Page 8 of A Case of You
Forcing himself to roll to his side and stretch, he finally reached the lamp on the closer of the two bedside tables and switched it on. Then he waited for the worst of the pain to abate enough he could continue.
Not as bad as the pain had felt yesterday morning, where just that much movement sent his back and shoulders into agonizing spasms, but still bad.
Fuck.
My.
Life.
On the other hand, that wasn’t exactly accurate or fair. He had two great guys who loved him, who he loved, and then there were Emma and Grace.
Plus he was going to be an uncle soon, courtesy of his younger sister, Iris, and her boyfriend, Calvin. They still hadn’t decided when or if they were going to get married, but they’d been living together for years.
He was slowly and painfully forcing himself up into a sitting position when the bedroom door opened. Stuart, seeing him, rushed over to help him.
“Why didn’t you call for help?”
“Because I didn’t want everyone in the house thinking I was dying. I just need to go to the bathroom.” He glared at Stuart. “Why did you guys sleep in the other room last night?”
Stuart blinked at his tone. “I’m sorry. We didn’t want to wake you up after you fell asleep.”
“Yeah, nothing makes a guy feel cared about like waking up alone in bed in the middle of the night.” He stumbled his way into the bathroom. “And I don’t need help taking a piss, either.” He slid the door closed on the toilet alcove and slumped down onto it after managing to get his shorts down.
He wasn’t even sure he could pee standing up that morning without getting it all over himself.
That would only add insult to injury.
He finished and washed his hands. When he emerged from the bathroom, Stuart wasn’t in the bedroom, but Brandon was. He stood there with his arms crossed and wearing a stern look that, under other circumstances, would likely mean Jeff was getting a punishment spanking.
“What?”
Although Jeff knew damn well what.
“You hurt his feelings.”
“Well, excuse me that my life is shit.” He had fully planned to storm around Brandon and go get himself some coffee, but Brandon stuck an arm out, blocking his progress.
And Jeff realized he didn’t even have the strength to push past him.
“Stop,” Brandon quietly said. “This isn’t about us sleeping in the other room last night, and we both know it.”
I will not fucking cry. I willnotfucking cry!
Brandon wrapped his arms around Jeff and carefully pulled him close, not squeezing. Jeff didn’t miss that. But Brandon’s grip felt firm, unbreakable.
“If you need to take it out on someone, please take it out on me, not him, and not the girls.”
Jeff didn’t realize he was crying until he tried to speak and his voice was all…snotted up and wheezing. “Ihatethis.”
“I know, buddy.” Brandon gently maneuvered him over to the edge of the bed and sat with him. “I’m sorry we didn’t sleep with you last night.”
“I want my life back.”
“I know.”
Jeff leaned in, his head on Brandon’s shoulder. “I want to be able to go to the club and have you beat my ass. Or play slave boy with Stuart for you when the girls aren’t home. I hate sitting there and watching him get to do everything I wish I could do, even normal stuff like chores.”
Brandon nuzzled his temple. “Do you want me to pull things back to vanilla mode for a while? Until you’re feeling better? I don’t mind.”
