Page 48 of Still Bruised
Jude couldn’t help but laugh at that one.
Anton nudged his hand. “Eat.”
“Yes,Dad.”
Anton gave him a look, one with a lifted brow, but said nothing. He turned back to the television once Jude shoved a bite past his lips.
“I almost lost you once. You’re not going anywhere on my watch.”
“I keep telling you that I’m not that eighteen-year-old kid anymore.”
Anton nodded. “I know. But he’s still in there. And he’s still bruised from his last encounter with Fo—” Anton clenched his jaw. “Withthat guy.I’m not letting him tear you down again.”
“It’s been fifteen years. I’m over it.”
“The fuck you are,” Anton said.
“And it wasn’t Foster. It was Rick and the others. Foster never said jack.”
“Heshould’vesaid something. He let you suffer instead of stepping up.”
“And then we both would’ve been tormented,” Jude said. He took another bite of the food, barely tasting it. “What would you have done in Foster’s shoes?”
“I would’ve defended you. Which I did.”
“Remember what people started saying about us?” Jude asked, knowing how terrified Anton had been for anyone to find out he was bi back then. “They asked if you were the one I’d been caught with. They questioned your sexuality, too. Rumors flew about you being gay. Jude shook his head. “It was almost as hard on you as it was me.”
“It was nowhere as hard on me as it was you,” Anton said.
“Foster wasn’t a friend of mine. We didn’t travel in the same circles. If he’d come to my defense, it would’ve looked weird. He would’ve been questioned, just like you were.”
“Whyare you defending him?”
“Because in this scenario, you’re putting all of the blame on Foster when it was Rick and the rest of his asshole friends who truly made my life hell.”
Foster had shown him a glimpse of heaven before he’d been dragged to hell. But what a glimpse it had been. All of the questions in his mind had suddenly been answered. He’d known, without a doubt, that he was gay.
“I still don’t know how he escaped scot-free,” Anton said.
“Me either, but he did. Good for him.” Jude clenched his jaw. He was still a bit salty that Foster had gotten away free and clear, but he wasn’t telling Anton that.
“It wasn’t right,” Anton snapped.
“Did you defending me stop anything? No. Foster wouldn’t have been able to do any better.”
They were silent the next few minutes. Jude continued eating, though not tasting a single bite.
Anton laid his empty bowl on the coffee table and turned to faced Jude. “If you need to absolve him so tonight doesn’t eat away at you, I get it. I’ll leave it alone.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.” Jude pushed the second half of his dinner around in the bowl. “And tonight’s not going to eat away at me. It was a surprise. It took me back to a dark place for a moment, but I’m not going to let it drag me all the way down.”
“Promise?”Anton asked.
“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m fine.”
“I’m happy to hear it,” Anton said.
Anton turned back to the television as the game started.
