Page 52 of Jake and Conner
"We've all done stupid things."
Bastian's gaze darted around the backyard as if he needed to make sure that there really wasn't anyone listening in. "I have a boyfriend," he started.
"You do?" I thought back to that dinner I'd had at Uncle Griff's house, when Aiden had teased Bastian about his relationship, causing the older boy to clam up. "You know that having a boyfriend is no crime, right?" Bastian was eighteen. If he wanted to date someone, I wasn't going to tell him to stop. For that matter, neither were his parents, so what was the problem?
"It's not that." My cousin directed his eyes toward his shoe laces again. "You know my dad's aunt moved out of town a couple of months ago and their house has been empty so..."
"You found a way in and made use of it?" I suggested. It was what I would have done at his age. "You think she's going to be mad at you? Did you break something?" Could he just come out and tell me what had him so worried?
And why had he wanted to see Conner?
"We didn't break anything," Bastian said quickly. "But um..." His face flushed. "My boyfriend is hiding there now."
"Hiding? Why?"
"He's pregnant."
Suddenly, everything made sense. Bastian's reluctance to talk about this, why he'd wanted to see Conner... and where the kid was that Conner was looking for. Relief washed over me. If the boy had been squatting in an empty house all this time, he was probably safe. At least safer than he would have been out on the streets.
"Take me there."
22
Conner
We had clear weather at the demo, which was a plus. We weren't supposed to start marching until noon, but Raph and I rolled into town around eleven. The plan was to grab a quick bite to eat before we would be on our feet for hours, holding up signs. Always the artist, Raph had taken care of creating them. One said, "No Uterus, No Opinion," in big letters and on the other one he'd written, "Omega Rights are Human Rights."
"It was fun," he told me. "Almost felt like I was back in college, rallying against the establishment."
"They turned out really well," I said approvingly, and then I was interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing. It was Jake. Of course it was Jake.
This was the third time he’d called me that day, and the demo hadn't even started yet. Annoyed at his paranoia, I let the call go to voicemail. He'd try again in about ten minutes anyway.
"Who was that?" Raph asked while we were getting in line at a little hotdog shop.
"You have three guesses," I said, because he'd been there the last two times Jake had called.
My friend grimaced. "Again?"
I nodded.
"That's pretty bad," Raph said. "Sorry, man."
"It's okay," I lied. "He worries. I understand that." And I did. Jake had confided in me once, about that thing he'd witnessed back in college and how it had ultimately driven him to become a paramedic.The next time I see shit like that, I wanna be able to help,he'd said. The event had shaped his career path and I'd been proud of him for following a worthy cause and for taking control.
But ever since he'd started learning about all the things that could go wrong in the human body, his obsession with making sure that I was safe had grown to almost unbearable levels at times. I put up with it because I loved him, but there was a limit to my patience.
Which was why I'd let that call go to voicemail.
"If Nathan treated me like a china doll we would havewords," Raph said.
I laughed, because I knew how different the dynamics in Raph's relationship were compared to my own. "As if Nathan would even try. Maybe I should get a black belt in karate too."
Raph grinned "You might enjoy it!"
"Yeah, maybe. I don't really have the time, though."
"No, I guess you wouldn't. I'm glad we get to hang out together, even if it's just for a demo."
