"Lover At Last" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ward, J.R.)

Qhuinn was never getting a ring.

Ah, hellтАжthis hurt.

He was scrubbing his face with his palms when his phone rang. Taking the thing out of his biker jacket, he had to blink a couple of times to focus.

He hit send to accept the call, but he didnтАЩt answer.

тАЬI just heard,тАЭ Blay said across the connection. тАЬHow are you doing?тАЭ

Qhuinn opened his mouth to reply, his brain coughing up all kinds of responses: тАЬPeachy fucking jim-dandy.тАЭ тАЬAt least IтАЩm not тАШfatтАЩ like my sister.тАЭ тАЬNo, I donтАЩt know if my brother got laid.тАЭ

Instead, he said, тАЬThey got me out of the house. They didnтАЩt want me to curse the transition. Guess it worked, because the guy looks like he came through it okay.тАЭ

Blay swore softly.

тАЬOh, and he got his ring just now. My father gave himтАжhis ring.тАЭ

The signet ring with the family crest on it, the symbol that all males of good bloodlines wore to attest to the value of their lineage.

тАЬI watched Luchas put it on his finger,тАЭ Qhuinn said, feeling as if he were taking a sharp knife and drawing it up the insides of his arms. тАЬFit perfectly. Looked great. You know, thoughтАжlike, how could it notтАФтАЭ

He began weeping at that point.

Just fucking lost it.

The awful truth was that under his counterculture fuck-you, he wanted his family to love him. As prissy as his sister was, as scholar-geek as his brother was, as reserved as his parents were, he saw the love among the four of them. He felt the love among them. It was the tie that bound those individuals together, the invisible string from one heart to the another, the commitment of caring about everything from the mundane shit to any true, mortal drama. And the only thing more powerful than that connectionтАжwas what it was like to get shut out from it.

Every fucking day of your life.

BlayтАЩs voice cut in through the heaving. тАЬIтАЩm here for you. And IтАЩm so damned sorryтАж.IтАЩm here for youтАж.Just donтАЩt do anything stupid, okay? Let me come overтАФтАЭ

Leave it to Blay to know that he was thinking about things that involved ropes and showerheads.

In fact, his free hand had already gone down to the makeshift belt heтАЩd fashioned out of a nice, strong weave of nylonтАФbecause his parents didnтАЩt give him much money for clothes, and the proper one heтАЩd owned had broken years ago.

Pulling the length free, he glanced across to the closed door of his bath. All he needed to do was tie the thing to the fixture in his showerтАФGod knew those water pipes had been run in the good old days, when things were strong enough to hold some weight. He even had a chair he could stand up on and then kick out from underneath him.

тАЬI gotta goтАФтАЭ

тАЬQhuinn? DonтАЩt you hang up on meтАФdonтАЩt you dare hang up on meтАФтАЭ

тАЬListen, man, I gotta goтАФтАЭ

тАЬIтАЩm coming over right now.тАЭ Lot of flapping in the background, like Blay was getting his clothes on. тАЬQhuinn! Do not hang up the phoneтАФQhuinnтАж!тАЭ