by Lea Bronsen
“I said,”—Brian leaned forward—“shut the fuck up, or you and your fuck buddy are outta here before you can take your next breath.”
Todd stood in his face, relentless. “You remember the millions of French marching in the streets last week? And the weeks before that?”
“Yes, I do, and I regret not joining to fight against the new law.”
“You—”
“That law is gonna destroy the traditional family values. I mean, think about it. What kind of society are we gonna have after this?”
She gazed at Mica at the same time he sent her a glance, and they held each other’s looks. She couldn’t believe their luck. Brian was so blinded by hatred he didn’t even ask the reason why the two boys had been fighting in the first place. She let out a breath. Maybe Mica and she were off the hook.
Todd squinted. “We don’t—”
Brian seemed unstoppable. “It’s not just a law that allows you fags to marry, you know. It allows you to adopt kids, too.”
“Yeah, like everyone else.”
“Can you imagine that? Little babies”—Brian spat—“in the hands of fist-fuckers.”
Todd widened his eyes. “Oh, come on! Fist-fuckers? That’s a very special branch, a tiny minority. We got nothin’ to do with that.”
“Don’t think for a second that I don’t know what you do.” Brian snorted. “Ass eaters you are, the whole bunch.”
A grin spread across Todd’s face. “Ha ha, don’t tell me you don’t eat your wife’s ass.”
Brian shook his head. “As a matter of fact, I sleep with my wife. Gently, nicely, with respect. I love her.”
“I love Todd, too.” Mica interfered from the doorframe. “And I’m gonna spend the rest of my life with him.” He gazed at Anne, holding her look again for a few seconds as if wanting to tell her something, and turned to the two other men. “We’ll share everything like you share everything with her. Breakfast in bed on Sunday mornings. Dinner at nice restaurants. Traveling around the world. The ups and downs of life.” He spread his hands. “Just like you.”
Brian shook his head. “Get out of my house.”
Her heart jumped to her throat. “What?”
“You heard what I said. I want them out.”
“B-but they have the right to stay here.” Her voice trembled.
He turned to her, hazel eyes ablaze. His moustache twitched with each venomous word. “Out…of…my…house!”
It took her a moment to find the right words. “B-but it’s mine, Brian. The house is mine.”
“Shut up. I’m the head of the family.”
“But I took over the house after my parents. It’s in my name.”
He glared. “That may be, but I’m the man, and you do as I say.”
Ah. This was the moment she had more or less consciously waited for since she’d married him, the moment to settle her woman’s rights. She cleared her throat. “What difference does it make that you’re a man? I have the same right to an opinion as you.”
“Of course you have the right to speak, but I’m the one who has the last word. That’s just how it is, how it’s always been. Since the early days of Christianity, in case you didn’t know.”
“But—”
“It’s our heritage, silly. Our whole society is based on the patriarchal system.”
She stared in disbelief as thoughts raced back to the first days they were together, in love, seemingly happy forever. Why had he changed? It came back to her, what he’d told her about his upbringing, and the hippie way of life he’d led before trotting around the globe and ending up in this mountain village.
“H-have you forgotten about your roots?” Her voice trembled.
He cocked his head as if having trouble hearing her. “What?”
“Have you forgotten about your hippie values, your tolerance, the rights for all that you believed in when you were young?”
He glared back.
“What’s happened in the meantime? What’s made you change?”
“I’ve seen things.” He shrugged. “There’s so much ugliness out there.”
“Oui, I get that. I know. But I just want to be treated as your equal.” She turned her palms up. “Since you love me, it should come naturally.”
“I do love you.”
“Then you have to respect me.”
He nodded for a long moment, looking pensive and honest. “I do.”
“No, really.” She kept a lower tone to make her voice more serious and her words final. “You have to accept who I am and my role in our relationship.”
“Of course.” He nodded. “But have you seen how people around us are behaving? It’s almost expected that I do the same. Just look at your parents. Your dad is the boss, and it’s always been like that. Before him, too. What would they think of me if I let their daughter run the business? They’d say I’m a wuss, a no-good. They’d say I’m not man enough.”
He shook his head, eyes saddening. “It doesn’t mean I embrace it, or even believe in it. But when I married you, I had to comply with the…what shall we call them, unspoken rules? Just to be accepted into your family, and into the community.” He glanced at the two other men, who stood quietly watching. “But I think we should discuss this in private. Just you and me.”
It didn’t matter to her if there were witnesses or not, but she understood his need to keep family issues between them. “Oui. Let’s go upstairs and finish this once and for all.”
Todd raised a hand. “In the meantime, we’ll be looking for a new place to stay. We really don’t wanna be a pain in your ass much longer.”
Brian stared at him. “Yeah. I guess, the sooner the better.”
“How do we do that? You got a list?”
“A list?”
Todd shrugged. “Or maybe we have to look in the paper, see if there are ads for bed and breakfasts and—”
“Ads?” Brian chuckled, his tone warming. “Have you missed the Internet age or something?”
“You actually have the Internet here?”
“Sure. At least now that the power’s back.”
Todd looking dumbfounded. “Well, this place is so far from the cities, I didn’t think….”
Brian pointed to the bar counter where his shiny gray laptop sat among ashtrays and beer pads. “Why don’t you do a quick search on the computer. I’ll get it ready for you.”
Mica put his hand to his mouth and coughed. His face turned pallid and sweat prickled on his forehead. With everything that had happened, she’d almost forgotten about his sickness.
“Fuck.” Todd studied him with a frown. “Mica, you should lie down for a bit while I do the search. After what you’ve been through….”
“I’m exhausted.” Mica shook his head.
“I know.”
Mica staggered toward the couch, shoulders hunched, while Brian and Todd stepped behind the counter.
Finally some peace and quiet. Anne’s head buzzed from tiredness, and her heart palpitated with the thrill of having stood up to Brian. She didn’t know to what extent their life as a couple would change, but it would.
She trotted to the kitchen, put spoons of instant coffee into four mugs, and added steaming water. Delicious fumes filled her nose, helping her calm. So much had happened so fast. She needed a moment of reflection to take it all in.
Low voices drifted from the living room. She prayed Todd wouldn’t find them a new place to stay. At least not today. Please, please. She needed more time, but was too tired to see what she’d do if that was granted.
Get some closure with Mica, at least.
Her stomach tightened with hunger. They hadn’t had breakfast. Brian’s baguettes on the table wouldn’t last long. She found a bowl of farmer butter and a knife and placed them with the steaming mugs on a tray.
“Holy shit.” Todd’s amused voice floated from the living room. “What the hell is this?”
“Nothing,” Brian replied.
“Looks like porn. Tits an
d vaginas.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No? You don’t find it interesting?”
“I don’t know anything about it.”
With the tray in her hands, she stepped out of the kitchen at the same time as Mica stood from the couch. Their eyes met briefly. Though fatigue tensed his features, his black eyes gleamed with curiosity as he joined the men behind the bar.
She put the tray on the dinner table and looked over at them.
Eyes riveted on the open laptop, Brian and Todd sat on bar stools, leaning their elbows on the counter. Bluish screen light reflected off their faces. Brian tapped on the keyboard with odd urgency. Behind them, Mica grinned.
“Too late.” Todd chuckled, staring at the luminous screen. “We saw it.”
“I-I never clicked on that.” Brian stopped tapping and sat very still, eyes bulging.
“You didn’t need to click on it. It was spam.”
Mica inched closer. “A pop-up?”
“Yeah, but not just any pop-up. The kind you get when you surf certain pages.”
“Certain pages?” Brian looked up to shoot her a glance before focusing on the screen again. “What the hell are you insinuating?”
Oh mon Dieu. As the truth dawned on her, she froze in place, staring at the three men. No need to see the pictures to visualize their content.
Todd cleared his throat. “Listen, I’m in the business. I know how it works. When you visit a certain type of site, a program will send you the same type of spam.”
“So.” With a mocking grin, Mica gave Brian a push in the back. “When you look up porn, you get porn pop-ups. Ha ha!”
Todd turned the laptop toward him and tapped a few keys. “Check this out. The browsing history is full of porn sites.” He glanced at Brian. “Seriously, man?”
Brian snorted. “That wasn’t me, asshole.” But his blushing face left no question about his guilt.
“You’re lying. It’s your computer.”
“Fuck off. I don’t watch porn.”
Todd chuckled. “Well, someone did. And I’m pretty sure your wife’s not interested in pictures of naked women.”
“Could be one of the tenants. They use it all the time. Like you, now.”
Mica laughed. “Of course.”
“Uh-huh.” Todd nodded, mocking. “It’s not you ’cause you only sleep with your wife. Gently, nicely, with respect.”
A silent consensus settled. Brian could argue all he liked, but no one believed him.
Wide-eyed, numb from the shock, Anne sent her husband a cold, hard stare before turning on her heel and marching toward the stairs, heart hammering in her chest. Screw the coffee, screw the baguettes.
A lump built in her throat as she clutched the banister on her way up, and her breathing labored. This was too much. She felt perfectly cheated on. The whole time, Brian pretended to be a gentleman in bed, while—
“Anne!” He appeared at the bottom of the stairs. “Anne, sweetie, please come back!”
Refusing to acknowledge him, she climbed the creaking steps, every cell in her body cold and lifeless. She needed distance from it all, and a good dose of alone time.
Chapter Sixteen
Seething, Anne reached the now-lit second floor.
To be honest, she also considered herself lucky. Her sexual encounter with Mica in the kitchen hadn’t been revealed to Brian.
What a turn of tables!
Everyone had secrets and schemed behind someone else’s back. No one was clean. No one could be trusted.
Not even her. As she passed the boys’ door, their keyhole reminded her of her own peeping a few days ago. She’d gone to great lengths to watch these two men have sex.
Something gnawed at her. She thought Brian cheated on her because of the porn, but by that standard, her own voyeurism was cheating, too.
She puffed and stood in the hall feeling helpless, arms hanging at her sides, not knowing what to do.
A low growl emanated from her stomach. She turned and looked back. The smell of fresh bread drifted up the stairs. Delicious baguettes waited on the dinner table, with butter and hot coffee. Merde. She wanted to go down and eat, but couldn’t face Brian. Not now. Later, they would talk. Now, she needed to be alone.
Soft footsteps sounded on the stairs. Mica appeared, his dark eyes widening at the sight of her.
Oh no. Just what I need. Not.
Her heart beat faster. Once more, she was cornered by this hunk. And just like that, as if wiped away by a magic wand, the fight with Brian and his revealed secret vanished from her mind. Her treacherous body simply reacted to Mica. If he chose to make advances again, she wouldn’t be able to resist.
He stopped on the landing, two doors down from her, and looked at his feet.
Relief washed over her because if he had expected to see her in the hall, he wouldn’t be hesitating. She leaned against the wall, her hands behind her back, and waited for his next move. Now that they both stood on the landing alone, unsaid things and a history of deceit toward their respective lovers hanging between them, it would be too odd to go their separate ways without a word.
He covered his mouth, coughed, and looked up. So handsome, now that she could study him in full light. The sickness couldn’t take that from him. Nor his virility, strength, feline agility, and the power he possessed to make her knees weaken and her resolve evaporate.
His chest heaving with each labored breath, he studied her, long lashes framing his gorgeous, dark eyes. Sweat pearled on his skin.
She held his gaze, shaking like a leaf inside, not knowing what to do. The more they hesitated, the more this seemed like a make-or-break situation. Perhaps it meant good-bye. After all, he’d declared his eternal love for Todd in front of everyone. He would never be with her. Whatever happened between them was bound to end, and, with time, they would forget about each other.
He sighed and wiped his drawn features. The spark in his eyes weakened.
Why was she waiting for him to make the first move? Because he was a man? Well, hadn’t she fought for this very principle earlier—women’s right to decide?
Maybe she was the one making it difficult for him, not the other way around. Maybe her expectations weighed on him in a moment when sickness drained him of all energy, and he needed her to take charge but was too proud to ask.
Okay. She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart, cleared her throat, and nodded toward his and Todd’s door. “You should take a nap.”
He cocked his head with his eyes fixed on hers, still hesitating. What was he thinking? The ceiling light shone off his pale face, enhancing the lines of illness and exhaustion. He looked ten years older than when they’d first met.
She ached to take him in her arms and hold him tight, wanted to transfer some of the vigor that boiled inside her and make him feel better. But when she tried to push off the wall, she remained stuck.
He coughed into his hand again, painful barks echoing in the quiet hall.
The sound hurt her, too. Frozen in place, she waited for him to look back. When he did, she raised her brows. “Try to get some sleep.”
He nodded. “Talk later?”
“Sí.” She spoke in his language, fishing for a smile.
He rewarded her with a frank, white-toothed grin, his eyes regaining their usual gleam. Warmth surged through her again. They were always going to be close. With a wink, he entered his room and closed the door behind him.
She blew out a breath, waited a moment for calmness, and steered back toward the staircase. Just as she reached the first stair, two male voices rose from the living room, stopping her in her tracks. Brian and Todd.
“That’sh what I like sho much about Franche.” Todd sounded like he had food in his mouth. They had to be sitting at the dinner table.
“What?”
“Well, thish.” Todd slurped a beverage. “The food. Ain’t no better cuisine in the world.”
“Damn right. Of course, when
we have visitors from across the pond, such as yourself, I tend to cook the way my mama taught me back home. But they usually want the local dishes, taste something new. Hmm. I love this bread. Just the smell of it.” Sniffing followed, and the sound of a baguette being sliced.
“Uh-huh.”
This conversation wasn’t leading to anything interesting, and she didn’t want to talk to Brian yet. She would eat later.
She was about to turn on her heel when his voice rose again. “Why you lookin’ at me funny like that?”
After a short silence, Todd cleared his throat. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“I…I don’t know how to say this in a way that won’t…um…embarrass you. But I gotta ask.”
“Shoot. If I don’t like what you’re sayin’, I’ll knock that baguette on your head.”
“Ha ha.”
“Heh.”
A new silence ensued, during which she pictured them smiling at each other. How odd.
She would stay and eavesdrop a while longer. Her legs were tired. Careful not to make the top stair creak, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and put a hand on the wall.
Brian’s voice held a tone of impatience. “So, what is it that’s potentially embarrassing for me? Can’t be much worse than the shit you found on my laptop.”
“Well, in a way it is. Depends on how you see it.”
“Depends on…you gonna tell me what it is before you start pissing me off again?”
Todd chuckled. “You serious about knocking me out with that bread?”
“Talk, for fuck’s sake.”
“Okay, okay. The thing is, I scrolled through your recent browsing history. Like, the past month. And what struck me as weird and totally bugs my mind, was that practically half of the stuff you’d been watching….”
“Yeah?”
“Was guys fucking other guys or sucking their dicks.”
What? She blinked. Had Brian been watching gay porn? But how could that be? He, the perfect homophobe. Her throat tightened. Surely, it was a mistake. It had to be one of the tenants. Yes, someone during an unsupervised moment—