Page 28 of Love It or List It
“Nope.The day before we were set to sign the paperwork, I caught him with his pants down, metaphorically.”
“Shit.As in—”
“Yup.I got home after a week in Mexico for my cousin Fernanda’s wedding.Paul couldn’t get the time off to go along with me, or so he said.”Joe sipped his beer.“So I get home after eight days away, opened the fridge to pour myself a glass of water, and suddenly I’m looking at a whole array of temperature-play sex toys.Which, like, okay, he could’ve just been missing me, but three of them were designed for parts he didn’t have, and the used condoms in the kitchen trash kind of gave it away.And to add insult to injury, he left the previous week’s stir-fry rotting on the shelf.”He snorted.“Asshole didn’t even bother remembering when I was getting back.He got home a few hours later.By that point, I’d gone through denial and anger and had landed on resignation.”
“You figured it out.”
“Yeah.Suddenly the other signs were obvious and I couldn’t ignore it anymore.He didn’t bother denying it when I confronted him.Out with the old and in with the new.”
“Jesus.I’m sorry.”
“Me too.I mean, not that I found out he was a cheating scumbag before I signed the offer, but… it sucks to find out your taste is that lousy.”He gave a rueful smile that held little humor.“Told you I had fridge trauma.”
Austin grimaced.
“It gets worse,” Joe went on.“We all worked together.”
“Wait—he cheated with your mutual coworker?”Austin said, aghast.Jesus, how low could this asshat ex get?
“Yup.So there went my relationship, my house, and my job, all in one go.”
“Wow.”Austin kind of wanted to hug Joe about it, which was super weird.Austin didn’t hug people.“I can see why you thought a season or two benchwarming sounded like a better option.”
“Yeah.It was a pretty bad burn.”Joe contemplated his beer bottle.“The kids don’t know.I mean, they obviously know Paul and I broke up, but I didn’t tell them why.”
“Why not?”
“Honestly?At first I was ashamed.And then I wanted to keep them out of jail.Gavin and Meg are hotheads.I mean, Will is devious enough not to get caught, but he’s also only just out of his closet and pretty vulnerable about it, so I couldn’t be sure that between the four of them they wouldn’t do something dumb like slash his tires.”
Austin snorted.“That’s not fair.Your kids are definitely more creative than that.”
“Yeah,” Joe said fondly.“But I’m not.”
“So avoiding the cost of bail is why you’ve kept quiet?”
Joe tipped his head back, drained the last of his beer, and then plunked the bottle down on the table.He leaned over, opened the fridge, and pulled out another.He tipped it in Austin’s direction, and after his nod, handed it over and grabbed a second.
Joe opened it and took a drink.“For a time.But now I just can’t bear the thought of proving to them how much some people suck.”
That was… endearing and adorable.
“I mean, don’t they already know that lesson?”They must, considering three of them apparently had parents so unworthy of them that they turned to a guy who was little more than a kid himself to love them unconditionally.
“Yeah.”Joe frowned glumly at his bottle.“You know what the worst part was?”
“Worse than a cheating boyfriend who sleeps with your coworker and chases you out of your job?”How could it possibly be worse?
“He cheated with a woman, living down to all the negative stereotypes about bisexuals.”
Of course Joe was more bothered by the idea of what others might think about bi men in general than about the personal hurt.Would it kill him to be a little bit selfish once in a while?
Joe answered his unspoken question by prodding his leg—the unbruised one—with his toe.“Come on.I showed you mine.”
“What, you want to know why I’m perpetually single?You can’t guess?”
“Oh, a challenge?”Joe smiled a little and tilted his head as he assessed Austin head to toe.“Hmm… you have a very needy cat who’s jealous of all your attention?”
Austin spread his hands, gesturing around the trailer.“Obviously not.”
