War Torn (11 page)

“What the hell is Rhys talking about, Tucker?” my dad asks, an edge to his voice that I find myself not liking at all.

“Rhys came out and saw Dennis and me kissing,” I state calmly.

The disgusted look on Rhys’ face slays me. My dad narrows his eyes at me. “You tell me right now, was it unwanted?” he demands.

I swallow hard. This is it. It’s all coming out right now. Fuck. This couldn’t have happened at a worse time. I shake my head. “No, it wasn’t unwanted. Dennis has been my boyfriend for almost a year now,” I tell them.

My father’s eyes widen in shock.

“We’re in love with each other,” I add, as if that will help.

“You! You motherfucker! What did you do to my brother?!” Rhys shouts furiously and storms towards us. He’s got eyes only for Dennis, though.

I tense in preparation to fight my brother but Duke intercepts him, holding him back. “Hey, calm yourself, my man.” Duke grunts, keeping his hands on Rhys’ chest.

This is even worse than I could have imagined.

Rhys shoves at Duke’s hands. “Get your damn hands off of me! How can you stand by and let your friend be manipulated by this asshole?!” Rhys yells at Duke.

Duke’s expression hardens and his Marine face makes an appearance. Rhys actually balks. Yeah, Duke can look pretty damn scary when he dawns that face.

“There is nothing wrong going on here. They are both in this relationship willingly. No one manipulated anyone,” he states firmly.

Rhys shakes his head. “I don’t believe that. My brother would never
willingly
be with a man.”

“And why wouldn’t I be?” I ask incredulously.

“You’re not gay! Or bi! You’ve always been with women!” Rhys exclaims.

“Until now,” I say softly. “This is real, Rhys. You can choose to believe it or not, but Dennis and I are together.” I reach back and take Dennis’ hand, lacing our fingers together.

Rhys blinks and shakes his head in disbelief. “No, no fucking way. No way is my brother a faggot,” he murmurs, almost to himself.

I pinch the bridge of my nose with my free hand and close my eyes for a moment. “Can you please stop saying that word?” I grit out. I really don’t like the word “faggot.”

When I lift my eyes, I see that my father has disappeared, but my brother is still standing there, his fists clenched at his sides.

“I think you need to leave, Tucker,” Rhys says in a low hollow voice.

This is exactly what I was afraid of. “Rhys, come on,” I plead.

“No! You need to go,” he snaps.

I search the faces behind him. A couple of my uncles and cousins look torn, and then there is Selene. She looks heartbroken. She looks at me, shakes her head, and mouths that she’s sorry. But for what, I’m not sure. Rhys’ behavior, maybe? Or the fact that she is most likely going to side with her husband? I’m assuming the latter.

I help Dennis to the car while Duke watches our backs. I don’t think he trusts my brother not to take a cheap shot at Dennis. I don’t blame him. I really don’t trust him at the moment either. I get in the back seat with Dennis while Duke drives.

“Denny, are you okay? How’s your lip?” I ask, grabbing his chin to turn his face toward me.

His eyes are hard and pissed off. The right corner of his bottom lip is split and bleeding slightly, but it’s not too bad. Duke tosses back a box of tissues that he keeps in his car. I pull a few out and put it to Dennis’ bleeding lip. He takes the tissues from me then turns to look out the window.

“I’m so sorry, Dennis,” I croak. “I never expected my brother to react like
that
.”

Dennis shakes his head. “It’s not your fault, Tuck. I’m just so fucking pissed by his accusations that I manipulated you,” he says, his voice eerily calm.

“Yeah, that was pretty fucked up.” Duke grunts from the driver’s seat.

I groan and drop my head into my hands. “What the fuck am I going to do?”

“Give them some time to calm down then try to talk to them,” Duke says.

“I don’t even know what my dad thinks. He disappeared without saying a word.” I sigh.

“He looked pretty shocked, but he wasn’t infuriated like your brother,” Duke replies.

I glance over at Dennis who is sitting silently staring out the window. I reach over and place my hand on his knee. Without looking at me, his slips his hand over mine. I have no idea what’s going on in his head right now. He’s completely shut down. There is no emotion coming off him. It’s kind of freaking me out. Even Duke keeps glancing into the rear view mirror at him.

Back at the condo, Dennis immediately goes into our bedroom and shuts the door. I sigh heavily. This is the worst day of my life. Not only has my mother been buried in the ground, but also now my brother knows about Dennis and me, and fucking hates me.

“Everything will work out, Tuck,” Duke says assuringly.

I shake my head. “I’m not so sure about that.”

~ Chapter Fifteen ~

~ Duke ~

I was so tempted to punch Rhys right in his goddamn bigoted mouth yesterday and I’m still fuming over it today. I go with Tucker to the gym because I really need to work off this aggression. When I finish a dumbbell work out, I look around for Tucker. I don’t know where he went off to. I make my way upstairs to where all of the cardio equipment is, assuming that he made his way up here.

I find him at the treadmills. He’s pounding away at a fairly quick pace. He’s completely zoned out, his eyes staring off at nothing in particular. He has ear buds in, which are attached to his phone that’s strapped to his bicep. I can’t even begin to imagine all of the things going through his mind right now.

It’s obviously not the decent looking chick next to him that keeps sneaking glances at him. I smirk. He’s so oblivious right now. I walk up to the side of the machine and lean on the handrail. Tucker glances at me then yanks out his earbuds.

“Hey, man,” he pants.

“Hey, how much more you got?” I ask.

“Two more miles,” he replies breathlessly.

“How many have you done already?” I frown.

“Six.”

“What are you running from?” I ask, knowing that his normal run is only five miles.

For a second, I don’t think he’s going to answer me. His eyes are trained straight ahead and his mouth is set in a thin grim line.

“My fucking life,” he answers.

I sigh. “Tucker, why don’t you stop so we can talk about this?”

By the set of his jaw, I can tell that he’s just about ready to lose his shit. I reach across the machine and slow down the pace so that he can cool down. He doesn’t say anything or move to hit it back up, so I’m assuming that he does need to talk about this. After a two minute cool down, Tucker stops the machine and wipes it down.

We make our way to the locker room in silence, where we grab our shit and go out to my car. I don’t even bother turning it on. I sit there, looking over at him, waiting for him to speak. Tucker swipes his gym towel over his face and neck then sighs heavily. His tortured blue eyes lift to meet mine.

“Selene sent me a text saying that they are heading back to Philly and my dad is going with them.”

“Okay.”

“I need to go and talk to them. I have to see if I can get them to understand.”

“Again, okay. Why do I feel like there’s something more that you are dancing around saying?” I frown.

“I need to go to Philly…alone,” he murmurs, dropping his gaze to his lap. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be gone for.”

“So? I’m sure Dennis will understand,” I reply, not completely understanding where he is going with this.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen when I talk to them, Duke. I don’t know what’s going to become of my relationship with Dennis when this is over,” he says quietly.

I sit there, stunned. I blink at him not sure of who I’m looking at right now.

“Tucker, what the fuck do you mean by that? Are you going to break up with Dennis if your brother and dad won’t accept your relationship?” I ask in disbelief.

Tucker makes a pained sound. “Fuck! I don’t know! I love Dennis. He means everything to me. But I love my family, too.”

“After all you and Dennis have been through together, you’re going to just leave him because your family doesn’t like that you’re fucking a man?” I sputter, my anger rising.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen…” he starts but I cut him off.

“No! Fuck them, Tucker! I know they’re your family and you love them. I get that you just lost your mom and don’t wanna lose the rest of your family, too. But this is Dennis we’re talking about here. The man that you’re in love with. The man that you told me is your forever. How can you walk away from him because of what your family thinks?”

“It’s not like I
want
to leave Dennis! I’d rather cut off my right arm than leave him. I just need some time and space to work this shit out with my family,” Tucker snaps.

“Which I get, Tuck. But what if they say that they’ll never accept you being with a man?”

“I…I just don’t know the answer to that right now, Duke.” He sighs.

I shake my head and turn away from him. I can’t even look at him right now. He’s got me so pissed off. I start the car and pull out of the parking lot to head back to the condo.

I pull into Dennis’ parking spot since he doesn’t have a car right now and turn my car off. Keeping my grip on the wheel, I turn to give Tucker a hard glare.

“If you leave Dennis, you’re going to destroy him. He’s already lost his wife. I don’t think he could survive losing you.”

“I don’t want to leave him, Duke. I fucking love him,” Tucker grits out.

“But you’re saying you don’t know what you’ll do if your family doesn’t accept that you’re with a man. To me, that sounds like you’re thinking about breaking things off with Dennis.”

Tucker shoves his hands into his hand. “My mind is so fucked up right now, Duke. I don’t know which way is up and which way is down.”

“Don’t walk away from Dennis. Don’t do it,” I warn. “You’re my best friend and I love you, but he’s become my best friend, too, and I will have to kick your fucking ass if you hurt him.”

“Hurting him is the last thing I want to do.”

“Then don’t. Fuck what your family thinks. Love your man and leave it at that.”

“Duke, put yourself in my shoes, man. You’re close with your family. What the hell would you do if you were in my position?”

“Listen, I learned a long time ago that I have to live my life for myself, not anyone else. So if my family doesn’t like someone that I’m dating and chooses to disown me or whatever, that’s on them. I might have given up on love, but I know that what you and Dennis have is something special. I mean like once in a lifetime special. What’s the point of making your family happy when you’re going to be miserable for the rest of your life? You’re a grown man. You need to do what makes
you
happy and everyone else can go suck a giant cock.”

~ Chapter Sixteen ~

~ Dennis ~

The last couple of days have been filled with tension. Tucker has become increasingly distant from me. He’s been very quiet and withdrawn and has spent a lot of time at the gym the past couple of days. I’ve tried a few times to talk to him, but he doesn’t want to talk. He’s actually barely said two words to me. And Duke, too, now that I think about it. He’s all up in his head and that worries me. It does not bode well.

Lizette drops me off at the condo. I had a therapy session this morning and she was kind enough to drive me. I really need to start looking for a new car. I can’t keep having her drive me places. I know once Duke moves out, he’s going to start working again, and he won’t be able to lend me his car.

I unlock the door and walk in to see Tucker dropping a large duffle bag next to the couch. I frown hard. Why the hell does he have a bag packed? Dread fills me.

“Tuck?” I ask quietly. My heart has decided to try to pound its way out of my chest.

Duke is in the kitchen, seeming to have frozen in place, also staring at the bag on the floor. I stare at Tucker. He looks guilty and upset. No! No! This is my worst nightmare come true!

“Tucker,” I croak. Oh god, I feel sick.

He shakes his head. “I just need some time to figure everything out, Dennis.”

I can’t breath. I blink rapidly as my mind races. Is this his way of saying it’s over?

“What does that mean?!” I ask, panicked.

“I don’t know! I just need to try to talk to my family, try to get them to understand. I don’t want to lose them,” he says, his voice pained.

I drop the fucking crutches and walk on my cast over to him. I grip his face, compelling him to look at me. “And if they refuse to understand? Then what?” I ask hoarsely.

His eyes well up with tears and he closes them, forcing the tears to run down his cheeks. “I don’t have an answer to that right now, Dennis.”

My heart stops. This is it. This is the end of our relationship. He doesn’t want to say it, but I know it is. His family is more important to him than I am. I drop my forehead to his and close my eyes.

“Please, Tucker, please don’t leave me. I need you, I love you, please,” I beg, my voice breaking from all of the emotion bubbling up inside of me as tears start running down my cheeks.

Tucker clutches my arms and gently pushes me back. “Just…just give me some time, baby. You know I love you, too,” he says softly.

Fuck! My life is falling apart all over again. This can’t be happening! My heart is shattering into a million pieces making my chest physically ache. Tucker picks up his bag and starts for the door. I can’t watch him leave.

“I told you this was going to happen. I told you that you would leave me,” I rasp.

“I never said that I wasn’t coming back, Dennis.” Tucker sighs.

“You never said you were either.”

Tucker sighs again but doesn’t reply. I flinch when the door opens and closes with a soft click. My world falls apart around me. I lean forward and brace one hand on the arm of the couch because I’m pretty sure that my legs are very close to giving out. My other hand I use to clap over my mouth to muffle the ragged sob that escapes me. This feels worse than when I lost Zara because Tucker is still alive and
choosing
to walk away from me.

“That fucking dick!” Duke bellows from the kitchen.

A minute later, his strong hands are helping me sit down on the couch.

“It’s over,” I whisper. “He’s gone. I can’t…I can’t…”

Duke pulls me into his arms, hugging my head to his chest. “It’s alright, Denny. Just breathe. You don’t know that for sure. He just needs to get shit straightened out with his family and then he’ll come back.”

“It’s over,” I cry over and over, knowing in my heart that Tucker isn’t coming back.

To be continued…