Page 111 of Naughty November

“Right, thanks.” I shoved the bag into my pocket. Now I would have to start an actual button collection.

“Aren’t you even going to look at it?”

“I will later. Wanna play the new game you sent me?”

“Sure, but first, I have a question.”

I perked up. “Yes.”

I loved our trivia.

“What is the tiny piece at the end of a shoelace called?”

“Hah.” I rolled my eyes. “That’s easy. An aglet.”

“Damn. I thought I had you with that one.”

“Nice try. But I know everything.”

Not everything but most things he knew. My brain absorbed information like a sponge absorbed water. I had an eidetic memory and read a ton of books.

“One day I’ll know something you don’t.”

Stepdad entered the hall, frowning, but he didn’t say anything to upset Kieran. I dragged Kieran’s suitcase up the stairs, staggering under its weight. Then I sat on the bed while he unpacked and threw items at me he’d brought back.

A magazine landed on the bed, and I grabbed it, always eager to find something interesting to read. I dropped the magazine as if it were on fire, but couldn’t tear my gaze away. On the cover, Kieran sat on a couch, smoking, while a slender guy with pale limbs and not a stitch of clothes on perched on his lap. Smoke curled around their nakedbodies, the guy’s head tilted back with Kieran’s hand on his throat. Kieran stared directly at the camera…at me.

“Hey!” Kieran snatched the magazine from the bed and bopped me over the head with it. “This ain’t for your eyes, all right?”

I nodded and scrambled off the bed.

“Where are you going?”

“I just remembered I gotta help Ma with something.”

I ran straight to my room and shut the door. If I’d stayed a second longer, I would have embarrassed myself with my hard-on.

Later that night, Kieran went out despite Stepdad arguing with him over dinner that this was his first night back from college and they wanted him to stay home. I waited until Mom and Stepdad went to their room, then slipped across the hall into Kieran’s. I knew it was wrong. My hands shook, but I had to look some more. I must have been mistaken. Maybe it was a man who looked like Kieran. Didn’t they say that everyone had a double? There was no way Kieran would have done that sort of thing.

I found the magazine in one of the drawers, buried beneath his T-shirts. Nope. It wasn’t a doppelgänger at all. It was Kieran doing adult stuff to that guy. I tucked the magazine under my shirt and rushed out of the room.

“Uff!” I ran into a solid body. Stepdad. I shrieked and jumped back. The magazine fell to the ground. Eyes wide, I froze.

“What’s this?” Stepdad bent to retrieve the magazine. He clenched his jaw, his nostrils flared, and his face turned red. He stumbled back and clutched his chest. “Where did you get this?”

“I-I-I?—”

“I knew it!” he said fiercely. “The minute he came out, I knew everything would go wrong. This! This filth is the reason he became bi.”

“I-I don’t?—”

“Go to your room,” he snapped. “You, I’ll deal with later.”

Terrified, I ran to my room and shut the door. Tears rolled down my cheeks. It was all my fault. I’d gotten Kieran into trouble.

I scrubbed my cheeks with my shirt, picked up my phone, and called him. The call was cut off twice. Then a text message came in.

Kieran: Call me back in thirty. I’m busy.