This is a completely new chapter of Attraction, enjoy :)

We were back in the car, getting ready to leave. Not to drive away, but to visit the town center. Lizzy had quickly ordered us to stay the night on the sofa that converted into a bed if you pulled some kind of lever beneath it, and staying the night meant birthday presents. It also meant meeting the family.

I had a feeling Tom and Luke hadn't talked it all out, they couldn't have, but staying the night would give them another chance.

"So, that went well."

Tom twitched, not looking as relaxed as I had thought he would be. "Yes." His tone was clipped.

"What's wrong?"

"This is a bad idea."

His words punched my gut. The change in his demeanor had been so sudden that I hadn't been prepared at all. "What is a bad idea?"

"Going into town. Together."

I almost snapped back, but my brain hadn't caught up, and I didn't want to make it worse by lashing out. Breathing slowly, I tried to calm down. I was hurt—because my first deduction was that he didn't want people to know about us, that he was ashamed. But just an hour ago, he'd showed me off to his brother. It didn't make sense. I knew we weren't really a couple but...

"I'm not following. What is bad about us going into town together?" There, I'd asked the question, and I'd sounded calm.

"You don't know what it's like here." Tom didn't even look at me, staring out the windshield. Antsy. Before today, I'd never seen him like this.

I touched his shoulder, but rather than accepting my caress, he flinched. I withdrew as if burned.

My heart was running a mile a minute, and not for the good sort of reasons.

He tilted his head and stared at the car's ceiling. I recognized turmoil when I saw it, but I had no idea what was going on and it was scaring the hell out of me. Had something happened in the house that I wasn't aware of? Had he been able to keep his composure until we sat in the car?

"Please, tell me what's wrong." Everything hurt. I was terrified of rejection. I thought we'd been doing great. Not this...

He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Joah. I can't expect you to know this." Another deep inhale. "I'm not sure what will happen in town. It might get bad. Very bad."

"Homophobia?"

"Yes. And more." Strangely enough, he seemed to have eased into his seat after my reply.

"I think we can deal with that. We're getting your niece a present. Harmless."

He took my hand, laced our fingers. The pain in my chest receded.

"Whatever I say, I fear you won't be prepared."

"Then we might as well just go. We can't sit here all day." The engine was running to keep the AC alive—otherwise we would have been fried by now.

"All right. Don't reply to anyone if they say something. And just know I won't let anything happen. Trust me, okay?"

"Okay." I didn't know what else to say. He still hadn't said what we would encounter. I'd dealt with homophobes before, and although it had never been a pleasant experience, I'd managed to walk away with my head held high.

We didn't drive far. The city was tiny by all accounts. Tom pointed at a building where he'd gone to school, but that was about it. No further trips down memory lane. It seemed like a cozy place with plenty of nice postcard houses. I had a hard time figuring out why he was so nervous about it all, but he'd asked me to trust him, which I did. Whatever was wrong with this place, it was hidden behind pretty façades.

Tom wiped his face when he'd stopped the car, another frustrated gesture that put me at high alert.

"Are we still doing this?" I asked.

"Yes. I just haven't been here for a while. I'm not used to the feeling."

He was talking in riddles, but I knew better than to press for details.

We got out and hit the main street, walking a bit too fast for comfort. I struggled to keep up, feeling the wretched heat drain my body of energy. It wasn't until we reached the first store that I began to see the cracks in the idyllic atmosphere—an anomaly that threw me off guard. The guy leaning against the brick wall wore a gun on his belt. A fucking gun.

My breathing picked up, and I reached for Tom by pure instinct. The guy narrowed his eyes, placing a hand on his holster. His stare bore into me with such loathing that I faltered.

Tom caught me before I fell, leading me inside the building. He'd been right—I hadn't expected that. Not guns out in the open. Every instinct to abandon ship and run for my life had kicked into gear, but I fought to keep it under wraps. Unfortunately, I couldn't prevent my pulse from going crazy. It wasn't only the gun, though. The man's gaze had been scary as fuck.

Trying my best to think about something else, I checked the shelves, still clutching Tom's hand in mine. My first thought was that we'd entered the wrong store. They had some food, a few magazines, and an assortment of fishing gear. We wouldn't find anything to give Anath in here. My second thought was that we'd have to go outside again, facing the man who had a gun on his hip and sneered at my very existence.

"Are you okay?" Tom asked.

"Yes. No. Yes." I couldn't come up with the right answer. I knew my reaction had been over the top. "He wore a gun."

"Yes, it's open carry down here. You don't need a license."

"You're kidding." I'd grown up in Sweden where guns were few and far between. Regular people didn't have guns.

Tom soothed my frayed nerves with slow strokes along my back. "Do you want to go back to Luke's?"

I thought about it. "No, we're here to get her a present."

"Then let's go. You don't have to look at him. We're just here to shop, and we're allowed to like everyone else."

That didn't prevent echoes of fear to squeeze my lungs as we left the store. The man had left his spot. Maybe that look hadn't been the full-on threat that I'd feared.

"This was a toy store when I was a kid. They must have closed down," Tom said by way of explanation.

I tried to shake the rest of my shaky nerves, determined to not be defeated by a guy in ill-fitting clothes. "I guess we can head down the street to see what they offer. I'm sure there's a toy store somewhere. Kids need a lot of junk, it seems." I thought of all the toys in Anath's room. I doubted she needed another pony, but I also wanted her to have something from the two of us. Something to keep and treasure.

"Maybe we can find a jewelry store. Did you have one before?" I asked, recalling that my sister had worn a golden chain necklace with a small heart attached. Someone had bought it for her when she was just a child.

"I think there should be one on the other side." Tom's voice remained strained—almost as though he wasn't sure he should talk at all.

We crossed the street, not holding hands. With the stares we received, we might as well have been. Everyone who passed by watched the two of us a second too long, or more.

The jewelry store wasn't much to look at from outside, but the rush of cold air when we entered was enough to forgive absolutely everything. The attendant was a middle-aged woman with delicate glasses and flawless makeup.

It took a moment longer than usual to get a reaction. Usually, attendants in the US were quick to haul you in for the sake of a sale, but this woman stalled.

Her smile came eventually. "Good afternoon. What can I help you with, sir?" She addressed me, not Tom.

I nudged him forward, only to realize that he didn't have a clue what I had planned. "We're looking for a gift. His niece turns six tomorrow." I nodded at Tom.

"Very well then. Did you have something in mind?"

"My sister had a golden necklace with a heart dangling from it when she was a child. Do you have any of those?"

The woman moved around the counter, not stopping until she reached a narrow cabinet. She glanced over her shoulder before unlocking it. I stepped forward only to be dragged back.

Blinking with layers upon layers of confusion, I stared at Tom to get an explanation. Before he had offered one, she was on her way back. The cabinet was locked again.

"Is this what you're looking for?" She held a necklace against her hand, showing off a tiny golden heart on a chain.

"What do you say, Tom?" I asked. She was his niece after all. He had the last say about the present.

A normal person would have picked up the necklace to study it closer, but Tom simply stared at it from afar.

His face softened gradually. "I think that's perfect."

"Splendid." The attendant rushed around the counter only to wait patiently for us to pay. When the transaction had been approved, she wrapped it up and tied it with a pretty bow.

We were outside not half a minute later. Tom had gone into solid tension mode, and I followed his strides as well as I could.

"Hey," someone called out.

I was about to look over my shoulder, but Tom cleared his throat to get my attention. But ignoring the speaker didn't help.

"You fuck niggers, boy? A faggot nigger lover. Can't have any of that in town." The voice shot through the air, sharp, taunting. Repulsive.

I continued to walk, but someone grabbed me from behind. A rough hand around my wrist. It was the man from before, but he wasn't alone. Two other men stood behind him, each of them spitting the ground when they caught me looking. My ears rang with approaching panic.

The grip around my wrist tightened, but I was too shocked to struggle against it.

"You watch it, boy. Disgusting piece of filth. You betray your kin like this. You have it coming." He dropped my wrist, wiping his hand on his jeans as if I were contagious. "And your black faggot friend will get what he deserves."

With his hand on the gun, the man spat just like the others had done. The saliva landed on my shirt, soaking into the fabric. If not for the acute sense of terror, I would have felt nothing but humiliated. Angry. But all I could make out was fear. It gripped me from within, drowning everything else.

"Come on, Joah." Tom said. He used a quiet tone, almost inaudible.

He tugged my shirt, not a touch, but a tug. I understood the difference even as I fought to stay sane. Backing away slowly, averting my eyes. Fuck, this was worse than anything I'd experienced so far. I'd encountered bullies. I'd run into fights. I'd been beaten. But these had guns. They spoke out in public in the middle of the day. This was different.

It wasn't until we were safe in the car that I could breathe properly, hands on my knees, leaning forward.

"Are you okay?" Tom asked.

"If I'm okay?" This had been aimed at him as well as me. And the store attendant. Gosh, it all fell into place. "Are you okay?" I felt nauseous.

He sagged in the seat, staring out at the town that appeared completely harmless at a glance. "Yes. I've seen this before, but I bet you haven't."

"No. Nothing like this."

"Let's go back to Luke's. At least we found something." He attempted a smile. It warmed my heart, not so much for its sincerity, but what it stood for. He wanted to reassure me even though I could see how scared he had been.

It begged me to question, "Why didn't you bring a gun if you were afraid this would happen? Every other person had one." He could have defended us.

"Because they'd have shot me."

Just like that. One sentence. It didn't matter if it was true or not. That he felt it with such certainty was enough to break my heart in pieces. He'd been right to leave this town behind.

* * * *

I was still trying to pick it all apart to understand the pieces when we arrived back at the house. Tom stopped the car, pulled the handbrake and cut the engine. But he didn't move.

We sat in silence, hid away inside a car where no one could reach us. Tinted windows. For once, I didn't think about sex.

"I'm sorry," Tom said.

"You have nothing to apologize for."

He heaved a sigh. "I've not been here in a decade. I thought it might have changed." Jaw set, churning. "We'll drive back tomorrow morning."

"And miss the party?" And he hadn't had enough time with his brother. This was not the time to flee. "We'll just be here at the house."

Tom didn't say a word. Instead, he stared out at the well-kept garden.

"What did those guys mean with 'betraying my kin'? Was it a racial thing?"

"Yes."

"That's stupid."

"Not down here."

"Well it's stupid anyway."

"Joah," he paused, shutting his eyes. "It will be the same tomorrow."

The car was getting too hot. I was dying to get out of it, but feared we were far from finished with this talk. And for once, I didn't want to know. I didn't want to hear that we'd be facing this again.

"Do you remember that I told you my parents had caught me kissing a guy?"

"Yes." That had been their reason for pushing him away.

"The guy was white. It was off the charts inappropriate in their eyes. Not only was I gay, but I'd chosen a white guy. It was the ultimate betrayal. I know you don't understand, and it's difficult to explain." He made an exasperated sound. "My parents are good people. They're not evil or horrible. I hoped they would accept me, but they couldn't."

"And now you're bringing me to the reunion." I was exhausted. I couldn't believe we'd left Baltimore that morning. So much had happened.

"Yes, I am. You're my husband and the reason I'm here. I'm not hiding you away like I'm ashamed of you."

It was hard to make sense of anything. My heart was beating fast with both fear, anxiety and hopeless love. The way he'd said husband. As if he meant it. That it wasn't simply a word on a paper anymore.

"Maybe they will surprise you," I said.

"I doubt it, but I won't back down. I'm here because I'm ready to face them." He finally moved his hand toward me, caressing my cheek with a warm thumb. His fingers curled around my neck, pulling me closer.

The kiss settled the worst of it. The touch of warmth soothed my fears and boosted my confidence. We would manage. Somehow.

* * * *

We'd both been running on fumes when we finally settled on the sofabed after dinner. The lights were out, the AC was humming. Springs whined beneath me when I moved closer to Tom, settling in his arms.

It was the first calm moment since the car, and I already knew what I wanted to ask. We hadn't had time to talk about it, wrapped up in developments we couldn't control.

"How did it go with Luke earlier? I never had the chance to ask." I assumed that it had gone fine. Dinner had been quite relaxed, but also non-confrontational.

Tom pressed his lips against the nape of my neck, stalling. "He said he wants me in his life."

"Oh, baby that's great." I turned around in his embrace until I could look at him.

"Baby?"

My chest stirred with chuckles. "It's an endearment."

"I know. But, baby? You couldn't have chosen another one?"

"Nah."

"You're precious," he said, taking me completely off guard.

I kissed him then, hoping to mask how those words hadaffected me. We could talk about Luke another time.     

A/N an eventful day in their lives for sure. I just want to say that I decided to set this in Virginia before the events in Charlotteville. Still, important to remember that racism is very much alive in the world. We must never forget to fight against it.