

“All of you,” I looked between the three people who’d made my life bitter for years. Eryn knew I wasn’t talking to her. As the words tumbled out of my mouth, it felt as though my lung capacity increased. For the first time in ages, I inhaled completely and without an elephant sitting on my chest. “All you ever think about is gay sex, huh?”

Eryn swallowed a chuckle and received an angry look from Michael. His cheeks were growing pink while Mom fanned herself with a napkin. Dad’s fists closed tightly.

“Seriously, can you stop?” I asked. “Just for an hour, can you stop thinking about anal sex?”

“Sebastian, I’m warning you,” Dad tried.

“No, no. I have to say this.” It felt like holding a match over a pool of gasoline. How brightly can I make this fire burn? How hot would it get? “Day after day, you and Michael keep bringing it up. All you ever talk about is young men having sex with each other. Dad, are you gay?”

The chair flew and tumbled behind him as he shot to his feet.

In all honesty, fear injected itself into my bloodstream. Even so, the sensation was too thrilling and liberating to stop now. I was staring at the fire I’d lit. It was beautiful. “It’s okay, Dad. This is the twenty-first century. Nobody’s gonna judge you. I mean, you’re really interested in who my friends sleep with.”

“Go to your room,” Dad squeezed through quivering jaws.

“And you,” I told Michael, his eyes blazing. “Do you really expect me to believe you went to an Ivy League college, joined a fraternity, and never stroked together with the gang?” Even I was horrified at the words coming from my mouth.

Mom whimpered to Eryn. “Go to your room. Now.”

Eryn didn’t move. She was eighteen and smarter than all four of us put together.

Michael seemed on the verge of a killing rage, but Dad only needed a hint of suggestion for his suspicions to rise.

“Is this true, Son? Is this what they do?” I adored how easy it was to spook his Puritan ass.

“Of course not,” Michael spat. “He’s possessed!”

I stood up abruptly, glancing at my little sister. I’m sorry, I mouthed before looking at Dad. “I’m not possessed,” I said. “But I am bisexual.”

Dad choked and Mom cried out like I’d stabbed her. Michael wore such a victorious smirk that it turned my stomach.

After a moment of silence, I felt something touch my hand. Something damp and cool. When her fingers twined with mine, I knew that my sister was holding my hand, a cold sweat breaking out over us both. Dad’s fury was fading and he began shaking his head.

“You are confused, Sebastian,” he pleaded. “You’re not the first to be confused. There are ways…there are ways, Son. We can help you. If you just turn back to the Light, we can…”

“Give me a break,” I begged, my voice tight as Eryn’s hand squeezed mine harder. “I’m not going to some sick conversion camp run by psychos. You’ve been poisoning me long enough. I am bisexual. I love girls. I love guys. I love one in particular more than I love life itself. And I lost him because of you. You turned me into a freak. You wore me down until nothing was left. You,” I snapped, pointing my finger at Dad. “And you.” My finger cut through the air to find my mom.

“You said it yourself,” Dad said, hopeful for some fucking reason. “You can find a nice girl. Everything else…it’s the Devil’s work, Sebastian. You have to see. He’s twisting your heart and your mind. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”