Inside Out [BoyxBoy]

Chapter 8 - Torn

My heart quickened at the thought of sitting under the same roof as my mate. After hours and hours of avoiding him, I was now inside his house. A million thoughts ran through my mind and I ignored them—I breathed in and put on a calm façade, forcing myself to act cool and be brave.

Tara insisted that I sit next to her during dinner. She acted like a reporter, asking annoying questions as if Jace and I were a celebrity couple. I had to put up with it; at least she was trying to be nice.

"Like . . .   what did you feel when you first felt the pull to Jace? How was it?" she asked.

"I don't know . . ." I responded. I guess I could write it down instead of saying it aloud; how Jace's face suddenly appeared so beautiful to me and all I wanted to do was to kiss him, or how nothing could turn me on but him after the discovery. . . and I wouldn't tell Tara about it with his brother on the other side of me.

Weirdly, Jace was silent throughout the exchange. He ate wordlessly, chewing his food without trying to start a joke like he usually did, looking down at his plate like he didn't notice I was there. Frankly, I did expect a few jeers or at least some teasing from him.  The sight of him made my guts churn.

"C'mon, just tell me!" Tara insisted.

"How's the food, Jordan?" Lisa interrupted. I smiled at her, telling her it was good, but the truth was I was too nervous, my taste buds couldn't judge the taste of the meal.

"There's this guy in college," Tara spoke. "He's a werewolf too, and he's gay, and he has a male mate. However, his mate was straight. I'm pretty sure you were the gay one here— weren't you, Jordan?"

I wasn't feeling comfortable with Bob sitting across from me. He ate his food while staring at me with a look on his face that I couldn't decipher. Was it a look of anger? Okay, he had reasons to be mad at me—his son had almost died due to the bond he had with me.

My stomach dropped.

"Jordan, I'm asking you a question. Were you the gay one?" Tara said.

"What? I—I don't know. I wasn't gay, I think," I told her.

"So you were the closeted one, huh?" Tara said to Jace.                  

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jace responded—what had made him so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't been paying attention?

"One of you must be gay to have a male mate," she replied.

"Where's that silly theory coming from, Tara?" Bob added, joining the conversation. "Mates are mates. Did the mortals in your college teach you about these ridiculous labels?"

"It's not like that, Dad," Tara said. "I'm just wondering if my theory is right. I'm just curious about mate bonding."

"No, both of us weren't gay, I guess," I said.

I heard Jace baffle. "How do you know?"

His drollness was back—for a short second I thought I missed it.

"Well, I don't really care about this whole gay thing," I told him.

"Nobody cares," Lisa butted in. "Now, just eat the food."

"Jeffrey!" Bob shouted towards the living room out of the blue, sending me to jump in shock. "Stop with your phone already! Jordan's here you've been on the phone all day."

"Coming . . ." I heard Jeff groan in irritation. He slipped his phone into his pocket and picked an empty seat beside Jace, setting food on his plate. He winked at me as he started on his meal.