Chapter 1
Ryland was woken up by his phone vibrating. He picked it up, and he groaned when he realized he slept through all of his alarms that he set the night before. One of his late summer resolutions he made was to wake up early every morning, but that obviously wasn’t working for him. He knew college was going to suck if he couldn’t get up for his classes, and probably his father was going to be angry at him on top of that for wasting his money for tuition. But a big smile spread across Ryland’s face when he saw who the text message was from. Liv. Finally.
I had a great night last night, she texted him. I hope I’ll see you again soon.
Ryland started typing, to ask if she would like to do something that night, but then he stopped himself. He didn’t want to be too eager, now that things were finally getting back to normal – well, as normal as they could be.
The teenager got out of bed and went to his bathroom to take a shower. His mom and dad were probably at work because the past week his mom finally was feeling better to go back to her job, and now she virtually spent no time at home. Ryland turned on the water to steam up his bath and started brushing his teeth. A handsome, muscular, jock-type guy looked back at him from the mirror, his green eyes finally at peace after a lot of sleepless nights and demons that have been torturing him for the past three months.
Ryland stepped into the shower and for the first time in forever, didn’t think about anything specifically. He decided he was going to text Liv as soon as he got out of the shower, and ask her when was a good time for them to hang out again before college started. Ryland was going to go to Seattle University, to study to be an engineer, like his father was. He wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do with his life, so he decided to follow in his dad’s footsteps because he knew that at least he was going to be financially stable with a title like that. Liv was going to go to Portland State University to study English Language and Literature.
Ryland got out of the shower, dried himself up and walked out of the door and to the kitchen only with the towel around his waist.
“Oh, good morning, Ryland. I didn’t hear you wake up,” said his father, who was dressed in a suit, and was drinking his morning coffee, while scrolling down on his phone.
“Good morning, Dad,” said Ryland, a little startled, but not like he would’ve been a month ago. “I thought you and Mom are at work.”
His dad tried not to look directly at him as he spoke. “She left around seven, but I stayed a little late because I wanted to chat with you for a bit.”
Ryland poured himself a cup of coffee. “Oh?” he said, puzzled.
“Would you sit down?” asked his dad, pointing towards one of the kitchen chairs.
“Let me go put some clothes on first,” said Ryland. “Just as a precaution.”
Victor Lucas looked at his son’s eyes, who were the same green as his, and just quietly nodded. “Very well.”
Ryland went to the room, his mind racing. He and his dad have been nice and polite to each other for the past month, ever since he came back from a Church Camp in Mississippi that his dad sent him to. Ryland had a secret, and it was a very dark and big secret that he never shared with anyone in his life – not even his best friends, Julian and Larkin. Almost four months ago, Ryland got unexpectedly involved in a sexual relationship with his father and his maternal uncle, Tanner. The entire thing was a short-lived adventure in the family lake house at Hidden Lake in Montana. Ryland’s mom caught the three of them while they were having a steaming hot threesome in the living room, and in her distraught, she tried to escape as far away from them and got in a really bad car accident. Luckily for all of them, his mom suffered a permanent short-term memory loss, but at least she was alive and well and didn’t have any recollection of the threesome between her brother, her son and her husband. After the accident though, everything changed between Ryland and his father. For a short period of time, Ryland thought he was “in love” with his own father, and he tried to pursue a sexual relationship with him behind his mother’s back. After the danger of his mom’s accident was avoided and they knew she was going to live, Ryland tired to seduce his father and the entire thing ended up with them having rough sex in the family living room, but after that Victor started completely ignoring his son, feeling guilty about what happened to his wife. Ryland, mad and bitter at his father, went for a night out with his best pals, Julian and Larkin, and the three of them got drunk and high and had a threesome, which really pissed Victor and he sent his son to a Church Camp ran by one of his brothers, Chuck, in rural Mississippi so he can teach his son a lesson. Ryland went there all pissed at his father for ruining his last summer at home before college, but he was pleasantly surprised when he and his much older cousin, Matthew, started hooking up during his stay at the camp.
As Ryland was getting dressed, his thoughts took a dark turn when he thought about what made him stop his reckless behavior and what finally made him settle down and start dating girls again – his twin cousins, Luke and Paul. Luke and Paul were Matthew’s younger brothers who discovered their brother and cousin’s secret, and being sadistic little fucks, exploited Ryland’s newfound lust for dick, and with their degrading and verbal (and physical) abuse finally managed to teach Ryland the lesson that his father wanted him to learn a long time before – that he needed to control his urges and go back to who he used to be before he fucked with his dad and uncle. Ryland managed to leave Camp Jesus a lot earlier than planned, and when he got home he was surprised to see that his uncle Tanner was in their apartment and that his mom and dad were gone...
Ryland put a t-shirt on and shook his head. He didn’t want to think about uncle Tanner right now, because he was trying to forget the entire thing.
After his mom and dad came back from their short vacation, Victor was demanding and wanted to know why did Ryland come back so much earlier than originally planned. Ryland explained himself the best he could, because his mom was listening at the time, but when him and his dad were alone, Ryland apologized for his behavior and told Victor that he had grown up and that he was going to focus on the things he cared about before his mom dropped him off at Hidden Lake, and the whole incestuous affair started. Victor was doubtful but decided to give his son a chance to redeem himself, and this far Ryland has kept his word and he was very relaxed around his father, even though Victor didn’t seem to be yet completely relaxed around his son. There was sexual tension between them, but it was slowly, but surely, waning with each passing day.
Finally completely dressed, Ryland went back to the kitchen where his father was waiting for him.
“Sit down, Ryland,” said his father yet again, and Ryland sat on one of the chairs, and poured himself a cup of coffee, and looked at his dad, waiting. “I really don’t know how to bring this up, even though I’ve been staying up all night thinking about it.”
Now, Ryland’s curiosity was sparked. “What is it, Dad?”
Victor finally looked up from his phone, and straight into Ryland’s eyes. “I called Tanner last night about some papers he sent me a while back for me to look over, and he asked me about how you were doing.”
Ryland waited expectantly, but his dad didn’t say anything else. “Okay,” said the teenager slowly. “What is so strange about that?”
“Well, I didn’t think anything about it, until your uncle mentioned that he was here when you got back from Camp. Your mother asked me if he can stay over one night while we were out because he was coming to town for some kind of meeting, and I said yes, but I made the calculations, and he should’ve been long gone before you made it here, two nights after he was supposed to leave.”
“Alright,” said Ryland, his heart beating wildly in his chest. “What is your point?”
Victor’s jaw clenched, but he tried to seem relaxed. “I was wondering why you failed to mention that to me when me and your mother came back?”
“Because he left the next morning and I didn’t think it was worth mentioning,” said Ryland, an answer he had prepared ever since the entire thing he wanted to completely forget about happened with uncle Tanner.
“Oh,” said Victor, kind of thrown off balance, because apparently, he didn’t expect this answer. “You promise you’re not lying to me, right, son?” he asked. Ryland sipped his coffee and he could see his dad nervously gulping. What happened with uncle Tanner Ryland promised he would never, ever tell anyone about it. He was trying to forget it himself, and just move on with his life. And he realized at that moment that his dad was jealous, even though he didn’t want to admit it to himself.
“I promise, Dad. Can’t you see that I’ve cleaned up my act and that I haven’t tried to suck your dick for the past month now? Nothing happened between uncle Tanner and I, okay?”
Victor looked at his son, and finally, he smiled. “I believe you, son. And I’m really glad you cleaned up your act. I’m proud of you.”
Victor got up, finished his cup of coffee, came to Ryland and kissed his son on the head, a fatherly gesture he hadn’t done in a long time, and bid him goodbye as he left for work. Ryland pulled out his phone and texted Liv. The response came back almost instantly. She wanted to see him that night. Ryland put his thoughts about his dad and uncle Tanner to the side and smiled while finishing up his coffee.
