Page 79 of The Long Way
Chapter 19
Oh, shit.Damon’s head swiveled to the doorway to find three pairs of eyes locked on Cain.
Cain’s sister - a blonde, tanned, negative image of her brother - seemed surprised more than anything, her jaw dropped open like she’d never seen Cain before. Cain’s mother looked ready to explode, whether in anger or in tears, Damon wasn’t sure. And Cain’s father, the powerful, evil Senator Shaw who by all rights should have been twirling his mustache like some cartoon villain, just seemed befuddled and a little overwhelmed. His sandy hair was thinning, his stomach was paunchy beneath his Tennessee Volunteers t-shirt and neatly-pressed khakis, and he blinked slowly, not like he was calculating the next step in his plan for world domination, but like a dad who’d just seen incontrovertible evidence that his son was still very much gay, despite his attempts to coerce him into being otherwise.
Cain, meanwhile, was doing a good impression of a concrete wall. His milk-white face had flushed beet red, but he stood tall and said absolutely nothing to break the fraught silence that descended on the room.
Damon surreptitiously lifted a finger to touch Cain’s hand, a subtle reminder that he was here if Cain needed him, but Cain jerked his hand away and straightened his spine, clutching Damon’s phone so tightly in his far hand that Damon wondered if it might crack. The man was an island, cutting himself off from the censure he knew he was about to receive, desperately trying to wall himself off from everyone in the room, including Damon. It broke Damon’s heart just a little to witness it, and it made him angry, not at Cain, but at the circumstances.
Cain had been outed to his family twice - once to his father in high school, and now again to his whole family. He hadn’t gotten the option of when or where or how to come out, orwhetherhe wanted to come out in the first place.
“You’regay?” Cain’s sister —Cady, Damon remembered — spoke two words that shattered the silence like a grenade, and suddenly the suspended animation of the moment squealed into fast-forward, everyone talking and moving at once.
“Cain, my God, what are youthinking?” his mother cried, while his sister demanded, “How did I not know this? Cain, why didn’t you tell me?” His father raised a hand to his face and rubbed his forehead.
Meanwhile, Cain stood like a statue, calm and composed, though from this distance Damon could see the tiny shudders that wracked him, like miniature earthquakes beneath the surface of his skin. But Cain was courageous, and Cain was strong. The hands at his side flexed for a moment, like he was unconsciously reaching for Damon, and Damon stood upright bringing himself closer, lending Cain his support.
“There’s nothing to discuss, Mom. I’m gay. I think you and Dad have known for quite a while.”
Damon sucked in a sharp breath. Those words carried such power, and they came at such a cost, whether you were saying them to yourself for the first time, or saying them to someone you cared about, or even when you were saying them to someone who had just caught you mid-kiss. Maybe especially then. Cain was claiming his identity, stating it clearly, making it so it was no longer a shameful secret.
“No.I did not know any such thing, and I don’t know it now either! This nonsense was supposed to be over in high school, Cain,” she informed him. “Your father took care of it. Moved us away from that boy who’d been leading you in the wrong direction.”
Nowall eyes darted to Damon, and he resisted the urge to wave.Bad influence, right here.
The senator’s eyes flared with recognition, and then confusion. He glanced around the room and noticed the papers and files spread all over the desk and coffee table, then looked back at Damon. His jaw hardened, and Damon’s blood went cold.
Until that second, he’d almost forgotten the stakes here were even higher than Cain coming out to his family. Now the senator knew exactly where Damon was, and soon he’d know just how much they’d figured out about his involvement with SILA. And still, Damon couldn’t force himself to grab the folder of invoices and make a dash for it. In fact, he couldn’t take a single step away from Cain, who was standing so close Damon could practically hear the cogs turning in his man’s head as he absorbed this new blow.
Was it worse that his mother hated Cain being gay? Or that she denied he was gay at all?
Both, Damon decided.
“I cannot understand why you would do thisnow, when youknowthat your father is on the brink of announcing his candidacy!” Lucy continued her tirade, and Damon couldn’t keep from rolling his eyes even though no one was paying attention to him.
“Wait, what happened in high school?” Cady demanded. Like an animal with no sense of self-preservation, she stepped further into the thick tension of the room, stopping halfway between her parents and Cain and looking back and forth between them like the chair umpire in a tennis match. “Cain?”
“Dad caught me kissing Jesse Porter.” Cain’s voice was tight and high, a combination of hurt and anger threading through the simple statement. He stared at his father without flinching, and the senator didn’t move or speak.
“The kid you used to tutor?”
“He was my boyfriend.” No hesitation, no equivocation, though Damon knew Cain was ready to snap.
Lucy Shaw’s mouth was a tight line, her cheeks flushed and eyes burning as the carefully constructed lie she’d tried to make a reality crumbled to dust before her. “I can see you were lying about being ill to avoid the ski trip,” she said petulantly, as though this was really the thing she was most upset about.
“Not a lie,” Cain said. “I was injured.” His eyes were locked on his father, and remained there as he lifted his arm to show the fresh white bandage they’d taped to his arm after showering this morning.
Cain’s mother gasped, eyes wide, and her hands reached out as she came forward to inspect his damaged arm. Damon was pleased to see she had a normal, motherly reaction to this, at least.
“Dear God. When the hell did you put all this… this…trashall over yourself?” she moaned, stepping between Cain and Damon, reaching for Cain’s arm.
For the first time since his family had walked in, Cain’s eyes met Damon’s. His expression was bleak - both sad and unsurprised. The woman was horrified at hisink, not his injury. Jesus. Damon shook his head minutely.
The senator stepped forward. “Enough, Lucy. Get out, both of you.” He pointed at his wife and daughter. “I’m going to handle this. You two wait downstairs.”
“But Daddy!”
“Emmett, he ismyson! I will have my say.”
