Page 66 of Hello Forever
Slowly, Cax turned around. He held a mug of coffee in each hand. He took a sip from one of them before he spoke. “Dad didn’t like Axel very much, but I do. Because Axel is myboyfriend.”
There was a deep silence, and I checked everyone’s faces. Scotty was blinking at me, as if trying to do the math. Jared—the teen at the table—looked as if he’d just tasted somethingbitter.
But it was Mark who looked truly horrified. “Whatthefuck?”
“Mark, don’t use that word,” Cax saidautomatically.
“What the actual fuck,” Mark spat, ignoring him. “You’re…” He turned to Cax, and I braced myself. I knew what was coming. “A faggot? My brother is afaggot.”
The other f-word. So much worse than the first onehe’dused.
All the color drained from Cax’s face. “Youwatch your mouth,” he threatened. Cax had a really easy-going personality. But I was pretty sure I was about to see what happened when hesnapped.
I didn’t get the chance, because Mark shot out of the room toward the front of the house. I heard a scuffle, the thunk of a pair of shoes, and then the sound of the front door opening. It shut with a bone-shaking slam a momentlater.
Jared got up from the table. Giving me wide berth, as if I might be contagious, he left the room. Another door slammed somewhere else in thehouse.
That left Scotty. With his eyes still on me, he moved. He didn’t turn or run. Instead, he inched closer to Cax, sidling against him the way a frightened fawn moves closer to itsmother.
Cax’s face was still white. He stood like a statue, holding the two cups ofcoffee.
I took a couple of steps forward and relieved him of one of them. He wrapped his now free hand around Scotty’s shoulders. “I’m sorry your brothers are freaking out right now,” he said to himquietly.
“But why are they?” Scottyasked.
Cax met my eyes with something like wonder on his face. Why indeed? How did you explain ignorance and prejudice to someone who seemed not to understand it? “Well…” He took a deep breath. “I surprised them, I think. They didn’t know that I had aboyfriend.”
“Oh.” Scotty’s small face was frowning, as if he still couldn’t make senseofit.
“Look,” Cax said, gesturing with his mug. “Sit down on the sofa. We need to get Axel off his feet.” He gave Scotty a nudge toward thefamilyroom.
Scotty trotted toward the cozierseatingarea.
“I should go,”Isaid.
“No.” Cax gave me a wan smile. “I wish you wouldn’t. I mean…” He sighed. “This might have gone better. But I’ve been avoiding you because I didn’t know how to tell them. I guess I don’t need to worry about thatanymore.”
“But…” I sighed. “You have to deal with the fallout now. I’m just intheway.”
His eyes pleaded with me. “Please don’t walk out that door. There’s way too much of that in our lives. I don’t want you to beuncomfortable,but…”
“Okay,” Iwhispered.
He reached up and touched the mostly healed side of my face. “Comesit.”
I followed Cax over to the generous sofa. He sat down in the middle, and Scotty moved immediately to sit close to him. Cax dropped an arm over his littlest brother’s skinnyshoulders.
Lowering myself carefully so that I wouldn’t jostle my arm, I sat in the opposite corner, leaving some space between Cax and me. I appreciated that he was willing to have me around, but I didn’t want anyone to feelweird.
“Where do you think Mark went?” Scottyasked.
“To a friend’s house, probably,” Cax said. “If we don’t hear from him in a couple of hours, I’ll callaround.”
Scotty was silent a minute. “Amy wasn’t really your girlfriend,” he said. “I never saw you kiss her. Not like arealkiss.”
Cax chuckled. “You are smarter than your brothers. Did youknowthat?”
Scotty’s grin lasted about one second. Then his smooth brow wrinkled again. “Why did Dad break Axel’s arm? Why is Mark being adouche?”
