A Simple Life: Chapter 53 (Patreon)

With dread in my heart I stand near the apartment door and await my big brother Jack.  I hoped that he was here to talk to Brayden but something inside of me told me that I wasn’t going to be so lucky.  As I hear the heavy footfalls approach our door I prepare myself as best I can.

There are two rapid knocks followed by the door swinging open.  Standing at our door I am surprised to see not just Jack but his wife as well.

“L-Lauren!”  I say, genuinely pleased to see her.  “Jack.  Wh-What do I owe the p-pleasure?”

“Hello Avery.”  Lauren says in the one of a kind husky and sultry voice of hers.  She steps in and we give each other a friendly hug of greeting.  “Been awhile.”

“Y-Yeah.  I’ve been b-busy.”

“I bet you have.”  With a strange scowl Jack walks past us, swinging the door closed behind him.  “Hey Pussy.”

“Hi J-Jack.”

“Ya home Bray?”

My roomie sticks his head out of from the washroom, his toothbrush sticking out of his foamy mouth.  “Hey dude.”

“Whatcha up to.  The boys are going to shoot some pool.  We’re gonna tie one on.”

He ducks back in and spits.  “Not me man.  I am BROKE!”

“Ha!  You’re always broke.”

As they banter I lead Lauren to the table.  “Do you want a tea or something?”

“No.  We won’t be long.”  She says as she takes a seat.  “I was hoping to see you at the party last night.”

“Yeah.  S-Sorry.”  I say.  “I had a d-d-date and a party at Kayla’s.”

“And how is Kayla?”  Lauren asks.  “I haven’t seen her in awhile.”

“She’s good.”

“So you two are giving it another go?  Or is it just another friends with benefits thing?”

“Oh no.”  I say.  “Sh-She wasn’t my date.”

“Oh!”  Lauren sits up with a bright smile.  Leaning across the table she says.  “Do tell.”

Just then though Jack and Brayden’s conversation had caught my ear.

“Who the hell job hunts on a Saturday?”  Jack scoffs.  “And why the hell do you wanna sell shoes anyway?”

“What’s wrong with selling shoes?”  Brayden says.

“You need to get a real job.”

“Th-That is a r-real job.”  I say in defense of my roomie.  We had JUST overcome Brayden’s natural inertia and now here comes my brother to put another hurdle in his way.  “A g-good job too.”

“Says the fuckin grocery bagger.”

“I’m a c-clerk.”

“Ooooo!”  He waves his hands.  “Excuse me, clerk.  Still a loser job.”  He looks at Brayden.  “Come on man.  Come out with us.  Be like the old days.”

“Well…maybe.”

I sigh and abandon the fight.  There was no point going against Jack.  I don’t even know why I try.  Quietly Lauren reaches across the table and pats my hand, perhaps understanding right where I’m coming from.  She had to live with my overbearing older brother after all.  Lauren was so nice.  I couldn’t understand what she saw in my jerk brother.

“Your date?”  She asks.

“Ha!  He went out with Winona.”  Brayden cuts in.  “Winona Crow.  That big mechanic chick.”

“Woof!  Woof!”  Jack laughs.  “Dogface Winona.”

I scowl at my brother, seething on the inside.  He sees me and smiles a big mocking smile.  We both knew there wasn’t one thing I could do to him that wouldn’t be repaid a hundred times worse.

“Don’t mind him.”  Lauren says softly.  “Did you have a good time Avery.”

I turn to her and try to block Jack out. “I had a g-great time.  She’s r-r-really nice.”

“That’s wonderful.”  She says.  “You’ll have to bring her over sometime.  I’d love to meet her.”

“Yeah.”  I mutter half-heartedly.

“Yeah right.”  Jack says.  “Little pussy boy here never comes to see his family.  Too good for us or something.”

“I’m n-not.”

“I do wish you would have been there last night.”  Lauren smiles.  “It was kinda important this time.”

“Oh?”

“Brayden didn’t tell you?”

“T-Tell me?”  I look to my shirtless roomie who just shrugs.

“The big news.”  Lauren gives Brayden a look.

“News?”  He says.  “Uhhh…”

“Oh my God, Brayden!”  She laughs.  Looking back to me she says.  “You’re going to be an uncle Avery.”

“I’m going…”  I gasp.  “No!  You?”

She nods.  “Thirteen weeks.”

“Oh!  Ohhh!”  I leap up to run around the table to give her another hug.  “Congratulations!”

“Thank you.”  She hugs me back.  “We found out a bit ago but waited until last night to tell everyone.”

“Everyone was SUPPOSED to be there.”  Jack says walking up to me.  “Everyone but you showed.  Afraid to come around or something?”

I offer my hand and he shakes it in a too hard grip.  “C-C-Congratulations Jack.”

“Real happy news, huh?”

“Y-Yeah!  The happiest.”

“You were the only one missing.”  He says, his eyes glaring straight into mine.  “Ya kinda let us down there Avie.”

“B-B-But…Grandpa wasn’t…”

“I don’t want that old weirdo embarrassing us.  I meant everyone else.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”  Lauren says.  “At least I know it was for a good reason.  Don’t worry Avery.  We’re going to tell Micheal right after this.”

“God damn it.”  Jack huffs.

“He should hear it from us.  This is important.”  Lauren insists.  “Anyway, we thought Brayden would have spilled the beans to you for sure.  The real reason we came by was to ask your blessing to use your name.”

“M-M-My name?”

“Mmm.”  Lauren nods.  “We won’t know it’s sex for a couple of weeks but we’re already talking.  We were thinking, if it’s a girl, Avery would be a really pretty middle name.  Would that be okay?”

“Uh!  Buh!  WHA!?  Of course!”  I say.  “Oh my g-g-goodness!”

“I hope she d-d-doesn’t talk like her n-n-namesake.”  Jack quips to nobody’s laughter.  He slaps my shoulder.  “Only if it’s a girl though.  It’ll be Joshua if it’s a boy.”

“I’m honored.  Really.  Oh my g-goodness.”

“Thank you.”  Lauren rises.  “I really hate to cut this short but we’ve got a few more stops to make before he ditches me for his precious boys.”

“Bros before hoes.”  Brayden pipes up from the washroom.

Lauren rolls her eyes.  We hug one last time.  “Take care of yourself Avery.  And hey, don’t be a stranger.  Okay?”

“O-O-Okay.”  I say.  “Y-You’ll let me kn-know when the b-baby shower is?”

“Of course.”

“I am so happy for you b-both.”

“Thank you Avery.  That means a lot.”

As she heads toward the door Jack says.  “I’ll be down in a minute babe.”

She stops and shoots me a worried glance.  “Come on Jack.  We should go.”

“Just be a minute.  I want to talk to my brother about something.”

“Jack…”

“I said…”  His voice goes as hard as steel.  My blood turns cold as I knew that tone too well.  “…I’ll be down in a minute.  Wait for me in the car.”

She stands a moment then nods.  “Yes dear.”

Lauren takes her leave and lets herself out.  Facing my brother I wait and wonder what the heck was going on inside of that thick cranium of his.

Whap!

The very next moment I am on the floor with a chair on top of me and the dining room table knocked over at my side and all of its contents spilled over me and my work clothes.  My eyes were starry and my cheek glowed with a sharp sting.

“Jesus!”  Brayden comes out of the washroom.  “Fuck dude!  What the hell?”

“You stay the fuck out of this stoner.”  Jack barks.  He points at me.  “Get up.  Get the fuck up you little pussy.”

I push the chair off and sit up, stunned and confused.  Holding my hurting face I am struggling really hard not to cry.  “Owww.  WHY!?”

He steps in and grabs me by the shirt.  He hauls me to my feet and stands me in front of him.  I hold my hands out in a feeble attempt to fend off another blow.  I flinch as he stabs a finger into my chest.

“Are you and Lauren fucking around?”

“What!?”

Whap!

I stagger to the right, my shoulder hitting the sliding door of the balcony nearly hard enough to shatter it.

“Mmmm!  Stop!”  I plead, shielding the throbbing left side of my face with both hands.  My left ear is ringing and I could taste iron.  My face hurt real bad.  “Ow.”

“Stop fuckin sniveling and don’t play stupid!”

“Dude, stop it!”

“I said stay out of this Bray!”  He pulls me back in front of him.  To my great shame I whimper and recoil in terror.  “I kept wondering, why the fuck does she want Avery as a middle name?  Why you of everyone in the family?  My pussy little loser brother?  She wanted it for a boy too ya know, until I put my foot down and said that’s a sissy name.  Then I put it together.  I’ve been thinkin something was goin on for awhile now but I just didn’t know who.  And then it hit me on the way here.  You and her.  Her and you.  It hit me like a bolt of lightning.”

Thup!  To emphasize his point he doubles me over with thunderous punch into my gut.

“GHHHH!”

The only reason I don’t fall was that he continued to hold me up by the shirt.  I feel a few buttons pop as I slump there gulping frantically for breath.  “I KNOW that she’s fucking around on me.  I don’t have proof.  But I know.  I’m not stupid Avery.  She’s always on my ass about getting you over for things and including you in things.  You’re always avoiding me.  Then you try to take a pop at me yesterday?  You never do that.  Why you actin that way now?  Huh?  That’s what really put it all together.  And Bray tells me you’re gone all the time, zipping all around the island with nobody else around.  All by yourself.  It’d be REAL easy for you to slide on by when I’m at work, eh?  You slimy little fucking bitch!”

“You’re c-c-c-crazy!”  I whine.

“You wanna take another pop?  Come on then.  Let’s go.  Let’s fucking go Avie.”

“Nooo!  L-Leave me alone!”

“That black slut best friend of yours has your head filled with all that free love and no strings attached bullshit.  But you fucked with the wrong woman this time Avery.  Lauren is MINE.”

“I’m n-n-not!”

“I know you and her done it before.  Maybe ya never stopped, huh?  Maybe all this time.”

“That…w-was…j-just once…y-y-years…a-g-g-go!”

Whap!  He hits me again with another open hand slap as hard as any punch.  The room spins around me.

“DUDE!”  Brayden steps forward only to get shoved back again.  “Leave him alone!”

Jack drops me and I land on the floor in a heap.  I roll over to turtle up and stare straight down at the carpet as a little pit-pit-pit-pit of blood drips from the tip of my nose.  Standing over me my brother shoves me with a foot.  “I’m getting a genetics test done.  And I swear to God…if that kid ain’t mine you’re fuckin dead Avie.”

I stay huddled small hoping and praying that the beating was over.  He stands over me for a tense couple of minutes, letting his message sink in, before turning and marching from our place.  The moment I hear the door slam shut the tears begin to flow.

“Aw Jesus.”  Brayden comes to kneel beside me.  “You okay Avie?”

“Leave m-me alone.”  I whisper.  He goes to help me up but I push him away.  “Just l-leave me alone.”

“Yeah, sure man.”  He sighs.  “Jesus Christ.  Fuckin Jack.”

Chapter 54