Page 31

Story: Leave

Chapter 31

Riley

Nolan slept on my shoulder for the longest time. After so many months of keeping so much distance between us for so long, and after never so much as sharing the same bed with me, he was holding me close now. Even while he was asleep, the arm he had across my midsection was firm and strong.

My left arm had long since fallen asleep, and I was starting to get a cramp in my hip from not moving. I stayed still, though. It was a genuine miracle Nolan could sleep right now, and I wasn’t about to disturb him.

I had no idea if the sex had helped, or if sleep was helping. What could help in a situation like this? Short of taking him to one of the dispensaries we’d laughed at the other day and then hoping neither of us got tested at work any time soon, I couldn’t think of anything that would make him genuinely feel better. Sex, weed, alcohol, sleep—those were all short-term solutions. Whatever fallout his revelations had on his family or on him, I suspected it would all last longer than any substance or escape could ever hope to.

For now, I just kissed the top of his head and let him sleep.

I was starting to doze off again myself when someone knocked at the door. I tensed, though Nolan didn’t move.

Housekeeping wouldn’t be coming around this late, would they?

Wait, didn’t his family know where we were staying? And we’d kept our phones on, but we had been in the shower for a little while, and I’d slept a bit myself. If someone had called or texted during that time…

Shit. I needed to find out who it was.

Fortunately, Nolan and I had both pulled on sweats earlier, so I didn’t have to wake up him to tell him to get dressed. Instead, I carefully freed myself from his embrace, letting him sink gently back onto the pillow. He stirred a little and murmured in his sleep, but he didn’t wake up.

I grabbed a keycard off the nightstand and went to the door. When I peered through the peephole, to my surprise, the person standing on the other side was… Sophia.

Her eyes were red from crying, though she seemed composed now.

I opened the door and stepped out into the hall, carefully and quietly closing it behind me. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to Nolan.” She folded her arms loosely across her hoodie, as if she were trying to keep from shaking rather than being defensive.

I chewed my lip. “He’s asleep.”

Her brow pinched. Then she looked me up and down, and she must’ve put some pieces together, because she blushed bright and looked away. “I’m… I’m sorry. Maybe I should’ve texted, or…”

“No, it’s okay.” I idly turned the keycard between my fingers. “Is, um… Is there a new development, or…?”

She pushed out a breath and shifted her weight. “I just want to talk to him. Now that everyone’s had a chance to process a bit.” She shyly met my gaze, and when she spoke, her eyes welled up and her voice shook. “I’m not angry at him. I’m not here to yell at him or anything. I promise.”

I believed that without a second thought. Nolan had been through the wringer tonight, but so had she, and she looked both raw and genuine right then.

“Let me wake him up,” I said. “See if he’s up for talking to anyone. It’s, um… It’s been a tough day.”

“I know,” she whispered unsteadily. “And if he doesn’t want to see me, I’ll leave. I promise.”

I nodded. “Okay. Give me a minute.”

With that, I slipped back into the room. I hated to disturb Nolan when he was sleeping, especially right now, but this seemed important, so I sat on the edge of the bed.

“Nolan?” I touched his arm. “Hey, baby. You awake?”

He wrinkled his nose and burrowed into the pillow, grumbling adorably. I grimaced; I really, really didn’t want to be waking him up. Still…

“Nolan?” I carded my fingers through his short hair.

He made a soft, disgruntled noise, and his eyelids fluttered open. When he saw me, he pulled his hand out from beneath the pillow and searched out mine. As soon as our fingers clasped together, he closed his eyes again. “What time is it?”

“Uh…” I wasn’t even sure. “I don’t know. But… Sophia is here.”

In an instant, he was awake, eyes open and sharply focused. Turning on his side, still gripping my hand, he looked around the room, then up at me. “She is? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “But she said she wants to talk to you. If you don’t want to see her, she’ll leave, but…” I glanced toward the closed door, then met his gaze again. “She’s not here to read you the riot act or anything.”

Nolan sat up, pausing to roll his shoulders and crack his neck. “Where is she?”

“In the hall. I wanted to see if you were up for seeing her first.”

The look he gave me then was soft and sweet, and he cupped my cheek as he drew me in for a kiss. “You’re the best. You know that?”

I flashed him a toothy grin. “Damn right I do.”

That got the desired laugh out of him, and he rolled his eyes. He kissed me once more, then got to his feet. “Let me take a leak and put on a shirt.”

I put one on myself, and when Nolan was ready, I opened the door. Sophia had been leaning against the wall, thumbing through something on her phone, and she raised her eyebrows when she saw me. I nodded into the room. Her relief was undeniable, as if she’d really expected us to chase her off.

As soon as she saw him, her eyes welled up, and she put her hands to her mouth. “Jesus, Nolan. I am so…” She squeezed her eyes shut, and a few tears rolled free. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Nolan came closer and hugged her gently, dwarfing her tiny frame as she leaned into him. “You didn’t do anything.”

“But I made you spend time around—around someone who did that to you.”

“You didn’t know.”

“No, I didn’t. And I…” She gently freed herself from his embrace and started pacing the small room, staring down at her wringing hands. “I can’t lie, Nolan—I didn’t want to believe you. It… It’s not that I think you’d lie, especially about something like that. It was just…” She threw up her hands and looked at Nolan, shame and desperation in her eyes. “I know I should believe people when they say someone—when they say someone did that to them. I know I should. But it was too horrible to imagine my best friend doing that, you know?”

Nolan nodded silently.

“And I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I doubted you and…” Sighing, she shook her head. “Then Leann accused you,” she went on with a pained expression, “and something didn’t sit right.”

“What do you mean?” Nolan’s tone gave away nothing.

Sophia swallowed. “I started thinking about how she is around you. How she’s been all these years.” Raking an unsteady hand through her hair, she shook her head. “She always wants to be around you. Like, she’s kind of weirdly obsessed with seeking you out in a crowd, you know?”

Nolan shuddered, hugging himself and avoiding her gaze. “Yeah. I know.”

“Right, so she’s always been weird about you. And you’re always trying to put space between the two of you. That’s…” Sophia’s shoulders dropped. “That’s not telling me she’s the victim in this equation.

Nolan’s lips parted as he met her gaze.

Her eyes welled up again as she whispered, “I believe you, Nolan. I hate that you went through it. But I know you’re not lying.”

The emotions playing out on his face were hard to read. Some guilt, some relief; I could only imagine what it was like to be in his shoes right now.

I didn’t know if it would do any good, but I touched his back to reassure him I was here. Some tension melted out of his posture, and when he glanced at me, his expression softened.

“I know it’s been a long day,” Sophia said. “But… do you think you can handle seeing the family? Tonight?”

All that tension snapped right back into his muscles. “Uh…”

“Everyone is back at your parents’ house,” she said evenly. “No one’s getting the cops involved right now. It’s just the family. And… I think it would be good if you came so we could all talk things through.”

Nolan flinched and looked away.

“Everyone’s really confused and concerned right now,” she went on. “Yeah, there’s a lot of anger, too, but I think they need to hear you out. Now that everyone’s calmed down a little.”

He looked at me as if to ask what I thought.

I slid my hand up and down his back. “Whatever you want to do, baby. I’m with you.”

The ghost of a smile flickered across his face.

Clearing his throat, he faced her again. “What, um… What about the wedding?”

Sophia grimaced painfully. “I don’t know yet. We’ll… That’s something we all need to figure out, too. But… not until we do something about this mess. We can’t just go through with the wedding like nothing happened.”

“I’m so sorry,” Nolan whispered. “I fucking ruined your wedding, and—”

“Nolan.” Her voice was firm, but not unkind. “You didn’t ruin anything.”

“But I—”

“No.” She shook her head. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You’ve been carrying this horrible secret all this time, and without even realizing it, we were slapping you over the head with it. The only one who should be sorry is Leann for what she did to you. She caused all of this. Not you. Blaming you would be like… It would be like if someone threw a bowl of hot soup on you and we said you ruined the wedding by shouting in pain and then going to the hospital. Yes, I’m crushed. I’m devastated. And I feel terrible that we—whether we knew it or not—put you through this. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

I seriously thought Nolan was going to break down, and I wrapped my arms around him. I had no idea what to say, but the way he held on said I’d made the right move.

No one spoke for a long moment. I couldn’t begin to imagine what was going through either of their heads, but I didn’t envy either of them.

Finally, Sophia whispered, “I’m sorry for all of this, Nolan.”

“No.” He shook his head, loosening his grip on me. “If it’s not my fault, then it’s sure as shit not yours.” He glanced up at me, then back at her. “I’ll go and face the family. But only if Riley comes too.”

“Of course,” she said without hesitation, and a faint smile appeared on her lips. “It’s been obvious since you guys got here that he protects you. I wouldn’t ask you to go without him.”

That, more than my touch, eased some of the tightness out of his muscles, and he relaxed.

“Okay.” He nodded sharply. “Okay, I’ll, um…” He looked at me. “You up for it?”

The last thing I wanted to do was face his family, especially if Andrew and Leann would be there. But more than anything in the world, I wanted to be there for Nolan and support him. If this was what he needed, then I was there. Wholeheartedly.

“I am, yeah.”

“Okay.” He exhaled. “Let me, um… Let me grab a shower. Then we’ll head over.”

He’d already showered, but I suspected it was a move to buy himself some time and clear his head. I didn’t object at all.

“All right.” Sophia nodded. “I’ll meet you back at your parents’ place.”

Nolan returned the nod.

After she’d left, I faced him and slid my hands over his waist. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I think so.” He wrapped his arms around me. “You’ll be there. I’ll be okay.”

I smiled. “I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

“Thank you.” His smile was faint but genuine, and his kiss was short and light. “I love you, Riley.”

“I love you too.”

I’d had some extraordinarily uncomfortable conversations with my family. We’d had some lengthy “we need to talk” sit-downs that had been awful for everyone involved, and they’d left me wrung out and frustrated afterward.

But I don’t think I’d ever experienced anything quite like settling into the Tyler family’s living room tonight.

In silence, we sat around the coffee table like someone was about to have an intervention. Nolan took one of the recliners. I took the other, but kept my hand clasped in his on his armrest. Andrew and Leann were on the loveseat, both shooting daggers out their eyes at us. On the couch, Sophia sat beside Carol and John. Matt, evidently too restless to sit, stood behind the couch and fidgeted.

Nolan’s mother folded her hands in her lap and cleared her throat. “Now that we’ve all had a chance to catch our breath, I think it’s time we had a talk.” She swept her gaze around the room. “As a family.”

“Good idea,” Andrew growled. “Why don’t we start with finding out why one family member would accuse another of something like that?”

I bristled but said nothing.

Nolan’s fingers tightened in mine. Looking right at his brother, he said, “You know me. You know I wouldn’t throw something like that around lightly. I—”

“Are you suggesting I don’t know my wife?” Andrew demanded. “Because you’re trying to tell me she’s a—” He made a disgusted face. “Christ, Nolan…”

“Why is this only coming out now?” Carol asked, expression pained. “Why today?”

“I think that’s my fault,” I said timidly. “I was worried, and I think I pushed too hard to—”

“No,” Nolan said. “No, it’s not your fault. After the bachelorette, and the way Leann was acting at the rehearsal, I…” He shook his head. “I guess I hit my breaking point.”

“Bullshit,” Leann muttered.

Sophia was chewing her lip so hard, I was surprised it wasn’t bleeding. Matt put a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze as if to reassure her he was there. She didn’t look up, but she put a hand over his.

Nolan looked around the room at his gathered family members. “You’ve all been wondering for years why I suddenly ditched a full ride scholarship to join the military, right?”

Everyone tensed, exchanging puzzled looks before turning them on Nolan. One by one, they all nodded.

“Is that…” John stared at him. “Is this why you did that?”

Nolan nodded slowly.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Carol whispered. “Nolan, we… You never said a word.”

“Who would’ve believed me?” Nolan shifted uncomfortably. “But knowing the way I suddenly changed back then, and what I said earlier—do you really think this is just something I made up this afternoon?”

His parents and siblings exchanged horrified and confused glances.

“Nolan.” John looked right at him, and he seemed to be internally bracing. He took his wife’s hand and quietly said, “Please. Tell us what happened.”

Nolan grimaced. “How much do you want to know?”

“All of it.”

Carol’s features crumpled slightly as if she were getting ready to fall apart, and she seemed to be gripping John’s hand for dear life.

“Are you guys really entertaining this?” Andrew growled. “Do you honestly think my wife—”

“I think I want to hear my son out,” his father snapped. “We heard her side. Now you’re both going to sit there and shut your mouths while we hear his side.”

Everyone in the room went completely still. Andrew and Leann were clearly not happy, but they didn’t say anything.

John faced Nolan again. “Let’s hear it.”

Nolan glanced at Leann. “With her in here?”

“Why not?” Andrew asked in a challenging tone. “You don’t think she should be allowed to face her accuser?”

I bit back a comment about how in my line of work, victims and suspects made statements privately. Suspects could face their accusers in court.

But this wasn’t a police precinct or a courtroom. This was a family trying imperfectly to figure out what the hell had happened. It was not the time for me to play cop—just supportive boyfriend.

“If she had the chance to say her piece privately,” I said, “maybe he should too.”

Andrew glared at me.

Nolan squeezed my hand and shook his head. “No. I can… I can do it with her here.” He narrowed his eyes at her, and his voice sharpened as he added, “It isn’t like I’ll be saying anything she doesn’t already know.”

Anger flashed in both Andrew and Leann’s faces, but a sharp ahem from John kept everyone quiet.

Turning to Nolan, John said, “It’s up to you. We can do this now, with everyone in the room. Or we can—”

“This is fine,” Nolan croaked. “I’d rather just say it all once. ”

That I could believe.

“All right.” John nodded. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Nolan stared down at our hands for a moment, then looked at me, brow creased. I nodded and squeezed his hand. He returned the nod.

Facing his family again, he took a deep breath, and just like he had with me the day after the bachelorette party, he opened up that vein.

I’d heard it before. I’d seen his trauma play out in his eyes and his body language. But hearing it now was like getting the gut punch all over again. Matt, Sophia, Carol, and John all vacillated between shock and nausea; Matt turned green enough at one point, I wasn’t surprised to see him eyeing the hallway. There was a small bathroom there, and he was probably gauging if he could get there fast enough. Sophia just kept getting paler and paler, her eyes wide and her jaw slack.

Carol made judicious use of the tissue box on the coffee table. I didn’t blame her; I couldn’t imagine what it was like to hear her own son describing the things he’d been through.

Nolan’s dad kept a stoic face, his jaw so tight I was surprised I couldn’t hear his molars grinding, but his eyes gave him away. He was old school—the kind of guy who didn’t let people see him get teary-eyed—but there was only so much someone could keep this kind of pain and horror beneath the surface.

I didn’t let myself look at Andrew or Leann. Just hearing Nolan rehash what she did to him had me so angry I could barely see straight, and if I caught either of them shaking their heads or rolling their eyes, shit might get ugly.

“That’s why the rehearsal got me.” Nolan sounded hoarse, as if his voice were as raw as he was. “The way she kept falling into me, and when she—” He shuddered, swallowing hard like he really thought he might get sick. “When she landed on top of me on the pew, I just…” He shook his head. “I hit my breaking point.” To Matt and Sophia, he said, “I’m sorry. I know it was the worst possible time. But I just couldn’t handle it.”

They both nodded, looking utterly shell-shocked.

Carol dabbed at her eyes. John just stared at his son, obviously struggling to process what he’d heard.

“I didn’t hear Leann’s side of it,” Nolan said evenly. “But… that’s mine. That’s all of it.”

It wasn’t. He’d left out a few details that were probably too close to the bone. Or maybe just things he didn’t want his parents to hear.

The gist was there, though. There was no mistaking what he was accusing Leann of doing, and my stomach twisted at the thought of how she’d try to convince everyone things hadn’t happened that way.

“My God, Nolan,” his mother said shakily after a while. She sniffed sharply and wiped at her eyes.

John let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Leaning hard on her husband, Carol whispered, “I can’t believe…” She trailed off as fresh tears welled up.

“You shouldn’t believe him,” Leann said. “He’s lying.”

I had to literally bite my tongue to keep from lashing out. Everyone else in the room stayed quiet, including Nolan. I could only imagine what was going through their stunned minds; I’d heard his story once before, and I still struggled to process it all.

Leann must have taken everyone’s silence as siding with Nolan, because she sat up and demanded, “What is wrong with you people? Don’t you know you’re supposed to believe women?”

“Oh shut the fuck up with that,” I snapped before I could stop myself. Every head turned toward me, and Nolan’s hand twitched in mine, but I kept going. “Yes, we’re supposed to believe victims—not just women, victims . ‘Believe victims’ doesn’t mean we don’t investigate the accusation and make sure the statement lines up with the facts. And ‘believe women’ doesn’t mean that if a woman accused of sexual assault turns the accusation around on the other person, we automatically take her word over his. Get a fucking grip.”

“You automatically believed him.” She pointed sharply at Nolan, and I hoped to God everyone in the room noticed the way he flinched. “Where’s your facts with him? Huh? Where’s your—”

“You mean besides the part where he does his level best to stay away from you, and you do every fucking thing you can to put your hands on him?”

“Riley,” John warned, as if my language was the problem right now.

I barreled on. “Listen, Leann. I’m a cop. I’ve dealt with sexual assault victims, and people like you are the reason both men and women are afraid to report what happened because they won’t be believed.” I stabbed a finger at her. “ You’re the fake accuser everyone uses to shame the real victims into silence, and you’re a predator and a rapist yourself.” I made zero effort to rein back the disgust as I finished with, “Go fuck yourself, you piece of shit.”

“Hey!” Andrew flew to his feet. “Don’t you talk to my wife like that!”

“I’ll talk to my boyfriend’s rapist however I see fit,” I threw back.

Andrew came at me, but his dad and younger brother stopped him.

I didn’t even realize I’d been posturing up myself until Nolan gently reined me back.

“Don’t,” he whispered. “He’s not worth your career.”

The words “fuck my career, I will fuck his world up” died on my tongue when I met my boyfriend’s eyes. They were on fire with anger, but he was also clearly worried and just miserable being here.

My fury abated in an instant. As much as I would absolutely go to blows for him, he was under enough stress right now. He blamed himself for ruining the wedding. He’d also blame himself if I wound up with so much as a scratch after getting into it with Andrew.

I put my hand over his and nodded. “I’m good.” Speaking more calmly now, I looked right at Leann. “In my line of work, we’re trained to believe people—men and women. That means we take a statement, investigate the case, and figure out what happened. It doesn’t believe the other person is guilty until proven innocent.

She narrowed her eyes. “Unless you’re sucking his dick apparently.”

That prompted a wave of disapproving looks and grumbling. Andrew worked his jaw but didn’t speak.

“Actually,” I said. “Nolan didn’t tell me you assaulted him. I figured it out.”

She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Sophia fidgeted on the couch. “What do you mean, you figured it out?”

“I knew he had trauma,” I said. “Some of it, I’m trained to see. Some of it, I just picked up on. After a while, seeing how he interacted with people, and then watching the two of them”— I gestured at Nolan, then Leann—“interact, I put the pieces together.”

Nolan’s cheeks were red, and he kept his eyes down, refusing to look at anyone. I squeezed his hand. He squeezed back.

“So what?” Leann snapped. “He’s awkward with girls. He always has been.”

“There’s awkward with girls,” I growled. “And there’s going white as a sheet when a specific woman unexpectedly walks into the tux fitting.”

Matt and Sophia both sucked in air.

“Are you—” Matt’s eyes were huge. “You didn’t say anything, though.”

“No, I didn’t.” Nolan tipped his head toward me. “But did you notice when he suddenly left with Leann and Carly to get coffees?”

Matt’s jaw was slack. Sophia put a hand to her lips.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Leann said. “His delusional boyfriend grabs us to go get coffee, and that makes me a rapist?” She snorted derisively. “Give me a break.”

“No, but he’s right.” Matt sounded dazed. “I remember Nolan was totally chill that day, and then he just suddenly seemed…” He looked at Nolan. “I seriously thought you were about to have a combat flashback or something. The way you went from calm and cool to… that. ”

Nolan nodded slowly. “Yeah. It was…” He gestured at Leann.

Her response was an ugly laugh and another eyeroll.

“You can laugh all you want,” Nolan said coldly, “but we both know it’s true. And we both know you were after me from the moment I came out as gay. You were the first to tell me I just needed to fuck the right girl so I’d realize I wasn’t gay after all.”

Andrew turned a disgusted face on his wife. “I, um… I do remember you saying that. While he was in high school.”

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “That doesn’t mean I’d rape him. Good God. Don’t tell me you believe him!”

“I don’t,” he said quickly. “But I mean, you did say—”

“Because I didn’t think a kid that young knew what he was talking about,” she snapped. “He didn’t even know who he was, so how the hell did he know he was gay?”

“Except I am gay,” Nolan growled.

She rolled her eyes again.

His fingers tightened in mine as his jaw worked. “Here’s a thought—speaking of high school, why don’t you tell them why you still call me ‘Gumby’ after all this time?”

Leann barked a caustic laugh. “Please. Everyone called you that in high school.”

“Yeah. They did.” He narrowed his eyes. “But you didn’t. Not until the third time you assaulted me, when—”

Andrew scoffed. “For God’s sake—I still don’t buy that you would let someone do that to you three goddamned—”

“I didn’t let her do a fucking thing.” Nolan snarled. “Or do you want to hear about the fourth time? When it happened at that cabin we all stayed in one year for the holidays?”

Everyone in the room froze.

“Bullshit,” Leanna growled. “You attacked me. You told me if I didn’t stay quiet, you’d—”

“ You told me if I didn’t stay quiet, you’d tell everyone that I assaulted you,” Nolan said through his teeth. “Just like you’re doing now. You threatened to scream, and then tell everyone I raped you. And that you’d have evidence because we’d also done it a few hours earlier while everyone else was asleep.”

My teeth snapped shut as I stared at him. He hadn’t told me about that part.

“Wait, wait, back up.” Matt shook his head. “Are you saying you two slept together that night, and then—”

“I’m saying I woke up with her on top of me.” Nolan’s voice wavered. “And then the next day, she told me there was plenty of physical evidence that we’d—” He swallowed hard, his jaw working as if he were about to throw up. I gave his knee a reassuring squeeze, and after a moment, he went on, “If she told someone I’d raped her, there’d be physical evidence that… that wouldn’t look good for me. And the only way she’d stay quiet about it was if we did it again. Right then. With the whole family right down the hall.”

“So you weren’t forced,” Andrew said coldly.

“Coercion is still rape,” I growled.

Andrew rolled his eyes and held his wife closer.

Matt fidgeted. “What about the nickname? Why is that important?” He half-shrugged. “We all called you that.”

Nolan pressed his lips together. “Yeah. But she can tell you why she started calling me that. Can’t you, Leann?”

Leann rolled her eyes. “I used it just like everyone else.”

“No, you didn’t. And you’re the only one who still uses it. Why, Leann? Tell them why? Because it had nothing to do with wrestling.”

“Bullshit,” she fired back. “You’re full of it.”

“Just fucking tell us, Nolan,” Matt demanded. “Whatever it is, just—”

“Because the first couple of times I was so fucked up—drugged or something, I don’t even know—that I couldn’t keep it up.”

Once again, the whole room fell silent. Nobody moved or made a sound.

Nolan’s face reddened, and he swore as he rubbed the back of his neck. I squeezed his leg again, and he put his hand over the top of mine. His palm was sweating. Couldn’t say I was surprised.

“Why not press charges, then?” John asked quietly. “Why not tell us so we could do something?”

Nolan shook his head. “I’ve seen how hard it is for women to get people to believe them. You really think a state champion wrestler is going to convince anyone that a girl half his size raped him?”

Leann scoffed. “No, because it’s a lie .”

Nolan worked his jaw some more and refused to look at anyone. Silence hung in the room like dust after an explosion, and I held my breath, waiting for someone to speak. For someone to do something. I had tons of training on dealing with the aftermath of sexual assault, but the Navy sure as shit hadn’t covered any of this.

It was Sophia who finally spoke.

“I believe Nolan,” she declared.

“What?” Leann whirled on her. “You’re taking his word over mine? What the hell?”

“No, Leann.” Sophia locked eyes with her best friend. “I saw the way you were with him at the bachelorette. I saw the way you were at the rehearsal.” She shook her head slowly as disgust and sadness mingled in her eyes, and her voice wavered as she asked, “How could you do that to him? I… God, what is wrong with you?”

“Nothing is wrong with me!” Leann flailed her hand at Nolan again. “I’m telling you, he—”

“Is that why you insisted on having him at the bachelorette?” Sophia snarled. “Is that why you were so insistent that we needed a guy with us, and oh, hey, our gay brother-in-law was the perfect—are you serious?”

“Wait, that was your idea?” Matt asked Leann.

Leann sputtered something, but Sophia coldly said, “Yeah, it was. I didn’t think it was necessary to have any guys with us. She wouldn’t let it drop, and acted like we’d be so much safer, especially once we started drinking.”

Leann pressed her lips together.

“And she specifically wanted Nolan?” Matt asked.

“Well, why not?” Leann crossed her arms. “No straight man was ever going to come to a male strip club with us.”

“Sure,” John said, “but why would you ask her to bring along the man you said attacked you?”

My spine straightened. Beside me, Nolan’s teeth snapped shut so hard I heard them.

Andrew’s eyes went wide, and he turned a puzzled look on his wife. “You wanted him to come along? After he…”

“I said I wanted a guy to come along,” Leann said.

“No,” Sophia said evenly. “You said you wanted Nolan specifically.”

“What other gay guy do we know?” Leann threw back. “None of the straight guys were willing to go to a club like that.”

“There were half a dozen gay guys on our guest list.” Matt sounded gobsmacked. “You could’ve asked any one of them to—”

“Would you have trusted them with your fiancée at a club?” Leann snapped.

“If the only other option was the guy who raped the maid of honor?” Matt threw up his hands. “Um, yes?”

Leann was so red she was almost turning purple at this point. Then she got up. “You people are disgusting. You’re going to find any reason you can to believe him over me. Fuck all of you.”

Then she stormed out of the living room. A second later, the house’s front door banged shut so hard, everyone jumped and the picture frames rattled on the walls.

Andrew got up. “I meant what I said earlier,” he hissed at Nolan. “You are dead to me.” Then he stalked out after his wife. Again, the door slammed shut, startling everyone and further dislodging picture frames.

Silence settled in. Everyone exchanged looks, but no one said anything. No one moved. Confusion and uncertainty hung in the air like smoke; it was just hard to tell if I was smelling a dying fire or one that was about to engulf the entire room.

After a solid minute, Nolan rose. “I need some air.”

With that, he walked out of the living room, and a moment later, the back door opened, then closed.

Carol started to quietly cry. John put an arm around her, but from his expression, he was struggling to keep it together, too.

Matt and Sophia both just seemed to be in a state of shock.

I stayed where I was, frozen with indecision. I didn’t know if Nolan needed comfort or space.

My boyfriend was in more pain than he’d probably ever been in his life.

And I had no idea what to do for him.