“You let Jeff up off that bed before Nate says he’s done, and I’ll cane your ass.”
Stuart chuckled. “No worries, Bran.” He gave him a playful salute.
He grabbed jeans and closed himself in the master bath to change out of the shorts he’d donned upon returning home. At least that was a drastic improvement in their lives—Tracey had filed for divorce from her jackass of a husband, Pat, moved out, and was repairing her relationship with Emma. Meaning Tracey now had an amicable relationship with Brandon.
Finally.
She frequently came over to the house to have dinner or spend time with them as a family, usually once or twice a week. She wasn’t dating now, trying to regain her sense of self and desperate not to make the same mistake she’d made after Brandon had divorced her.
When he emerged from the bathroom, he grabbed a jacket and had Emma walk with him to the front door, since he needed her to move her car anyway. “You and Grace help Stuart keep Jeff in bed when Nate’s done with him, okay?”
“Will do, Dad. He’s really bad today, isn’t he?”
“Yeah. Maybe watch TV in there with him or something after Nate’s done, huh? I don’t even want him out on the couch.”
“We’ll think of something.”
He kissed her forehead. “Thanks, kiddo. Why don’t you go ahead and park behind Stuart, since you leave before him?”
She grabbed her keys and headed out to move her car. Jeff’s truck always sat parked close to the house, since he didn’t have to go to work now. Emma usually parked behind someone else, so she could get out when she had to leave at the asscrack of dawn for her swim practice. Brandon sometimes had to leave before Stuart, depending on which store he had to go to on any given day. He was a district manager for a large bulk warehouse chain and oversaw five stores between Sarasota and Ft. Myers.
As Brandon drove toward I-75, he realized he needed to get onto the interstate south of Tracey’s location. The dividers on the highway would prevent a U-turn. So he made his way south to Clark Road and got on there, staying in the right lane and running below the speed limit so he wouldn’t miss Tracey’s car and have to do it again.
The rain picked up as another band of weather from the frontal system blew through, gusts of winds buffeting his car and making it even more of a challenge. Then he spotted flashers on the shoulder ahead. When he pulled over he kept far to the right, parked behind her so the wrecker would be able to pull in front of her car to load it, and turned his emergency flashers on.
He flashed his headlights at her. A moment later, she poked her head out, realized it was him, then dashed around the front of her car, taking the long way around to the passenger side to avoid the highway.
He bumped up the heater as she yanked the passenger door open and dropped into the seat. “Brrr! Oh, my god, thank you so much!”
“It just stopped running, huh?”
“Yeah. I was lucky no one was next to me and I could coast over to the shoulder. I’m sorry to pull you away from Jeff.”
“It’s okay. Stuart and the girls are there with him.”
“Is he all right?”
“He overdid it yesterday in the yard. So how are you getting to work tomorrow?”
“I haven’t even thought that far ahead. I might have to book an Uber or something.”
“I’m taking tomorrow off to take Jeff to the doctor, but that’s not until eleven. I can run you in.”
Her eyes widened. “Really? Thank you.” She threw herself across the seat to hug him. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.”
“I’d ask Emma to loan you her car but she’s got swimming, and I’m not going to make Stuart get up that early to take her and Grace to the pool.” Even though Jeff was his husband—and slave—Brandon wasn’t going to volunteer Jeff’s truck for use without asking him first.
There was such a thing as not being an asshole, sadist or not.
“No, it’s okay. Thank you.” She ran her hands up and down her arms, a laugh escaping her. “A year ago, if you’d told me we’d be sitting here like this, I would have said you’re nuts.”
“Right?” He leaned his seat back a little. “How’s the divorce coming?” He tried not to talk to her about it around Emma, not wanting to get their daughter’s anger up.
Rightfully so. The man had been an asshole and treated Emma like crap, the main reason she and Tracey had so many problems the last couple of years.
Well, that and the fact that Tracey hadn’t stood up to Pat to side with Emma when she should have.
“Final hearing’s in two weeks. Considering Pat’s too busy dealing with his legal issues from threatening our former landlord, he hasn’t even responded to the divorce. Well, he responded when I first filed, but the first attorney dumped him as a client when Pat couldn’t pay him. It’s basically going through uncontested at this point, now that he can’t afford a divorce attorney and his criminal attorney doesn’t handle divorces.”
“Nice.”
“I know, right?” A sad sigh escaped her. “I know I shouldn’t have married him. I take full responsibility for that.”
“I didn’t say a thing.”
“I know. And I appreciate that. You had every reason to hate me for how I behaved, but you were the bigger person.”
Brandon was also big enough not to say I told you so. “Thank you. I’m glad we can be friends now. It’s best for Emma.”
“I know.” She slowly shook her head. “I should have stood up to Pat from the beginning. It doesn’t excuse my behavior, but he was really insecure. I can see all of that now, and it’s so stupid when I look at it in hindsight. I should have called him out on it.”
Brandon had figured that out long ago, but didn’t say anything, choosing to let her get this off her chest.
“How did I give birth to a daughter who is so much freaking smarter than me?” She stared at Brandon in the dim light from the instrument panel. “I mean, let’s face it. I’m an idiot.”
“No, you’re not. Your family is a bunch of assholes who talked you into thinking that. Are you a rocket scientist? No, but neither am I. You’re lacking self-confidence more than anything. And I’m sorry me divorcing you contributed to that. But I wasn’t going to raise my daughter living a lie. It wasn’t healthy for any of us.”
“I know,” she quietly said.
“If you repeat the same mistakes over and over, sure, that might make you look stupid.” Fortunately, he got a smile out of her for that. “But Emma’s wicked smart, Trace. Set a good example by improving yourself. That’s what’ll make the difference in the long run, and she’ll respect you for it.”
“I was looking into a program they have at work for store managers and assistant managers. They’ll pay for college classes. Our regional manager said I should apply for it, because I’ve been there long enough. I’m eligible. It could mean advancement, finally.”
“That’s great. I think you should try it.”
“I just hope I’m smart enough.”
“Stop. Seriously. You’re an office manager. They wouldn’t have put you in that position if you couldn’t do it, right? There’s nothing to say you couldn’t learn what you need to be a store manager. Have a little faith in yourself.”
“Promise me something, please?”
“I’ll try, but I have to hear it first.”
“If you see me being stupid again, like I was with Pat, tell me, okay?”
“You sure you want me to promise to do that?”
“I do. I wouldn’t have listened to you about Pat, but it’s obvious to me now that I need a second opinion.”
“Fair enough. You’ll get five opinions, though.”
“Five?”
“Yeah.” He smiled, ticking them off on his fingers. “Me, Jeff, Stuart, Em, and Grace.”
“Now that girl is scary-smart. Emphasis on the scary sometimes. Do you think they’ll stay together for the long haul?”
“I don’t know, but I’m kind of glad
Grace is a girl and not a guy.”
“Why?”
“Because can you imagine the kind of uber-supervillain those two could give birth to?”
At least he could still make Tracey laugh.
Chapter Two
The tow truck finally showed up and loaded Tracey’s car, taking it to the mechanic Brandon recommended she use.
At least Tracey was listening to him again.
The only thing he worried about was her trying to lean on him too much, rely too heavily on his opinion and try to slip back into a submissive role with him. Yes, they’d had somewhat of a BDSM dynamic in their marriage, with him absolutely the Dominant partner, but nothing as formal as what he had with Jeff and Stuart.
Brandon had already spoken with the “Frightful Five” at Venture, the group of women handpicked by Tilly to help play matchmaker and keep people from making boneheaded relationship decisions. Once Tracey started dating again, they would help her navigate the treacherous dating waters and hopefully prevent her from hitting a reef.
Again.
After dropping Tracey off at the house where she was renting a room from a friend and coworker, he headed home. He was a little surprised to see Nate’s car still parked in the driveway, especially since it’d been nearly two hours since he’d left to help Tracey.
When he walked down the hall, Emma stepped out of the master bedroom and immediately motioned for Brandon to be quiet. Peeking in through the door, he realized Jeff lay sound asleep on the bed while Nate was removing acupuncture needles from him.
Brandon and Emma walked out to the kitchen. “He fell asleep about ten minutes ago,” she told him. “I brought him his evening meds earlier and made him take them. We decided to let him sleep. Nate said it likely meant the treatment helped.”
“Okay, good. I didn’t think Nate would be here this long.”
“Jeff had some massive knots in the backs of his shoulders. Lots of pain there. Nate did another treatment on him with the cups.”
“Ah.”
“Maybe I should think about going into physiotherapy or something instead of criminal justice.”
“Why?”
She hooked a thumb in the general direction of Brandon’s bedroom.
“Honey, we’re grown men. We’re perfectly capable of getting someone to take care of our medical needs. You decide what you want to do based on you, not us.”
“Well, Grace has been looking at possibly going into sports medicine. She hasn’t made up her mind yet. She’s having fun working with the swim coaches.”
“As long as she’s not a supervillain, I’m sure her parents will be thrilled.”
They returned to the bedroom, where Nate was almost done removing all the needles. After Nate finished packing, Brandon retrieved the blank check from Stuart and helped Nate quietly get all his gear out to the living room so he could pay the man. Brandon motioned for Stuart to remain behind with Jeff, because him climbing off the bed, where he sat next to Jeff, might wake him up.
“I really appreciate this,” Brandon said to Nate once they were out in the living room. “Especially you coming over on such short notice.”
“I meant it when I said he needs to see me regularly so his pain doesn’t get this bad. It wasn’t only from yard work. It’s been building a while. He did this the last time he had a bad flare. He’s not telling you guys how bad his pain really is. He’s hiding it.”
Brandon had suspected that. “I’ll call Cherise in the morning and set up some appointments for him.”
“Excellent. If we can keep ahead of it, it’ll lower his stress levels and help his overall health. Plus, chronic pain like that is fatiguing, which stresses the whole body. Then it’s a cascading effect that keeps snowballing. Before you know it…” He pointed down the hallway and shrugged, his meaning clear.
A crash.
With the bill paid, Brandon helped Nate load his gear while Grace and Emma settled in at the dining room table with their laptops. He could tell they were cruising social media sites.
This wasn’t exactly how Brandon had planned to spend his Tuesday evening, but this kind of disruption sure as hell beat the days when he was wondering what kind of bullshit Pat and Tracey would put him and Emma through next.
He noticed some forms on the table next to Emma. “What are those?”
Her cheeks pinked a little. “College application forms.”
“Oh. Where to?”
She shrugged. “A few places.”
He sighed and looked to Grace, his go-to for information when Emma wasn’t forthcoming.
“USF, UF, FSU, St. Leo’s, and University of Miami. The Florida one, not the Ohio one.”
Brandon refocused on Emma. “And why would that be a secret?”
“It’s not a secret. I don’t know where I want to go yet.”
“Why no out of state schools?”
“Because I don’t know if I want to go to school out of state.”
Grace sat back, arms crossed over her chest, and cleared her throat as she stared at Emma with a Domme-worthy glare, if he’d ever seen one
Brandon tipped his head and stared at Emma, waiting her out.
“I want to know where Grace is going first,” Emma eventually mumbled.
“I know this is likely a duh kind of question, but why?” He directed the question to Grace, knowing at this point she was his best and fastest source of answers.
“I’ve applied for scholarships,” Grace said. “She’s trying to hold off applying for scholarships until she sees where I get approved first, even though I told her that she shouldn’t do that, because she needs to apply where she wants to go.”
This was starting to feel like a table tennis match. He focused on Emma again, who finally groaned. “I’d really like to go to USF in Tampa,” she said.
“You know you can apply to multiple schools and then choose not to go to the others if your first choice accepts you, right?”
“See?” Grace wore a smirk. “Exactly what I told you. And yes, I have applied to USF. I’ll probably go there regardless, because it’s in-state and close to home. I’m pretty sure they’ll accept me.”
“But what if you get into OSU or something?” Emma asked.
“You applied to Ohio State?” Brandon asked Grace.
Grace shrugged. “My aunt and uncle live up there, and they have a great medical program. But so does USF. And I won’t be going to OSU unless I land a full academic scholarship there, which is doubtful. I’m an out-of-state student and I can’t afford to go there if it’s not a full-ride scholarship.”
Brandon understood part of this was Emma looking at the problem emotionally, because of her relationship with Grace, rather than logically and logistically.
He opted to take the wiser path to approach the topic. “Honey, you know Grace is right.”
“I know,” Emma mumbled. “But it’s not like I have to decide right this minute.”
“That’s true,” Brandon said. “Except if you wait too long to start applying for scholarships and grants and entrance, you might not be able to get what you really want.”
She hunkered even farther down in her chair. “I know.”
Grace leaned in and reached across the table to pat her hand. “Even if we don’t go to the same school, we can still FaceTime and stuff. You might be sick of me by the end of next school year. Hopefully not, but Pop is right, and you and I both know it.”
Those were three words he never grew tired of hearing: Pop is right.
“I didn’t get to go to college when I was your age,” Brandon said. “I went to work. I had to earn my degree part-time and in the evenings after I married your mom, while working full-time and then raising you. I would have preferred to go to college right after high school. Learn from my mistakes.”
Stuart joined them in the kitchen. “He’s still asleep. I was careful getting out of bed.” He leaned in for a kiss from Brandon. “Thanks for pulling rank on him.”
“Kinda what I
do.” He let out a yawn and pulled out his phone to check the time. “Holy cow, I didn’t realize it was that late.”
“I was thinking we sleep in my room tonight so we don’t jostle him,” Stuart said. Usually, most nights, they all slept in the master bedroom. But Jeff and Stuart each had a room of their own, because they needed a place for their clothes and belongings. The fifth bedroom wasn’t a guest room, but more a multi-purpose room with a day bed that Grace used when she slept over.
Considering how many clothes, toiletries, and other items the girl stored in there, it might as well be Grace’s room.
“You read my mind.” Brandon draped an arm around Stuart’s shoulders. “You two don’t stay up too late, okay?”
“We won’t,” Emma said. “We’re almost done.”
The men headed to the bedroom, closing the door behind them. Brandon stretched out on the bed after undressing. “So how bad is he? Really?”
Stuart didn’t need sock puppets. He shrugged. “He was mumbling about he how should look for a job and go back to work. Both Nate and I shut him down and told him he needed to stop thinking about work and focus on healing. Jeff said something about maybe going to work part-time for Brooke.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen, at this rate. Besides, if the doctor wants to put him back on a PICC line, he won’t be able to work doing something like that.”
Stuart stripped and climbed into bed with him. “Do you want me to call in tomorrow and take him to the doctor?”
Brandon reached up and cupped his cheek. “No, I already told them I wouldn’t be there. Besides, he’ll steamroll you, buddy. You know he will. I have a feeling I’m going to have to get more than a little Dommy on his ass to take it easy.”
“That’s true. I think he was trying to prove he could go back to work.”
Jeff had been pushing the envelope lately. Brandon suspected the crash Jeff had wasn’t so much due to one particular day as it was him stressing himself repeatedly over the past couple of weeks, with housework, yard work, and more. Jeff had also off-handedly mentioned maybe going back to work about a month earlier, and Stuart and Brandon had immediately shut down that talk. After reminding Jeff that he wasn’t in any shape to return to work, it seemed like Jeff had done his level best to try to prove he was.
A Case of You [Suncoast Society] (Siren Publishing Sensations ManLove) Page 2