AllFreeNovel
Share Us
23
I swallow the hard lump in my throat. We went back to the apartment here at the compound, and I’ve prepared myself to explain my relationship with Gio. As I had said, it was well over, and he was more of a father to Tobey and me than anything else. I couldn’t leave out that we had been lovers even if I had wanted to. That brother of mine would certainly let that shit slip.
“Am I going to need a drink for this conversation?”
“Maybe? I know I might.” I half laugh, half whimper as I sit across from him, hands between my knees and head against them.
“Do you want a beer or harder?”
“The only hard thing I want is attached to your pelvis, but you might withhold that after I spill my guts.”
Saint gets up, heads for the kitchen, and grabs a bottle of Jameson and two glasses. “Come on, Doc, let’s go to the balcony. I can’t smoke the good shit in here, and I got a feeling I’m gonna need it.”
I nod and pause, looking down the hall toward Ciara’s room.
“She’s with Ainsley. We all figured I’d be at the jail by now.”
I give another nod, but not a single sound comes out of me. The silence is deafening, only broken by the sound of liquid hitting the glass and his Zippo lighting the joint that’s smoke now wafts toward me.
“You know how I told you I can’t get pregnant?”I finally mutter, standing in the doorway between him, the porch, and the apartment. If he wants me gone after I make my confessions, I would rather not have to cross by him.
“You mentioned something about it.”
“Tobey came out as Trans just before I started med school. I always knew, but he kept it from our overtly conservative parents. I mean, they didn’t think twice about pumping the underprivileged full of drugs, but never their own and never us. They thought we should be good little girls and be propper in public at least. My father—” I choke on the words. “Was not a good person. I told you what he did to Tobey.” I trail off.
Saint pulls me into his lap. “Doc, you can tell me anything. I can handle it. Well, with exceptions. No other men are coming to my bed.”
I shake my head. “For helping my brother— it's because of men like my father that I had the procedure. Men that wanted—I refused to let them have that part of me, no matter how many.” I look down. “Tobey doesn’t know, but Gio does.”
“Gio?”
“He is who I need you to meet. He was my mentor in medical school. He tied my tubes because if he hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t be here with you now. They tried to ruin me, so I ruined myself.”
“You’re Dad?” Saint looks confused. “You’re talking in riddles, Darlin’.”
“As punishment for keeping Tobey’s secret, I was passed around, but only my father ever came inside me. He wanted to replace the girl he lost, wanted—I don't know, he knew that pregnancy would make me drop out of med school. Then I met Gio, and he made it all go away. He helped me figure out how to make it all okay. Not just for me, but for Tobey too. Just a little air. That was all it took, and we were free to run.” I swallow. “He talks to her, but she doesn’t know where we are.”
Saint rubs his temple. “Okay, so behind all your fancy clothes and your work, you’re as dark as me, if not more. Is Gio the one you want me to meet? Seeing as I’ve met Tobey.”
“Yes. He’s taken care of me when no one else would, and I love him dearly, just not how I love you. Can you accept that I have a relationship with a man that knows me carnally? That I won’t give him up any more than I would Tobey or myself?”
“If he told you to choose. You’d choose him?”
I take his face in my hands. “That’s just it. He would never ask me to choose, will you?”
“Doc, I’m not asking you to choose, but I do need to know you’re going to be here. Take me out of it but for the three-year-old girl that I have to put first.”
“You are a package deal. I don’t question that, so I ask that you not question this. Just know that we have a bond, which may from the outside seem odd, but you are the man I’m willing to untie myself for. Not him or any other man can claim that.”
“Kids, huh? Tell me, Doc, are we talking Polo team or Australian Football?”
I smirk, quirking my brow. “Didn’t you do your research?”
Saint looks at me, confused. “Woman, I can only take so much in one day. Quit talking in fucking riddles.”
I shrug, “I am Dominican and Japanese. We value family and don’t stop till we get boys. I think we need some practice.” I wink, kiss him playfully and quickly before getting up and tearassing through the house until I hear the thump. Turning back, my sabotage worked. He went to run, and his pants, which I had covertly unzipped, sent him flat on his face on the rug.
“I think my cock broke.” He groans as I jump on his back and, like a bull rider, start to wiggle and bounce.
