“I can’t believe you,” Georgia said.
“You’re the one that was just bragging about all the men you’re sleeping with, sweetheart. You can’t believe me?” Alan looked around, waiting for someone to agree with him. What he found was three sets of downcast eyes and the sound of other customers’ conversations. “Now I’m the bad guy?” he laughed incredulously.
“No,” Georgia said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I’m just a goddamn idiot.” She forcefully pushed herself from the table and took off towards the bathroom, hands covering her face.
“Mom, wait!” Amy stood up and chased after her, leaving only the men sitting around the table in a semi-circle. The weight of silence pushed down on Jordan like a hydraulic press, and he shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
Rex, however, was never one to hold back his thoughts, and he simply stared at his father with a humorless smirk.
“What?” Alan asked irritably.
“You know what.”
The older man sighed and shook his head. “One day, you’ll get tired of hating the man that gave you everything you have in life. It must be utterly exhausting.”
“Not particularly,” Rex said with a shrug. “It’s pretty damn easy, honestly. I mean, I can’t do it as easily as you can walk away from all of your responsibilities, but I manage.”
“Please, I’ve given you nothing but the best, Rhett.”
“I’m not talking about just me. I’m talking about you not being there for Amy. I’m talking about me having to clean up your mother’s house because you were too busy to do it yourself. I’m talking about you having to be convinced to go to Nana’s fucking funeral.”
Jordan’s stomach clenched hard, and he placed his hand on Rex’s knee, a subtle reminder to try to keep calm. While it wasn’t his place to tell these two not to do this, he also knew Rex. He knew his temper, and though he’d never seen him get this heated, there was an electricity to it that he recognized.
“I’m not going to sit here and be insulted over a dinner I’m paying for.”
“I have a fucking job, Alan. I don’t need anything from you.”
“What, that pathetic little part-time bookstore gig? What’re you going to do when that falls through and you get bored of it? Skip town and wander the country like you did before? You talk about me running from my responsibilities, but what about you? You’ll leave like you always do. Homeless by the end of the year. And when you are, don’t expect me to bail you out again or give you any money,” Alan spat, leaning forward so that he could lower his voice and still get the point across.
“What you seem to forget is that I don’t depend on you anymore,” Rex said through gritted teeth. “You waving your money around won’t work on me anymore. Nobody here needs you to pay for anything. You don’t get to throw it back in our faces and use our desperation as a way to get us in line. And when you’re all alone with your money, you can buy all the fancy cars and stupid ass watches, but you’ll still die by yourself, and frankly, I wouldn’t wish spending eternity with you on anyone. Not even you.”
Alan smiled back with that same angry grin, and Jordan could see how alike they were. Where he’d gotten it from. Watching them go at it was like Rex fighting with a twisted carnival mirror. As different as they appeared, there were similarities that proved they were undeniably linked together.
“Enjoy your dinner,” was all Alan said. He rose from his seat, tossed his napkin on his plate, and strode out of the room without even looking back.
Jordan tried to swallow down a gulp of his wine but it turned his stomach. He’d thought Rex was being hyperbolic, but after having met the man, he really should’ve taken his verdict far more seriously. “Dick” didn’t even begin to cover all that Alan was.
Jordan reached out for Rex, and to his surprise, Rex didn’t pull away from him. He turned to face him, offering a hopeful look. “I’m fine. It’s fine.”
But Jordan knew it wasn’t, and judging from the way their conversation had gone, it probably wouldn’t ever be fine.
Twelve
Dinner didn’t last much longer after Alan’s departure. Rex lost his appetite, and when Georgia and Amy returned from the bathroom, Jordan could see that Rex wasn’t the only one. Amy, bless her heart, tried to keep the mood up, but the moment Georgia found out that Alan had left without so much as a goodbye, it was obvious that dinner was officially over.
Amy’s shoulders sank, and she sat back in her chair, arms folded across her chest. She waited for Georgia to head outside before she said, “I think I might hate him, Rex.”
Despite the rage bubbling inside of him, he managed to offer her a sympathetic nod. “I know, Ames. He’s the worst.”
“Why come here when we could’ve just eaten the rich,” Jordan said. Amy and Rex laughed quietly, but still, the sour mood persisted.
“Let’s get out of here,” Rex said finally, tossing his napkin on his plate of lobster and standing from his seat. Neither of the other two needed to be told twice. After Amy and Rex shared a long hug, Jordan followed Rex back to the car.
The ride back was uncomfortably quiet, but Jordan filled the silence humming along to the radio. Throwing occasional glances in Rex’s direction, Jordan could see that he wasn’t in a good mood, but he didn’t know what to say. He wanted to cheer him up somehow, make him laugh or take his focus off his father, but these kinds of things often ran deeper than a simple joke could repair.
Outside of Nana Bailey’s house, Jordan pecked him on the lips and said, “Have a good night, okay?”
Rex nodded without much enthusiasm. “Sure.” Jordan started to head back to his car when Rex caught his arm. “Hey,” he said. “You, uh…you wanna stay the night?”
From Rex’s demeanor, Jordan knew that he probably needed him there more than he would ever actually say, and before he even had a chance to consider it, he said, “Of course.” With the night they’d had, he couldn’t imagine saying no to Rex. After all the shit Rex had been there for when it came to Jordan’s personal life, it was only fair.
Inside, the two of them made quick work of removing their clothes and getting ready for bed. They climbed into the shower together, this time actually managing to clean each other without touching longer than necessary. While Jordan spent some time detangling his hair and moisturizing, Rex slipped on his underwear and headed to the bedroom.
Jordan swiped a small circle in the fog and faintly smiled at his reflection. This was the first night he’d ever spent with Rex, and something about that made his stomach do one of its tiny little flips. Rather than mulling over that feeling, he finished detangling and, to his surprise, found a leave-in conditioner that was close enough to his own at home.
Stepping out of the foggy, humid bathroom and flicking off the light, Jordan found Rex lying flat on his stomach in bed, tapping away at his phone. He wore only a small pair of black boxer briefs, and even though his face was turned away, Jordan still admired how effortlessly handsome he looked.
Quietly, he climbed across the bed and straddled Rex, placing his hands on the man’s shoulders. “What are you doing?” Rex asked, looking back at him.