Page 84 of Unspoken Rules

“I’m still pissed.”

That’s it. That’s all I get.

“Which is why you need to talk to him, Chris. Talking to him doesn’t mean forgiving him, but maybe it’ll make you feel better to get it off your chest.”

“If I thought I could talk about it without punching him in the face, I would.”

“Really? You really think you’re going to hit your father, Chris? Come on. I know you’re mad, but Cole is a good father. He’s done his best your whole life, and your mother never made it easy. The guy made a mistake. You can’t hold that against him for the rest of his life.”

“Actually, I can,” he says, glancing in his side mirror and switching lanes.

I sigh, looking out the window. “Is that what you want?”

“What I want is for my dad to have not cheated on my mother with a guy and ruin their marriage.”

“How do you know their marriage was fine before that?” I fire back.

He scoffs, turning onto the highway. He doesn’t answer me. Which is answer enough. It seems he just wants an excuse to be mad at Cole. But why?

“I’m serious, Chris. I don’t want to fight with you, but I don’t like seeing you all fucked up over this either. Does your mom know you know? Don’t you think you should find out the truth before you go making up stories in your head?”

“I know enough,” he growls, slamming his hand on the steering wheel.

I want to keep arguing with him, but it’s useless. He’s stuck on this and isn’t going to change his mind until he’s ready to. He needs to figure this out on his own, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying to help him. But I need to find a way to stop being so defensive over Cole before I give myself away. Cole and I already almost got caught once. We can’t get that close again.

“Let’s go in the hot tub,” Chris suggests.

I chuckle. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, why not? It’s the perfect day for it.”

“You got an extra suit?”

I follow him to his room, and he digs through his drawers to find me one. He tosses me a plain black one. Without hesitation, he drops his pants and gets into his own. Now, I do not check out my friend. I have no interest in Chris. But I will say this is one of the things I’ve appreciated about him most, and one of the things that has shown me how much he truly does not care that I’m gay. He never stopped changing in front of me. Which is why I’m so confused over him being pissed at Cole for being with a guy.

I change too, tossing my clothes into my room on the way to the stairs. When we head down, we pass Cole who is just getting in. Neither Chris nor I pay him much mind, but I feel his gaze on me as we move towards the back door.

It’s late afternoon and it's getting warmer outside. Pretty sure it hit sixty today, which is a good start. Soon enough, the weather will be warm. There will be sunbathing, more swimming, and beach trips.

Chris opens the hot tub, turns on the jets, and messes with his phone. Guns N’ Roses starts playing from somewhere above. I look up and see speakers along the overhang of the house that I didn’t realize were there.

“Technology is pretty fucking cool,” Chris comments.

We put our phones on the table beside the tub and get in. The moment I sit, I realize I can see into Cole’s office from this angle. Which isn’t an issue until he walks in and stares directly at me. Isn’t even hiding it. Just staring at me as if to prove a point. He doesn’t look happy. But why the hell would he be mad at me? I haven’t done a damn thing.

“Bryson?”

I blink and bring my attention to Chris. Thankfully he doesn’t look over his shoulder to see what I was looking at. “Sorry, what?”

“The show on Friday. Are we going together?”

“Yeah, if you want to.”

I flick a quick glance back to the office. It’s empty.

What the hell.

“Wasn’t sure if you were going to invite your friend.”

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