Page 124 of Defend Me
“Usually, I decide they’re a bad idea halfway through.”
“Mm. I want to hear every thought in your head.”
“It’s super early, but I guess I was thinking about it because you’re here and you act so casual about it. Do you think your parents would like me?”
He tightened his arms around me. “Everyone likes you.”
“That feels sort of avoidant.”
Brooks kissed my cheek, then released me. “Want a drink?”
“I wish there was beer, but I guess I’ll take a soda.”
“Coming right up,” he said with a wink before he headed for the kitchen.
Miranda rushed across the room, so I turned my head to see where she was going. The front door was open and she was talking to somebody that I couldn’t see. When she stepped back, a man entered and hugged her. His nearly black hair was cut short and he towered above her. The soft smile on his face made dimples appear at the corners of his mouth.
She motioned him further inside and took the gift bag that he was carrying. His head swiveled as he took in the party and, much to my dismay, he locked eyes with me. Worse, he started walking in this direction.
This was some fuckery I wasn’t prepared for.
Chapter 35
Tilian
Many times, I’d claimed to hate my life. Generally, it was because of minor inconveniences. All of the toilets being clogged in the bathroom on my floor. A surprise test on a Friday. Being excited to take a long hit from my pen after a rough day only to realize it was empty.
Now, those things felt even more trivial.
I didn’t have a normal relationship with my stepbrother. I had a weird relationship with him.
He’d been an asshole to Alex from the start of our parents’ relationship and he was a bit of a bully to me, which had been a new and terrible experience. Even though I was sort of weird, I’d never been harassed by people at school or anywhere else. I was the guy who wasn’t part of the popular crowd, but nobody had an issue with me and if we were in the same room, someone would strike up a casual conversation, regardless of what group they belonged to. I got invited to big parties as if we were all friends, but not to anything more personal. They’d greet me in the hall, but if you asked, I doubted a single one of those people would remember my name.
It was the late 2010s when I was in high school. For the most part, nobody gave a shit that I was gay. I’d never hidden it. The little rebel in me flaunted it proudly and didn’t give two shits.
Roman was the only one who treated me like I was a problem. He always acted like I was trying to check him out and told the guys in youth group that I tried to suck his dick. I didn’t, but teenagers loved to latch onto gossip. Still, I never let it get me down. If someone didn’t like me, I was happy to flash them my middle fingers and fuck right off.
Escaping him wasn’t really an option. He was Miranda’s son, so we saw each other a lot once she started dating my dad. I loathed him and I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I’d researched the logistics of trapping someone in a shipping container that would be at sea long enough to snuff him out.
Miranda got on his ass for his behavior, but he remained a little shit, just not around her. I wasn’t going to run to her or my dad to whine about him being a dick, so we just remained enemies.
After my dad’s views about my sexuality and Alex’s gender incongruence shifted, many in his congregation followed suit to varying degrees. Some left his church because of it. A lot of changes happened, but Roman continued to be an asshole.
Then, the wedding came around. I still wasn’t entirely sure how it happened, but when Roman pissed me off that day, I rose to meet his challenge. We were both sixteen- too old to be continuing that fuckery. We argued, he called me a degenerate, I told him he was just jealous that nobody would suck his dick, then we fucked in the bridal suite.
Yeah, that made shit really awkward. Even afterward, he didn’t stop his bullshit. We’d fight for months, then end up screwing again. It went on until we graduated and headed to separate colleges.
I never had feelings for the bastard and didn’t even think about it when it was over. The whole thing gave me a sense of satisfaction because I came out on top every time despite his alleged disgust.
As Roman headed toward me, I crossed my arms over my chest. We’d seen each other a total of two times since our high school graduation and never said more than a few words in greeting. He hadn’t approached me like this before and I was extremely tempted to make him regret it.
Then again, he was huge. It was obvious that he’d packed on muscle since he’d been gone and I wouldn’t put it past him to throw a punch like the toxic, self-proclaimed alpha male that he was.
“Hey, Tilian,” he said casually.
“Roman. If I knew you’d been invited, I would’ve set up explosives in the driveway.”
“You’re still as lovely as ever, I see.”
