Lara stepped up. “Actually, I’m paying for it,” she said. “As a wedding gift to them. And I’m not paying for you.” She was dressed in jeans and a blouse, her dark brown hair pulled back in a tidy ponytail. “How much did you offer to chip in for this weekend, by the way?”
He ignored her taunt. “And what do you do to afford that, huh? Sell drugs on the side while you clean rooms at a hotel? Who the hell are you?”
She slowly shook her head. “My name’s Dr. Lara Martinez. Sister of the groom. I’m a cardiologist. Oh, sorry, that’s a complicated and a really big word. Let me simplify it so you can understand.” She slowed her speech, as well as raised the volume, like she thought she was talking to an idiot. “That means my specialty is blood systems, like veins and arteries, and the heart.”
Jake’s face went red. “Listen, bitch—”
“Pendejo, you haven’t seen a bitch, yet.” Their third sister, Ariana, stepped forward. Lara and Ariana high-fived. “Tagging you in, chica.”
Ariana grinned. “Dr. Ariana Martinez. I’m a structural engineer. Spent my education and career working around men who thought they were better than women simply because they were born with a penis.”
She turned both palms up and wiggled her fingers at him. “Bring it, bruto. I’ve dealt with far worse from far smarter than you. Not to mention better-looking than you. And for fuck’s sake, make it original. Because, damn, boy, your Saltine American-ass is sorely lacking any kind of game. You’re just some poor dumb hick who never learned how to have a life beyond bullying people and talking smack to people stupid enough or scared enough to listen to you.”
Jake seemed to be at a loss for words.
* * * *
Stuart wasn’t sure that maybe he’d dropped into an alternate dimension. Both Eileen and Robert wore wide grins as they watched the Martinez siblings systematically take Jake out, one by one.
“You’re an asshole, Jake,” Stuart heard himself say, breaking the silence.
Jake rounded on him. “What the fuck you say to me, Stewie?”
“You heard me!” Stuart yelled, his voice echoing through the room. “You’re nothing but a damn bully, and you’ve never been anything but a bully all our lives.”
“I took care of you when you were a kid, you ungrateful little shit!”
“How? By picking on me?”
“You were a dick to us,” Robert said. “And you’re a bigger dick now.”
Eileen slowly shook her head. “Jake, all you had to do was keep your mouth shut and not show your ass, but you couldn’t even do that, could you? Everything’s always got to be about you and your overinflated ego.”
Jake started to take a step her way but John and Miranda stepped between Jake and Eileen.
“Oh, please try something,” Miranda said. “Please, I’m begging you. I’d love to take your ass down. I’ve called dibs on the first punch, and they’re just dying to jump in once it starts.” She motioned to John and his friends. “We even have a side bet on whether I can make you cry like a little puta or not before punch number two.”
Jake apparently wanted to score some sort of perceived hit before he turned tail. He refocused on Stuart. “You’re not a man, and thanks to you, my friends are fucking laughing at me. Pervert little brother living with two guys, must mean I’m gay, too.”
“Then maybe you need new friends, asshole,” Stuart shot back. “You ever think about that? You so desperate for any shred of recognition you’d hang on to people who’d talk to you like that? What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“What the hell’s wrong with me? I got a wife and two kids. I ain’t gay. Nothin’ wrong with me.”
“Aaannd, we’re done,” Shelly said from where she’d been sitting. She stood. “Kevin, Paul, car. Now. Jake, if you want to keep being an asshole, you can walk home. I’m done. You’ve embarrassed me for the last fucking time.” She turned her back on them and headed for the door.
Jake looked over his shoulder at her. “I didn’t tell you we were leavin’!”
Without turning or stopping, she held up the car keys, jingled them, and kept walking as her sons quickly followed.
Brandon pointed at her receding back. “I think that’s your ride, Jake. I suggest you follow her. Nobody here will drive you home.”
Jake finally turned on his heel and stormed after them.
Carl sat down, rubbing at his chest. “Well, that went better than I thought it might.”
Ellen smacked his shoulder. “I told you I should have been spanking him for that behavior as a kid.”
“Yes, you were right and I was wrong. I admit it.” He shook his head. “Boy’s too big for his britches. Always has been. About time he got put in his place.”
Everyone laughed.
Later, at dinner, Stuart cornered Eileen for a moment before they all took their seats. “Why didn’t you tell us about Miranda last night?”
She smiled. “We kind of had a plan. I didn’t want you to get too nervous. I could tell you were already stressing enough as it was, and we wanted to sideswipe Mom and Dad with it since we weren’t sure how they’d react to you and Brandon. John’s sisters have been dying to light into Jake since I told them about him. Miranda and Susan aren’t legally married yet. She’s overseas on duty right now, or she’d be here. Once she’s discharged next year, then they’re going to get married-married. But they’ve been together for five years. John’s parents have met her and given them their blessings.”
He hugged her. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” She whispered in his ear while they were hugging. “Mind if I include Mom and Dad and Robert with the Sunday plans?”
“Not if you don’t mind.” They ended the hug. “You think Jake’s going to show up tomorrow?”
“Ooooh, yeah. For starters, free food. Plus he spent too much time running his mouth to people about being here over the past couple of weeks. Remember, he thinks he’s bigger in town than he is. If he doesn’t show up, that makes him look bad. Not that anyone but him gives a shit.”
“What if he acts like an asshole tomorrow?”
“Well, hopefully he got it out of his system tonight. If we ban him he’ll still show up, and that means we have to call the cops on him at that point to drive it home he’s not welcomed. I really don’t want to do that on my wedding day. Hopefully, he’ll preen for his friends and act like some mythical doting big brother who doesn’t exist. Otherwise…”
She shrugged. “I think this went well tonight.” She grinned. “Worth every penny we’re spending this weekend to see him finally get taken down a few notches.”
Chapter Fifteen
That night, when they returned to the hotel, Brandon made good on his promise to spank and fuck Stuart into sweet oblivion. Although, based on how well Eileen and John thought the night had gone, it wasn’t nearly as hard to downshift Stuart’s brain as Brandon thought it might be.
By the time Brandon finally turned Stuart loose, he’d pulled two orgasms out of him, another for himself, and they’d both crashed into sleep exhausted and satisfied.
The next morning, they headed over to the other hotel early to join the wedding party for breakfast. Miri, John, and John’s friends wore civilian clothes this morning, jeans and hoodies or sweats, as they all sat talking and laughing around the tables reserved for them.
John’s parents, who’d insisted Brandon and Stuart call them Mom and Dad, wanted Stuart and Brandon sitting close to them so they could spend more time talking to them.
Brandon wished his own family had been this warm and accepting of him growing up, much less of his family situation now. “If you all ever want to come to Florida to visit, we’d love to have you. We live in Sarasota. Great beaches nearby. We have plenty of room. I’m sure Emma and Jeff would love to meet you.”
“Thank you,” Maria said, “that’s very kind of you. We might take you up on that.” She playfully poked her husband. “It’s difficult to get him to take time off, and we
aren’t getting any younger.”
Stuart got Eileen’s attention. “Is Mom coming over today?”
She shook her head. “This evening. I told her we have it under control. Do I look stupid?” She, her friends, and the Martinez sisters all burst into laughter. “I have enough help. We’re not doing a lot of decorations, just putting the centerpieces together and setting the tables and stuff. We kept this low-budget.”
Using his phone, Brandon made sure to get plenty of candid pictures for them of breakfast, including some video they could post on Facebook. Then one of John’s friends offered to hold Brandon’s phone and take pictures so he could be in them.
The way Stuart beamed when he looked into Brandon’s eyes, he knew in his gut this had been the right call, despite the irritation Jake was proving to be.
It still wasn’t a fraction as bad as Stuart had obviously built it up in his mind.
Something Stuart even admitted later after they returned to their hotel so Brandon could check e-mail and they could call home.
“I don’t know why I was so scared of him all these years. Why any of us were.”
“Because you were legitimately scared of him as a kid. He’s eight years older than you. That kind of early conditioning is hard to overcome. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
* * * *
It was kind of all Stuart could do. Beat himself up over it. Maybe he’d suddenly grown a spine in the better part of a year since leaving Iowa, but it couldn’t be that simple.
Could it?
The bogeyman from his youth was now nothing more than a sad paper tiger. With the entirety of the Martinez clan standing up for him, as well as his own family, he’d been sorely tempted to walk up to Jake and punch him.
As the afternoon wore on, Stuart’s elation at how Jake had been deflated last night waned and then completely faded. Not even Brandon giving him another spanking and working him up without release could help.
As they dressed for the wedding, Brandon helped Stuart retie his necktie when it was obvious he was so nervous he kept fumbling it. Brandon stood behind him at the mirror, reaching around to tie it. Once he had it—perfect, of course—he held Stuart and met his gaze in the mirror.
“Just breathe,” he said. “That’s all you have to do. The worst is over.”
“Is it?”
“We don’t know if Jake will show up tonight.”
“Oh, he’ll show up.”
“Maybe, maybe not. He might have taken a big enough hit to his ego to leave it alone now that he knows it won’t be any fun. Or he might show up and behave himself and leave. But worrying about it won’t help.”
Stuart leaned back against Brandon, reaching behind him and wrapping his arms around the man. “I wish Jeff was here. Safety in numbers.”
“I know. Me, too. But having John’s sisters as backup was more than enough. We also have his friends. Nothing’s going to happen tonight. If it does, you step back and let us handle it. Okay?”
“Yes, Sir.”
Brandon nuzzled his head against Stuart’s. “You look good in a suit, boy. I like this look on you.”
He smiled, feeling Brandon’s rigid cock pressing against his ass through their dress slacks. “I have a feeling I’m going to be ordered to dress up more often.”
“You’d better believe it. Not that I don’t think you look sexy normally, because you do. I guess I have a suit fetish after all. Stay.”
Brandon disengaged himself from Stuart, grabbed his phone, then retook his previous position except with one arm holding his phone in front of them, the rear camera activated to take a selfie of them.
Cheek-to-cheek, Brandon said, “Smile, boy.”
Stuart did, and Brandon snapped the pic.
Then he texted it to Stuart, and a copy to Jeff.
Jeff replied almost immediately.
Rawr! I’d do them! ;)
Brandon laughed as he showed Stuart the text. “Are we agreed? You’ll try to relax tonight? Focus on me, if nothing else. You know we’ll at the very least look better than Jake if he shows up.”
“Yes, Sir.”
* * * *
Brandon was glad to see Stuart appeared somewhat less stressed than he had earlier.
Whether that would hold or not remained to be seen.
Eileen had told them to be there early, because she wanted them seated in the front row with their parents, Robert, and his wife, Kim, and their two kids.
There was no room for Jake, and the chairs had been set up accordingly for just that reason. At the very least, Jake would have to sit a row back, probably farther, because she’d also asked her friends to come a little early, too, and fill up the rows immediately behind the first row on the bride’s side.
Once the wedding service ended, everyone would be asked to grab a chair and move them to the tables in the back of the room for the reception part of the festivities while the DJ turned the front half into a dance floor and the photographer took family pictures.
As they sat and waited, and more people arrived, it was starting to look like maybe Jake wouldn’t come after all.
Twenty minutes before it was scheduled to start, Stuart nudged him. Shelly and her two sons had arrived, and she immediately directed them to sit in the last row. She sat on the far end, leaving no chairs next to her for Jake, should he also be arriving. She also wore a dour look but Brandon couldn’t tell if that was her usual resting expression or due to something else.
Five minutes before it was going to start, Jake finally walked in. When he spotted Shelly and his two sons, he then looked around the room, realized most of the chairs were taken near the front, then finally sat on his sons’ far side.
Shelly didn’t speak to Jake, barely looked at him.
Brandon was curious if they even rode together.
Shelly wore a dress, dark navy, nothing special but at least she’d made an effort, as had many people despite Eileen’s instructions that casual was okay due to the cold and the setting.
Jake was dressed in jeans and a button-up short-sleeved shirt that was barely holding onto its grip around his ample gut.
John’s friends, and Miranda, were all dressed in their formal Army uniforms and looked nearly as gorgeous as the bride.
They weren’t having a formal procession of the bridesmaids and groomsmen—the latter who were all John’s buddies and in uniform—just Eileen walking down the center aisle on her father’s arm.
Stuart’s mother had put her husband into a blazer and tie over khakis and had worn a grey dress herself. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, they looked great.
Damn sight better than Jake did.
Even Robert and Kim and their kids were dressed in Sunday best.
Once the procession ended and Stuart’s father took his seat, Brandon held hands with Stuart, fingers laced, gently squeezing to keep Stuart focused. The ceremony was short and sweet, the couple having written their own vows. The love in their expressions as they looked at each other made Brandon’s heart ache that, in that one last little detail, he couldn’t fully make Stuart his husband.
His thumb traced Stuart’s wedding band as he watched the couple kiss. Then everyone cheered and applauded. That’s when Stuart turned his head and met his gaze dead-on.
Those sweet green eyes of his always hardened Brandon’s cock.
He brushed a quick kiss across Brandon’s lips with a playful smile. “Love you, hubby.”
Brandon knew what a massive feat of courage that had taken him, and he squeezed his hand again. “Love you, too, hubby.”
* * * *
Stuart hoped maybe this day would go smoothly after all. The ceremony went off without a hitch, as far as he could tell. Now to get through pictures and survive the reception.
Eileen looked gorgeous, and he never would have known the dress was a deeply discounted second-hand find if she hadn’t told them where she’d bought it and how much she’d paid. John’s mother had done an expert job with the alterations. Betwee
n that and John’s uniform, they looked like a million-dollar couple.
Stuart noticed Eileen didn’t even acknowledge Jake’s presence in the back of the room while waving their parents, him and Brandon, and Robert and Kim in for photos. Stuart simply did what he was told, smiled, and was happy that at least up to this point, Eileen had good memories.
Of course it couldn’t last.
Jake, apparently realizing he was being left out of the family pictures, ambled up to the front.
“What about me?” he roughly groused.
Eileen’s smile didn’t falter. “What about you?”
“I’m your big brother. Don’t I get to be in the pictures?”
“I don’t know. Did you change your attitude?”
This had apparently been prepared for, Stuart could tell. John’s wide, knowing smile beamed. “I don’t mind if we take a quick picture with him, sweetheart.”
Shelly made no move to approach the front, and Stuart didn’t miss that Jake didn’t wave her or their kids forward, either.
So it was another round of pictures with Jake added to the back row, on the outside. Stuart got a whiff of him and smelled alcohol and cigarette smoke.
Drinking already. This’ll be interesting.
Stuart wondered if those pictures would even be visible in the wedding album, or if Eileen would tuck them behind another one.
Not that it mattered to him.
Once that was done, Jake made his way back toward the tables. Shelly and her sons had each grabbed their chairs and she’d directed them to a table far from the front, almost in a corner.
Away from the spotlight.
That left Jake to grab his chair and follow them with a scowl.
Several tables in the front had been reserved, and bore place markers. Brandon, Stuart, Stuart’s parents, Robert, Kim, and their kids perfectly filled their table with no extra room, and sat right next to a table for John’s family.
The implication was crystal clear.
As the DJ started them off for the first dance between the couple, Brandon leaned in.
A Case of You [Suncoast Society] (Siren Publishing Sensations ManLove) Page 13
