“C’mon, guys.” I led them to where I’d parked the Corvair and unlocked the doors. “Get in.” JR rode shotgun, while Pat took the backseat. I eased the car out of the lot and headed for home. “You want to tell me what happened?” I asked as I rolled up to a light.
“My…my father found out I—I like guys.”
I jammed on the brakes and the guy behind me leaned on his horn. “Son of a bitch,” I spat and rolled down the window with jerky motions. “Fuck you, the light’s red!” I shouted at the asshole. I rolled the window back up and looked over my shoulder at Pat. “You’re gay?”
He shrugged. “I guess you could say I’m bi, but I always preferred guys. I just knew what would happen if my father found out.”
“And he was right. Look what happened.”
“JR….” There was a warning in Pat’s voice. He didn’t want to talk about it? Well, at least Poppa had never hit me.
“Theo.” JR touched my shoulder. “The light changed.”
“Okay.” I stepped on the gas pedal before the asshole behind us could lean on his horn again and drove us home.
* * * *
I unlocked the door to our apartment and pushed back the door. “JR, the bathroom is straight ahead and to the left. Pat, the half bath is just down there. When you’re done, meet me in the kitchen. Just follow your noses. I’ll be making you some hot chocolate.”
I filled a pan with milk and put it on the stove to simmer. Miss Su sat expectantly at my feet. Oh, what the hell? I emptied her water bowl and poured a little milk into it.
“Here you go, puss.” I watched as she lapped daintily. “Daddy isn’t going to be happy about this.”
* * * *
From the way the front door slammed shut, I knew I was right. Wills was pissed. I tried to head off the boys so I could calm him down, but they got there before me. Pat looked like he was bracing himself for another punch. As for JR, he was pale, but he faced his brother unwaveringly.
I arrived in time to see Miss Su hurl herself into Wills’s arms. “I’m sorry, Miss Su. I don’t have time for you now.” He put her down.
“I’m…I’m so sorry, Wills,” JR managed to say.
“First off, did you call Dad?”
He nodded and swallowed heavily, his Adam’s apple bobbing nervously.
“You have no idea how close I am to shaking you until your teeth rattle,” Wills gritted from between clenched teeth.
I stared at my lover. He hardly ever got angry. Now he was as flushed as his brother was pale, and he stood there with his shoulders hunched and his fists clenching and unclenching.
JR stood there, an eyelid twitching, the color draining even more from his face, making him almost sheet-white.
“Did you even stop to think what could have happened to you? Winding up in juvie would have been the least of it.”
“That—that was my fault, Wills.” Pat actually put himself between JR and Wills. “It was my idea to come to DC.”
“What the fuck did you do to make a vice cop think you were soliciting him?”
“I didn’t know he was a vice cop.”
“Oh God, don’t tell me you were playing footsy with him in the neighboring stall.”
“Okay.” But Pat stared down at his fingers as if he’d never seen anything so fascinating before, and of course none of us believed him.
“Jesus, what were you thinking?” Wills demanded.
“I…uh…I thought he was kind of cute.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind? He had to be at least twice your age.”
I remembered Franky, and I shivered.
“He had kind eyes.”
“So you came onto him? Why? You’re straight.”
“Uh…not exactly. I mean, I might be, but—”
“But you might not be.” Wills was almost wild-eyed. “What about you, John Robert? Are you going to tell me you’re gay too?”
“What? No! I mean, I know I’m straight.”
“So I’m safe in assuming you weren’t running away with Damien to find love’s young dream?”
“I didn’t ask JR to come with me!” Pat said with some bravado, but then his face fell and he looked like he was going to cry. “This isn’t JR’s fault.”
“Pat’s my friend. You’d have done the same for Michael, Wills. And don’t think Dad never worried about that.”
Wills’s cheeks turned a bright red. This wasn’t getting us anywhere. I stepped behind him and dug my fingers into his shoulders, kneading the muscles. “They haven’t eaten in hours, babe. And if I know Vince, neither have you. Cut them a little slack for now, okay?”
A shudder rippled through his body. “Okay. Theo’s right. I’m starved, and I’ve been wearing these clothes for the last sixteen hours; I’m going to shower and change, and then we’ll have dinner and you can tell me why you did such a—Why you did this.”
“Yes, Wills.” JR sounded hopeful, but Wills stalked out of the room without replying to him.