Page 75 of The Torment of Two

I swallow hard and shake my head. “No. As soon as I learned who she was, I hated her instantly. I didn’t want to like her, Dad. I fucking swear it. It just happened.”

Pops chuckles. “Sounds like when I met your dad. We weren’t ever supposed to be a thing, but it just happened.”

“Once you realized you weren’t exactly straight,” Dad reminds him with a goofy grin. “Had to convince you a few times until you understood.”

They join hands, sharing in their moment, gazing happily at each other. It gives me hope that this whole Gemma thing won’t completely destroy them.

“How’d you meet her?” Dad finally asks. “If you didn’t seek her out, how did it happen?”

“In class. She called my car a hunk of junk.”

Pops scoffs and Dad sniggers. Since the vehicle is Pops’s old car and Dad made him retire it, their reactions are appropriate.

“Then she hit me with her car!”

Dad’s humor is wiped right off his face. “She what? On purpose? What the hell? Are you okay?”

I let his rapid-fire questions penetrate my aching heart. He loves me. They both do. Their concern and care have always been so overwhelming in a good way.

“It was an accident. I’m fine now. Just got bruised at the time.” I can’t help but grin. “I was such a dick to her. Naturally, I got partnered up with her for the Hemingford Hall project.”

“Gemma’s your project partner? Jamie failed to mention that part.” Dad’s eyes widen comically. “Gemma was here, wasn’t she?”

“Yeah,” I admit, feeling terrible. “She’s actually cool, though. Not at all a bitch like I’d assumed.”

A smile tugs at my lips as I think of her pretty glossy lips and sassy personality.

“Well, I’ll be goddamned,” Pops says with a chuckle. “Our boy is in love.”

Dad squeals—legit squeals—making me and Pops both wince.

“You’re being safe, right?” Pops continues. “I know we’ve had the birds and the bees talk many times before, but I feel like we might need to have a refresher course.”

“Pops, no,” I say with a grimace. “I know everything there is to know about sex. I’m a grown-ass man in case you forgot. Besides, we aren’t even there yet. Damn.”

“Thank God,” Dad says, shaking his head. “Take things slow. Get to know each other before you make commitments with your bodies.”

“Dude,” I grunt. “I really don’t want to talk about this with you guys.”

“Condoms?” Pops asks, completely ignoring my request. “You have them just in case?”

“I’ll put them on the grocery list,” Dad interjects. “Should we buy more lube?”

Fuck my life.

Now they’re just tormenting me.

A blossom of warmth fills my chest. This wicked, ugly secret is now in the open and we’re all teasing and laughing, sitting close by each other and touching.

They do love me.

I’m their whole world, they said.

“How did you know Jamie anyway?” I ask, still needing to know more about their past. “There seemed to have been some sort of relationship there.”

Dad glances up at Pops. “You want to tell him, hon? This is more your story than mine.”

“She was just a kid I knew from the neighborhood I grew up in,” Pops explains, sadness in his voice. “Her family was full of assholes who used to whip up on her. Your grandma would always invite her over to eat supper with us. I kind of thought of her as an annoying little sister, but deep down, I knew she needed the break from those horrible people.”

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