Page 126 of Out of the Storm

“Five thirty-two.”

“Ugh, only twenty-eight minutes ’til showtime. I hope I can manage not to mess up too badly today. I really can’t see well without my specs.”

“I’ll be here to help.”

Gary squeezed Jeff a little more forcefully. Hopefully it wasn’t too much.

“Jeff, I have to know, are my little bursts of affection ever bad? Other than when we’re sleeping. Or in the middle of, uh, sexy stuff?”

“Nope. Never.”

“Okay. Good.” Gary had to hug him asmidgetighter now that he knew it was probably okay, which made Jeff huff a cute little laugh. “Jeff?”

“Mmm?”

“Will you ever tell me what happened?”

“Uh . . .”

“It’s not necessary, but—”

“I can.”

“Only if you want to.”

“Yeah, it’s... fine.” Jeff finger-walked his hand across Gary’s chest and then reached for Gary’s hand. “I want to tell you.” He let out a sigh. “Don was my boyfriend for a while. Well, for longer than a while, maybe. We were together for a couple of years.”

“How’d you meet?”

“Our families kind of knew each other, so I’d seen him a bunch when we were kids. He was a few years older though, so we weren’t in the same class back in school.” Jeff started to play with Gary’s fingers, squeezing the tips of them and shaking them a bit, maybe to keep himself occupied while he opened up. “Don was kind of... pushy, maybe, as a boyfriend, or...” He shrugged. “Anyway, he was never the nicest, but we made it work.Imade it work. Sometimes he was a little... forceful, but it was... fine. He’d never pushed metoohard. Sex-wise. Until he... did.”

“Oh, Jeffrey, I’m sorry.”

“Nah, it’s... I mean, I should have stopped it.”

“Don’t say that. No matter what happened, it’s not your fault.”

“We had a tiff—like one of our typical fights—but he shoved me, and I hit my head, and... yeah.”

Gary flinched. Gosh, poor Jeff.

“Did you black out?” he asked.

“No, I . . .” Jeff buried his head in Gary’s chest. “I said . . . I said okay.”

Gary’s heart clenched, the shame in Jeff’s words slamming into his chest.

Jeff continued, “I said okay, so it’s my own fault. I hated every minute of it, but I never told him to stop. He was so... so liquored up too. Rough and possessive...” Jeff trailed off and shuddered. Gary winced from the word, and Jeff must have seen him because he looked up with the sweetest half-smile and said, “Not in a cute Gary Graham way. In a Don way. You’re not like him, Gare. Don’t ever think that you are.”

“Okay,” Gary said, warmth coloring his cheeks. “Thanks, Jeffrey.”

“Anyway, I felt really bad afterward. Just wrong inside. Or... broken. So I left. Took my car and went west. Just to be away. And then I saw my first tornado. Completely by chance. And it waslike... it was like it was the physical manifestation of what I was feeling. I was so comforted by it. Like, fuck, there it is, there’s me. I fell in love with storm chasing then. Right here in Ohio.”

“Wow. Was there a funnel?”

“Yup. Incredible huh?”

“Scary. I hope we never have one here.”

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