Why You Shouldn't Lend A Bad Boy Your Clothes

Chapter 26

The room began to spin. The floor tilted. For a few seconds, all I could hear was the blood rushing in my ears; my mom's lips were moving, but I couldn't make out what she was saying. I wasn't sure if I wanted to.

I had to fight down the childish impulse to jump up and run to my room. What use would it be? They knew, my parents knew about Hunter and there was nothing I could do to make them forget about it.

There was this feeling again, the same that had overcome me the day the video had been passed around my school; the feeling of vulnerability, being exposed, not being able to take the big secret back. The feeling of not being ready to face the consequences of having the truth out in the open.

My father's hand on my shoulder, shaking me, snapped me out of my daze. "Julian, answer when we speak to you," he demanded, his face turning red as his anger grew. "Where was this filmed and why the hell were you letting Hunter Adams kiss your cheek?"

I gulped, staring down at my hands. The words seemed to burn like acid in my throat as I spoke them out aloud. "It was filmed in a gay bar. And I let him because I..." I swallowed against the lump in my throat. "Because I like him."

Everything was silent for a moment, even Maya had stopped babbling and looked up at me with wide eyes. She was good at picking up on the mood in the room and looked accordingly troubled.

When I looked up I saw that my dad was staring down at me in shock. There was a vein on his forehead that was pulsing rapidly.

My mom looked like she was about to burst into tears as she now got up and walked over to where my father was standing, positioning herself next to him. Her voice was thin and obnoxiously high-pitched when she said: "What do you mean, you like him? Surely not like that, right?"

I clenched my teeth, directing my stare at the floorboards again, feeling like I might throw up any second if they kept looking at me like that.

"Are the bruises on your neck from him?" my father asked sharply.

I put a protecting hand over the side of my neck, but nodded.

"But what about Emily?" mom asked.

"I broke up with her a few weeks ago. Mom, please-"

Before I could finish my sentence, I got cut off by dad. "You only speak when we ask you to, you understand me? After all that you've done, the least you can do is being respectful."

My head snapped up at that, anger slowly seeping through the mess in my head. "What are you talking about? I didn't even do anything!"

"You broke up with your girlfriend without telling us, only to let some obscure little faggot harass you in a gay bar!" my father yelled.

Next to me, Maya winced as he raised his voice and immediately went to hide behind my mom. She had experienced enough of dad's temper tantrums to know when it was best to stay away from him.

Unfortunately, I wasn't that smart. Clenching my hands into fists to stop them from shaking, I leaped to my feet. "Don't call him that," I hissed, looking my father in the eye for the first time since I had come home. The blatant hatred in them sent a shiver down my spine. "And he didn't harass me. That's what I wanted."

"No, you didn't," dad screamed, stepping forward to grip a fistful of my shirt. I gasped when he nearly pulled me off my feet. "My son is not gay!"

As soon as he spoke the words, I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. But somehow I managed to keep my chin up high and said: "Well, apparently he is."

Even before I had said that sentence, I knew it was a mistake. When my father started raising his hand, this only got confirmed.

I shut my eyes, preparing myself for the impact of his blow, but it never came. When I blinked up at him, I saw that my mom had a hand on his shoulder and was muttering to him in a low voice. I was surprised when I made out that she was asking him to let go of me.