Page 82 of Crimson Tears

But my nephew is different. He and I are not very close. He knows I care for him, he has just kept his life separate from mine.

Maybe that makes him the best person to talk to about this after all.

He is with Laney and her partner Havoc. I do not fully understand it. It is clear to them that these concepts of more than one person in a relationship are new to me, and everyone so far has been helpful in explaining it, so long as I do not come across as judgemental.

At first, I was. Everything about what they were doing seemed wrong. To me, it felt as if the women were disrespecting their men and telling them that they could never be enough. But Evie helped me see that was not the case.

I am still struggling to understand it all, though. What I do know is that she loves them all with her whole heart, just as they love her and each other the same way. And the same goes for my nephew and his boyfriend and girlfriend.

“I am trying to understand,” I admit.

“What is it that you are struggling with?”

I do not know the words to use, but Arrow is one who will allow me to say what I need without humiliating me for getting it wrong, so I say it.

“I am not bisexual,” I grit out, frustration making me grind my teeth.

Silence.

“Arrow?”

“Still here.” I can’t tell if he is laughing or clearing his throat. Maybe both? “Did someone say you had to be bi? Nessa is a female right? I mean, if she isn’t that’s fine, I just feel bad she didn’t feel like she could open up.”

“What?” I am beyond confused right now. “Nessa is a woman.”

“Okay,” he sounds confused. “So what does your not being interested in men have anything to do with it?”

“Because she loves another man.”

I almost knock over the coffee with the way my arms shoot out in front of me in frustration.

“Um.” He clears his throat and then pauses. “Alright.”

“And I am not bi.”

“I never said you were.” Rustling sounds over the line as if he were changing positions or just as irritated as I am. “Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because I do not want to be with the man she loves.”

I want to hit something. It is as if he does not understand anything I am saying.

“Ohhhhhh,” Arrow drawls, finally getting it. “I don’t get it.”

My fist slams down on the table in front of me.

This is not going well.

“How does something like this work without the men also being together?” I shout, my feet moving until I am pacing in front of the windows like a caged animal at a pet store. I have no doubt the people around me are staring, but I really cannot be bothered to give a shit at this time.

“Won’t there be jealousy? Will Nessa constantly feel like we are playing tug-of-war with her? How do you sleep at night? Do we take turns in different bedrooms and I have to suffer nights without her, or do you just do your best not to touch each other in bed and keep her in the middle? How do dates work? Should I want to marry her, do I have to marry him too like Evie and her husbands did? What the fuck is a collar and how is that different from marriage?”

Okay, I might have let myself go off on a tangent.

Arrow starts laughing, loudly.

“Slow it down there, Uncle. You have gotten way too in your head about this.”

That is equally not helpful and helpful.

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