Family Ties and Family Lies by Julie Lynn Hayes

Author:Julie Lynn Hayes [Hayes, Julie Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-63477-796-4
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2016-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

I EXPECTED Ethan to demand some sort of explanation from his father. Ask him what the hell he was doing here—what they were doing here—and with… with… that sleazy bit of woman’s lingerie sitting in their cart. No way did I think the man could spin it into official church business.

No. Fucking. Way.

On the other hand, you’d think Reverend Thorne would volunteer the story, if everything were open and aboveboard. You would think. And yet no one was saying anything. Thorne and Heather just looked… guilty. I imagined this was what Cassius and company looked like on their way into the Senate on the Ides of March.

No one seemed inclined to speak. It seemed as though everyone else knew the answers to the questions I was dying to ask. Was I the only one who was clueless here?

I started to open my mouth, which probably would have been a huge mistake, as I’d probably just put my foot in it, when I caught a glimpse of Ethan’s face. I’d never seen him so red. He was clearly upset. Furious even. Everything else took second place in that moment. I grabbed Ethan’s arm. I needed to get him away from his father. Like right now.

But how to do it without igniting this veritable powder keg, which could be detrimental to Ethan and me?

And then I had it, an idea that was bound to distract Ethan from this tragedy in the making and focus him on something else, namely me. More particularly, me being hurt and needing his attention. I’d just managed to tear my stockings, and my leg was bleeding. No, it wasn’t serious. But it might be just what I needed to save Ethan.

I gave an exaggerated little whimper. Ethan turned to me, instantly, alarm in his eyes.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” I said, taking an exaggerated step toward the cart. I cast a quick glance at my injured leg, deliberately directing his attention toward it. A trail of blood ran thinly from the cut on my upper calf, down toward my shoe.

I knew Ethan was far from being dumb, and he would certainly know that small cut, while bloody, was not life-threatening. But it was a way out of our current predicament.

“It’s something we need to take care of,” he insisted. “Do you think you can make it to the checkout?”

I nodded and gave him a brave smile. “Then let’s go now,” he said. For an irrational moment, I thought he was going to put me into the cart, and I was surely going to draw the line there, but sanity prevailed. He put his arm about my waist, told me to hold on to the cart, and we exited the lingerie department without a backward glance at either the minister or Heather.

As we stood in line together, waiting our turn to be checked out, Ethan looked thoughtful. “You’re pretty damn smart, you know that, Vinnie?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you knew exactly how to diffuse that situation and remove us from it.

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