Take Me From This Pain, Brian's story

Chapter 38

Trent stared morosely at the ceiling above him. It was fairly early in the morning but he hadn’t been able to sleep at all during the night. Visions of his enraged father and sneering sister kept floating through his mind. He had known Tanya was up to something. He had felt that it was probably going to be bad. But he’d never known it would be this bad. She must have really hated him to do something like this. Something so disastrously final in the tenuous relationship that he and his father had shared all these years.

When he’d arrived home, his father seemed even more remote than usual, and at first Trent couldn’t figure out why. But when he’d approached and the older man snatched his car keys, he knew this wasn’t going to be one of his little lectures. And Tanya had the nerve to sit on the front steps and gloat while it all happened. His father had told him that he wasn’t going to house a queer in his house. Trent didn’t get a chance to deny it, though he wouldn’t have done that. He was tired of trying to live up to an unattainable ideal his father had created for him.

The enraged man then handed down his edict: If Trent wanted to remain part of the family, he would have to give up college and stay home where he could be monitored. He would also have to go to a psychiatrist and enroll in several religious groups dedicated to “making him right again”. And it would have been so much easier to just agree like he always did in the past, and make the old man happy. Well, satisfied, anyway. There wasn’t a thing in the world that could make this bitter man happy.

But the more Trent pondered it, the more he realized that the only decision he could make was the one he had made. He knew that Brian and Matt were happy. He could see that Matt’s father and Cody were happy. He also knew that if he had to live his life as a lie, he would never, ever be happy. And how did that make the world better? It didn’t. Trent sighed as he remembered his father’s face when he’d told him this was who he was and he wasn’t going to capitulate to their demands. He had turned to Tanya to glare at her and that’s when the flat end of the spade had hit the top of his head. He still winced when he touched the spot and knew it would be sore for days. Well, there was nothing he could do now. Matt’s dads had kindly let him stay last night, but he couldn’t let himself believe what Cody had said. The man was only trying to comfort him.

He grimaced as he slowly pulled himself out of the bed to go to the bathroom and shower. He would call Joey in a little while and ask him to take him to a hotel. His head felt heavy and he had to sit down for a few minutes to keep from blacking out. The door creaked open slowly and a head peeked in.

“What are you doing out of bed?” Cody demanded as he pushed the door completely open and marched inside.

“Sorry,” Trent murmured. “Just wanted to take a shower.”

Cody reached his side and helped him ease back against the pillows again.

“A shower? Why do you want to take one this early?”

“Wanted to be ready.”

Cody looked very perplexed now. He pulled the sheets up over Trent’s legs and sat on the side of the bed.

“For what?”

Trent swallowed painfully and his eyes began to tear up, the reality of what had happened finally sinking in.

“For when I call Joey to take me to a hotel.”

Cody’s expression went from blank to determined in six seconds flat.

“I’ve spoken to Joseph already,” he said firmly. “He asked if you wanted him to pick you up and I told him you weren’t leaving this house.”

Not leaving? Trent sniffled and looked up at the man in disbelief.

“Yes, I know,” Cody smiled kindly. “This is all still strange to you and I’m probably coming off as one hell of a domineering old fart, and I don’t care.”

Trent silently regarded him as he waited for an explanation.

“Look, Trent, I don’t know if Brian and Matt told you this, but when I was around your age, I went through something similar. My father didn’t attack me, but he made no secret of his disappointment in me. I knew I had to change myself for him or leave, and I chose to go,” Cody shrugged. “It led me into some very unwise decisions. Now, I would still go if I had to do it all over again, but I would have done a lot of things differently. I’m just going to make sure the same things don’t happen to you.”

“But you don’t know me,” Trent replied sadly. “Why would you do that for someone you don’t know?”

The redhead smiled as he looked down at the boy, so grown up yet so innocent. “Why did you take Niko in when he had nowhere to go?” he asked softly.

Trent shrugged mutely.

“And I know you better than you think.”

“You do?” Trent asked skeptically.

“Uh huh,” the man grinned. “I know that Matt looks forward to your hockey games every Saturday morning as much as you do. I know that you’re a brain, even though people normally label you an ordinary jock.”

Trent began to blush a little as Cody went on.

“I know that you’re going to Harvard Business School on a full scholarship, something that most people couldn’t even dream of earning,” he laughed a little. “Speaking as a brain myself, or so my husband tells me, I can’t tell you how much that impresses me.”

“I had to get a scholarship somewhere,” Trent shrugged again. “My father always told me he wasn’t wasting school money on me that he was saving for Tanya.”

“Well, he’s an ass.”

“I guess,” Trent sighed as he looked down at the blanket. “It’s not like I can go back now, though.”

“Why not?” Grant asked as he stepped through the doorway to stand by the bed, startling both of the occupants.

“How long have you been there,” Cody admonished lightly.

“Long enough,” Grant grinned. He turned back to Trent expectantly.

The boy still didn’t know how to react to these two. They’d taken him in when he was kicked out, but he wasn’t their responsibility. Technically, he was past the legal age to be anyone’s problem now.

“It’s okay, you know,” Cody coaxed gently. “We pretty much decided your future after we left you to sleep.”

“Decided?” he felt that wave of confusion again. “What’s to decide?”

“You have a full scholarship to Harvard,” Grant replied.

“I did.”

“You do,” Cody insisted.

“But I can’t afford to live there unless I get at least one full-time job, and maybe even a part-time one,” Trent sighed. “The dorms are even expensive and the scholarship is for classes and books only. And then I wouldn’t have any time to study, so I’d lose it anyway.”

Grant grinned again, showing the laugh lines next to his eyes. Those and the few strands of white hair were the only indications that he was in his late forties. “You’re not getting it, huh?”

The eerie music from The Twilight Zone suddenly popped into Trent’s head and he had to shake it away. What the heck was going on now?

“I think we need to just tell him already,” Cody looked up at Grant. “He’s had a rough 24 hours.”

“I guess,” Grant sighed. “All we need is your final approval, but here’s what we’re planning.”

Trent raised an eyebrow and sat up.

“Matt and Brian have called their landlord and secured an available two-bedroom unit in their building, which they say is not far from your old building.”

Trent nodded dazedly.

“Matt’s best friend, Ryan and his boyfriend are visiting Ryan’s family in Cali right now,” Grant went on. “But they had planned to fly to Boston to see Matt and Brian in a week anyway.”

“And you have your apartment until the end of the month,” Cody supplied helpfully. “Not even your father could break the lease when you’ve already paid the rent. So Matt and Brian can take Niko back with them and all of them will move your things before you get back there.”

“Before I get back there?”

“Oh, yes,” Cody said firmly. “Your doctor told Grant you have to stay off that leg for three weeks and you will.”

“But.”

“Don’t even try to sway him,” Grant waved Trent off. “He’s determined to be a good ‘mother’ and nothing you say is going to stop him.”

Cue music again.

“Huh?”

“You’ll get used to me,” Cody giggled. “In the meantime, what do you think?”

Trent observed them both warily, afraid he was going to wake up and find this was all a dream and he was still lying on his father’s driveway in a broken heap.

“I can’t take advantage of you,” he said.

“You’re not,” Grant replied. “Cody meant it when he said you’ve been adopted. He won’t take no for an answer.”

“Besides, college is necessary to finding a good job these days, and you have a FULL SCHOLARSHIP to Harvard,” the redhead enunciated. “I can’t, in good conscience, let you waste this opportunity.”

“But I should earn my way.”

“Son,” Grant sighed as he patted Trent’s leg. “I’ve met your father and your sister. Trust me. You’ve been earning your way since the day you were born. The apartment isn’t really all that much more than the one they have and Matt insisted that you live with them. In his eyes, it’s no different than if Ryan were in trouble.”

Trent looked at them in wonder. What should he do? He couldn’t just let them do this.

“Oh, you not only can let them do this,” Matt said from the door. “You WILL. Besides, when you’re a big time hot shot, you can help us all make money.”

Trent looked over at him with tears stinging his eyes again.

“We’re family now,” Matt grinned. “Don’t worry though. I’ll treat you like a good brother should.”

“So, this is what you do then?” Trent laughed as he wiped his eyes. “Save the homosexual universe?”

“Yep,” Cody grinned. “One gay boy at a time.”