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tongue. He tried to keep a grip on his feelings for Alex but was sinking a little deeper every day. His heart more entangled with each meeting. "It's nothing mom, just a kid I met a few weeks ago. I hang out with him and a friend sometimes. I wouldn't let it be anything else."
    She didn't comment. Her eyes, the same blue as his, said it all. Jared took a bite of his baked potato, but it tasted like sawdust in his mouth. He didn't want to lie to his mother, silence was safer. She reached across the table to lay her hand on his arm. Her touch as gentle and reassuring as when he was a boy.
    "I know that, Jared. You are too good a man to do…" She stopped short, but it hung unspoken between them, 'to do what David did to you.'
    It was something Jared tried to erase from his memory. The older man had taken him under his wing when Jared was sixteen, and under the guise of mentoring him, David encouraged Jared's budding sexuality. He said everything Alex wanted to hear from Jared. Words of love and promises he didn't mean. After the sacrificing of Jared's innocence, David disappeared.
    "It's okay Mom, I've dealt with it." Jared covered her hand with his, aware how rough his touch must feel on her soft skin. Construction wasn't a gentle way to earn a living. She smiled, staring at his hand.
    "You have your father's hands," she said, "and his heart. Jared, I'm not worried that you'll do anything inappropriate or hurt that boy. I'm worried that you don't guard yourself as carefully as you do others. You are in love with him. Maybe no one else sees it, but I do. What will you do when he grows up?"
    Holding her gaze, Jared gave her the only answer he could. The truth.
    "I'll let him go."

The Inevitable

    "Jared!"
    The door to Jared's office flew open, banging against the wall behind it. Jared's head jerked up. His office was in his garage, open to the public, but it was rare for anyone to show up there. He did the lion's share of his business over the phone. Alex burst into the room, his eyes wide with panic. Alarmed, Jared rushed to meet him. The distressed teenager threw himself into Jared's arms, clinging to him.
    "Don't let him, Jared. You have to tell him he can't do it. You have to help me!" Alex, crying and out of breath, made it impossible for Jared to make heads or tails of what he was trying to say.
    "Here, Alex, sit down and calm down. No one is going to hurt you. I'll get you some water." When Jared returned with the bottle of water, Alex was calmer. He took a long drink and dashed the tears from his eyes.
    "I knew you'd help me," he said with a little hiccup. His eyes were red rimmed from crying, but Jared couldn't see any sign of an injury.
    He leaned back on the edge of his desk, close to Alex. "Help you? What's wrong?" Jared asked. "Did someone hurt you?"
    "It's my Dad." Tears threatened again, and Alex scrubbed at his eyes furiously.
    "Your Dad hurt you?" Jared leaned over Alex and cupped his chin, lifting the boy's face to look again for signs of abuse.
    "No," Alex pulled away, shifting in his chair. "Yes. I mean, he didn't hit me, or anything. It's just, he's sending me away. He can't do it! I won't go! I won't. You have to stop him, Jared. I can't leave. I can't."
    Jared stared at Alex, overwhelmed by the flood of mixed emotions brought on by his words. Sharp tearing pain at the thought of Alex leaving warred with the relief that he wouldn't have to keep fighting his baser instincts. Jared didn't have time to indulge his inner turmoil, Alex needed him. He grabbed his desk chair and pulled it around to sit in front of Alex.
    "Alex, you have to calm down. Tell me what happened." Jared's calm had the desired effect on the boy. Alex took another drink of water and a deep breath.
    "I want to go to MIT," Alex said, "Dad says that my school here isn't preparing me for the demands of a college like that. He found some high school he wants me to go to, to get me ready for it."
    "A prep school," Jared said, and Alex