Page 179 of The Blame Game

“Right. So what the hell happened?”

“There were some—some complications after your birth so she was no longer able to skate.” Kurt blew a smoke ring into the air. “Besides, she loved you and knew she couldn’t leave you. So we agreed she’d start coaching and she’d keep taking care of you with Vanessa’s help.”

“Right,” Dom managed. “But you fucked around with men and she grew to hate you for that.”

His parents had lived totally separate lives and he remembered them arguing far more than getting along.

“Having an open marriage was part of our agreement!” Kurt protested. “She knew that.”

“But she got jealous.”

“No. I do think she was lonely but you’ve got this all wrong, Dom. I fucked up. I fell in love with Robert.”

“Oh.” Dom felt breathless and he stood, walking over to the railing, staring out at the water, the smoke suddenly cloying, nearly choking him.

“Yeah.”

“Still, that had to hurt,” Dom said, looking over his shoulder. “Finding out your husband was in love with someone else.”

“I never stopped her from having lovers. Hell, I wanted her to find someone she cared about too.”

“Right. So you two were going to go on like that forever?” He turned away from the water to face his father.

“We agreed to stay married until you turned twenty. We were so close to that, less than a year away, and then …”

“And then I walked in on you with him,” Dom said dully.

Robert, his brain helpfully supplied, although Dom hated the thought of giving the man a name. Of making him human, someone his father had loved, not just been fucking around with.

Someone his mother knew about and had at least, in theory, been accepting of. It was so different from the story he’d had in his head for the past two decades.

“Yes.”

Dom frowned because this situation still wasn’t making sense. “So if Mom knew, why was she so angry when I told her about you and your—your boyfriend?”

“Because I’d promised her that you’d never find out about us.”

“Oh.” The pieces were finally beginning to fit together in a way that made sense.

“She was angry because I’d broken that promise.”

“Well, it wasn’t intentional,” Dom protested but the look on his father’s face made him pause. “Or was it?”

Kurt winced. “I never planned it but maybe some part of me hoped you’d find us. I was getting reckless.”

“So she thought you did it on purpose.”

“Yes. I was tired of the lies, tired of pretending—”

Dom frowned. “Pretending what?”

“That I wasn’t in love with him.” Kurt glanced down at his hand. He wore a slim gold band. Dom had assumed it was the one from his parents’ marriage but it hit him now that that one had been larger. Flashier. “We’re married, you know.”

“You’ve been with the same guy for twenty some years and you’re married to him?” Dom asked, flabbergasted.

“No.” Kurt looked up. “I’ve been with him for nearly forty.”

“Jesus Christ.” Dom rubbed his mouth, feeling a little sick. “How the fuck did you keep it a secret?”

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