Tyler laughed, snuggling into me. “No kidding. It’s not like I wanted them to be angry.”
We lay there, not saying anything after that. My fingers found their way under the front of his T-shirt and ran along his warm belly. I loved the feel of him and I could now touch him without having to keep it a secret.
We needed to discuss what happened after today. Sure, things had gone well with Mom and Dad, but Mom had to confiscate our phones when they wouldn’t stop going off. Both of us had been too afraid to see what kind of shit show was going on. Eventually, we’d have to face that reality.
People knew about my relationship with Tyler. While my friends knew about me being bi— hell, I’d hooked up with over half of them— there was no guarantee that they’d be cool with me being with my stepbrother. I also knew that if they had a problem with it, they weren’t really my friends. Part of me knew I should have felt a little more sad about losing those supposed friends, but I didn’t really care as long as I had Ty.
“So what are we going to do?” His voice was soft and calm. My fingers halted against his stomach and I rested my chin against his shoulder.
“I don’t really know, but we’ll figure it out. I think we’ve had enough excitement for today, however.”
Tyler hummed in agreement, snuggling in again. It had gotten late. We’d enjoyed an easy dinner with our parents. Mom had ordered Chinese food because she didn’t want to cook anything after Tyler and I helped her haul in all of their camping equipment. She’d seemed kind of excited that the family camping trips weren’t something we’d have to give up now that Tyler wasn’t moving away.
Today had been a rollercoaster, and the problems outside of our home could be tackled another day. Tonight was about holding the man I loved, who loved me in return.
Tyler
“Youknowyou’relettingthem win, right?”
I glared at Ava as she propped her feet up on the coffee table in the living room. Lucy nudged her shoulder because she felt Ava was being a little rude. Ava rolled her eyes at her, waving a hand between Garrett and me.
“I mean come on, It’s been what? Four days since they posted that shit online and they still have their phones locked up with Mommy Dearest.”
“Jesus, Ava. We aren’t ready to deal with it yet. You got to come out when you were ready. It didn’t matter as much to me, but Tyler had his choice completely taken away. Not to mention we have an extra complication.” Garrett raised his voice as he got on his cousin. He didn’t get angry with her often, but she was pushing us a little too hard on this one.
“I’m just saying, you could control the narrative here. By continuing to hide and not even seeing what people are saying, you’re letting them get the upper hand.”
I sighed and hooked an arm around Garrett’s. His muscles were taut, like he was trying to keep from jumping from the couch and go after Ava. “I get it. I really do. It’s not like we really know what to say either. Sure, some people will be okay with it, but there are those that agree with the whole incest idea.” I said as I tried to pull Garrett against the back of the couch. He needed to relax.
Ava stood from the couch and started pacing. “But what you’re doing isn’t wrong. You love each other and your family supports you. If anyone else doesn’t, then you don’t need them. But the longer you remain silent, you let them feed the poison that it’s wrong.” She flung her arms around as she ranted. Her red curls swung around her head as she continued to pace.
“I get it,” I sighed in defeat. We were going to have to face it sooner rather than later. There was a lot of ugly in the world, but Garrett had surrounded himself with a pretty accepting group of people. Toby seemed to be the outlier. I hadn’t seen Maisy coming.
“So get your phones. We need to figure this out! And pronto!” Ava marched down the hall to our parents’ room and Lucy shot after her. There was no stopping her when she was on a mission.
I looked at Garrett. His jaw was tight, and his muscles were still bunched beneath my grasp. I lay my head on his shoulder and rubbed up and down his arm. “It’s going to be fine. We’ll figure this out.”
It was so strange that I had become the one to comfort him, when it was always in reverse. I laced our fingers together when I reached his hand and gave him a light squeeze. Garrett turned his head and placed a kiss against the top of my head.
The sound of drawers opening and closing down the hall reached the living room. Ava was a lot more brave hunting for things in Dad and Mom’s room than I would have ever been. There were some things you didn’t need to see.
“We don’t have to do anything,” Garrett said against my hair.
“I know, but she has a point. There is nothing wrong with us. We were just raised together. We’re not related by blood at all. The longer we remain silent…”
Garrett sighed and hugged me. “Yeah. I don’t want them winning either.”
“Found them!” Ava’s voice carried down the hall as she marched back into the room, devices held above her head. Lucy scrambled after her looking flushed and embarrassed. A small part of me wondered what kind of crazy they’d seen back there, but it was probably best not to ask.
Our phones were tossed into each of our laps as Ava sat down across from us. She motioned for us to do something. I reluctantly untangled myself from Garrett and picked up my phone. I stared at the crack in the screen and frowned. I’d always been really good about taking care of these and was a little pissed that dropping it because of that stupid post had damaged it.
The trill of Garrett’s phone powering on prompted me to hit the power button on mine. I held my breath as the screen illuminated to show the service provider before changing over to my lock screen picture. My heart did a funny flip when I realized it was a picture of Garrett and me from maybe a year ago. We’d been on last year’s camping trip and we were sitting on a log along one of the hiking trails.
Garrett had his arm looped over my neck, but was looking away while I cheesed into the camera for a selfie. It was wild that a year ago we looked so much like a couple that I seriously wondered how much of a surprise this was to people. How had I never noticed it before?
My thought process was interrupted the second the notifications started popping up onto my screen. I couldn’t even process the words before another popped up to replace the previous one. Garrett’s phone seemed to do the same thing. I turned it upside down and lay it on my thigh, taking a deep breath. There wasn’t even a point in trying to look at anything until the notifications caught up.
“Well?” Ava prodded. Lucy smacked her in the arm. She rubbed at the spot and glared at her girlfriend. At least Lucy was there to try to keep her in line.
