Page 75 of Their Property
“You’re not.” T-Bone squeezed her shoulder before fixing me with a glare. “Since when do you give a fuck what others think about us?”
“I don’t. I’m just trying to keep our necksandhers out of a noose. Youknowthere are people who would do that, T.”
“Why?” Kyrie demanded. “Who would do that? Who would care, if this is what we all want?”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. Our food still hadn’t come out and I imagined our waitress peeking through the kitchen doors, watching the drama unfold. I didn’t want to be having this discussion here or now, but it was already happening, and I wasn’t about to sugarcoat things for Kyrie. If she really wanted to be with us, this was our reality.
“You know what happens when homophobes see two men acting more than friendly with each other?” I took Kyrie’s silence as an answer. “They beat them to death. Sometimes rape them too, because all that hatred is a projection of shame toward themselves.” Kyrie paled but didn’t interrupt, so I went on. “If it’s two women, same deal. Usually a lot more rape though, to ‘teach them a lesson’.”
T-Bone clenched his teeth. “Dyno—”
“No, it’s okay.” Kyrie silenced him with a raised hand. “I didn’t know it was that bad. And I need to know.”
“Those suits you worked with? The ones who politely warned you not to become toofamiliarwith men like us? I guarantee you, some of them got queer mens’ blood on their hands. And those who don’t have no problem looking the other way.”
“I…suspected, but never imagined they could actually…” Kyrie drew in a shaky breath but otherwise stood strong. “I’m sorry, Dyno.”
I slumped back with a mixture of exhaustion and relief. Kyrie might not have been exposed to the uglier sides of life as we had, but she was smart enough to acknowledge that it existed.
“It hasn’t been as bad in recent years,” I admitted. “After the Collapse, everyone suffered. Now, people like us are down in the dirt where we belong.” I nodded at Kyrie and T-Bone’s linked hands again. “But what do you think will happen if guys like us act like we’re worthy of a governor’s daughter? If someone ofyourupbringing stoops toourlevel? It won’t be just us they target. They’ll want to punish you too.”
“Dyno,” Kyrie breathed softly. “There’s a chance, a small chance, I’ll admit, that my father could support us.”
“Even if that does happen, it doesn’t undo generations of disdain toward us. I’m not ashamed of who I love, but I’m sorry, I’m not willing to get us all executed for it.” I finished off my glass of whiskey and slid from the barstool, in sudden need of the open road and fresh air. “I’m hitting the road. See you all in a couple of days.”
“Days?” T-Bone repeated. “Where the fuck you goin’?”
“Gonna clear my head and see Isaac.” I turned to face T-Bone, daring him to tell me otherwise. I knew he wouldn’t because he had a soft spot for my kid. All three of us wished we could raise him, but it was T-Bone that seemed really attached to the idea of becoming a dad.
“Tell Isaac I miss him,” was all that he muttered.
“Hm.” Grudge tapped his chest to say,me too.
“Who’s Isaac?” Kyrie asked in a small voice, almost fearful.
“My son,” I told her, fully embracing the feeling of my stomach dropping. “Who I barely see because he lives far away with his mother.” Apparently, I didn’t know when to stop because I added, “That’s another thing to consider before you get with three bisexual men much older than you. We’ve got hordes of skeletons in our closets.”
Without another word, I turned and left the bar.
TWENTY-THREE
GRUDGE
“Iwant you to ignore everything he said for the past half-hour.” T-Bone kissed Kyrie’s temple when her glum expression didn’t change. “You hear me, little lady? He’s just in a mood that has nothing to do with you.”
He’s right, I added, sliding my notepad closer so she could see it.We were talking about Isaac before you came down. His mind was already in a negative place.
Kyrie had taken Dyno’s seat at the bar, now sandwiched between T-Bone and me. Her tortilla soup was barely touched, but she had downed a couple beers already. Her face had been practically glowing when she came down the stairs with T-Bone. Now it was like a permanent cloud had settled over her, and I wanted to pop Dyno across the jaw for putting it there.
“He’s not wrong though.” She scratched a nail idly over the worn bartop. “I could put you guys in danger.”
T-Bone dismissed that with a wave of his hand. “We’re in danger all the time. It’s part of our life.”
Kyrie didn’t seem comforted by the fact. Her face was still drawn into a frown, eyes focused on nothing in front of her. “Why are Dyno and his son’s mother no longer together?”
I snorted, the sound echoed by T-Bone. “They were never together to begin with.”
There was no relationship,I wrote down to clarify.Just fucking.
