Confounded: Part II - 31. Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31 --==Taylan’s POV==--

Breakfast that morning was one of the best yet and only made better by a very cute scene when Mitchell and Kit got up to go to the office; some problem that couldn’t wait until Monday. Mitchell gave me a kiss goodbye and then, as he turned away to head out, we both saw Kit doing the same to Tom, planting one on him in plain view for all. I loved it! He was clearly taken with my nephew, who was trying to keep a low profile after that, sinking into his seat without looking at anything in particular.

“So…you and Kit, huh?” I asked, once the guys had gone and the kitchen returned to silence.
Tom didn’t seem to want to meet my eyes.

“I umm…yeah…duh!”

“He’s clearly taken with you, Tom.”

“I know…”

“He’s happy.”
That caused a nod.
“How about you?”

“How about me, what?”

“Are you happy?”
Tom shrugged at that.

Sighing, I sat opposite from him, having brought the thermos over from the counter and refilling our mugs.

“It’s okay to be happy, Tom. No one’s gonna think it’s weird, or bad. I kinda think it’s even good. You’re good together.”
He raised his head and for the first time this morning, he met my eyes.

“You wanna have a heart-to-heart, I take it?”
I couldn’t help but smirk a little and nodded.

“That’d be a correct guess. How are you doing, kid? I mean; all-in-all?”
He thought about that.

“Better…”

“I noticed. We all did. And I know you agreed to talk to the psychologist; so how about your mom and dad?”
His posture became somewhat guarded.

“I’d rather not. Dad…”
Biting his lower lip, he looked down on his hands.

“We’re nearing the end of summer break. Soon, you’re gonna have to go back. Don’t you think it’s time you talked to them? Explain a few things? Like why? They didn’t know about your relationship with this guy…”

“They did.”
That one surprised me.

“They did?”

“Yes.”

“So…”

“They didn’t support it.”

“You having a boyfriend?” I asked, unsure. It somehow seemed unlikely, not my brother…

“No, not that; they’ve never given me any grief about being gay. They just didn’t support me and Miguel being together.”

“I see…because he was older?”
He nodded.

“Yeah. And a biker, and a criminal. I…I promised to break it off, but I didn’t. Snuck out at night, all that stuff. Then Jay found out that we were still together and…”

He grimaced there; I guessed he was thinking about his own reaction to that. He’d nearly put his elder brother in the hospital. But the reason had never been clear to Roman.

“He threatened to tell on you?”

“And blackmailed me with it. Thanks to him I have a record. He’s a fucking…”

“Tom!” I cut in, sharply. “He’s your brother and my nephew. I don’t agree with what he did, and am more than disappointed in him for that, but whatever his reasons, or the lack of them…I refuse to…”

“Oh please,” he cut in, rolling his eyes, “get off your high horse; you don’t know him like I do, Uncle T. He’s not the sweet guy he lets everyone believe that he is.”

“Like you’re not the jerk you let everyone believe?” I shot back, not particularly caring for his tone.

“Whatever…you don’t understand…”

“No, not whatever, Tom. Now’s your chance to talk. We may not even need to go to that psychologist, if you just opened up. Talk to me. What do I not understand?”
He’d gotten up at that point, intending to leave the table, but he sat down again, slowly.

“You only see that…” he cut off when I raised an eyebrow warningly, and adapted whatever word he’d originally planned to use, “…twerp as a basic copy of Kit; Mr. Goody two-shoes , never a bad word, always good behavior, only half his length and twice his width? Yeah, not so. He’s as sneaky as the best of them, only hides it real well. Believe me; if dad ever found out about the crap he pulls, I’d look like the ideal son, in comparison. The guy is as twofaced as they come. You know about the weed, right? Dad told you?”

I nodded, frowning, trying to see where this was going…

“Who do you think supplied it to me? No, not the bikers. They had a supplier. Remember that kid I told you about, at school? The one scared shitless because they awaited him, outside? The one I said I didn’t know what they wanted from him?”

Nodding again, I suddenly froze. Oh god…

“Yeah, that was Jay. So don’t tell me he didn’t do anything to me out of spite because that fu…jackass of a brother of mine is a lowlife criminal like the best of them.”

“Alright! Okay! I get it!” I said, throwing my hands up, not needing to hear more. “I get it…”
Good god…
“So why not tell your dad? About Jay?”

“Because Jay promised to keep his mouth shut as long as I did, and I don’t have any proof. Besides, I didn’t care about him; he’s always done his own thing and dad would never believe me, anyway. Jay can always make it look like I’m the bad guy. He’s very good at it; he fooled you, didn’t he? And dad, mom…But I wanted to keep seeing Miguel, so…I agreed to it.”

“Unbelievable…” I breathed, trying to wrap my head around all of it. Jay? Never a bad word, always courteous, and kind and sweet; that Jay was the bad one?

“When Miguel died,” Tom continued, “Dad said he’d had it coming, his being a bad element and all that. I blew up; I was mad. His own son, who he thought could do no wrong, was the supplier of the neighborhood; pills, weed, anything he could get his hands on to sell, a worse crook than Miguel had ever been, but Dad couldn’t see it. He’d never even met Miguel and yet still condemned him based solely on what Jay whispered in his ear. That, to me, felt so wrong; he never even questioned how Jay had come to know anything about Miguel. I lost it; I was about to reveal everything, when Jay walked in. When he found out Miguel had died, he said some sneering, jeering things about him; that I’d lost my sweetheart, my lover. I just…lost it. And gave him a fast ticket to the hospital. That’s when dad intervened…”

“And the rest is history,” I filled in, shaking my head as I stared at him. “I never would’ve guessed…”

“You and everyone else. All so eager to believe I am the bad boy, the loser. So, I went along with that. If you wanted to believe it, why not make it real?”
He snorted, disdainfully.
“It was so easy. Skip school, sneak out every night, cause some trouble. Got picked up by the police a few times…heeeere’s Johnny!”
I groaned, rubbing my eyes.

“My god…”

“Anyway, I haven’t spoken to them, since. Gave them as much as they gave me. Nothing.”

“You’re good at that,” I said, remembering the time he’d done it to us, not all that long ago. “Very.”

“Thanks.”

“It wasn’t a compliment, Tom. It’s not something to be proud of.”

“I know. It was just…me getting back at you.”

“I hope you never do it again. You scared me half to death.”
He looked up and held my gaze.

“I’m sorry.”
This was the first time I actually believed that he meant it, and I nodded.

“Thank you. That means a lot to me. But Tom, this has to stop. You can’t go on like this and, like I said, the time to go home is not far off. Your parents need to know all of this and about Jay.”
He stiffened at that, his expression souring.

“I can’t; they’d never believe me and I have no proof.”

“Then what, Tom? Coming here was just a temporary solution…”

“I know. So I might have to go back to my original plan…”

“Which is?”

“Leave town… and never come back.”