Chapter 29 #3
“No,” I said, shaking my head. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might explode. “Dad, listen to me.”
I looked him in the eye. The fear was agonizing, a physical weight on my chest.
“He’s not just here as a friend,” I said, my voice quiet, guarded. “He never was. We… Cal and I… we’re together.”
Maverick stared at me. “Together? Like a team?”
“No,” I choked out. “Like… together. I’m gay, Dad. And I’m with him.”
The room went dead silent.
Maverick’s face went blank. His mouth parted slightly, like he was trying to speak but the words wouldn’t come. He just stared at me. I watched as his eyes glossed over, tears pooling but not falling. He looked at Cal, then back at me, as if seeing me for the first time in years.
Then, without a word, Maverick stood up.
He didn’t look at me. He didn’t look at Scott. He just turned around, opened the door, and walked out.
“Maverick!” Scott screamed, jumping to his feet, clearly pissed off.
He walked away? He just… he just walked the fuck away?
I just bared everything to my piece of shit dad, and he did exactly what I expected but hoped wouldn’t happen. He shunned me. He shut me out. Didn’t even acknowledge what I had to say, and left.
I saw Cal’s jaw clench, the hurt and anger swirling inside of him. Scott was already moving towards the door.
“I’ve got this,” I said with sudden, blinding anger.
I stood up, wiping the tears from my face furiously. I stomped out of the den and down the hallway.
“Dad!” I yelled as I burst out the back door.
It was dark now. The sun had set while we were eating, leaving the yard bathed in shadows and the faint glow of the patio lights. But Maverick wasn’t on the patio. He was walking out into the yard, past the light, toward the treeline.
I saw my aunt and stepmom watching from the kitchen window, their silhouettes frozen in shock. As I went through the door I heard the faint sound of my aunt shouting, “That fucking asshole.”
My mind couldn’t think straight. I felt a whirlwind of emotions right now, anger, hurt, disappointment, embarrassment. Every awful thing Maverick Reed had ever made me feel in my nearly thirty years of life was coming to a head as I chased after him into the dark.
“You are fucking unbelievable, Maverick!” I screamed at his back.
He’d stopped walking. He was standing in the middle of the yard, surrounded by the chirping of crickets and the heavy night air. He had his hands locked behind his head as he stared up at the stars. I heard him let out a heavy sigh, then bend forward. He didn’t speak. Didn’t even acknowledge me.
“You know, I tried so fucking hard to give you the benefit of the doubt before this shit happened!” I yelled, stepping closer, my voice echoing off the trees. “That maybe, maybe you wouldn’t have a bad reaction because you can’t really be any worse than you already fucking are! And you walk away?”
He cut me off.
“You think I’m mad at you?” Maverick asked, his voice rough, barely carrying over the distance.
He turned around. In the moonlight, he looked old. Tired.
”Silas, I’m not mad at you. I don’t even fucking care,” he said, shaking his head. “Cal seems like a great guy. I don’t care if you’re sleeping with him. That’s not… that’s not it.”
“Then what is it?” I demanded, my chest heaving.
“What I care about is you,” Maverick said, stepping towards me, his face twisted in pain. “I’m scared for you. I’m scared I don’t know how the fuck to protect you, or your career, from a world that can be so fucking cruel to guys that don’t fit their vision.”
For the first time in my life, I saw a bit of a father in him. He was sincere. This wasn’t a facade. This was Maverick in his rawest form. This was him, being a dad to me.
“I don’t care about that shit—” I started.
“You care about him,” Maverick countered, pointing back toward the house where the warm light spilled onto the porch. “If shit like this gets out, in our business? Those old guard bastards will run with it. They’ll bury you. And him. And I don’t know how to make that not happen, Si.”
I snapped. “So you want us to hide it? Pretend it’s not how we feel? Guess what, Dad? Caring what the business, what you would think, cost me Cal once before. And I’m not letting it fucking happen again.”
I stepped into his space, my voice shaking.
“The only way out of this shit is either a ring on his finger or two fucking body bags.”
Maverick sighed again, his hand on his hip as the other raked through his greying hair. “Jesus, Silas. Don’t be dramatic.”
“Dramatic? I’m not being dramatic! I’m being honest!” I snapped again.
Maverick didn’t say anything back. He closed the space between us both, and for the first time in years, he grabbed me in the tightest bear hug possible and held me.
“I love you, son,” he said, his voice cracking. I didn’t even need to see him to know he was crying. I felt it in the way his shoulders shook against me.
I was so stunned, I didn’t hug him back at first. And when I did, I broke too.
“Dad, I—”
“Don’t you dare say sorry, Si,” he stopped me, pulling back just enough to look at me in the dark. “You say it way too much.”
We pulled apart, and he grabbed my face in his hands, forcing me to look at him. “He makes you happy?” he asked.
I nodded with a sniffle. “Yeah. He does.”
“That’s all I need to know,” he said as he hugged me again. “I know I haven’t always been the best father for you, and I’m sorry. But don’t you ever, ever think I’ll stop loving you. For any reason. You hear me?”
He gripped me tightly, shaking me slightly to drive the point home.
Our attention was pulled away when the back door opened. We both looked toward the house. It was Scott, hesitantly walking out onto the porch, followed closely by Cal, who looked ready to fight. They couldn’t see us clearly in the dark yard.
“You two good?” Scott called out into the darkness.
“We’re good,” Maverick yelled back, his voice thick. He tossed an arm over my shoulder, steering me back toward the light. “We’re good.”
We walked back up to the porch. Scott was clearly guarded, ready to defend me, but his face quickly softened when we stepped into the light and he saw I wasn’t upset anymore.
Maverick cleared his throat, shifting instantly from emotional dad to… Dad.
He turned to Cal. He crossed his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes.
“So,” Maverick said, his voice dropping to that low, intimidating rumble. “Callum. You plan on sticking around?”
Cal didn’t flinch. “Yes, sir. I do.”
“Uh huh,” Maverick nodded slowly. “And you know my son is… high maintenance? He’s got a temper. He’s stubborn as a mule. And he’s got baggage.”
“Dad!” I groaned, covering my face. “I am literally almost thirty. What the fuck is happening?”
Scott rolled his eyes, leaning against the railing. “Mav, are you serious right now?”
Maverick shot Scott a look. “If one of the twins brought home a… this,” he gestured vaguely at Cal, “you wouldn’t be doing exactly what I’m doing?”
Scott paused. He looked at Cal. He looked at Maverick. “Yeah. Point taken. Never mind. Carry on.”
Maverick turned back to Cal.
“He told me out there that worrying about what I thought… what the business thought… cost him you once,” Maverick said, his voice hard. “He said he’s not letting it happen again.”
Maverick stepped closer, looking Cal dead in the eye.
“And looking back, I saw what that cost him. I watched him walk around like a hollow shell for nearly a decade. So I’m telling you now: You don’t let the noise get between you two again.
I don’t care what the business says. You don’t walk away.
Because I’m not watching my son go through that kind of hell twice. Are we clear?”
Cal met his gaze head on. He didn’t waver. He didn’t look scared. “Crystal clear, sir. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Probably smart on your part,” Maverick pressed. “Because apparently, according to him, the only way out of this is marriage or body bags.”
I turned bright red. Cal looked at me, a slow smirk spreading across his face.
“Yeah,” Cal said, his eyes dancing with amusement. “I know. The mental instability is part of his charm. Keeps things interesting.”
Maverick actually laughed. A short, bark of a laugh. “You got that right.”
Then Maverick’s face grew serious again. The humor faded.
“What do you really want, son?” Maverick asked Cal. “Long term. With him. Be honest with me.”
I tried to intervene. “Dad, come on—”
“No,” Cal said, he looked at Maverick, then he looked at me. The look in his eyes was so open, so raw, it took my breath away.
“We lost seven years,” Cal said quietly. “Seven years where we were miserable because we were too scared to do this. If we hadn’t broken up back then… we’d probably be standing here married already. I know that.”
Cal took a breath.
“I don’t know what the future holds for us.
But I know I’ve only ever been in love with one person.
And that’s Silas. I intend to spend my life with him.
Building a life here, or wherever he wants.
Because there’s no going back now. That was solidified in January when he showed up at my hotel and was brave enough to fix what we broke. ”
Cal looked back at Maverick. “He’s a good man, sir. Better than me. And I’m honored he lets me love him.”
The silence on the porch was heavy, but it wasn’t bad. It was thick with emotion.
Scott shook his head, looking at the ground like he was trying not to cry again. Maverick let out a long breath, looking between us.
“Well,” Maverick said, his voice rough. “I’m glad you found him. I really am.”
He looked at Cal, a thoughtful expression on his face.
“You know,” Maverick said, scratching his chin. “Back then… I had an inclination. Watching you two. The way you were so protective of him. I thought maybe… maybe you were more than friends. But I would have never dared ask it. I figured I was just seeing things.”
He chuckled. “Turns out my dad instincts, even though they were always shitty, were actually really spot on.”
My jaw dropped. “What? How did you possibly get that vibe?”
“Oh please,” Scott chimed in, laughing. “Silas, back then, anytime you sent a picture and you two were together? Or if you FaceTimed and Cal popped in to say hi? You both had hickeys. Even if you covered them with makeup, we saw them.”
Scott smirked, leaning back. “Honestly? I figured either you two were sharing women like rockstars and into some really weird shit, or you were maybe giving them to each other. I’m glad to know my second guess was right.”
“Jesus,” I groaned, burying my face in my hands as the realization hit me. “We thought we were so slick.”
“Slick as sandpaper, kid,” Scott laughed. “And there was never a peep about a woman. That’s why I was so shocked when Amanda became a thing. I thought, ‘Huh. Maybe I was wrong.’”
I groaned again. “Do not. Do not get Cal started.”
Cal’s head snapped up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” I said, pointing a finger at him. “Do not get jealous about irrelevant people.”
“I’m not jealous!” Cal argued, though he crossed his arms defensively. “I just… I knew she wasn’t right for you! See? Even your uncle knew!”
“Here we go,” I sighed, looking at Scott and Maverick, who were both grinning.
“He’s got a point, Si,” Maverick laughed, clapping Cal on the back. “She was terrible. Welcome to the family, son.”