Page 119 of The Prodigal Son

His hand squeezes my knee, and I tremble deep in my bones. I pray he can’t feel it. “I’m fine.”

“You’re a public figure now, Jensen. People know your affiliation with Eternal Harmony. If we just…make a statement. Show your support. Don’t let down these kids.”

My stomach turns, and I nearly vomit. Before the sickness catches up with me, I stand from the couch and pace away from him.

“No. I have no…affiliation,” I stammer.

“Your church has donated to our cause, Jensen.Youdid that.”

“No.”

“Doesheknow that?”

“You should leave. I can’t…I can’t do this,” I argue, but my mind is a mess. Thoughts swirl and nothing catches. I can’t seem to find the things I need to say. The things I want to say to him. It’s all lost in noise and voices.

“If people find out about him withyou, of all people, Jensen, it will ruin his career. You think the scandal is bad now? Imagine how much worse it could be. A heartthrob country musician and a conversion therapy counselor?”

“I was just a kid!” I shout, fire brewing in my bloodstream. “You…you made me…”

“A kid? Were you a kid four years ago? Were you a kid in your twenties? Don’t blame me for the choices you made.”

“Fuck you, Derek,” I grit out with my fists clenched tight at my sides. “You fucked my head up, and I won’t support you fucking up more kids like me.”

I expect him to back down, but he doesn’t. Instead, he barrels toward me and shoves me hard against the wall. “If the media catches wind of your past, it will be at the expense of everything I’ve built. They won’t just tear you apart, I have a reputation to uphold, you motherfucker.”

I shove him away from me. “You think I give a shit about your reputation? You can’t hurt me anymore.”

“Think so, Jensen? You don’t think I can go to the media. Tell them what you did to all those kids in the program?”

My brow furrows as I glare at him with rage. “What the fuck are you talking about? I didn’t hurt anyone, you sick fuck.”

“Didn’t you?” he says, his voice like poison. “Didn’t you touch them? You tempted them. Made those boys do all kinds of perverted things.”

My blood runs cold. “That wasyou,” I whisper in disbelief. Even saying such disgusting things out loud to him makes me sick. “That wasyou! You did all that shit tome!”

He closes in, and I feel like a kid again. He’s just an old man in his fifties now, but it takes one look, one repulsive memory to turn me into a shaking, scared teenager again.

“What good times we had, Jensen. From what I remember, you were the easiest one, too. What a desperate little slut you were.”

Rage bubbles up in me like boiling water. My fist flies, connecting hard with his face, and he stumbles across my living room, hitting the TV where Isaac once played. The television goes black, and I have to talk myself down from hitting him again. I’m afraid if I start, I won’t stop.

“Get out of my house,” I growl angrily.

He takes his time standing up, holding his nose as it gushes blood down his shirt and onto my floor.

“You think I can’t hurt you, Jensen?” he asks with blood all over his hands. “I don’t need to. You’re ruining your own life. And his. I’m just here to make sure you don’t take us down with you. Because it’s clear you only care about yourself. You always did.”

“I said get out.” My nostrils are flaring, and I can only stare at him and force myself to breathe.

Then he looks up at me, and I am pierced with the intensity of his condemnation. “God doesn’t love men like you, Jensen.You don’t deserve that congregation. You had a chance to live a good life, but you were too weak. Always were too fucking weak. Now, you’ll drag that boy down with you.”

He turns his back and walks to the front door of my house. I’m shaking so hard, one gust of wind could blow me over.

“Go to hell, Derek,” I mutter.

“Only one of us is destined for hell, Jensen. Just be sure you don’t take anyone else with you.”

When he disappears through the front door, I reach for the nearest thing, which is the glass of water I had given him only fifteen minutes ago. It flies with force from my hand to the front door, crashing and sending glass and water everywhere.

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