Page 111 of Lust

But Brad’s expression turns serious. “You good?”

I know he’s asking because he knows this was a hard day for me. And while there were difficult moments, having him here with me made it better. “No worse than usual,” I say, but with the mood spoiled, I feel it’s a good time to bring up what’s been on my mind. “Alexei mentioned that night.”

“What about it?” Brad asks, and I can hear the concern in his voice.

“Seems like it’s in there somewhere. He wanted to make sure I was all right. I don’t know. It was a strange conversation. Sometimes I wonder if it’d be easier on him to know the truth. But the truth is so fucked, revealing it seems even more cruel.”

Brad raises his hand to my face, caresses his knuckles along my cheek. “I’m sorry you’re in this position. But if you do think it’s better to tell him, you say the word, and I’ll advocate for it with Seth and Codes.”

I nod. “Let me think on it. In the meantime, I’d rather do things to help me forget about it…at least for tonight.”

“Mmmm.” He leans close and kisses the side of my throat. I roll my head back against the wall, and as I moan, there’s a knock at the door.

I growl softly and feel Brad smile against my flesh. “Guess you’re gonna have to be a good Straight Boy a little longer.”

“Pretty confident you violently murdered Straight Boy, but sure.”

When I answer the door, I find Dan standing outside.

“Mind if I grab you for a minute?” Unlike earlier in the day and throughout dinner and our game, he’s glancing around uncomfortably, as though he’s just received some bad news.

I head out into the hall and close the door. “Everything okay?”

“Just wanted a minute with you, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course.”

He leads me down the hall, into the primary bedroom, closing the door behind us.

“Are you sure everything’s okay?”

“First, I wanted to tell you that I really like Brad.”

“Glad to hear that. He’s been very good to me. In ways that are difficult to explain.”In ways I wish I could explain to you, Dan.“But I’m assuming you didn’t bring me in here just to tell me that?” I press, unable to shake the discomfort in his expression.

“No, there’s something I’m supposed to give you.” He bites his lip and holds up his finger. He opens his dresser and retrieves a narrow, rectangular wooden box. Opening it, he reveals a necklace. It bears a cross, like the ones we wear.

Does he know?

“What is this?”

He seems to hesitate before saying, “It was your father’s, then your mother’s. She once told me I would need to give this to you and that I’d know when the time was right. I didn’t understand what she meant, and honestly, it slipped my mind.”

He passes it to me, and I run my finger along the cross, thinking about how this is one of the only things aside from the Sinners’ bible that links me to Dad’s secret past. And Mom’s too, it appears.

“Thank you, Dan.”

“Can I ask what that means to you?”

“Uh…”

His lips twist into a frown. “Remember when your parents went on that trip when you were younger, for a few weeks?” I struggle before he adds, “Their anniversary trip.”

“Oh yeah.” Mom and Dad always said they didn’t have much of a honeymoon, so they wanted to redo it, and Dan babysat.

“I remember. That’s a weird thing to bring up.”

“It was a weird thing to happen. They didn’t seem like they were ready to go on a big fun trip. They were on edge. Agitated. Like how you were acting before you wound up in the hospital.”

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