Cast Off by KC Burn Read Free Book Online Page B

same thing about himself until he’d met Davy.
    “Since I was fifteen.”
    “Fifteen? Ian, why?” Ian knew what Dylan meant. Why had he kept it secret so long? Kurt already knew Ian had been hiding it for years, but he hadn’t told him everything.
    Ian scrubbed his cheeks with the back of his hand. “You remember that weekend camping trip we took at Wasaga Beach?”
    “Yeah, sure.” Dylan laughed. “We got into so much trouble.”
    Kurt grunted. It was one of the few times they’d left Kurt out, only because they were sure no one would believe their baby-faced brother was legal, no matter how tall he was or what their fake IDs said. He and Dylan and a couple of Dylan’s friends escaped one weekend to drink themselves silly at Wasaga.
    “I still hate you guys for leaving me behind.” Kurt pouted.
    “Whatever.” Dylan reached behind Ian’s back to punch Kurt in the shoulder. “You got even by squealing on us.”
    “Ow.” Kurt grunted.
    “Wuss,” Dylan replied.
    “I got shot!”
    Dylan breathed in sharply. “Sorry. Forgot.”
    Ian had too, almost. They had so easily slipped into their threesome camaraderie. But he’d had a reason for bringing up the incident that had nothing to do with reminiscing.
    “Anyway… your friend from the swim team was there.”
    “Oh, yeah. God, lost touch with that guy ages ago. What was his name again?” Dylan’s question was mostly rhetorical.
    “Niels.”
    “Right, Niels. Oh my God, you had a crush on my friend, didn’t you? No wonder you were so damned insistent about coming to all the swim meets, when you could never be bothered to wake up that early before.”
    “Yes, well, I saw Niels naked in that communal shower at the campground. And it was an epiphany.”
    “But you chased after cheerleaders all year after that!” Dylan’s shock was tinged with disbelief.
    Ian let out a bitter laugh. “Because you were. Remember Paul Jenkins? I don’t think anyone ever gay bashed him, but he got a lot of shit from the athletes in the school. I don’t even know if he was gay, but he was small, clumsy, smart as anything, and pretty as a girl. And I learned I didn’t want to be different, not if it brought me attention like Paul got. I didn’t want anyone to treat me like that.”
    “Jeez, Ian.” Dylan gave his shoulder a squeeze. “I wouldn’t have let you get bashed.”
    “Nor I,” Kurt said. Funny in a way, because even in high school, Kurt was bigger and more muscular than either him or Dylan. He might have been the youngest, but Kurt was far from the runt of the O’Donnell litter.
    “It was so fucking easy for you guys.” Ian continued to speak over their weak protestations. “I mean it. Dylan was a fucking hound dog, after every breathing object with tits. Everyone seemed to applaud your behavior—except for our sisters. So I mimicked you.”
    “What about Kurt? He didn’t act like that.”
    Ian shrugged. “I kinda thought he was a bit of a prude. Saving himself for marriage or something. I guess no one gave him shit because he was so big, but it wasn’t something I could copy.”
    “Huh. And I always assumed he just had a low sex drive.” Dylan winked across Ian at Kurt, whose face went ruddy in the late evening sunlight.
    “Shut up! Ian, you should have talked to me.”
    “Kurt, you were younger. Not even fourteen when I first saw Niels. How was I supposed to know you’d understand? Would you have?”
    His wounded brother patted him on the knee. “Probably not. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t into girls like you and Dylan seemed to be, and by the time I got to high school I figured I just wasn’t that into sex. It never seemed that important. Until Davy, it never even occurred to me to look at guys that way.”
    “Oblivious little shit,” Dylan teased.
    Ian hadn’t found much about today humorous at all, but this was. “Some detective you are. Is this your way of saying your sex drive isn’t low?”
    He and Dylan both laughed at