Disasterology 101 (53 page)

He swallowed hard, put on his sunglasses, and prayed he wouldn’t start crying right then and there.

Ashamed was too weak a word to describe how he felt, and even though Cedric was unaware of Kevin’s thoughts of the past few minutes, he hoped the guy forgave him for having them if he managed to find out one day.

“You’ve brought the kids around him?”

Kevin shook his head at Paul’s question.

Getting his kids involved with the man he was dating wasn’t something Kevin had done purposely. He’d had no clue how serious things would—or wouldn’t—get between them, and they were still working on the mechanics of their relationship.

But it had happened. Life got in the middle. Cedric had gone with him to the hospital, and somehow found a way to bond with his children. Kevin only had to look at them to know how very much taken they were with Cedric.

He shook his head slowly, feeling like shit for caring so much about people’s reactions to Cedric’s looks and presence.

He’s the man I love
, Kevin thought,
and that is what really matters.

Kevin took a deep breath, and let his new reality enfold him. He hadn’t lost his kids when he came out. His family still loved him. He had a boyfriend. And as much as he’d have liked for people to be accepting of him, he was ready to cut ties with anyone who wasn’t. As long as they didn’t make his children’s life miserable, losing old friends and acquaintances was something he could live with.

But he couldn’t lose Cedric, and it was time he stepped up to the plate.

Life-changing episode, indeed
.

“Hey, Dad,” said TK when he reached his side, closely followed by Cedric… and Jenny, and her boyfriend, and Kevin’s parents.

Wow
.

“Hey, champ.” Because he’d missed the end of the game he didn’t bring up the results. Instead he squeezed his son’s shoulder, and tried to read everybody’s mood.

Jenny appeared chagrined, and apologetic. Understandable, as it was it was the first time she saw Cedric after their first meeting. Kevin could tell she was also worried, probably about all the people surrounding them, and their attitudes.

Will seemed concerned, and held onto Jenny’s hand, ready to stop her from intervening in whatever was going on.

Kevin’s mom looked ready to go to war for him, and his dad would no doubt provide the guns.

A huge smile spread across Kevin’s face, and he leaned forward to give Cedric the greeting he deserved, only to hold back at the last second. He wanted to plant a good one on Cedric’s lips, but didn’t want to risk a fight breaking out in front of the kids. He settled for a hug instead, and even though it was brief it still managed to get some members of their audience in a snit, judging by the couple of outraged comments he heard.

“Hey, babe,” Kevin greeted.

Cedric smiled shyly and leaned against him. “Hey…” Kevin didn’t move away.

“Hi, Cedric!” Brianna said.

“Hey, beautiful.” Cedric extended one arm, and pulled Brianna to his side. “How are you doing?”

“I’m great!”

“Daddy, can we go for ice cream now?” Ava asked, letting go of Cedric’s neck, and launching herself into Kevin’s arms.

“Mom said we can,” TK added.

“She did?” Kevin glanced at Jenny for confirmation, and smiled when she gave it with a nod of her head.

“After ice cream you all have to come to our house,” his mom said. “We’ll visit for a while, and have biscotti and coffee… or tea. We’ll have some English tea.”

“You up for a visit with my folks?” Kevin whispered to Cedric after kissing Ava’s curls. “We don’t need to, but….”

“Would you like me to go?”

Kevin nodded. “Yeah.” He didn’t want to push Cedric, but he’d love for his parents to get to know the man who’d come to mean so much to him in so little time.

Cedric smiled at Kevin’s parents, and bowed his head. “Thank you for the invitation, Mrs. Morrison. I’d be delighted to visit with you.”

“Great!” she said, genuinely pleased that Cedric had accepted.

Kevin melted a bit. The combination of thuggish attitude and impeccable manners Cedric had going on was one of the things he liked the most about the guy, and damn if hearing him now didn’t make Kevin two hundred degrees hot for his Brit.

He cleared his throat, and shifted Ava to his side. “How long have you been here?” he asked.

“I got here at the beginning of the second half of the match.” Cedric took off his oversized sunglasses, and glared at the dozen people surrounding them. “Thought I’d give you time to sort things out before I came up.” His accent sounded more snobbish than ever, and his tone was clipped. There was no doubt he knew what was going on. “Is everything okay?”

“Of course it ain’t okay!” Paul. Again. Jesus. Was the man ever going to shut up? “How could anything be okay now that you two fag—”

“You’d better not say what I’m thinking you want to say, mate.”

Barely contained rage shone in Cedric’s eyes, and his tone was so menacing, Paul had no option but to take notice of it. He blanched a little, but he lifted his chin, trying to pretend he wasn’t intimidated. Cedric went through a lot of trouble to look like the kind of man who wouldn’t hesitate to beat someone to a pulp, and at the moment Kevin was damn happy to see it was working.

“I’d stick around, and teach you a lesson in tolerance and respect,” Cedric said as he perused Paul up and down. “But I can’t be arsed with bloody bigots like yourself.”

“Who the hell do you think you are, coming here and calling me names?” Paul yelled. Seriously, the man was an idiot. “Degenerates like the two of you shouldn’t
umph
!”

Cedric moved so fast, Kevin couldn’t have stopped him had he tried.

There was a collective gasp, and everybody took a step back when Cedric fisted Paul’s shirt and pulled up his five-foot-ten, two-hundred-pound frame. Hard. Paul ended up standing on the tips of his sneakers, and holding onto Cedric’s hoodie-covered arms for dear life.

“Shut up,” Cedric ordered. “And sod.
Off
.” He pushed Paul away, and wiped his gloved hand on his jeans at the same time as he made eye contact with every person in the suddenly mute crowd. “My most sincere apologies to all of you. I normally don’t get physical with anyone, but that wanker really got on my nerves.” He turned sideways, as if getting ready to leave, but must’ve had second thoughts because, two tugs of his lip ring later, he peeked at the crowd again. “I’m Kevin’s boyfriend, by the way. My name’s Cedric, and I assure you, I’m a law-abiding citizen. Don’t let my appearance or recent actions reflect on him. Okay… Right… I need to go vomit now.” He grabbed Brianna’s hand, and turned TK away. “You coming, pet?”

Kevin stood frozen in place after Cedric took his two oldest kids. A few seconds later he turned—slowly—and faced everybody’s reaction to his boyfriend’s little speech.

Not what he expected.

No outraged expressions—other than Paul’s—and nobody seemed to be offended. It was the total opposite. Women had that “awww-you’re-so-cute” look they got whenever babies or big-eyed puppies were involved, and most of the guys seemed to be either confused or amused.

Kevin latched onto that. He had no doubts it’d be a rocky road from that moment on, but he needed to believe everybody knew Paul was wrong, and Kevin and Cedric were decent people. Even if they had “butt sex”, and despite Cedric displaying some violent traits in front of the children that Kevin had done nothing to prevent.

He swallowed hard, and adjusted Ava in his arms. It wasn’t until then that he realized he’d been rubbing her little back all the time. No wonder she wasn’t grabbing his face, and trying to get his attention. She probably sensed something was wrong, and opted to let her daddy protect her.

Kevin took a deep breath.

His homosexuality and relationship status were public knowledge. He didn’t plan on it, but it had happened. There was no going back, and Kevin knew the only thing he could do now was to brace himself, and roll with the punches. Get over how rich Cedric was, how rich he’d never be, and brush off the huge chip on his shoulder.

The silence around him was deafening, and Kevin finally became aware of the eyes on him. He searched for something to say, but everything he came up with sounded contrived in his head.

What he wanted to do was run after his boyfriend. Kiss him silly, read him the riot act for his behavior in front of the children, and then thank him for not intervening immediately. He was convinced Barry and company’s unexpected act of solidarity would weigh heavily in other people’s opinions, and that wouldn’t have happened had Cedric come up the bleachers the second he’d noticed the confrontation.

Time to get out of here.

“Thanks for clearing up the definition of child molester, Barry,” he said, breathing in relief when the man shook the hand Kevin extended to him. “Thank you, guys,” he repeated, this time looking at Barry’s buddies. “Have a good afternoon, everyone. I’ll see you around.”

His mother took Ava from him, and Kevin was thankful for it. He needed his arms free so that he could wrap them around Cedric.

“He’s nothing like he looks like,” his mom whispered. “I like him.”

Kevin grinned at his mother. “So do I.”

“Lovely accent, too.”

“He’s from England.” Kevin gestured for Jenny and Will to get going, and started descending the bleachers. “Are you guys really okay with this?”

“You’re our son,” she answered, her tone fierce and protective. “It doesn’t matter to me who you love, as long as they love you too.”

“Thanks, Ma.” Kevin hugged her quickly, and planted a kiss on her wrinkled cheek. “You’re the best.”

“Of course I am!” She chuckled, and squeezed his left arm. “Now go check on that young man. He really looked like he wanted to throw up when he left.”

“And he probably did,” Kevin rushed to say, looking around the field, and frowning when he didn’t see Cedric and the kids. “There’s something you need to know, Ma.”

“What is it?”

“He’s a germaphobe.” He glanced over his shoulder to make sure his dad was also listening. “He has a thing about cleaning everything he comes into touch with, and he needs things to be in a specific order. Oh, and every once in a while he counts out loud. So don’t get offended if he’s not too comfortable in your house, or if he rearranges things, okay? Eventually he’ll get better… once he gets familiar with the new environment.”

“He counts,” his father repeated.

“He has OCD.”

Kevin looked around again. Had Cedric really thrown up? He wouldn’t be surprised if he had. He’d carried Ava and gotten in Paul’s face, and that was a lot more than Cedric could take sometimes.

“Oh, I see!” his mom said. “Like Margaret down our block.”

“Yeah….” Kevin smiled when Ava made a funny face at him. “Just let me take care of him, okay? And try not to stare if you see him do weird things.”

“Sure thing, son,” his dad said.

“You really care about him, don’t you?” his mom asked with a shaky voice. Whether it was because she was excited for him, or sad because she’d just gotten undeniable proof of his sexual orientation, he didn’t know.

Kevin searched his heart for an appropriate answer. “Care” didn’t begin to cover what he felt for Cedric. The guy had taken residence in his mind the first time he saw him, and had quickly made his way into Kevin’s heart.

It didn’t matter that it was too soon to be so involved. It didn’t matter that they belonged in different worlds. It didn’t matter that sometimes being around Cedric was harder than walking on egg shells. It didn’t even matter that, despite Cedric’s reassurance, they had yet to find out if dating a part owner of the company he worked for would have serious consequences for them.

Being with Cedric felt right, and Kevin liked to think he was exactly what the guy needed… but he couldn’t say any of this to his mother. Not until he had said it to his lover.