“Jasper.”
“No, Dad. If you’ve got something to say about Cole’s brother, my best fucking mate’sbrother, then by all means, spit it out.” I pictured him sitting back with his arms spread, palms up.
I grinned and hoped his dad was fucking uncomfortable. I could understand him being concerned about where his son lived, but he didn’t seem to care about anything beyond the fact I was gay. And he could fuck right off with that.
I’d offered to show him round just before Cole showed up, but the only thing he’d be seeing now was the front door on his way out.
“I want to make sure he’s not taking advantage of you, all right?” Silence fell in the room, and I was sorely tempted to take his coffee in then and make him face me. But something made me stay put.
“I’m twenty-one years old, Dad. I’m an adult, not the teenager you kicked out.”
“I didn’t kick you out, I—”
“I’ve spent the last twelve months travelling, a lot of it on my own. I can take care of myself.” He blew out a breath, and I leant forward to hear better. “Ignoring the fact that Finn is Cole’s brother, not some complete stranger, if I wanted to fuck him, then there would be absolutely nothing wrong with that because, guess what? We’re both consenting adults.”
Silence.
I glanced at the coffee, probably going cold, but made no move to take it in there.
After another few seconds, Jasper’s dad spoke. “I think I should probably go.”
Music to my ears.
“Yeah, now you’ve ruined my evening and embarrassed the fuck out of me, I think your work here is done.”
“Jasper—”
“No, Dad. Just go.”
A few seconds later, the front door opened and closed. I poured the coffee down the sink and took a deep breath before opening the doors to the living room.
Jasper sat on the sofa, head in his hands, but he looked up when he heard me enter. “I’m so fucking sorry about that.”
I held up a hand as I sat down. “Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for.”
“I know, but...” He gestured towards the door. “He’s my dad.”
I reigned in my simmering anger and tried to be the bigger person. “He’s just worried about you.”
He raised both eyebrows. “He’s not worried about me. If he was, he’d have wanted to see my room and the rest of the house. Asked how much rent I was paying to make sure I wasn’t being ripped off.” He slumped back against the sofa cushions. “But no, it all comes down to you being gay. Of fucking course it does.”
I bit my lip, sensing this was a minefield we were entering. I had so many questions on the tip of my tongue, but was it any of my business? If Jasper wanted to talk about this, I’d listen, but I didn’t want to push him when he was clearly hurting from his dad’s visit. “Do you want a hot chocolate?”
“I think this calls for something a bit stronger than that.” He laughed, but it was tinged with a bitterness I didn’t care for. It didn’t suit him.
“I’ll get you a beer.” I had a nice whisky in the cupboard and an expensive vodka in the freezer, but adult or not, I wasn’t giving him that when he looked like he’d down the whole bottle if I did.
I fetched us both a beer and sat next to him on the sofa.
“Thanks.” He took a long pull, then rested his head against the cushions, staring up at the ceiling.
“Is that all he came round for?”
“Nope.” Jasper turned to face me. “He also wanted to know when I was going to stop wasting my time at a dead-end job and go to uni.”
“Oh.” I took a drink of my own beer, not sure what to say to that. “Do you want to go to uni?”
He laughed again, and it wasn’t any better than before. “No. That’s why he kicked me out in the first place.”
