CHAPTER 35 #2
“If she did what she was fuckin’ told, she and Mike wouldn’t have a problem.”
“I wouldn’t wanna be told what to do by that guy either.”
“You ain’t ten years old!”
“Johnny,” Victor muttered under his breath, spotting a table nearby looking over their shoulder at them. He really did not want to turn this into a scene. Of course he went ignored.
“I was ten years old when Daddy locked me outside the house in the middle of January,” Johnny snarled. “Spent the night in the damn barn like an animal. God fuckin’ forbid I don’t want your daughter to deal with the same shit.”
“Don’t you compare Mike to Daddy.”
“I will when he stops hittin’ her.”
“He don’t hit her! He spanked her that one time!”
“Since when is spankin’ not hittin’?”
“Every kid gets spanked. It’s different.”
Victor had never been spanked, but he didn’t feel like now was a good time to bring that up. This conversation had veered off track, and he decided to try to gently steer it back. “Okay, let’s not hash out old arguments. Can we focus on what we plan to do moving forward?”
“I’m tryin’ to help you out,” Johnny said. “If I take Taylor a few days, it means you don’t gotta deal with her.”
“She’s my daughter. I’m not going to just give her away.”
“You ain’t. I’m your brother—family.”
“He ain’t.” She gestured toward Victor. “Seems a little odd he’s so involved.”
“We already explained why he’s here.”
“I don’t have to be, if you don’t want me to be,” Victor interjected, wondering if it might lower the temperature.
“You’re stayin’,” Johnny replied sternly, like a parent disciplining their child.
“If it’s going to make things harder—”
“Ignore my sister. She’s just bein’ difficult to be difficult.”
“I ain’t the one being difficult. If I knew we’d be inviting our boyfriends, I woulda brought Mike.” At this she smirked, raising an eyebrow like she expected this to get a reaction.
“Mine doesn’t hit little girls,” Johnny retorted, seemingly without thinking.
But instead of taking it back or stuttering out a correction, Johnny fell silent and met his sister’s stare with matching intensity.
Victor watched some surprise and doubt cross Kayla’s face, probably wondering if Johnny was just messing with her or if he was being serious about the boyfriend part.
Victor could barely breathe, wondering what the fuck was going on.
Was Johnny really going to tell his sister the truth just to win a stupid argument?
Then again, that would be just like him.
“I don’t know how to fuckin’ take that.” Kayla’s cheek bulged as she pressed her tongue against it. “You’re fuckin’ with me.”
“How?”
“You and Vic ain’t…” She trailed off, eyes darting between Victor and Johnny. “That was a joke, right?”
Victor froze, afraid to do or say anything in fear it’d be something Johnny might hold against him. He couldn’t possibly be considering coming out to his sister, right? They had not discussed it. He’d been so hesitant to let Sarah and Jade know.
“What if it wasn’t?” Johnny said. His voice came across as confident, but Victor could sense the tension in his body, especially the way he clutched the edge of the table with white knuckles. He was terrified, but it was only evident in the twitch of his jaw.
Kayla’s mouth dropped open slightly, stopping somewhere between a smile and bewilderment. “You’re fuckin’ with me.”
“Does that sound like somethin’ I’d fuck around with?”
“I dunno.” The smile faded when it finally dawned on her that Johnny might be telling the truth. “Seriously?”
“I didn’t really come here to talk about it.”
“Fuck off. You can’t just say shit like that and change the topic.”
Johnny sank back against the booth, spine still rod straight.
“Johnny,” Kayla prodded. “What the fuck you on about?”
Victor tried to sneak a look at Johnny, but Johnny was staring ahead, as if afraid that a look in Victor’s direction might give them away. Like he hadn’t already done that.
Kayla turned to Victor. “Are you two datin’?”
Victor opened his mouth, but he turned to Johnny for confirmation. Johnny avoided his gaze entirely. If he wasn’t going to tell Victor not to, then Victor was going to. “Yeah.”
Kayla stared at him like he’d suddenly grown another head. Then she slowly turned to look at her brother. The silence stretched on, painful second after painful second.
Finally Kayla asked, “You’re gay?”
“No,” Johnny replied.
Kayla’s confusion prompted Victor to say, “Bisexual.” He cleared his throat and shifted in discomfort. “I’m gay though.” Because why not take the opportunity to make this more awkward?
Kayla went quiet again, and her expression was impossible to read. Johnny’s face was as closed off as ever.
“After all Daddy called you—” Kayla muttered.
“I’m goin’ outside,” Johnny blurted, trying to slide past Victor to escape the booth. But Kayla’s hand snapped out and grabbed his arm.
“Don’t you go runnin’ off. I ain’t finished.”
“If you’re gonna say somethin’ ignorant—”
“Goddamn it, Johnny, give me a second to process this.” She inhaled sharply. “I didn’t mean to bring up Daddy, I just thought—well, I never thought you were actually—fuck. That makes it all worse. Why’d you never tell me?”
“Why the hell would I? I’ve only ever dated women. It wasn’t important.”
“I’m your sister, you fuckin’ idiot. You didn’t think I’d wanna know?”
“Not if you were gonna act mean about it.”
Kayla’s forehead puckered, and she looked apologetic. “Why would I do that?”
“You’re mean about everythin’ else,” Johnny muttered darkly. “You been mad at me for years for this thing or that thing. I didn’t wanna give you another reason to resent me.”
Kayla’s expression went on a journey from offended to sad, then back to offended.
“I been mad at you for abandonin’ me and Mama.
I ain’t mad that you’re ga—bisexual. Whatever.
I’ve watched you date every floozy on this side of Oklahoma and to be honest your taste in women has annoyed me more than anythin’.
I mean…” She trailed off and turned her eyes to Victor, and Victor quailed under her inspection.
God help the man in the way of a southern-bred woman on a tear. “He seems better than Daisy by a mile.”
“He’s the reason I’m sober right now,” Johnny admitted, and Victor’s face burned with pleased embarrassment.
Kayla’s face finally softened, and she looked down at her hands, like she was searching for what she should say next.
“Wish you’d told me earlier,” she mumbled to the table. “I was wonderin’ why Vic was finding himself in all our drama. Not that you can’t have a ride-or-die friend, but this makes more sense to me.”
“You grew up in the same house I did. I thought maybe you agreed with Daddy on some things.”
“You really thought I agreed with Daddy callin’ you a faggot when he got drunk?”
Johnny shrugged, ears red. “It wasn’t anythin’ we ever talked about, was it?”
“Cuz you weren’t around. You were out doin’ your rodeo thing, and every time I saw you had some woman on your arm. You never acted—I mean, it wasn’t anythin’ I would have thought on my own ‘less you told me.” She paused. “Was there anyone before Vic?”
“Flings and one-night stands, that’s all. Nothin’ serious. Men typically aren’t.”
“I guess when there’s no one willin’ to do their laundry or cook their meals, they aren’t.” She turned to Victor. “So what makes you different?”
It’d be funny if I came out as transgender right now, Victor thought but decided firmly against it. Best not to tempt fate. So he went with his usual, “I told you before: I like a project.”
Kayla laughed, something she didn’t commonly do.
It was a way she and Johnny differed. After looking between them for a few second, she sighed and reached for her purse.
“Alright, you know what? Maybe it would be best for Taylor to have a few days at your place. It’d make my house more peaceful at least, and she never fuckin’ shuts up about the horses.
Now that I know there’s at least one adult in charge, consider my mind changed. ”
“I’m an adult,” Johnny said petulantly.
“Yeah, yeah, sure.” She extracted a package of cigarettes from her purse. “I’m gonna go smoke. We’ll talk specifics when I get back.”