“Son, she’s in a tiff now. You’d better settle her with whatever stupid story you’re about to say.”

“Yep, will do,” I said absently and saw Mom cleaning down the counter. Kylo wasn’t in sight, except for the two mugs on the counter. Where he’d disappeared to so quickly, I didn’t know.

“Gerry, grab me some more coffee,” Mom said when he entered the kitchen. “Zion, sit, and tell me everything.”

I didn’t really have a choice. She was my mom.

Actually, I did. I could kick them both out if I wanted to live a miserable life and have Mom twist it into a sob story; she would bring it up all the time to torture me.

“Huh,” Dad said.

“What?” I asked.

He faced me from the pantry. “Didn’t know you could buy that at the store.”

My brows dipped in confusion. “What?”

“A half-naked guy.” He grinned and stepped back to open the door wider, which was when I saw Kylo. Of course he was blushing red.

“Hey,” Kylo said.

Mom spun around and her eyes widened. “Zion, why do you have a man in your pantry?”

I didn’t know what I could say without freaking Kylo out. Though I bit my tongue, so I didn’t bust a gut laughing my ass off.

Kylo stepped out of the pantry and scrubbed a hand over his face before sucking in a breath and saying, “I’m Kylo, a friend of Lucas and Saint’s, also a club member.” He held out a hand to Dad, who took it and shook.

“I’m Gerry, Zion’s Dad, and the gaping woman over there is Lucy, Zion’s mom.”

Kylo nodded.

“Are…” Mom started, but then she turned to me. “Is he yours?”

Fuck did I want to yell ‘hell yes.’ I didn’t because Kylo dropped a laugh, which sounded shaky, and he shook his head. “No, we’re not… like that, and…. Crap, I just stayed the night to keep an eye on him after what happened.” A twinge of hurt brushed through me, but I knew Kylo didn’t mean it. He was scared because of my parents.

“What did happen?” Dad asked. Then he leaned into Kylo and whispered—or what he thought was a whisper—“Don’t worry if you’re gay. We have a son who is, and we’re proud of him.” He looked at me. “But I never thought you were.” Obviously, Dad read Kylo’s hesitancy.

I shrugged.

“Wait, are you?” Mom asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, but Kylo clapped. “Right, I think I better get goin’. It was great to meet you both.” He nodded and started backing from the kitchen.

“See what you did, Lucy. Scared him away.”

“Oh, please, don’t leave. I don’t mind if Zion’s gay. I just wanted to know for certain.”

Poor, poor Kylo. His eyes widened in fear. He really didn’t know what to do or say. He also didn’t know how crazy my family was. Though, he was certainly seeing it now.

Standing, I moved into Kylo, who let out a panicked noise. The noise made me want to laugh again. Previously, he’d been damn fearless in the front of fuckface Steve, yet it seemed parents scared him senseless.