“Oh yes we are,” Ryan argued.

“No, we are not.”

“My mom just kicked me out of her house—I am going to a party tonight.”

Hailey came to the car with a few of Ryan’s things in a suitcase. She tossed it into the back seat and then slid into the car. “I only grabbed a few outfits. Because this is going to blow over.” She paused and looked at Ryan and me. “This is all going to blow over, right?”

Ryan looked at me and then toward the house. “You should go back inside, Hailey,” he sighed.

“What? No way! Mom is acting crazy!” she cried, tossing her hands up in annoyance. “I’m not leaving you.”

Ryan turned around to face his sister and he wrapped his hands around her head. “I’m not leaving you either.” He reached forward and kissed her forehead. “Now go inside because you’re too good for Theo. And too good to ditch Mom tonight.”

“But I hate her,” she frowned.

“Oh, don’t hate her because of her and my issues,” Ryan laughed. “Go tell her you’re a Buddhist, and then you can hate her for her reaction to that.”

Hailey laughed lightly and Ryan wiped away the tears falling from his younger sister’s eyes. “When I turn eighteen, I’m running away with you and Ashlyn.”

“We’ll move to California. You can become a yoga instructor. Ashlyn will be a bestselling author, and I’ll be a prostitute on Hollywood Boulevard.”

He made his sister laugh again, and I saw a small grin form on his face. Hailey sat up straight. “Go big or go home, right?”

Ryan nudged his sister in the shoulder. “Go home, Hails.”

She sighed and nodded. Her door opened and she smiled back to her brother. “I love—”

“You,” Ryan finished.

“Promise you’ll look after him, Ashlyn?”

I promised.

Henry walked out of the house after Hailey went inside. He looked my way, waving me over. “I’ll be right back, Ry.”

I climbed out of the car and moved over to Henry, crossing my arms. “What the hell happened?” I whispered, turning my back to Ryan.

Henry’s eyes were heavy as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Rebecca… She…” He lowered his head. “How’s Ryan doing?”

“As well as possible, I guess.”

Henry reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash. “I have three hundred on me. Give it to Ryan for the weekend. I’ll look into finding an apartment for him.”

I took the cash from Henry and nodded. “She’s not going to change her mind, is she?”

“She blames him for their father’s death.” His fingers traced through his peppered beard. “This had nothing to do with Ryan being g*y. It has everything to do with Rebecca never working through her own demons. She would’ve found a reason to kick him out regardless.”

I knew what it felt like to be kicked out when you needed someone the most. I thought back to my mom and the choice she’d made to ship me off to Henry’s. Then I paused, realizing how lucky I was to have somewhere to go. Ryan had no one, nowhere to turn.

“Stay close to him, all right? And check back in with me?” Henry asked.

“Yeah, okay.” I turned to move back toward the car and paused. “Thanks, Henry. For helping him.”

He gave a halfway smile and headed back inside.

I moved back to the car, climbed in, and put it in drive. “Where to, buddy?”

Ryan smiled and slumped down in his seat, pinning his shoes on the dashboard. His fingers were holding his fake ID. “To the liquor store!”

We walked down the aisles of the liquor store, packing our shopping cart with whatever Ryan wanted. “We don’t really need to worry about the fake IDs,” Ryan said. “I gave the cashier his first blowjob last year.”

I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. So I did neither.

When we rounded the corner toward the wine, he stopped pushing the cart. An older couple stood in front of us and Ryan gasped.

The couple looked up to see him and a wave of shock washed over their faces. “Ryan,” the older lady said, giving him a wry smile. She glanced at our cart filled with booze but tried her best to not show her concern. “How are you doing, darling?”

She was beautiful. Shoulder-length blond hair, the sweetest brown eyes. Her small frame was covered up with her peacoat.

Ryan’s eyes watered over. “It’s good to see you, Mr. and Mrs. Levels.”

The older guy smiled the same way his wife had. “Avery mentioned you last week. I was going to call to check up on you—”

Ryan cut in, leaning against the cart. “I’m fine. I’m okay.”

The man nodded his head and frowned. “It was good seeing you. If you ever need anything, just give us a call, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks. It was great seeing you both.”

Mrs. Levels walked over to Ryan and pulled him into a hug, whispering something into his ear. By the time she pulled away from him, they both had tears falling from their face.

“You too, Mrs. Levels.” Ryan smiled.

The couple turned away, never questioning the alcohol. Never questioning anything, really.

“Who were they?”

“Avery’s parents,” he sighed as he started pushing the cart. His finger brushed under his nose as he sniffled.

We picked up the alcohol and headed back to the car and straight to Jake’s.

Although neither of us was really in a partying mood.

Chapter 26

Getting better every day.

I say with lies against my taste.

~ Romeo’s Quest

“He told me a few months ago that he wanted to come out. That he didn’t care what anyone thought. He said that he loved me and didn’t care who knew.” Ryan snickered and tossed back another shot of vodka as we both sat against a wall.

The bottle resting in his other hand was almost halfway empty, and I had every plan to take it away from him any second now. There was a random couple tonguing about three feet away from us, and the music was blaring throughout the house. This was the last place Ryan and I needed to be.

Avery came around the corner, and when he turned to face Ryan, I saw the broken pieces that formed both of the lost souls. Avery’s bottom lip shook before he turned and walked away. Ryan turned toward me, his eyes watering over, his legs trembling.