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“Sure,” John said, “but why would you ask her to bring along the man you said attacked you?”

My spine straightened. Beside me, Nolan’s teeth snapped shut so hard I heard them.

Andrew’s eyes went wide, and he turned a puzzled look on his wife. “You wanted him to come along? After he…”

“I said I wanteda guyto come along,” Leann said.

“No,” Sophia said evenly. “You said you wanted Nolan specifically.”

“What other gay guy do we know?” Leann threw back. “None of the straight guys were willing to go to a club like that.”

“There were half a dozen gay guys on our guest list.” Matt sounded gobsmacked. “You could’ve asked any one of them to—”

“Would you have trusted them with your fiancée at a club?” Leann snapped.

“If the only other option was the guy who raped the maid of honor?” Matt threw up his hands. “Um, yes?”

Leann was so red she was almost turning purple at this point. Then she got up. “You people are disgusting. You’re going to find any reason you can to believe him over me. Fuck all of you.”

Then she stormed out of the living room. A second later, the house’s front door banged shut so hard, everyone jumped and the picture frames rattled on the walls.

Andrew got up. “I meant what I said earlier,” he hissed at Nolan. “You aredeadto me.” Then he stalked out after his wife. Again, the door slammed shut, startling everyone and further dislodging picture frames.

Silence settled in. Everyone exchanged looks, but no one said anything. No one moved. Confusion and uncertainty hung in the air like smoke; it was just hard to tell if I was smelling a dying fire or one that was about to engulf the entire room.

After a solid minute, Nolan rose. “I need some air.”

With that, he walked out of the living room, and a moment later, the back door opened, then closed.

Carol started to quietly cry. John put an arm around her, but from his expression, he was struggling to keep it together, too.

Matt and Sophia both just seemed to be in a state of shock.

I stayed where I was, frozen with indecision. I didn’t know if Nolan needed comfort or space.

My boyfriend was in more pain than he’d probably ever been in his life.

And I had no idea what to do for him.

Chapter 32

Nolan

The instances when Leann had assaulted me had left me feeling humiliated and exposed. That conversation with my family brought all those feelings back with a vengeance. Some part of me had thought it might be cathartic, finally getting it out there and telling everyone this ugly secret I’d been carrying.

In some ways, it was.

In others…

Fucking hell. Watching my mother’s face while I spelled out what happened to me. Watching everyone else in the room wondering who to believe. The anger, hatred, and betrayal in my older brother’s eyes. The utterly shell-shocked expressions on the faces of the bride and groom as they absorbed what had happened and realized their wedding had been ruined.

The icing on that bullshit cake was explaining why Leann still called me Gumby. Ugh. That alone had me even sicker than I’d been earlier. As if struggling to get it up hadn’t been humiliating enough in an already soul-crushing moment, I’d told…

God, I’d told myparents. My brothers. Everyone in that room.

Now I was outside, trying to clear my head and get some air while we all decompressed. I didn’t know what was going to happen after this. I had no idea how much of my family I’d still have. Andrew hated me now. Did Matt? Because I couldn’t really blame him if he did.

I never should’ve agreed to be his best man.

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