Page 5 of Forgotten Prejudice

“By any chance, do they involve that other idiot?”

My eyes shot to him, yet my stress was dismissed as soon as I spotted the tenderness in his gaze, and for the first time since my conversation with Zoe, I felt relief.

“Yeah.” Lying to Aiden was always pointless because he saw through me so easily.

I was six when my dad had drowned while free-diving. Since then, Aiden, who was Dad’s twin brother, had treated me as his own. He’d never married and had no kids other than his dog, Seb, who lived with him in his beach house right on the Malibu shore.

“What did he do now?” Aiden asked, his hand no longer on my nape.

“He didn’t do anything, but Zoe… She wants me to spend less time with him.”

Aiden’s chuckle interpreted my words. “So it’s about a girl.”

My cheeks burned with embarrassment, and I frowned. It wasn’t at all about a girl, and that was the problem. A part of me wished I’d told Aiden about me being gay before because perhaps it would have made things easier. Now, it was hard to spit it out, almost as if my secret had latched itself to my heart, refusing to let go.

“What I’m going to tell you now is the most well-kept secret in the world,” Aiden said, cutting into my thoughts. “Never let anyone stand in your way, Ash.” He pointed his finger at my heart. “And that includes yourself, champ.”

“B-But what if it’s too hard to do it?”

The corner of his lips quirked up. “It will always be too soon, too little, too much, or too hard, Chief, and before you know it, it will be too late.” He squeezed my neck while looking at me with such kindness as if knowing what I was keeping from him, and that hit me like a splash of cold water on a hot summer day. It cheered me up, but at the same time, not. Even if I could accept myself, how would that help me? After all, even if I was fine with being gay, Kai would still be straight, and if that were the case, what was even the point?

Kai

Ash was acting weird, and that was saying something, considering how he was the normal one between the two of us.

While I often did stupid shit, Ash was there to balance me. Whether I was pulling pranks, drinking too much, or pissing off my dad, Ash was always there to make sure I didn’t cross the line too far.

So, when he wasn’t there for the past few days, I worried that something had happened. The last time we’d hung out was at Nico’s party, but everything seemed fine then. I mean, with how much I drank, I only remembered the beginning of the night, but I was pretty sure nothing major had happened. Zoe would have told me otherwise, right?

Oh, fuck.

Maybe Ash was mad because I got shit-faced? He hated it when I did that, which wasn’t too often, in my defense. Anyway, the best way to find out what was going on would be to ask him directly, and lucky for me, I’d just spotted him eating his lunch on the stone bench under the old oak tree.

“Ashy!” Running toward him, I stopped and slumped my ass beside him. I then wrapped an arm around his shoulders and stole half of his sandwich.

“Cheese and mayo?” I grunted after taking a bite. “Remind me to make you better meals than this depressing shit.” I loved cooking for him.

“Sorry, I’m no chef,” he said with a half smile that hardly reached his pretty green eyes.

“That’s what I’m here for.” Still not removing my hand from around him, I finished the sandwich with two more bites and then licked my fingers clean. “So, what’s up? You’ve been gone for almost a week.”

“Gone? I was here all along.”

“That’s bullshit. I’ve hardly heard from you.”

He pulled his shoulders and kept quiet, so I went on. “Did I do something to upset you?”

“What?” He sounded nervous. “No, of course not. I was just really busy with school and work.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry if it felt like I was avoiding you.”

Aww, awkward Ashy was the cutest.

“Don’t worry about it, man.” I squeezed his arm, noticing how he’d gained some muscles since he started working out last summer. We were both on the school swimming team, but I never bothered to go to the gym as much as he did.

“You sure?” he asked, and I nodded.

“Fuck yeah, but you’re going to make it up to me. There’s another party tonight, and we’re going.”

Ash began chewing on his bottom lip, meaning he was debating with himself. As always, all he needed was another slight push, so I gave it to him.