Scorched(39)

“May I point out that we haven’t even sat down at the dining room table yet?” Devil asked, jerking his head toward the adjoining room where the chef Molly’d hired for the day had set the gorgeous mahogany table with elegant table settings and was placing food on it as quickly as she could. Molly didn’t blame her, she’d flee this house of horrors, too, if she could.

“The last thing I have a desire to do is to break bread with you, Mr. Delancy,” Sofia bit out. “You’re responsible for this, aren’t you? Before you showed up, determined to seduce our son away from us, he had a perfectly normal lifestyle. He dated girls.”

“Look, lady, I didn’t exactly have to beg to get your son to sign on with Delancy Industries. I simply offered him a job. He’s the one that left skid marks getting the hell out of Boston and the hell away from you and your hypercritical running commentary on his life… or lack of one as the case was at the time. Because trust me, woman, that boy was barely breathing before I helped him escape Boston.”

“And for the record, I didn’t date those girls you refer to, Mother. I used them as human shields. I had to do it,” he said with a quick look at Mannie. “I did,” he whispered to the other man now standing at his side and holding his hand tightly. “She would have made my life a misery if she’d even suspected I was gay then. I’m not proud of it, but I used those girls.”

“As somebody who’s done sort of the same thing,” Devil began, remembering how he’d dated his fair share of women in an effort to keep him from acting on his feelings for Molly, “I get it, Nick. You did what you had to do then to get through the day.” Looking at Sofia again, Devil shook his head in disgust. “Look, Sofia. Gino. Nick coming here and working for me was almost entirely your own doing. You want somebody to blame, look in the fuckin’ mirror. Neither one of you would let the guy be who he was. He had to move somewhere where he could just be free to live his life without judgment. And for the record, when he found Mannie, it looked like he found his other half. Why don’t you try being happy for him?” Devil growled, determined to defend his friends. He only went silent when Molly grabbed his hand and threaded her fingers through his.

“That will never happen,” Sofia denied, casting Nick and Armando a disparaging look of contempt. “And I will thank all of you not to blame my son’s horrible, deviant lifestyle on me! I had nothing to do with him becoming an affront against nature and all the things his father and I hold dear,” she snapped out bitterly, each word fraught with anger and disgust. “I can only be thankful that the people that know us in Boston do not have to be subject to this ridiculous life choice. “ Pausing to take a deep breath, she focused her attention entirely on her son. “You, my son, have a choice to make.”

“A choice,” Nick scoffed. “Have you listened to a word I said? This isn’t a choice, Mother!” he shouted, taking an angry step toward the woman that gave birth to him. “It has never, not once, been a choice. It’s WHO I AM!” he roared, his body jerking when Armando caught his arm when he would have charged across the room toward his parents. “I’m sorry if I’m not the son you wanted, but this is what you have!”

“Calm down, mi amor,” Armando soothed against Nick’s ear as he rubbed Nick’s heaving shoulders. “Calm down, Nicky. You don’t owe anyone an apology. Least of all, somebody that could make you feel like this,” he added with an irate look at Nick’s mother.

Barely noticing Armando, Sofia’s eyes narrowed. “You have a choice to make, Nicholas. You can stay here and live a life that our God considers an abomination….”

“Wait a second!” Molly finally interrupted, holding up her hands. “Our God? Is that what you said? Our?”

“That’s exactly what I said,” Sofia retorted, her eyes flashing. “Surely you can see that this is a sinful union   that our Lord would never sanction.”

“Well, my God doesn’t judge. My God would NEVER condemn two men for loving each other. He would never cast them aside for a choice that was never theirs to begin with. This is your SON that you’re trying to condemn to Hell! How can you do that?” Molly asked, horrified by the callousness that Nick’s mother was showing him and Armando.

“Don’t bother wasting your breath, Molly,” Armando interjected softly. “People like her will sit in judgment of people like us until the end of time. You’ve got a better shot at stopping time than changing her mind.”