Page 328 of Shadowman

“Trust me, theconversationwill be the most awkward part,” I grumbled. “Just stand still and they’ll pretend they don’t see you.”

“Ugh. I’m pretty sure you told me they wanted you to marry a Korean girl from a good family… Then here comes a Brit who’s never held down a job for longer than a few months and spent his formative years either having sex for money or in an institution.AndI have a dick! Did I mention that??”

I didn’t want to laugh at him when he was clearly worried, but worry on Trevel is highly adorable. I love when he gets all jittery and starts rambling like a loon.

“Um, the dude you’re describing sounds like a catch. Sign me up.” I smirked at him, and he forced a scowl. “You know red is my favorite color flag.”

“I hate you,” he whined while I kissed him.

“Liar.”

We arrived at the penthouse, and my dad was surprised, to say the least. It was the first time we were seeing each other in four years, and I was just dropping by, unannounced, holding the hand of a tall British dude with tattoos and a lip piercing—he got it done shortly after we came back from London. It goes without saying that it’s insanely hot, and it makes my dick happy.

“It’s good to see you, Byron, but I wish you would’ve called first,” my father said, his eyes shifting between Trevel and me.

“Yea, well, I just wanted to talk to you about the penthouse,” I muttered, forcing off the instinct to feel like a child around him. “Jaelyn says you and Mom are moving back to Seoul…”

“You know we’ve wanted to return for quite some time.”

No,you’vewanted to return, and Mom just does whatever you say.

“Okay…”

“We would’ve liked to sell it, but I know you don’t want to do that,” he went on, the disapproval in his tone increasing by the second. “I assume even more now…”

His brow lifted, eyes moving between Trevel and me again. My blood was rolling to a boil.

I cleared my throat in an attempt to steady my tone. “What are you trying to say?”

“I’m not saying anything, Byron.” He sighed.

Suddenly, I was ten years old again. And he was carelessly explaining why coming to my tournament was awaste of everyone’s time.Not just his. Mine, the other kids,everyoneinvolved.

“No. You’re not saying anything,” I grunted. “So let me do it. You’re pissed off that Grandfather left your home in my name. You’re disappointed that I came back, when you thought I’d died or something, which let you off the hook pretending to care about me. And last but not least, you’re itching to get this process over with so you don’t have to deal with me telling you I’m bisexual and introducing you to my boyfriend. That sound about right?”

Pulling in a deep breath, I attempted to steady my heartrate while Trevel gasped a chuckle at my side. He clearly hadn’t been expecting all that… Honestly, neither was I. But once the words were on the march up my throat, there was no stopping them.

And no matter what happened from that point on, I could finally relax a little. Because I’d come out to my family. My identity was real, not only to me, but to them, whether they accepted it or not.

I was openly bisexual.Everywhere, not just in front of my friends, or tucked away on an island.

The way I felt instantly lighter soothed the sting of my father’s obvious disgust, as did the feeling of Trevel’s hand in mine, and his supportive presence by my side.

No, my father didn’t react the way you’d hope one would when coming out. Neither did my mother, who came home right as he was berating me about mydisgraceful lifestyle. She made sure to urge me not tothrow my life away for a phase.And neither of them said a goddamn word to Trevel, as expected.

At least my sister had the decency to act fine with it to my face—though she should really learn to control her weirded-out facial expressions a bit better.

Lovely people, I’m telling you.

I was so angry by the time I was storming out, I think the last thing I said to my father was, “I can’t wait to turn this place into the gayest gay sex club ever!”

Yea, maybe not my most mature moment, but fuck it. I’ve been dealing with their bullshit since I was a child. I think I’m entitled to some lashing out, especially since I don’t intend to speak to them ever again—or at least for a long time.

“Fuckin’ hell, Byron,” Trevel had laughed the moment we stepped inside the elevator. “That was amazing! You’re a savage.”

I huffed, shaking my head. “Right… Now they just think I’m having a gay tantrum. That’s why I can never speak to them again… Anything I do from here on out will be because I’mgay. Since they don’t believe in bisexuality and all.‘Byron’s not feeling well; he must have caught something during his gay sex orgy.’ ‘He never used to laugh like that or smile like that or talk like that… Must be a gay thing.’All kinds of offensive ass bullshit.”

“Baby, who cares what they think?” He moved in close and held me by the waist. “I know you don’t.”