Page 53 of The Good Neighbour
“You don’t know it’s him.”
“What’s going on?” Josh asked, sitting down with them.
Michael glanced at Hugh.
“Show him,” Hugh said.
Michael slid the phone over to Josh. Twitter was open and a paused clip of Hugh filling the screen. He picked it up and pressed Play.
It appeared to be at a wedding. Hugh stood opposite a handsome grey-haired man in a morning suit.
“Who is that?” Josh asked.
“My darling stepfather,” Hugh replied.
Josh had unease flooding through his system.
“Don’t you dare talk like that in front of me,” onscreen Hugh said.
“I’ll say what I like at my own fucking wedding. Besides, it’s all true. Your mother is too weak to tell you.”
Suddenly, onscreen Hugh launched at the man. A woman screamed as they fell to the floor. Random men leapt forward to separate them. The final shot was of the older man with blood running down his face.
Josh snapped up to look at the real Hugh. “What the fuck?”
“Meet my new stepfather, Donald Hogg.”
“Even so, you attacked him,” Josh replied.
“Told you,” Michael said. “Everyone is going to think that.”
Hugh pursed his lips. “It’s nicely edited,” he explained. “He pushed me too far.”
Josh hated violence of any shape or form. After everything that had happened in his life, nothing had got physical. It was a line he would never cross.
“What did he say?”
“He told me that my father was weak and I was a pervert. He demanded that I give up drag if I wanted to have anything to do with my mother now that she’s his wife.”
“Even so…”
Hugh got up. “Sorry, Josh. I’m human. That piece of shit wanted to rob me of my memory of my dad.”
“Not to mention his own mother,” Michael added.
Guilt swept over Josh when as Michael instantly jumped to Hugh’s defence.
“I get it,” Josh said. “I’m sorry. Come and sit down.”
Hugh did and hung his head in his hands. “If you think that, strangers are going to be far worse. Fuck, where did this video come from?”
“Who posted it?” Josh asked.
“Some nameless account with two followers,” Hugh explained. “What difference does it make? It’s out there.”
Michael sat back in his chair and folded his arms. “We don’t need this shit right now.”
A silence descended on the kitchen. It was awkward for Josh. He didn’t like to see Hugh brawling on the tape, no matter what had led up to it. Yet, it wasn’t his fight. They weren’t even officially an item.
