Page 56 of His Secret Santa
“Are you going to the party?” Darren Pratt’s voice had an edge to it.
“Yeah,” Lincoln mumbled and picked at his dinner. He usually ate earlier than this, but it took till now to get enough control of his nerves to force down some food. The few bites he managed to swallow threatened to come back up.
“With McKenna and your friends?” his dad pressed. “They haven’t been around since your party. I thought I told you to fix things with them.”
“I’ve been… preoccupied,” Lincoln replied quietly.
“Get un-preoccupied and do as I say.”
“I don’t want to be with McKenna. I don’t even like her.”
“I don’t care. She’s the one for you—so fix it. You’re going to find out real soon that life isn’t about rainbows and romance. I told you before, you’re choosing a partner. You choose them for what they can bring to the table. Who gives a fuck if you love them, or even like them? None of that shit matters.”
Lincoln sighed. “It matters to me.”
“Then you’re an idiot.”
“Apparently so.”
Darren stepped forward and smacked Lincoln in the back of the head then jabbed a finger in his face as Lincoln’s eyes watered. “Get. Your. Shit. Together. Do you hear me? I’m done with your rebellious crap. You’re not going to throw your life away like your brother. I won’t allow it. Do you understand me?”
Lincoln sat in tense silence… and nodded. It was pointless to argue. Sam had learned that lesson real quick.
Sam was also the one who proved there was only one way to deal with men like Darren Pratt—and it wasn’t through rational discussion and reasoning.
Help me, big brother, to follow your lead.
• • •
When they pulled into the parking lot outside the spacious banquet hall, Holden instinctively looked for Lincoln’s Trans Am. But it was dark and there were too many cars.
You should’ve stayed home.
Jamie’s intentions were good, but Holden wasn’t up for this. Almost a week had passed since his birthday, yet his encounter with Lincoln felt like it had happened yesterday. The few days in between hadn’t eased the hurt inside or the ache pulsing through his heart. He wanted to believe the things he’d told Jamie, that he was fine, and he wasn’t thinking about Lincoln. But the truth was—Lincoln was all he could think about. Too often over the last week, he caught himself wondering what Lincoln would have said… if Holden had stayed to listen. Would he have forgiven Lincoln? Would they be together now?
Together? Do you really believe that? Lincoln isn’t ready to be “out”, and you know it.
It was better that he left. He didn’t have the will to resist the quarterback and would have likely ended up as the guy’s secret booty call, whenever he needed to scratch the “gay” itch. He didn’t want to be Lincoln’s dirty little secret. In his fantasies, Lincoln loved him openly.
Against his will, Holden’s mind leaped back two years to that night at the club. Holden had kissed the “stripper” and thanked him for… ‘letting me be me.’ The stripper had thanked him for the same. There was genuine gratitude in his tone then.
Don’t, he chided himself. Don’t start feeling “sorry” for him. Do you want to end up as his “mistress”, because that’s all you’d ever be to him, a side fuck and nothing more?
Jamie parked the car and the three of them climbed out.
“Can’t I just stay out here?” Holden sighed.
Jamie grabbed his arm. “No. For one, you’d freeze. For another, I want you there with me when we leap into the new year.”
Abby touched his back. “You’ll have a good time. If the unpleasant people are in there, we’ll just ignore them and have fun anyway.”
Some people couldn’t be ignored—refused to be ignored.
People like McKenna Peterson.
Would Lincoln be with her tonight?
Of course, he will. She’s his “beard”, he needs her.