Page 80 of A Case of You
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Stuartgotit. Jeff felt helpless and useless, regardless of how wrong he was to feel like that. He and Brandon didnotfeel Jeff was useless or mooching or any of those other things. Those emotions lived only in Jeff’s head.
But now Stuart wanted to take a paddle to Jeff’s ass and spank some damn sense into him, and he wasn’t even toppy!
He couldn’t leave until he hit a stopping point on the job he was working on. Fortunately, it was a new construction house, not a repair job, or he wouldn’t be able to leave early at all. They still had two more days slotted for this job, and he could easily finish it in one with plenty of time to spare. He’d hoped to stay a little later today and make even more headway, but getting home to Jeff was more important.
I know he’s in bad shape if he called Tracey for help.
Despite his early dislike for the woman, Stuart now admitted Tracey wasn’t a bad person. Sure, she’d made bad choices, but then again, so had he. The difference was he’d lucked out, and his catfisher had been immediately outed by people who turned out to be compassionate and caring, saving him from himself.
He was packing his work van when his cell rang. Being in a hurry, he answered without looking at the call screen. “Hello?”
“Stewie?”
He nearly tripped over his own damn feet as his body instinctively froze in fear. “Jake?”
“Yeah. I want to talk to you.” His voice sounded odd, slurred.
Pulse now pounding, Stuart struggled for something, anything to say. “I don’t want to talk to you.”
“You’re going to listen to me whether you like it or not. You need to get your ass home to Iowa and forget this bullshit. You need to work with Dad on the farm and help him. Man up and do what’s right. They need your help.”
“You help them.”
“This isn’t about me! It’s about you being a pervert.” He sounded drunk.
Stuart straightened, anger taking over. “Who thefuckdo you think you are to tell me what to do?”
“Because of this bullshit with you and your little faggot friend, Shelly fucking left me and took the boys. She filed for goddamned divorce today. And I’m sick and tired of my friends ribbing me for having a brother who—”
“Fuck you, asshole. I don’t have anything to say to you. Forget this number.” Stuart hung up on him, fingers trembling as he tried to figure out how to block Jake’s number. He had to send two more calls from Jake to voice mail before Stuart finally figured it out.
Son of a bitch!
This wasnotthe fucking day for this kind of bullshit. While he knew he should call Brandon and tell him, this could wait.
He’d spent enough of his life in fear from the asshole. He was done giving him any space in his head.
Plus he was in fuckingIowa. What thefuckdid Jake think Stuart was going to do?
Seriously?
Master’s right. Jake is nothing more than a stupid bully.
Not to mention it sounded like Jake had gotten himself drunk and full of self-pity. If Shelly had left him, finally, it was probably the best thing she could have done for herself and her sons.
Stuart wouldn’t waste any more time thinking about him. At Jake’s age, it wasn’t like he was going to magically change and suddenly be the kind of older brother he could respect.
After taking a deep breath to pull himself together, Stuart went back to cleaning up the job site and securing it so he could go home. If they didn’t lock everything up, thieves could come through and strip the wire they’d already pulled to sell in scrap yards for the copper.
The sooner he finished, the sooner he could get home to his guy.
To hisrealfamily.
Chapter Twenty-One
Once Brandon and Stuart had both arrived home, within ten minutes of each other, they asked Tracey and the girls to step onto the lanai for a few minutes so the men could talk in private. Brandon apparently didn’t want to make Jeff get up from the couch and walk to the bedroom.
