Page 51 of The Long Way
“Oh. Well thank you! That’s thoughtful,” Cain said. “I like Alt Nation, or maybe…”
The strains of children’s voices shrieking tepid pop filled the speakers.
“What the fuck?”
“It’s the kids’ station,” Damon said, his growly voice placid and his face blank.
Cain gasped.This was war.
“I wish I had my phone,” he grumbled, giving a look to the backseat, where he’d stowed the bag containing his dead cell. He’d have to try to find a charger when they stopped for the night. “All my music is on there. I could find you some screamo you’d love. Reminds me of you when you’re cranky.”
“Oh, check it out.Opera.”
“What? I don’t like opera!”
“When they hit the high notes, it reminds me ofyouwhen you’re cranky,” Damon countered.
And Cain couldn’t help but laugh.
The whole world - well,hiswhole world - was burning. The past two days had been a shit-show from start to finish, he had a gunshot wound marring the tattooed sleeve on his arm, he had no idea what the hell this evening’s search of his father’s office would bring, and for over twenty-four hours, his mind had been dancing around the knowledge that someone - probably his own father - had sent men to track them down and shoot at them – himself, Damon, Chelsea, and athree-year-old, for God’s sake.
It was pretty fucked up that at this precise moment, he was still happier than he’d been in months.
And then Damon had to go and open his mouth. “So. Tell me about you and Jack.”
Cain flinched. He couldn’t help it. He’d actively avoided thinking, let alone talking, about the fact that both he and Damon had been involved with that asshole at roughly the same time. He focused on the road in front of him for a silent moment, then exhaled a long breath.
Yeah, okay, so maybe this issue was like a splinter beneath the surface of hisfriendshipwith Damon, just sitting there festering.
“What about him?” he asked flatly.
“How’d it start?” Damon’s voice was gentle, and when Cain darted a glance in his direction, he was steadfastly looking out the window.
“Can we turn Aerosmith back on instead?” Cain pleaded.
Damon didn’t reply.
“Fine.”Cain took a deep breath. “I guess… I guess it started maybe three years ago?” He tried to do math in his head, and shrugged. “Something like that.”
“Christ, Cain! You were, what? Twenty-two?” Damon’s outrage made him smirk.
“Still twenty-one,” Cain corrected. “I remember because one of the first and only places he ever took me was to a rodeo on my twenty-second birthday.” He shot Damon a glance. “For the record, I do not enjoy the rodeo.”
“Noted.”
Cain shrugged. “He just… started being friendly to me, you know? He’d been working for my dad for years, and he had to know I was gay. I mean, I never officially came out to my parents, but I never hid my sexuality among my friends. Not when I was younger. It was kinda like my family’s version of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but anyone who looked at the pictures on my bedroom walls had to know.” Cain gripped the steering wheel more tightly. God, he hated talking about this stuff.
“Yeah? Hot guys?” Damon asked.
“Mmm. Gerard Way.” When Damon stared at him blankly, Cain added, “My Chemical Romance?Helena? I’m Not Okay?No?” Damon shook his head, and Cain pressed a hand to his chest. “You’re breaking teenage Cain’s emo heart here, you really are.”
Cain shifted in his seat and continued, “Anyway, I dated a couple of guys. Had a boyfriend for a while.” He didn’t want to talk about Jesse right now. He couldn’t. “But then my dad’s political ambitions became a thing, and suddenly I was back in the closet. Got a respectable haircut, the posters came down, and I moved to Nashville where I didn’t date.At all. But then the summer after my junior year in college, Jack started paying attention to me.”
He swallowed, sickened by his own stupidity. “He’d smile at me, laugh at my jokes, ask about the classes I liked and what I wanted to do after graduation. My family was… I dunno. They never gave a shit how I felt about things or what I wanted, and I felt like… like I could be myself with Jack.” He chanced a glance at Damon’s profile. “Dumb, huh?”
“Not even a little,” Damon said sadly.
Cain drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. The last thing he wanted was Damon’s pity, for fuck’s sake.
