What Remains by Bailey Bradford (to read list txt) 📕

they were far enough away from the house that Sev was sure they couldn’t be heard, Sev stopped and turned to his nephew. Rogelio’s cheeks were still ruddy, though Sev didn’t know if it was from embarrassment or the wind that slapped at them both.

Rogelio huffed and dragged his gaze up from the ground to meet Sev’s. He shrugged and his cheeks went darker.

Sev watched the boy fidget with his hands before he tucked them in his back pockets. When it seemed Rogelio wasn’t going to speak, Sev figured he’d have to get this conversation started.

“Do you want me to guess the reason for that back there with your mom?” He kind of hoped Rogelio would say no, because if Sev did guess and was wrong, this could go badly.

Rogelio shrugged and went back to studying the ground.

Great. Where’d the talkative kid from a few minutes ago go? “Are you sure you want me to guess? I mean, I will if I have to, but if I do and I’m wrong, you can’t get mad at me, because that just isn’t fair, not when it’s obvious”—maybe—“there’s something you want to tell me but are too scared to. That’s a lot of pressure on me, Rogelio.” Sev cracked a grin that had no effect he could see on his nephew.

“Look, it’s already making me babble. I don’t want to screw this up, not when for the first time in my life, or at least since I became psychic, I have a chance to have a family again. I don’t want to blow that.”

Rogelio glanced back up at him but only for a second before muttering, “I won’t get mad.”

Well, that’s helpful! Sev touched the necklace his grandmother had given him. He caught it between his fingers then tipped Rogelio’s chin up with his other hand. Anguished brown eyes met his, and Sev knew he was right. His heart broke for the kid. It had to have been hell being around Sev’s parents—and the private school, too.

Sev looked intently in those eyes and hoped Rogelio could see how sincere he was, would know he had Sev on his side. “If you can’t even say it, Rogelio, then you won’t be able to accept it. That’s a hard way to live.”

Rogelio’s eyes filled. The young man swiped at the tears that spilled down his cheeks. He swallowed so loudly it made Sev’s throat ache with sympathy. He sobbed and Sev thought, Fuck it! He pulled his nephew to him and held him, each shudder and sob that shook the boy’s thin body hurting Sev deep inside.

“I take it your parents know?” he asked when he thought Rogelio was calming down.

“Yeah,” Rogelio croaked, his voice as raw as Sev’s emotions, “they know I’m— I’m gay.”

Alma was going to have to explain how they knew when Rogelio could hardly even say the word. Or maybe not.

“T-they… Mom got on my laptop to check some stuff, she said. I forgot I had some p-pages up…”

Sev’s eyebrows tried to crawl to the top of his head as his stomach plummeted to his ankles. “Porn? Oh my god, Rogelio, don’t look at that shit!” Whoops. Get your mouth under control! “That stuff isn’t real. I mean it is, but it isn’t like real sex with—” Shut up, shut up, shut up! Sev would have slapped himself upside the head if he hadn’t been hugging his still sobbing nephew.

Except, that didn’t sound like crying. He peered into Rogelio’s face and found the little shit laughing at him! Sev did his best to look stern. “It’s not funny. That sh—stuff will rot your brain and totally screw up your expectations!”

Rogelio chortled for a few seconds then slapped Sev on the back before putting a few inches between them. “I know that stuff is just acting—bad acting at that.” His cheeky grin was a big improvement over the mulish attitude or the crying jag, but Sev wasn’t happy knowing his nephew had already been trolling porn. Like you didn’t at that age! It’s just a lot easier for Rogelio now with the Internet.

“Anyway, that wasn’t what she found. And I don’t look at it much.” Rogelio shrugged when Sev gave him a doubtful look. “I don’t. It kind of grossed me out. Well, it was hot at first, until I started finding stuff like fist—”

Sev thought his eyes were going to bug out of his head. “Stop! I don’t want to know!” He took a slightly shaky breath then rethought what he’d just said. Someone has to be there for Rogelio. Oh shit. “Ugh!” Sev scrubbed at his forehead. “What I mean is, if you have questions, legitimate questions, I will, of course, do my best to answer them. But I won’t go into stuff that’s inappropriate just so you can get your jollies, and I will not talk about mine and Laine’s personal life.”

“Ugh back! I don’t want to know what you and your boyfriend—”

“Partner,” Sev bit out. “You would have a boyfriend. I, as an adult gay man in a committed relationship, have a partner.”

“Okay, partner. I don’t want to know about what y’all do, and I already know most of that stuff anyways. I don’t need sex ed, Uncle Sev, I just…” Rogelio sighed and rubbed his forehead in a gesture so familiar Sev couldn’t help but smile. “There were some places I would go online, chat rooms for kids who were trying to figure out who they were, you know?”

Sev barely stopped himself from starting in on Rogelio about that. Chat rooms were bastions of perverts looking for naïve boys and girls, weren’t they?

“They were run or recommended by very well-known gay support groups, so don’t look at me like that. There were moderators in each room and no exchange of personal information with other chatters, no personal IM’ing. It was safe, and I needed…I needed the help.”

“Okay, I can understand that,” Sev admitted. “I grew up in that family, too, at least until your great-grandma rescued