L. A. Witt - Rules 1 - Rules of Engagement (26 page)

I swallowed. “Did you lose friends over it?” I wasn’t sure if I were looking for commiseration or reassurance. Maybe both. He nodded. “I didn’t tell anyone until right before I graduated high school, even though I knew since I was thirteen.”

 

Squeezing his hand, I said, “How bad was it?”

“A few people pretty much walked away from me and never looked back.” He watched our hands, avoiding my eyes, and sighed. “That was fourteen years ago, and my older brother
still
won’t even look at me.”

“Jesus….”

 

“Yeah. We were really close before that, but after….” He shook his head and finally looked at me.

My heart sank even lower. As much as I couldn’t imagine losing the closeness I had with Tristan, I had a feeling that was exactly what was going to happen. “How long does it take to get over something like that?”

When his eyes met mine, the pain in his expression cut deep. He swallowed hard. “It’s been fourteen years. It doesn’t keep me up at night anymore, but it still hurts.”

I released a breath, squeezing his hand gently. “I’m sorry.” “It’s life,” he whispered. “I’m sorry you have to go through it.”

Rubbing the side of his hand with my thumb, I said, “I’ll manage.”

“I know.” He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed me gently. “You’ll make it. I wish I could tell you it’s easy, but what I
can
tell you is that I’ll be here.”

“Thanks,” I said.

He glanced up at the counter, towards my phone. “So, do you want to address the scandal, or go be a bit more scandalous first?”
Up until he said that, I wouldn’t even have thought about being in the mood. But now that he mentioned it, I could think of no place I’d rather be than in bed with him.

I grinned and started to stand. “I think I like the scandalous option.”

 

B
RANDON
sat beside me on the couch as I stared my cell phone down. “I don’t even know who to call first,” I said, shaking my head.

“Do you have anyone that’ll be supportive? Or that you think will be?”

 

“My sister,” I said. “If anyone, she’ll probably be okay with it.” “Start there,” he said. “The more support you have, the easier it’ll be to handle the rest of the bullshit.”

“Like my mom or brother?” I muttered. “Sister it is.” I hit Kari’s number on speed dial and listened to it ring, a nervous knot growing in the pit of my stomach.

“Hey, Dusty.” She sounded relieved, like she had been hoping I’d call.

 

“Hey.” I didn’t know how to start the conversation, so I played stupid. “You called?”

 

“Yeah, I did,” she said. “And if everyone else in the family has lit up your phone half as much as they have mine—”

 

“What? They’ve all been calling you?”

 

“Oh God, yes,” she said. “Mom called me four times last night because she couldn’t reach you.”

Fuck.
“Sorry,” was all I could say.
“Don’t be sorry.” She paused. “What’s going on, anyway?” “She didn’t send you the picture?”

“She did,” Kari said. “As did Tristan, and Dan, and Rick, and half a dozen other people.”

I let my face fall into my hand and groaned.
“Are you really—” She stopped herself. “Are you really gay?” I swallowed. “I’m really seeing a man, yes.”
For a long moment, she was silent. “How long?”
“A while. Since before Rick’s wedding.”

“I never thought you were into guys.” She didn’t sound disgusted or repulsed. Surprised, maybe. Curious.

 

I laughed. “Neither did I.”

 

“Good taste, by the way,” she said. “Hell, if he wasn’t gay, I wasn’t married, and you hadn’t beat me to him—”

 

“He’s bi, actually.” I glanced at Brandon, chuckling as his eyebrows lifted.

“Oh, fuck you,” she laughed. “There’s probably some poor single girl looking for a man, and you came along and stole her Prince Charming.”

“Sucks to be her, doesn’t it?” I said.

She laughed again. Then, her tone turned more serious. “Look, I’m sure the rest of the family is going to have something to say about all of this, but you know I’m behind you.”

“Technically, Brandon’s behind me.”
Brandon snorted with laughter.

Kari was silent for a moment, then groaned. “Oh God, Dusty, now I’m going to have to hurt you because of that mental image.”

“I thought you said he was hot.”
“I did,” she said. “But that’s when I picture him with
me
, not
you
.” We both laughed, then she said, “Seriously, though. I’ll support you, whatever you’re doing.”
“Thanks, Kari,” I said. “It means a lot, believe me.”
“You know I’m always here for you,” she said. “One thing, though.”
“What’s that?”
“When I meet him, I’m allowed to ogle him.”
I rolled my eyes. “As long as you don’t tell me what you’re picturing, you can look all you want.” In spite of our good-natured

ribbing, I found more than a little comfort in what she said, as if it were a foregone conclusion that she would meet Brandon eventually. Maybe I read too far into it, but I clung to her implicit acceptance that he was part of my life.

“Sweet,” she said. “Hey, I have to go, the baby’s awake. Good luck with the rest of the family.”
“Thanks,” I muttered.

“I love you.”

 

“Love you too.” After I hung up, I looked at Brandon. “Well, that was painless.”

 

“So I noticed,” he laughed.

 

As I scrolled through my phone for Rick’s number, I added, “She thinks you’re cute, by the way.”

“Is she cute?”
“Brandon! She’s my sister.”
“So?”

I flipped him the bird and rolled my eyes as I called Rick. As the phone rang on the other end, my humor faded and the knot in my gut swelled. I had been fairly certain of Kari’s response, and was equally confident that Tristan was going to flip out, but Rick could go either way.

“Dustin, what the hell is going on?” His voice sent a shiver through me. I couldn’t tell if he were angry or just completely caught off guard.

“How much have you heard already?”

 

“A picture says a thousand words,” he said. “So I’d say I’ve heard roughly a thousand words.”

“Then there isn’t much to say, is there?”
He let out a breath. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because I knew exactly how everyone would react, and thus far, I’ve been pretty much right on the money.”

 

“Yeah, but if you’d just said something, maybe it—”

“Rick, it hasn’t even been going on for very long,” I said. “I wasn’t ready to tell the family. I was going to tell the family eventually. The last thing I wanted was for the family to find out like this. I just didn’t expect to run into Stephanie that night. Dan was the only one who even knew where to find me.”

“You told Dan where you’d be with this guy?” He was silent for a moment. “Jesus, Dustin, what did you expect, then?”
My blood ran cold. “What do you mean?”

“You didn’t know?”

 

“About?” There was another pause, and the penny dropped in my mind.
You’ve got to be kidding me
. “Rick….”

“They must not have wanted you to know—”
No fucking way
. “Know about what?”
No way. He wouldn’t
. The silence probably didn’t last more than a few seconds, but it

felt like years. “Dustin, Dan’s been seeing Stephanie for months. Practically since you guys filed.”

 

And if her track record’s anything to go by, it probably started well before that
. “Thanks for telling me,” I growled.

 

“Look, I wasn’t trying to keep it from you,” he said. “It didn’t involve me, and really, it doesn’t involve you.”

“Just like my relationship with another man doesn’t involve any of you, but that hasn’t stopped the whole fucking world from lighting up my phone, has it?”

He was quiet for a moment. “We’re just concerned about you, man. You’ve been through hell in the last year, so—”

 

“So I’m doing what makes me happy for once, and suddenly everyone’s concerned.”

“That’s why I’m concerned,” he said. “Something like that has never made you happy before.”
“Something—”

“Listen, Dustin.” His voice was firm, but not angry. “I want to talk about all of this, face to face. You know I’m not like Tristan. I just want to talk about it.”

Our brother’s name made me cringe. That was one call I was still dreading. I rubbed the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger. “Fine. Let’s get together and talk.”

“Can you meet me tomorrow? At the Main Street Café?” “Time?”
“Eleven?”
“I’ll be there.”
“Okay,” he said. “Take care of yourself, man.”
“I will.”
“Have you talked to Mom?”
“I’m still alive, aren’t I?”
“I’ll take that as a no. Look, take care, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After we hung up, I tried to make sense of what he’d told me. “I need to call Tristan,” I said through my teeth, more to myself than to Brandon. “But there’s one more call I need to make first.” I hit “Send” and listened as the phone rang on the other end.

“Dustin, hey—”
“Dan, what the fuck is wrong with you?” I snarled.

“What’s wrong with
me
? I’m not the one caught on camera with
another man
.” The disgust in his voice infuriated me.

“After you sent my ex-wife—your girlfriend, from what I hear— to fucking stalk me. When were you going to tell me you were fucking my ex-wife, Dan?”

He ignored my question. “There’s been a rumor flying around for a while,” he said casually. “Someone saw you out with some guy, and your mom told Stephanie and me that she was afraid you’d gone queer. Funny, I thought she was worried about nothing, but lo and behold….”

“So instead of asking me, you had her come find me?” I ran a shaking hand through my hair. “What the fuck is wrong with you two?” He snorted. “Ironic question coming from someone who takes it up the ass from—”

 

“Fuck you, Dan.” I snapped the phone shut. “Fucking hell, that’s more than enough of that.”

 

“What? What did he say?”

I rubbed my face with both hands for a moment, exhaling slowly. “Someone saw us together. I’m guessing it was my neighbor when we went running that morning.”

“So they had your ex-wife come chase you down instead of asking you directly?”

 

“It was probably her idea,” I said. “Sadistic bitch. This is probably her way of getting back at me for saying that she cheated.”

“Even though she
did
cheat?”
“Yeah, but I had the audacity to call her out on it.”
“You selfish bastard.”
I glanced at him, and couldn’t help but smile at the mischievous

grin he gave me. I kissed him lightly, then turned my attention back to the phone. “Now, for the fun part.”

“Your mother?”
“Not yet. Brother.”
“I thought you talked to your brother already.”
“I talked to Rick. It’s Tristan that I’m not looking forward to.”

He cocked his head, then must have made the connection in his mind. “The homophobe.”

 

“The very one.” I rested my head on the back of the couch. “Fuck, he’s going to lose his mind over it.”

He cringed. “This should be pleasant. Want some coffee?” He stood.
“I might need something stronger than that in a few minutes.”

“Beer?”
I wrinkled my nose. “A little early in the morning for that.”

“All I have is beer or coffee, unless you think this is an occasion that warrants champagne.”
“Champagne?” I pretended to gag. “Ugh, how can you drink that shit? Just coffee.”

On his way into the kitchen, he said over his shoulder, “Some of us have more refined tastes than others.”

 

“Your taste is just as salty as mine,” I called after him.

He glanced back at me, and we both laughed. As he disappeared into the kitchen, I pulled up Tristan’s number. The feeling in the pit of my stomach got heavier. In spite of our sometimes-heated disagreements about his homophobia, Tristan and I had always been

close. A chill worked its way up my spine as I tried to grasp the reality that my relationship with my brother was forever changed.

 

Brandon came back into the room, handing me my coffee before taking his seat beside me again. “You okay?”

I sipped my coffee but didn’t taste it. “As okay as I’m going to be.” I looked at my phone. “This is going to be pleasant.” Taking a deep breath, I hit “Send.” I put the phone to my ear, closed my eyes, and waited.

It barely rang before he picked it up and said, “This had better be some kind of sick fucking joke.”