Page 77 of Roll With The Punches
“Why?” Now Emma was looking at him. “Why do we have to tell him anything? If we promise not to do it again—”
He laughed. “Okay, honey? I mightseemold to you, and I am more than old enough to be your father, but I was a teenaged boy. I was fooling around with girls back then, so let’s end that conversationrightthere. Ihaveto hand this off to your father. If you were a little older, I’d sit you down for a talk and then look the other way. But you’re only sixteen. He might decide this is okay, but I cannotmake that decision for him, no matter how much I love you. Stu and I promised we’d never be like Pat. That means we defer to your father.Hisword is law in this house.”
She finally nodded. “Okay.”
“Do you think we’re in trouble?” Grace asked him.
“Trouble? That I can’t answer. I think he’s going to be as hurt as I am that you didn’t tell us the truth sooner, and that you’ve been lying to us and sneaking around behind our backs. Breaking our trust like that is pretty hurtful.”
That silenced them for a moment.
Emma spoke first. “Hurt?”
“Uh,yeah. Hurt. My feelings arehurt. I thought you understood you could come to us about anything. Instead, you played an end game to sneak around behind our backs. I’d be genuinely shocked if Brandon and Stuart don’t feel at least a little hurt, too, when they find out.”
Her gaze dropped again. “We weren’t trying to hurt your feelings.” Grace draped her arm around Emma, and another piece of the puzzle suddenly fitted itself into place.
In their relationship, Grace was in charge.
“Look, Igetit. You’re kids. Smart kids, but you’re stillkids. Which is the wholepointto having rules and boundaries. You might think you’re grown up, but so did we when we were your age.”
“I don’t understand the big deal,” Em muttered. “Not like we can get pregnant with each other.”
“That’snotthe point, and you damn well know it, or you wouldn’t haveliedto us all this time.” He hoped he was even making sense, because he was feeling crappier by the minute. “The point is youliedto us to skirt around rules you don’t even know if your father will put into place or not. In this case, an omission is absolutely a lie. You broke our trust in you both. There’s no gay ‘get out of trouble free’ card for this situation just because one of you isn’t in possession of a cisgendered heterosexual penis.”
He realized what he’d said as soon as he saw Grace desperately trying not to laugh.
“It’s…fine. It’s okay to laugh. I know I’m loopy on meds right now.”
“What if it’s a gay fake penis?” Grace snarked.
He rolled his eyes, able to chuckle despite how crappy he felt and the situation in general. He sat up and waved them in for hugs. “Go get showered and changed while I call your father.”
“Are you going to tell my parents?” Grace asked again after they’d both hugged him and stepped away.
“That’s up to Brandon, but if it’s up to me, yes. Unless or until he specifically tells me I can make those kinds of decisions, I default everything to him.”
Once he’d heard them retreat to their own bathrooms, he headed to the master bedroom and closed the door to make the call.
Brandon answered on the second ring. “Hey, buddy. How you feeling?”
“We need to talk, Brandon. It’s important.”
“Is everything okay?”
“It’s about Emma and Grace. Before you freak out, they’re safe, it’s not anything like that. But we need to talk.Now.”
“Okay. Hold on, let me get back to my office.” While he traveled to different stores, his main office was located at one there in Sarasota, where Jeff knew he was today.
Brandon pulled the phone away from his ear and Jeff heard him excuse himself. It sounded like he was walking—jogging, actually—and a moment later Jeff heard a door close and other ambient sounds disappear on Brandon’s end.
“What’s going on?” Brandon asked, in full-on Dom tone now.
Jeff gave Brandon the quick run-down and…waited.
“Shit,” he muttered. “Really?”
“Yes, Master. I’m sorry to bother you at work about this, but—”
