Jerking free, Patrick kept moving forward. “Don’t talk to me. Don’tevertalk to me again.”
“What?” Brian continued after him. “What’re you talking about? What did I do?”
Patrick stopped so suddenly that Brian almost crashed into him. He spun around, eyes burning with anger and tears. “You told my dad aboutDerek.Now he’s freaking out, tried to take my phone away, anddidtake my car. You hadno rightto tell himanything.”
Backing down, Brian murmured, “I was worried about you. I didn’tbetrayyou—I was trying tohelpyou. Derek has some kind of hold on you and that’s abadthing. I didn’t even realize how bad until I found out he was intoporn.”
“You knew?”
“Not until your dad told me about finding the pamphlet hidden in the back of your desk drawer.” Brian stared at him. “You got it from the street, didn’t you? When we were cleaning up. YouknewDerek was into porn when you went on that date? How can you not see how bad all of this is? Or howdangerousDerek is to your spiritual life?”
“Itoldyou—nothing is going on between us. I’m not in contact with him. I’m not going to be. Why can’t you mind yourown damn business?”
Brian gazed at him solemnly. “You’ve never talked to me like that before,” he said quietly. “I feel like I don’t even know you anymore. Something’s happening to you and you’re the only one who can’t see it. I’mreallyworried about you. And so are your parents.”
Patrick swallowed thickly. “I’m fine.”
“No, Patrick… you’re not.” He cleared his throat, his eyes damp. “Don’t walk away. Come hang out with me today. We can talk about this.”
“Hang out with you,” Patrick said. “You meanbabysitme?”
“What?”
“I know my dad had you come over. You’re never here this early.”
“Yeah, okay. So what? He’sworriedabout you. He knows you’re not going to listen to him, so he was hoping you and I could talk. What’s so bad about that? A lot of kids out there would kill for a dad who loved them.”
Lovedwasn’t how Patrick felt minutes ago when his dad practically condemned him to hell for being gay.
“Come on,” Brian urged gently. “We’ll go over to my apartment and hang out.” When Patrick didn’t immediately follow him back to his car, Brian implored, “Please?”
Patrick stared at the sidewalk feeling confused and hurt and angry. A part of him desperately wanted to believe that everything Brian had done—had been done inlove.Was he overreacting?
He let out a slow sigh and looked up… and nodded.
. . .
The stark evidence of his son’s spiritual downfall stared back at him from the laptop screen. He intended to check Patrick’s browsing history to see if he had visited the website from the pamphlet. As it turned out, it wasn’t necessary to look at the history because the webpage was still open—with Derek’s nude form plastered across the screen.
His head sinking into his hand, Alan closed his eyes and prayed for the wisdom and strength to do what was necessary to save his only child.
A short, soft gasp behind him brought his head up. Alan looked around to find Eileen staring in shock at the laptop, her hand clamped over her mouth. Alan closed the laptop and went to his wife, wrapping her in his arms. “It’s going to be all right,” he whispered. “We’re not going to lose him. I won’t let that happen.Godwon’t let it happen.”
“He was doing so well.” She trembled against him. “What happened?”
Alan exhaled heavily. “I feared it was only a matter of time. You can’t willingly take sin into your life and hope to control it. He claimed his homosexuality and that opened the door to sin and temptation. Until he cleanses his life of it entirely… he will continue to fall away from God.”
“But what can we do? He won’t go to conversion therapy. He won’t listen to anything we have to say.”
“God is in control,” Alan said softly. “He is working on Patrick even as we speak. When it’s time, Patrick will make the right choice of his own free will. Don’t worry. And when God calls on us, we’ll do our part as well.” He kissed her head. “Go back upstairs. I’ll be up in a minute.”
Eileen sniffed and nodded. She kissed him and returned to the kitchen.
Alan went to the desk and unhooked the laptop from the charge cord, then took the computer upstairs.
. . .
Robby was in the kitchen preparing a pot of coffee when Brian and Patrick entered the apartment. “Patrick. Hey.”
