Fake Out (Fake Boyfriend 1)

“I’m cool with sharing a bed, but I didn’t mean to put this on you.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure I stay on my side.”

I cock my head. “That’s not why I’m worried.”

“It’s just, I don’t know a lot of straight guys who’d be okay with this. If you’ve got issues, I’ll take the floor. I get it.”

“If I have issues, then I should be the one to take the floor. But I don’t, so I won’t.”

Damon looks away.

“We should head down to dinner before Mom—”

“Boys!”

“—does that.”

“Okay.”

The dining room is lit by candlelight, and the feast Mom has cooked makes guilt creep down my neck. Maybe I should make the effort to come home more.

“Da, this is Damon,” I say.

Damon towers over Dad who’s only five-ten. I have no idea where I get my height or blond hair from. I look nothing like any of my family who are all dark-haired and short.

“Nice to meet you, son,” Dad says in his Irish brogue and shakes Damon’s hand.

The term of endearment toward Damon eases my mind a bit. I don’t want anything to make Damon’s weekend any harder than it needs to be, and I know we’ll get some type of bigoted comments at this wedding tomorrow.

It’s funny, the day I told Chastity I was gay was the same day my parents “found out.” Chastity wasted no time playing the martyr and victim over being used as a beard for three years. My parents knew it had ended an hour after it happened. That’s Clover Vale connectivity for you. Screw social media; it’s got nothing on small towns.

By the time I’d gone home, Mom and Dad were in the living room waiting for me.

“Is there something you need to tell us?” Mom asked quietly. Her tone held sympathy, and I figured she knew Chastity and I broke up.

“Nah. Nothing to talk about,” I said. “We’re going in different directions.”

Dad snorted in amusement. “Or the same direction, really. You know, toward guys.”

“Wait, what?”

Mom’s eyes watered as she stood and approached me. “You were brave today, honey. I wish you had come to us first, but we want you to know we love you just the way you are.”

“What?” I was confused, because I didn’t think Chastity would’ve outed me to the whole town. I would’ve been pissed had I not been lying about being gay. I guess it was karma’s way of getting me back.

Then Dad told me he was proud of me. He hadn’t said that when I got into college.

I wanted to tell my parents the truth—that all the other ways I tried breaking up with Chastity didn’t work—but I never did. Obviously. Otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting here with a fake boyfriend.

Damon elbows me, and I snap out of my trance. “What? Sorry, I spaced.”

“How did you meet Damon?” Mom asks.

“I’ve probably mentioned Stacy before. He’s her brother.”

“We first met at their graduation ceremony last year but recently ran into each other again,” Damon says.

Ooh, that’s a good cover.

“And when did you come out?” Mom asks.

“Mom!” I wasn’t expecting her to ask that. I get this is all new to her—meeting a “boyfriend” and whatnot—but … really?

“Sorry, is that inappropriate?”

“It’s okay,” Damon says. “My story is boring. It was freshman year of college, and I called my parents and told them I was seeing someone. The plan was to take him home and introduce him—come out that way—but Mom said ‘Make sure you bring him to dinner next time you’re home.’ I hadn’t said it was a guy yet. I didn’t have to—they’d figured it out. They didn’t treat it like it was a big deal, because they believe coming out shouldn’t be a big deal. Straight people don’t have to do it, so neither should any orientation.”

“That’s a nice story,” Mom says. “Better than a jilted ex-girlfriend outing Maddy to the entire town.”

I tense. “We don’t need to talk about her.”

“Okay, okay.” Mom throws up her hands. “You boys got any other plans while you’re here?”

“Nah, just the wedding.”

My phone vibrates in my pocket.

Will:

Rumor mill has you back in town. You, me, Jared, Rusty’s? One hour?

“Unless you want to go for a drink with a couple of guys I went to high school with?”

Damon’s smile becomes tight. “Whatever you want.”

Me:

We’re in.

Will:

We?

Me:

I’m bringing my boyfriend.

The guys will get a kick out of this.

Will:

HAHAHAHAHA

CHAPTER FOUR

DAMON

“You sure it’s okay if we go out?” Maddox asks me on the way to the car.

Am I that transparent? No, I don’t want to go drinking with his friends. The deal was two nights with his parents and a wedding. “It’s fine,” I lie. “But are you ready to take this act public?”

“We won’t have to worry about that tonight.”

When we get to the bar, there are two guys outside waiting for us. Maddox rushes over to the dark-haired one and pushes him, hard. When the guy pushes back, Maddox gets him in a headlock.