Rhys and the Voiceless (The Catnap Ramblers Book 2) by J.B. Thwaite

Author:J.B. Thwaite [Thwaite, J.B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Napuke
Published: 2023-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

Rhys’s mother knocked on the door and brought in the supper. Seemingly adamant to ignore what Rhys had said earlier, she kept referring to him as her, and though she was being outwardly nice, her behaviour was uncomfortably passive aggressive even for Julian. Thankfully, she left as soon as she’d dropped off the supper trays.

Julian stopped eating and put his tray aside when he noticed Rhys was crying.

“What is it?” he asked, even if it wasn’t difficult to guess from the context.

“The food is good.” Rhys appeared determined to power through it by eating.

“It’s been a long day,” Julian suggested.

“Uh huh,” Rhys agreed but continued both crying and eating. It was painful to watch his poorly restrained sobbing between the gulps.

“You’re going to choke on something.”

“Right.” Rhys crammed in some more food. Whatever had caused this desperate effort of multitasking, Julian would have felt more at ease had Rhys picked one thing to do at a time.

“Look, can you at least blow your nose?” Grossed by it, Julian offered him a handkerchief. Rhys glanced at it but continued to do what he was doing. “Please?” It wasn’t an unreasonable request, but Rhys rejected the handkerchief and stopped only for long enough to wipe his face to his sleeve.

“Don’t look if it disturbs you,” he said and kept eating. The ass.

“It’s not that.” Well, it was that, too, but more so, “I’m genuinely worried you’re going to choke, and I’d rather not be trying to dislodge anything from your windpipe this evening if I can avoid it.”

Rhys slowed down and swallowed before he responded.

“The food is good, and I haven’t had it for about a decade, and I was thinking how sad that was and how you suggested it would be easier to just not be me anymore and stay here, and I could have this whenever I wanted, and my parents wouldn’t treat me the way they do, and I wouldn’t have to be afraid and hide like this, and all-in-all I probably would have made a prettier, better person according to everyone I’ve ever met, and people would have liked me more had I not made things difficult for myself and insisted I’m not a woman.”

There was a hint of him trying not to bawl, but that try had long since failed. It looked unsettling, but the sight of him and his haphazard words somehow made it make much more sense to Julian. He regretted not realising it sooner.

Why would anyone make things this horrible for themselves if they could avoid it? Rhys was prepared to put up with and give up so many things to live as a man. It must have not been a matter of choice for him.

Julian wanted to give him a hug to make him feel better, but the thought of hidden lady-parts was much too fresh in his mind, so he hesitated. Damn. This was certainly not Rhys’s problem, and he didn’t want to add any more crap on an already full plate, but sleeping in the same room had all of a sudden become awkward.

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