The Colors of Hate - 40

Dean bristled a bit at the commanding tone of Kirby's voice, and then reminded himself Kirby was in ‘cop mode’ as he took out his phone. When Carrie answered he explained briefly what was happening.

“Dean Travers, I swear,” she growled. “Why the hell did you wait so long to tell me? What if this person had done something to you? I wouldn’t have had a clue why. I swear…”

“Twice in a row,” he said with a bit of a smile in his voice. “Honestly, I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to worry you.”

“Well you should have. Dad’s a raving lunatic and it scares me that he’s going to know.”

“Carrie, come on. He’ll rant and rave, as Kirby put it, and then disown me. And that will be a blessed relief. I should have let him know years ago.”

“Dean… God, where did your common sense go? He’ll do something drastic to you.”

Dean realized then with sudden clarity what he had to do and smiled slightly. “No, he won’t. Because, Carrie, I plan on coming out to the world at large. The CVA founder’s gay and proud of it son.”

“Fuck that,” Kirby spat out from beside him, taking the phone from his hand. “Carrie, he’ll call you back later when he’s regained his senses,” he told her before hanging up. Then he glared at Dean. “Are you out of your mind? I thought that was the last thing in the world you wanted to do. It was supposed to be just a threat if he gave you any grief.”

Dean stood straight, looking Kirby in the eye. “I changed my mind. I am allowed to do that aren’t I? I’ve been living in fear of his finding out and I’ve been putting my life on hold as a result. Now the bastard knows. So let’s see how he feels when the rest of the world does too.”

“He’ll kill you,” Kirby said quietly. “Him or one of his fanatics.”

With a slight smile, Dean replied, “No. He’ll be damned certain no one harms me because while he may be insane, he’s not stupid. If anything happens to me it will come back on him. You know that.”

“I don’t know that. Well, I do, of course. He’ll be held responsible by those who hate him and his sort of rhetoric. But will he really care? Or will he think of it as ‘God’s retribution’ on you and use your death, if someone kills you, to prove he was right? That ‘the only good fag is a dead one’, even if it is his own son.”

“I guess we’re going to find out, aren’t we?”