“What did you do?”
“I called my sister. I had just passed the bar, and I knew I had a clear-cut self-defense case. But no one knew I was out. No one would believe that he’d just come on to me. Tried to rape me. As far as everyone knew, he was straight.”
I moved back to the couch and sat down. Simon came over and sat beside me, laying his head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight.
“When Julia showed up, I told her what happened, and she told me to leave. That she would take the blame. She started ripping at her clothes and slammed her face into the cabinet door. Turns out you can get a black eye from being hit by a door.”
The irony wasn’t lost on me.
“Did you leave?”
“I did. I took off into the city to establish my alibi. Only, Julia took things a step further. I don’t know exactly what happened, because I wasn’t there. But by the time the fire was out, my apartment had been ransacked and Julia was dead.”
“Oh, Tony, oh my God.” Simon sat up and looked into my eyes.
“The autopsy reports showed they both died with smoke in their lungs. Rumors started spreading, and suddenly finding out I was gay wasn’t my biggest concern. I was accused of being in love with my sister and burning down my apartment with the two of them in it because of jealousy. I left New York and moved south. That was when I met Titan and the Silver Shadows.”
“Why would anyone think that?”
“Because being gay has always been seen as sick and demented. It may be more accepted today, but there are still a lot of people out there who believe homosexuality is just a step inthe mind of someone depraved. Incest isn’t far off from there. It was what Rosalind was alluding to in court. That you killed Alan in a fit of rage because you couldn’t have your sister.”
Chapter Nine
Simon
I launched myself off the couch. “WHAT?”
“Simon.” Tony sat forward, and I quickly moved away from him.
“You don’t believe that, do you?”
Tony narrowed his eyes at me. “Of course I don’t fucking believe that. And neither does Judge Markham. But this is why I’m not out, Simon. This is why I keep my sex life private. Because of fucking homophobic assholes who want to turn love into something twisted.”
That was the closest Tony had ever come to calling what we shared love. I had it easy growing up. Well, I wouldn’t call it easy exactly, but my parents and most of my town accepted me for who I was. Sure, I had been bullied as a kid. Everyone was. I was the subject of teasing and being called things like faggot and sissy, and twink. But my dad taught me early on how to defend myself.
It had only taken beating up the school bully once in sixth grade for kids to leave me alone. I still heard the slurs, but no one laid a hand on me. And I had friends who had my back. The acceptance I lived with far outshined the rejection.
No one had ever accused me of being in love with my sister, though. That was a new one that had never crossed my mind.
“Simon.”
Tony wrapped his arms around me from behind. I hadn’t heard him stand up or move across the room. Too caught up in emotions I hadn’t felt in a very long time.
I was suddenly that twelve-year-old boy who was being teased for looking at the other boys in the locker room. Thefifteen-year-old boy who was teased for beingone of the girls.
Tony kissed the side of my neck, and I felt my body relax against him. I grabbed his arms, which were crossed over my chest, and held on like I were drowning and he was my life raft.
“We’ll figure this out, Simon. I won’t let you go to jail.” He kissed my neck again and moved his hand down over my abs to the waistband of my pants. He quickly unbuttoned them and as he grasped my cock, he whispered, “Tell me where Sadie is.”
My body stiffened, and I wrenched out of his arms. Turning to glare at him, I quickly did up my pants. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I yelled. “God, you’re such an asshole.”
“Simon,” Tony sighed as I turned away from him. He reached out to grab my arm, and I shrugged him off.
“Don’t fucking touch me.”
I walked down the hall into my bedroom and slammed the door, locking it. I sank down on the edge of the bed and let the tears fall.
Why did I keep doing this to myself?