Husband Material (London Calling, #2)

by Alexis Hall

“How can you say that?” She blinked in genuine horror. “We love you.” He sighed. “You know, I think you do. But from everything you’ve said to me today, and the way you interact with Lucien and with every boyfriend I’ve ever had, and with me ever since I came out, you will clearly never see any relationship I have as being as valid as Christopher’s relationship with Mia.” “Well, it’s different,” protested Miriam, with an unerring instinct for saying the worst possible thing. “It is not.” Now Oliver was on his feet as well. And raising his voice. “Lucien sees me with all my flaws and makes me feel loved anyway. Something, by the way, that neither of you have ever managed.” A deep hush had fallen, not just over our table but over the whole pub. David Blackwood was staring at Oliver with something almost like disgust. “I don’t know who you think you are. Your mother and I have given you everything. We fed you, we clothed you, we sent you to university, we put you through the bar, and now you’ve had your head turned by some artsy fairy who can’t keep his arse out the papers, and suddenly you think you’re better than us.” I wanted to tell them that he was. Not because I was an artsy fairy but because he was a good person—the best person—and he’d got that way despite having parents who were total shits. “Then how about this,” said Oliver, elegantly pulling on his jacket. “I make good money now, so if you really believe that our obligations to each other are based entirely on wha...

“Oh, and Dad…” He shot one last look at his father. “Go fuck yourself.”