Page 7 of Forgiven

Callum took a deep breath. “My dad is Andrew Black.” He braced himself for Jared’s face to twist into a look of disgust, and for the man to tell him to fuck off or to simply storm out of the shop.

Instead, Jared stared at him blankly. “Who?”

That was a first. No one had ever failed to recognise his dad’s name before. His stomach kept churning sickeningly. He sat and pressed his fists against the wooden bench.

“You’re going to be late to meet your boyfriend,” he mumbled. If Jared genuinely didn’t know who his dad was, Callum wasn’t sure he wanted to tell him.

“I’ll send him a text. He’ll wait.”

“Don’t you have to get back here at a certain time?”

“I only work mornings.” Jared pulled his phone out of his pocket and slowly tapped a message out. “All done.” He put the phone away. “You don’t have to tell me who your dad is. It won’t stop me from wanting to get to know you better.”

“You don’t know that,” Callum said.

“I know—knew—parents who did awful things, but that didn’t change how amazing their son is. You’re not responsible for who he is, or what he’s done.”

If only it were that easy.

“He’s a murderer,” Callum blurted out. “He’s in jail.”

Jared stayed silent, watching him, his face soft and completely non-judgemental.

“He was out drinking one night and ended up beating someone to death.” Callum’s chest tightened and tears prickled his eyes. He stared at the floor, because he couldn’t look Jared in the eyes while he admitted the rest of the awful truth. “He did it because they were gay. He was convinced the guy made a pass at him and lost it.” He stiffened, waiting for Jared’s inevitably hostile reaction. “It was all over the news.”

Callum heard Jared walking closer. The guy wore very clumpy boots for someone with such a slim build.

“Do you mind if I sit?”

Callum shook his head, still not able to look up.

Jared sat next to him, which felt like a minor miracle. “When did it happen?”

“When I was thirteen.”

“That must have been hard for you.”

“You’ve got no idea.”

“No, I don’t. I stand by what I said—you’re not to blame for what your dad did.”

“Try telling that to the people who put bricks through our windows.”

“I’m sorry.” Jared leaned onto his elbows. “Is that why you weren’t keen on asking for a job at Heaven and Hell?”

“Partly. None of my family would approve. Except Ezra.”

“You didn’t know he was gay, did you?”

Callum shook his head. “I’m not angry or anything. My family aren’t tolerant at all. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t have said anything either.”

Jared was silent for a minute. “My parents didn’t want me to move here.”

“Really?”

Jared nodded. “And they definitely didn’t want me to work in a tattoo parlour.” He smiled sadly. “I was supposed to go into law.”

“Supposed to?”