Page 97 of Sass

With my eyesglued to the green front door of the cottage and worried sick about what was happening inside, I missed the crunch of gravel under tyres until it was almost too late. I looked up just in time to see a blue Nissan X-Trail drive around to the back of the house. A man stared at me through the backseat window. George. Which meant the passengers in front were likely Chris’s parents.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” I slammed my fist on the steering wheel. The last thing Chris needed was a confrontation with his parents on top of everything else. I fired off a warning text in the vain hope Chris might see it, but the odds weren’t good.

I slipped from the Mini and made my way to the front steps, stopping just to the side of the open door, my heart bursting with pride as I heard Chris tearing his uncle a new one. But then his dickhead father tried to shut down the man I loved, and I was through that door with fire up my arse.

It took all of two seconds to read the room. Chris’s father moving toward Chris with his arm out. Chris’s mother—it couldn’t be anyone else with those all-too-familiar green eyes—yelling at her son. George, standing behind Chris, looking panicked and confused. And what had to be Chris’s arsehole uncle sitting in a chair with an oxygen mask and a startled look on his face.

I put myself between Chris and his father and eyeballed the man. “You lay one finger on him and I’ll rip your arm from its socket, are we clear?”

One look at my face and the fact I had at least seven inches on him, and the man froze in place. I hadn’t been kidding.

“Who the hell are you?” He glared up at me.

“Are. We. Clear?” I stared him down.

He held his ground for a couple of seconds before finally dropping his arm and stepping back. “Clear.” His expression dripped disdain as his gaze shuttled between me and Chris. “Now answermyquestion. Who are you?”

Chris stepped alongside and without hesitation said, “He’s my boyfriend,Dad. And you’ll show some fucking respect when you talk to him.”

The man’s lip curled as he looked me over. “Or what?”

I stepped closer so he had to look up, way up. “Do you really want to know?” I almost heard the rattle as Chris’s eyes rolled back in his head at my cheap dramatics. Too bad. With my height and size, it didn’t take much for people to believe I was happy to hurt them. Maybe not the arm pull-out thing, but that still left a lot to choose from.

To his credit, Chris’s father held my gaze longer than most, but eventually he went to stand by his wife.

“Thanks.” Chris laid a warm hand on my forearm and I turned to cup his face. “You okay, baby?”

“I’m fine.” Then he shook his head. “Look at you. Fucking badarse shit. I’m bookmarking that, just so you know.”

I barked out a laugh, which was kind of a miracle under the circumstances. Then I turned back to his parents and his uncle who were staring in wide-eyed disbelief. A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed that George hadn’t moved, his lower lip pulled between his teeth, his eyes watchful. But there was no anger in his body, and I was happy to turn my back on him.

“Are you done here?” I checked with Chris.

He looked to his parents for a few moments before answering, “Almost.”

“Right, then.” I squared off in front of the others. “Chris is going to say whatever he needs to and you’re all going to fucking listen. Got it? After that, we’re leaving. But if any one of you try to shut him down, including you—” I glared at the ashen-faced man sitting in the chair staring back at me. “—we’re going to have problems. And believe me when I say, I don’t give a shit how sick you are. As far as I’m concerned, by dying, you’re doing Chris a favour.”

“How dare you talk to him like that.” Chris’s mother stepped forward.

“It would give me the utmost pleasure to tell the two of you exactly what I think of you as parents, but it’s not my place, so shut the hell up and listen to your son. A son you don’t deserve, by the way.” I stepped back to give Chris the floor. “Chris?”

The soft gratitude in his eyes had me swallowing hard and I just wanted to grab his hand and get the fuck out of there. But when he took a breath and slowly faced his family with steel in his eyes, I knew he was doing the right thing.

“You’re so protective of him, so willing to believehim, it disgusts me,” Chris started. “And yet, eleven years ago, when I told you what he’d done, neither of you defended me, your fifteen-year-oldson. Where was your outrage then? You chose your arsehole brother over your own son. And you’re still fucking doing it. What is wrong with you? I even stupidly wondered if it was me? That somehow I hadn’t been a good enough son to earn your loyalty.” His voice fractured and I slid an arm around his waist.

Chris had never mentioned that.

He leaned into my hold and so I left my arm in place, ignoring the looks from his parents, almost daring them to say something.Anything.I was itching for an excuse to let loose on someone. It wouldn’t take much.

Chris drew a slow breath and I felt his body calm. This was Chris in control. This was Chris taking back his life. And I couldn’t have loved him more.

“But I’m not that kid anymore,” he said almost serenely. “I knowexactlywhere the blame lies. It lies with you, James, for being the arsehole that you are. And with you,Mum and Dad,for turning your back on me and allowing this bastard to still show up in my life. For judging me for being gay when your own brother gets his rocks off with other men.Youngmen.”

Chris’s mother gasped. “That’s a lie.”

“Is it?” Chris gave her a hard stare. “Have a good long think,mother. And while you’re at it, maybe ask yourself, what if I’m telling the truth? Where else might James find closeted, vulnerable young men? He wouldn’t have to look far.” He sent her a pointed glare and I watched the colour leach from her face.

“Ask him sometime.” Chris nodded to James, who was busy staring at his lap.

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