Page 60 of A Case of You

The song had been halfway over when the sisters pulled their switcheroo, and once it ended, Brandon leaned in and brushed a kiss across Stuart’s lips before the sisters swooped in again and hugged the men for being good sports.

“Eileen asked us to get you up dancing,” Miranda admitted as she hugged Stuart.

When he glanced over to his sister, who was sitting at her table, she lifted her water glass at him in a toast with a wide, playful smile on her face.

It felt…good.

In a way his family had never felt before.

Stuart should have known it was too good to last.

He had to use the bathroom and wanted to do it before the cake was served. He’d literally ignored Jake today, especially his attempts to get Stuart to look him in the eyes. The bathroom door had no sooner swung shut behind him than it opened again and…he knew.

Jake stalked over to him before Stuart had even staked out a urinal. “Disgusting.”

“It’s a bathroom, Jake.”

“Dancing like that with that guy. Letting him kiss you? What the fuck’s wrong with you? You’re embarrassing the fuck out of me in front of my friends, and embarrassing our parents! When are you giving this shit up and moving home?”

As far as Stuart knew, Jake hadn’t evenspokento their parents since his arrival at the event. He was honestly still trying to process the insanity Jake had just spouted, and that he’dactuallysaid what he’d said, when the bathroom door swung open again.

Enter Brandon, closely followed by John’s three friends.

“There a problem here?” Brandon asked.

He noticed Brandon had ditched his jacket since Stuart had left him only a minute or two earlier.

Brandon was a slightly above-average forty-two-year-old man in terms of physical condition, but compared to Jake he was a fucking Adonis on steroids. Stuart knew damn well what kind of physical strike Brandon was capable of.

Stuart backed up and to the side and kept his mouth shut.

Jake seemed to understand he was outnumbered and with a snarl pushed his way out of the bathroom.

“Damn,” one of John’s friends muttered. “I was really looking forward to punching him.”

Brandon walked over to him. “You all right?”

“Yeah.”

“What’d he say?”

“Same shit, different day. It’s fine.”

John’s friends returned to the reception, but Brandon waited until Stuart had finished, then he used the bathroom, and they finally returned together.

* * * *

Brandon cursed himself for letting Stuart leave the room alone. He’d been watching him walk out. He’d immediately spotted the way Jake’s head tracked his progress and how he left his table to follow a few steps behind his little brother.

Motherfucker.

John’s friends, who’d also watched, were already moving toward Brandon as he shucked his jacket and hurried to follow.

They returned to the reception room and Brandon immediately noted the three empty chairs where Shelly and her sons had been sitting. Glancing around, he realized they’d left.

Jake, however, was still there, now talking to someone and shooting dark glares at Brandon.

For the rest of the evening, Jake kept his distance. Carl had taken his suit jacket off, and Brandon couldn’t help but notice he occasionally rubbed at his chest while wincing.