Page 99 of His Temptation

Ryan brought his head back and smacked me in the face, causing me to lose my hold on him. Then he was grabbing Cason and shoving him against the wall, punching at his gut again.

“I trusted you,” Ryan said, losing momentum after a few punches and slumping to the floor, his knuckles red. “I see now why you were so interested in my relationship with my dad. You’re fucking unbelievable.”

“I’m sorry,” Cason said again, stepping away from the wall. “I-I’ll leave.”

“No,” I said, reaching for him.

But he put his hands up and jerked away from me. “Don’t, Emery. Just don’t.”

As Cason walked down the hall, Ryan glared up at me from his spot on the floor. “I won’t forgive you for this.”

“We didn’t mean to hurt you,” I said, feeling at a loss. “It’s complicated.”

“Yeah, sure it is.” Ryan stood on shaky legs. “You’re fucking my best friend. What, ran out of guys your own age?”

Cason came back into the room, wearing his clothes from the night before and holding his keys. He didn’t even look at me as he headed for the door that led into the garage.

“I see how it is,” Ryan called out to him. “Running away like a damn coward.”

“What do you want me to say, Ryan?” Cason said. “I fucked up, okay? I shouldn’t have gone behind your back. But you know what? I don’t regret it, and I’mnotsorry.”

“Wow, you suck at apologies.”

“If you weren’t so stuck up your own ass, we wouldn’t have had to hide it from you,” Cason said, as more tears streamed down his face. “But, no. Instead, you had to act like a damn homophobic brat and treat Emery like shit, therefore makingmefucking terrified to tell you. So go ahead and blame me and Emery forgoing behind your back,but then take a damn good look in the mirror and ask yourselfwhywe kept it from you.”

“Fuck you, Cas.”

“Enough,” I said, and both of them looked at me—one with anger and one with a sadness so profound my heart cracked even more than it already had. “We’re all adults here. Act like it.”

“I have a better idea.” Ryan strode toward the door. “I’m outta here. You two have fun.”

“Ryan, wait,” I said, going after him. But then Cason was leaving too, walking into the garage and getting into his car. “Cason! Goddammit.”

Ryan peeled out of the driveway and sped down the road as Cason backed out of the garage. He stopped and looked at me standing on the porch. I shook my head, imploring him with a look to come back into the house.

But he didn’t.

He left too.

And then I was alone, left with nothing but guilt and a hole in my heart.

***

“Come on, answer,” I said as I called Cason for the fourth time that day. His voicemail picked up, and I didn’t bother leaving a message.

I doubt he’d listen to it anyway.

Five days had passed since Ryan found out about us, and the only interaction we’d had was a text Cason had sent that just said,We can’t do this anymore.

He had read—but ignored—every text I sent after that. He refused to return my calls.

Ryan wasn’t speaking with me either. But I sure got an earful from Amber. Ryan told her, and she called yelling at me and calling me a pervert. She then said I had confused Cason andturned him gayand that I should’ve been ashamed of myself for corrupting such a good kid.

My life was in shambles.

The only thing keeping me sane was my work. I threw myself in it, staying late at the office every night that week because I dreaded going back to an empty house. I had to prepare for court for an upcoming drug-related case and then try to reach an agreement with the other side in a contested divorce.

Jeff Ritter’s second appeal had been denied, and he had decided not to go for a third. His case had done nothing but stress me out, so having it finally be over was a small bit of relief in an otherwise shitty week.