Page 52 of Daddy Down Under

The words hit me like a physical blow. I staggered back, my legs bumping against the opulent four-poster bed. My mind reeled, struggling to process this betrayal. “Preston?” I choked out, my voice barely recognizable to my own ears. “How could he…?”

Anger surged first, white-hot and blinding, but on its heels came a crushing sense of betrayal that threatened to steal the breath from my lungs. Was there no limit to the number of times I could feel betrayed by the same man? Had I not learned by now that Preston was petty and spiteful and would do whatever he could to destroy me?

I thought I’d been able to finally leave that in the past, to move on and forget about it. But here we were again, and I was once again left bleeding by the man who’d been my best friend.

“Cash…” Ocean’s voice was gentle. “I’m so sorry. I never meant for you to find out like this.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the world to right itself. But the chaos in my mind refused to settle, thoughts whirling like leaves caught in a storm. How could I trust Ocean now, knowing he’d been privy to my deepest secret all along? Yet he’d never told me, had let me think he had no clue. The conflict tore at me, leaving me raw and exposed.

“So you lied to me, pretended you had no clue when, all along, you knew. You deceived me.”

Ocean’s eyes met mine, a swirl of turquoise filled with remorse. “Cash, please. Let me explain. There’s so much more to this story.”

I hesitated, my jaw clenching as I wrestled with the anger still coursing through me. But beneath the fury, a flicker of curiosity sparked. I needed answers, needed to understand how my past had become a topic of conversation between Preston and his son, especially because Ocean said he didn’t speak to his father anymore.

“Fine.” I sank into one of the suite’s plush armchairs. “Talk.”

Ocean didn’t waste any time now, maybe sensing I was thin on patience. “It’s not a pretty story. My relationship with Preston has always been complicated.”

I watched Ocean’s usual easy demeanor slip, revealing a vulnerability I’d never seen before. He paced the room, his movements restless. “I wasn’t out to him. I knew better because it was crystal clear how he felt about you being gay after you had your falling out.”

Falling out. That was one word for it. “I’m sure he had some choice words for me.”

“He did, and it made me so sad because even back then, I knew I was different. I didn’t have the word for it yet, but I wasn’t like the other boys. But my mom was still alive, so it wasn’t that much of an issue.”

“But he discovered anyway. You were at Princeton, right?”

He nodded. “A picture of me with another guy was posted online and Preston saw it. He absolutely lost his shit. Couldn’t handle having a gay son. It was like I’d personally offended him by existing.”

The bitterness in Ocean’s tone hit me hard. I’d gotten so, so lucky with my parents. They’d never been anything but supportive, even when I’d been forced to tell them about Victor and the nature of my relationship with him. They didn’t understand, but they accepted me nonetheless. Wasn’t that what parents were supposed to do?

“The first conversation became a battlefield. He threw around words like ‘disappointment’ and ‘disgrace’ like they were nothing.”

“Those are hard words to hear for any child.”

“I was nineteen.”

“Still a child. You needed your father, and he wasn’t there for you.”

Ocean let out a humorless laugh. “Oh, things got worse. That’s when he yelled at me that I would end up the same way as you, like a slave to some other man. You have to remember he was drunk off his ass, slurring his words and making little sense, so at first, I had no clue what he was talking about. So I asked, and I was treated to this whole rant about you and your deviant tendencies, and finally, I understood he’d interrupted you during a scene with your boyfriend.”

I did a quick calculation in my head. This had been five years ago, so ten years after Preston and I had gone our separate ways. Ten years later, he used it as ammunition against Ocean. Pathetic. “That’s a low blow, even for him.”

“I was furious. I mean, obviously, I was already hurting about everything he’d said to me, but those accusations, the sheer meanness and vitriol of them, made me so angry. But things got way worse. After screaming at me for over an hour, he left for some business meeting. I was shaken to my core, though not surprised, and I started packing, knowing it would only be a matter of time before he kicked me out. I packed what mattered most to me in some boxes and had them picked up by FedEx and shipped to a friend. FedEx had just left when Preston came back…even more drunk.”

He’d always been a heavy drinker, though rarely in business settings. Of course that had been before everything had gone to hell.

Ocean’s expression hardened. “I tried to talk to him, but there’s no reasoning with a drunk, so I walked away. He…” Ocean’s hand moved to his ribs, a gesture that made my stomach clench.

“He hit you?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Ocean nodded, his jaw clenching. “Not just hit. He came at me like a man possessed. I ended up with two broken ribs and a broken wrist before I managed to get the upper hand. I never saw it coming. I’d literally turned my back to him when he hit me with a baseball bat.”

The air left my lungs in a rush. The image of Preston, always so controlled and commanding, losing himself to such violence was jarring. But even more unsettling was the realization of how little I truly knew about the man I’d considered my best friend. I would’ve never thought him capable of physical violence, least of all against how own son. “A b-baseball bat?”

Ocean nodded.

“Jesus, Ocean, I had no idea.”

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