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“Just friends, eh?”

Nick stiffened as the shock rolled through him with those few simple words. His mouth fell open as he wanted to ask…no, demand, to know how the hell his father knew enough to make that assumption. Then his mouth snapped shut, his eyes narrowing as he turned to face the window, glowering.

“Maria,” he ground out.

“Nope.”

“Mom?” he asked doubtfully.

“Huh. So they know, you tell ‘em?”

Nick closed his eyes. “Yes.”

“I’ll try not to be offended that they knew and I didn’t.”

Nick sighed. “It wasn’t...it wasn’t like that. There’s never been a good reason to tell anyone. If it were something serious?—”

“Like Matt?” his father asked.

“I,” Nick hesitated. “I don’t know. Never been a possibility. He’s...well, it’s not going to happen.”

He saw his father wince in the reflection in the window. “Yeah, wasn’t thinking about that too much when I talked to him last night.”

Nick took a step away from the window and his father. “You what?”

That earned another grimace. “Might’ve...had a bit too much to drink last night. Might’ve found him...actually right here now that I think about it, same room and everythin’.”

“Dad,” Nick whispered faintly. “What did you do?”

“Told him about Mitch, for one.”

Nick stared. It seemed there was more than one surprise waiting for him. “You knew about Mitch?”

“Well, hell, Nick, how do you think I knew anything?”

If Nick had to guess, it wouldn’t have been Mitch. He hadn’t talked to his boyhood crush and only boyfriend in years. And, outside of Matt, Mitch had the honor of being the only guy Nick had ever been interested in romantically. Nick had also thought the two of them had been careful, to the point of paranoia, about making sure they weren’t found out.

Seemed he hadn’t done too well in that regard.

His father wasn’t done, though. “Then that kinda sorta led into me talkin’ about you and him.”

“There is no me and him,” Nick said faintly.

“Yeah, but I see the two of ya, see how ya are, and I was wonderin’. Thought maybe if I led the horse to water,” his father trailed off.

“Oh shit,” Nick muttered, wiping a hand over his mouth. “You told him.”

His stomach plummeted at his father’s reluctant nod. Dread and fear felt like shards of ice stabbing his chest, constricting it. His mouth went dry, and he had to reach out, grabbing the back of a chair to stay upright.

“Dad,” he said hoarsely.

Now he knew why Matt had been avoiding him and acting so weird when he was around. There was only one thing he’d ever actively kept from his best friend, and now his father had let the cat out of the bag.

“How could you?” Nick asked.

His father reached out, taking him by the arm and holding him steady. “Don’t.”

“What?”