Lies On The Lips

Part Twenty

Brett

I drum my fingers on my steering wheel as I sit parked outside Inked. It's the butt crack of dawn, so no one's here being that it's this early in the morning and a closed sign hangs in the window. Some of my tension bleeds away the moment Cope comes out and locks the door behind him.

He looks.

So good, considering the circumstances, and I feel both happy and angry. Who the hell kicks out their son for being bisexual? I thought america had come along way when it came down to same sex relationships but, apparently not in the backwoods. We still do things the old way. Everyone's sitting around thumping their bibles, reminding us that god made a penis to fit in a vagina. That its purpose was for reproduction. That anything else is but unnatural and wrong.

Anger simmers in my veins, just below the surface, clawing to get out.

Who the fuck says we want to reproduce? Our parents did a shitty job. I'm not ever hoping to make that same mistake. The door opens and Cope slides in. His scent, a mixture of cigarette smoke and his body spray filled my car, making me want to bury my nose in his neck and inhale him.

"Been smoking?" I ask as I put the jeep in reverse.

"Yeah," he grumbles. He's stressed, we both are. His dad kicked him out, cut him off and is shunning him. Reaching over, desperate to touch him, I grip his thigh with a comforting squeeze. His hand covers mine. "I know you're worried," Cope says, not meeting my gaze as he stares out the window. "But don't. Dad's too embarrassed to say anything to anyone."

"I'm not worried," I growled. It's a lie, I'm uneasy as hell, wondering if my dad is going to show up out of nowhere and kick my ass. Where Cope got kicked out, my dad would literally kick my teeth in and I already had enough of my face looking like shit, although it's not anymore. Back to normal, so to speak.

"Liar." Is all he utters. We thread our fingers together, despite the uncertainty of our lives, we have each other. Tethered to each other in the middle of a brewing storm. "So, another day of pretending?" He asks bitterly.

Shame courses through me. I'd give anything to hold hands with him as we walk the halls of school. Anything. But then what? The news would travel like wildfire back to our families. Everything hangs in the balance. My future especially.

"I guess."

He chuckled and squeezed my hand. "It helps to know you hate this every bit I do," he brings our joined hands to his mouth and kisses my knuckles. "Maybe one day we won't have to pretend anymore."

"Not maybe. We won't have to pretend." I assure him.

"Yeah, yeah," he utters. "After college. Get what you can from your dad. I can be your secret for four more years."

While he seems outwardly okay with that notion, I know better. I've grown up with Cope. Fought with him like a brother. Spent the night at his house more times than I can count. Held him through his tears when his dad was being a dick. He put up walls. Walls no one can see past. Walls built of lies. But I'm on the other side of that wall with him.

"Leah texted she was driving herself to school today," I tell him as we pull into the parking lot of school.

I park far away because there are a million cars already here and we both exit the car and grab our backpacks from the back seat. Last night we made quick work of packing up some clothes while his dad drank himself stupid in his home office. We stashed most of his things in my back seat and Jaxx let him sleep on the coach in the break room of Inked, but he needed to find somewhere else to go by the weekend. And he sure as hell can't stay at mine.

The urge to grab his hand is strong. As we walk side by side our arms brush against each other. His fingers danced across mine briefly. I'm thankful for the contact. He steps ahead of me as we squeeze between two trucks. Before we make it to the other side, he stops and spins around to face me.

"You're to fucking hot not to kiss right now," he murmers as he slides his palm to my neck and crushes his lips to mine.

My hands find his hips, pulling him against me. Our tongues meet in a heated frenzie, as we desperately take the stolen moment. He groans and his fingers slide into my hair, messing it up and then nips at my bottom lip.

"This is too hard. I hate your dad, I hate my dad...I hate everyone."

He laughs and pecks my lips. "Me too." And reluctantly backs away. I rake my gaze down his front to see the bulge in his tight jeans. If I had my way I'd slide my hand through one of his many holes and grab that perfect dick.

I sigh and reach a hand out unhappy at the fact we're no longer touching. His fingers slide against mine before he turns and walks away.

This is going to kill me.

I would give up everything for him.

It's not like I enjoy being at home with my abusive dad and wasted mom.

But my dad is vindictive as hell. He's not the type to cut me off and kick me out like Bryan did. No, my dad is worse. Evil. Cruel.

Maybe if we make it to graduation me and Cope can slip away unscathed.

Feels too easy.

Nothing is easy for me.

Lies On The Lips

"So, the boyfriend stepping up?" Asked Cope at our usual area for lunch.

"As much as one can in secret." She replies.

I felt angry and threw my crumpled up sandwich wrapper in the bin and moved from the picnic table. "This is bullshit," I moan. "Can't we just tell our parents to fuck off?"

Cope turns away from us and falls into a daydream and Leah picks at her damn grapes. "It's not just about us anymore Brett," I shot her a look. "You're dad is gunning for Cope."

"Why? he doesn't know about me and Cope."

She sighed and pushed her grapes away. "I know, but the baby thing has shook my dad up and your dad is using this to his advantage, even Bryan."

Cope turns to look at Leah, with an angry frown. "What? My dad, what's it got to do with him?"

Her glassy eyes meet mine. She’s pale and dark circles are under her eyes, her glasses magnifying her lack of sleep. "Your dad made it perfectly clear that this marriage will go on without a hitch. Or else."

"Or else what?" Cope demands. "There's nothing else my dad can do to me."

She drops her head, plucking another grape from the vine in her sandwich bag. "I wish that were all." Cope wraps an arm around her and hugs her to his side.

"Whatever it is, it’s not worth it."

She sniffles. "You. It’s you."

"Me?" Cope asks with a surprised laugh. Her head turns and she shoots me an apologetic look. A look that says, I’m sorry your father is a monster who plays with people’s lives. Me too, Leah. Me too. 

"Jason called my dad and threatened him. With you, Cope," she says, looking back at him.

Cope’s brows furrow. "Jason can’t touch me."

Unease stirs in my gut. "What do you mean with Cope? How?"

"He said since I was knocked up with your baby, that if I embarrassed the Cooper name by leaving Brett for Cope, then he’d destroy Cope. And while he was there, he made a call to the police commissioner." She lets out a choked sob and Cope hugs her tight. Our eyes meet over her head.

"What the fuck?" I mutter.

Cope’s jaw clenches and a vein throbs in his forehead. "Dad already cut me off and kicked me out. I don’t want to go to college. What the hell else can he do to me?"

She flinches and looks at him again. "Remember when that senator went to jail for sleeping with his teenage intern?" It was all over the news last year. The guy was a sick fuck sleeping with a sixteen-year old. "Do you remember two years ago when that huge supercenter was coming to town and then suddenly the property was uninsurable because of being in a massive flood zone?" she asks, her voice small.

"Vaguely," Cope bites out. "What’s the connection?"

She sighs. "Remember when that rich guy Mr. Evans’s wife tried to burn down the country club when we were like fifteen?"

"There was no proof, but everyone knew it was her. They left town to avoid the shame of her being a crazy ass." I say, remembering how much my mom yammered on about that gossip at the time.

Leah stands and walks over to the trashcan to dump her empty bag of grapes. She turns and regards us with a wobbly chin. "According to my eavesdropping, that was all your dad, Brett. They were people who got in the middle of his business dealings or pissed him off in some way. He paid a teenager for a fake scandal, a surveyor to misreport flood findings, and an alleged arson against a huge business rival." Her words sink in and my stomach clenches in disgust. "He makes people go away. He ruins them. My dad has played well with him throughout the years, but they’re on shaky ground right now." She swipes away a tear. "And now he’s threatening you, Cope. That is why Max can’t step up. That is why Brett and I have to continue on our merry little way. For you."

I scrub my palm down my face. I’ve always hated my father, but that hate grows exponentially each day. If he even tries to touch one hair on Cope’s head, I’ll kill him. "Why would your dad care if my dad threatened Cope?" I ask Leah, trying to make sense of all this.

"Because," she says, "Jason told my dad he’d ruin Cope and make sure Bryan knew it was my dad who’d orchestrated it all. And since Bryan funds a lot of my dad’s business ventures, things would get messy really fast for my dad, which he absolutely does not want."

"Fuck your dad." I grumble to her.

She sighs. "I’m not worried about my dad’s business problems. I’m worried about Cope getting caught in the middle. Which is why I marched in and told them both that Btett and I were going to stay together. I was trying to protect you, Cope."

"I can handle myself," Cope tells us boldly as he rises from the bench. "If he finds out, so fucking be it."

Leah hugs him and tilts her chin up to look at him. "Don’t. Whatever is running through your head, just don’t. Promise me."

"Sure," he says coldly. His answer is the truth. Because even though this is about him, he’s still protecting me. How this will impact me.

My heart aches inside my chest. "Same goes for you," Leah says to me. "Now’s not the time to be rebellious. Okay?"

I smile at her. "Sure." My answer is a lie. I’ll go head to head with my father before I let him destroy the love of my life. I will bring a war to his doorstep.