Chapter 29

“We’ve all lost people. Me included. A partner. A…spouse. My whole damn family over time. A child…my sister’s. A girl I promised to raise. I must live with the fact I couldn’t keep any of them safe.”

Oh jeez. Mason wasn’t one for praying, but he almost did. He hadn’t scratched the surface of Kyle’s suffering. The man looked like he might cry but his expression hardened.

“So when some fuckers decided to lock me in a cage for being gay part of me was glad. I was ready to die. Or so I believed. The thing to keep me alive was I didn’t want to let those bastards win.” Kyle took a step back—possibly unable to stand being so close to Hank any longer. “I won’t be dictated to, not by your sort.” His gaze swept the crowd again. “Not by anyone. Mason and I are gay, and maybe something will come of what happened between us, and maybe it won’t, but we sure as hell aren’t going to change to please any of you people. You will all need to learn to live with it.”