Page 26 of Jake

“You make it sound as if I didn’t do anything for you. Well, I have news for you. I did. You’re not dead, are you?” Ranford stood up. “And I’ve had just about enough of this nonse—”

“Sit down.” Ranford had no choice but to sit. The voice that thundered from his son made his cock shrivel in his pants and his head hurt. “You fucking bastard, you will not take this night from me. You will sit where I tell you to sit, speak when I allow it, and you will not, under any circumstances, leave this house without my permission. Do I make myself clear?”

Ranford nodded. He was terrified, more than he’d ever been. As he sat there, his body a mess of sweat, fear, and panic, he wondered where that had come from. Why the urge to roll to the floor with his belly exposed to his son had seemed not only the most natural thing to do, but there was an insane need to do so.

As other people came to this farce of a party, Ranford didn’t move. It wasn’t that he couldn’t, he told himself, but he was comfortable where he was. No little shit of a faggot was going to tell him what to do. And when he saw Jacob and Trina Winslow coming into the room with him, he knew that his son was going to come out to them all, and he wanted to put a stop to it.

Standing up, Ranford hated that he found himself looking for his son. Not that he wanted to see him, but fear, the little finger of it, ran down his spine. When he made his way to the other couple, keeping an eye out for not just Forrest but Jenna as well, he asked to speak to them both alone.

“Dinner is served.” He looked around the room when a butler, a big man, came into the room. And when he glared at him, like he knew he was going to cause trouble, fear came over Ranford. He wasn’t even sure why.

The house was beautiful; he’d give that to the host. The room that they were led to by his son was huge, the table could have easily sat a dozen more people. There were chargers on the place settings with name tags that were done in a lovely hand, as well as several wine glasses per setting. Ranford just knew this was going to be one of those faggy dinner parties with all kinds of food that he didn’t know what the fuck he was eating.

He wasn’t going to eat any of it. The decision made, he leaned back in his seat and didn’t even bother picking up his napkin to lay over his lap. It was in his head to tuck it in his shirt like he was five years old, but he decided that ignoring the shit in front of him was easier.

When the young man stood up—Jake, he thought his name was—the room grew silent. But only for a moment. Jacob told him to sit down and then Jake nearly did. Then Trina started crying, loud wailing noises that hurt his head.

~~~

“What the hell do you think is happening here? I told you to sit down.” Jake stiffened his entire body for the onslaught of words from his dad. “When I tell you to do something, Jake, I do not expect any lip or excuses. And you might as well know that I’ve called in a few favors, and you will not be divorcing Carol Lane. I don’t care what you think she did to you, or even if she actually did. You will not divorce her.”

“She’s going to prison for the murder of her mother. Does that change your mind about the divorce? I know that appearances are everything to you and Mother.” His dad looked around the room and glared at his grandma. “You think she had something to do with this?”

“You and she are like two peas in a pod. Always conspiring against us. Well, I will tell you right now that I won’t stand for it. I’m done with the lot of you.” When Jake’s father stood, so did Forrest. “What do you think you’re going to do to me? Turn me into what you are? I’ve had people like you killed for less.”

“No doubt you have. But we’re not done here until he says we are. Now, you fat mother fucker, sit down before I knock you down.” His dad tried hard to not do as he’d been told by Forrest, but in the end he sat. And like Ranford, he shoved his plate away as well. “You people might want to pay attention here. This will more than likely be the last time you see either of us.”

“Good.” Jake wondered if it hurt Forrest when his father spoke. But it didn’t appear to. Then he looked at his own parents and thought he might be better off with them completely out of his life as well.

“As I was saying, Carol is going to go to prison for the murder of her mother. Before her father killed himself, he had been told that there had been no brain activity for Belinda. Killing her when he killed himself was not murder. Carol did that for him.” He looked around the room to the people that, for the most part, meant little to nothing to him. His grandma and Forrest were all he had. “I’ve decided to leave my partnership with the firm, and I’m moving my practice in with Forrest. We’ll be taking on—”

“You most certainly will not.” His father stood up and slammed his fist on the table, breaking two wine glasses. “You will stop this right now, Jake. I will not sit here and let you ruin all that I’ve sacrificed just to see you ruin my reputation with this queer.”

“Really? I wasn’t aware that you had any say over what I did and didn’t do. Not for a very long time. And tell me, Father, what sort of sacrifices have you made for me? You talked about conspiring? Did you mean when you and Tyler threw Carol and me together? Was it your plan for her to kill me one night in a fit of rage so that you could draw the insurance you had put on me? Or was it the money that Tyler gave you on the day of the wedding and every two weeks since to take her off his hands?”

“What?” Jake glanced at his grandma when she stood up. “What is this? Jacob, what have you done?”

“Nothing that any other man wouldn’t do for a son that he could not stand nor want. I did this for my family.” Grandma asked his dad what family that would have been. “You cut me off until you die; what the hell was I supposed to do for that money? Had you just gone on like a normal mother and died when you were in your seventies, then I’d not have had to resort to filling my coffers another way. It was working too. I will not have this thing you see as a problem end that either. For as long as there is money in the estate, no matter what, I get my cut. So long as they’re married. It’s only right that I should.”

“You’re a sick bastard, Jacob. I never knew that until just now.” Grandma looked at him when she continued. “Go on, Jake…tell him the rest. I’ll be in the living room with my friends.”

Attorneys. Grandma had brought in a slew of them for this dinner tonight. Forrest had told her that now that he was in a relationship with Jake, he could no longer help her, and she understood. He wondered what his father was going to do now, after tonight, when all money was cut off. He turned to his father.

“I’ve left the firm as of this morning. My divorce is final due to Carol’s status, and I’m coming out of the closet, I guess you could say.” He took Forrest’s hand as he continued. “Forrest and I are lovers, and will remain together until death us do part.”

The explosion was long in coming. But when it erupted, Jake wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh at his parents or simply cry. His mother started her bawling again, fat tears that rolled down her cheek almost comically. His father started screaming at him, pounding his fist against the table and calling him names. Jake just let him.

He’d come to the conclusion that he was an adult. Yes, he supposed that he’d been one for a very long time, but being happy and in love had given him a great deal more confidence than anything he’d ever done before. Frankly, Jake thought, he just did not give two fucks what people thought anymore.

Jake realized that things had gotten quiet as he’d stood there letting the arguing and sobbing roll over him for a few moments. He burst out laughing, his entire body feeling like it had been given a large dose of some happy drugs. Then he looked around the room.

Finding his dad on the floor with a huge tiger on his chest, his mouth around his throat, wasn’t really funny, Jake thought. As he moved closer to them, his lover and father, he noticed two things at once. The gun, and then his grandma.

“What have you done?” He went to her, lying so very still on the floor, and knew that she was dead. There was a neat hole in her forehead, and blood pooling around the carpet surrounding her. “Father, what did you do?”

Picking up her hand, Jake felt his world crash down around him. His grandma, the only person that had ever loved him no matter what, was gone. He looked at his mother as she sat on the floor near his father, and wanted to take the gun and end them both. They’d done this, taken her away from him.

Jake, I need for you to call the police.He nodded at the voice in his head, getting some comfort from the sound of Forrest’s voice.Come on buddy. You need to get up and make the call. And to tell the others in the living room what has happened.

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