Love, Hate & Clickbait: A Novel

Thom was used to being the center of attention at these events, or close to it, but usually that meant that he was the focus of admiration, envy, or fear. He honestly didn’t really care which of those feelings he inspired; they were all a form of power. Today, it felt like he was caught in a maelstrom of gossip, helpless to its whipsaw currents. He

It was a hideous, strange feeling, knowing that he was going to get something that would make him unspeakably happy, for the absolute worst reasons.

“But you don’t have to put an unrelated corporate giveaway into a bill that’s supposed to help people,” Kerry said. “You could just help people.”

He didn’t like how much he enjoyed that particular quality of Clay’s—his willingness to go along with the dumb shit Thom pulled. A cooperative Clay was certainly better than an argumentative one, but it also presented a new question for Thom, one that had been growing in size and detail in the hectic landscape of his mind, and one he’d been trying

Clay looked at the pictures on the box, then back at Thom. He held up the gift, shook it at him, and said, “This is the shittiest fucking love declaration I’ve ever heard of.”

That’s what was so strange. It had just been a regular, run-of-the-mill kiss—an awkward, fake kiss, even. But when Clay’s mouth had opened under Thom’s, it had set off a flicker of heat at the base of his skull, like a spark catching in the dry grass on a blistering summer day.

He tried, he really did. He knew exactly what he was supposed to say, how this was supposed to go. But there was nothing in his life that had ever remotely prepared him for this moment. Clay was the strong one. Thom was weak.

But the inauthenticity of it didn’t bother Clay as much as it should have. Instead, it was turning him on—like the clothes Thom had picked out were Thom’s hands running all over him, cradling him and presenting him to the world. “Looks fine,” Clay said, his voice a little unsteady. “I dunno if it’s worth the money.”

Technically, Thom was vehemently opposed to the idea. But it felt like what Thom would do. That was enough for Clay.