A Daddy for Benito by Joe Satoria

21. BENITO

SUNDAY

Last Sunday was a hard day for me to forget, not only did it ring in my ear about how shitty parents can be, but it also gave me an insight into Harry. The reason he was protective and caring the way he was. That’s the reason I was going to take control of the situation this Sunday.

Harry had already announced he wouldn’t be seeing his mother until she apologised, and I knew parents like that, I had two of them, except they got rid of me as fast as the trash collection came and went. But I’d grown from my family, and if they passed me in the street, that was their problem, not mine.

And Alexi and Warren taught me that life was too short to be living with feelings of love or hate that you didn’t yet explode about. It’s the reason for my outburst in the bedroom, I had to say it, like at a wedding where they say if you don’t speak now forever hold your peace. Well, I couldn’t have peace until that was said, and I figured Harry was the same. He needed to do what he’d told me he was going to do and speak to his mother.

“Have you seen my phone?” Harry grumbled from the side of me in bed.

I couldn’t exactly blindside him with the information of his mother, but I’d done it now. The text was sent.

“Don’t hate me,” I started.

“You broke it? Down the toilet?” he asked, cosying up to me in the bed. “Whatever you did with it, I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Well, firstly, why do you have all these nudes?” I asked.

He chuckled. “Firstly, I don’t have any nudes on there, and secondly, if I did, they would only be your nudes.”

I feigned shock. “You’ve been taking naked pictures of me?”

“No, I’m saying—”

“Well, I’m going to pretend you’ve been taking pictures of me, and now you can’t be mad when I tell you—”

“What have you done?” He asked, his fingers tickling at my sides. I squirmed in the bed.

Giving up the phone I’d been hiding. “I invited your mum over,” I said.

“You what?”

I handed the phone over to him. “I wanted you to get some closure,” I said. “I know, it’s not my place, but I know you hurt last time, and I feel selfish for taking that from you since it really triggered me, but I think you should speak to her.”

He didn’t say a word. Welp. I’d fucked everything up now. Great, this would end up being another thing men said about me. Not only did I steal and cheat on Warren, but I also overstepped with Harry. I didn’t even think I could overstep with him, considering we had a thing where we played with the boundaries.

“Ok,” he said, nodding. Cuddling his head into the back of my neck. He gave my shoulder a kiss. “I can feel your heart,” he said. “I’m thirty-two. I should tell her. I’m not going to be spoke to like that about who I am or who I really like.”

“Oh, now you really like me?” I asked, tugging his arm closer.

“I said I did yesterday.” He continued to kiss at the back of my neck and shoulder. “I’m nervous, I’m not gonna lie. But you’ll be right there, with me, won’t you?”

Our dynamic was just that, it was dynamic, we each played protector at times.

“You know,” I said, “you’re feeling breedable and submissive right now.”

“Breedable?” he choked. “Oh, baby. If you wanted that, all we have to do is ask.”

I was always feeling breedable, it was a sensation, not sure how it could be characterised, but it was mostly inside my stomach, the wanting of a good dick inside me, filling me with seed. “Not now,” I said, “we should clean up, we have a guest coming in two hours.”

“What?”

“It’s almost ten,” I said, flashing the phone screen in his face.

Harry leapt into action. The only thing I had quickly learned about him was his ability to swing into action at the drop of a hat or to have the timer go off on an alarm, or even just to be told the current time.

I soon realised the haste he was in, and why exactly he was trying to get everything done all at once.

Dressed in a different polo shirt with the same sweater over my shoulders as yesterday, I sat on the sofa. It was almost time for his mother to arrive, and according to him, she was never late. He paced back and forth down the hallway, his phone in hand. His mother had responded to my text invite with ok. A very plain response, but apparently nothing new from her.

“You’re gonna sweat through your shirt,” I said.

“I’ve never introduced her to anyone,” he said in a brief pause. “And I know she’s going to comment on something.”

“I’ve opened all the windows, the curtains, and there isn’t a dish in sight. I even washed the scrambled egg pan. So, you’re welcome for that.”

Harry didn’t seem to be listening to what I was saying. His eyes glazed over, lifting his wrist to his eyeline, and looking at his watch.

KNOCK. KNOCK.

I looked to my phone. It was twelve on the dot.

“Harry,” she said at the door. “Let’s talk.”

I didn’t see her the last time she was here. She walked in, wheeling behind her a trolley of sorts. She had a pair of thick black sunglasses. Wiry black and grey hair, all tied up in the bun on the top of her head.

She looked at me, removing her sunglasses.

“Hi, I’m—” I stood.

“You didn’t tell me you had a friend over,” she said. “I thought this was going to be—”

“Mother,” he said, “this is my boyfriend, Benito.”

Boyfriend. My heart raced. We didn’t discuss that. I didn’t mind it, but now I’d been thrown through a loop of what I was going to say, and none of it was making much sense in my head. “Hi,” I repeated once more. “I’m Benito.”

She looked me up and down with a cold glare. “Not giving up the charade then?” she asked, turning to Harry. “I feel sorry for you, I do. Truly. And sometimes I wonder where I went wrong.”

“Excuse me,” I said, beginning to have heart palpitations. “Harry is great, in fact, he’s amazing.”

“Excuse you,” she said, “I was speaking to him.”

“Mother,” Harry said, “I invited you, because—”

“No, I invited you,” I said. “Harry is too nice to you, and—and I don’t want to speak out of turn, but he is who he is, and I think he deserves better than someone like you to say whether he is right or wrong in who he loves.” I was welling up, tears about to cascade and break from the barricade of emotion I’d never let anyone see before.

She turned on the spot, looking from me and back to Harry. “Well, you are speaking out of turn, and quite frankly, I sure you could speak like that to your own parents, but my son has been raised with better manners.”

“No,” Harry said, “this—this was all a mistake,” he said.

“You’re right,” she said with a beaming smile. “After all those years, coming to your senses.”

“No,” he nodded at her. “You, coming here. I’ve been putting this off, and I can’t do that anymore. You’ve come between me and my life, my happiness. I shouldn’t have let you do that.”

His mother scoffed. “You’re not being serious, I’ve been in your life since the day you were born, and you’re going to act like you can throw me aside for someone you’ve known a few days!”

Ok, she was kinda hitting the nail on the head with that one. We had only known each other a few days, but we had known of each other for longer than that, and also, we’d hooked up three months ago too. So, maybe it was a hit and miss with that verbal hammer she swung freely.

“I shouldn’t—I shouldn’t—”

“Shouldn’t be here?” she goaded.

“No, I shouldn’t have messaged you, hoping to get things right with you both,” I said. The one dream, it was there, in the back of my mind, and it was something I wasn’t going to admit. I wished I could’ve had a do over with my family, a moment of talking it out and finally acceptance. But here, now, she made me realise it wasn’t going to be like that. That was a fantasy.

“Sorry for the brief trip,” Harry said, “but I won’t be—in your life—any—any longer.”

“Oh, don’t be such a sissy,” she scoffed, “I’m sure when you two are finishing whatever it is you’re doing, you’ll know where to find me.” She turned on a foot.

“Don’t hold your breath!” he shouted back.

The door slammed. It went worse than I thought. My mind, in all its idealism, had painted this quaint moment sitting in the dining room talking about Harry together. But instead, he called me his boyfriend.