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Chapter 2: Apologies

Jeremiah and I had moved back into the house after our talk. His wife Camille was a real sweetheart about the situation. I mean, I know for a fact that she thinks I'm a bad influence on my brothers, Jerry especially, but she still found the time to take me aside and reassure me.

"I know I don't know you all that well Bobby," she had told me, " but Jack's your little brother, so you BETTER smarten the hell up!"

A real peach that one.

About an hour or two later Jack came back. He must've ditched his black beauty somewhere because he came alone. Jerry, being the "supporting" brother he is left Jack and I alone in the kitchen to "deal with our shit"…. or so he said.

Jack cautiously came in and silently pulled out a chair to sit down in.

I was confused…where the hell was my Jack? The one who made noise no matter what he was doing.

Did I do this to him? Is he that worried about my reaction?

I stomped over to the table and threw myself down in the chair next to him before grabbing his hand from where it was fiddling with a loose thread in the tablecloth. My heart skipped a beat when my hand touched his and I took a moment to calm myself down and remember that brotherly affection was the only thing I could give him now.

"Look Jack," I began but was interrupted.

"I know Bobby, you were right, I'm a fuckin' faggot okay?" His voice began to trail off, "Just…leave it be though okay? Please, Bobby, do this one thing for me."

I felt like a total bastard as I heard the unshed tears in his throat as he pleaded with me.

"Jackie." I called, wanting him to look up.

Finally he raised his eyes from the floor and looked at me from under lowered lashes.

God he looks sexy like that I thought before reminding myself that now definitely was not the time.

"Jackie, I'm sorry for what I said okay? I didn't mean it."

"W..What?" he stuttered, eyes wide in shock.

I gave him a little grin.

"I suppose now's the time I'm supposed to spout some shit about you being able to be whoever you want to be and not to let anyone or anything stop you, but you know me…if there's one thing I'm not it's inspirational."

Jack gifted me with a small laugh.

"Ya Bobby."

I squeezed the hand I suddenly realized I was still holding and then pulled him into a hug, delighting in the scent of him as we wrapped our arms around each other.

"I still love ya, ya little fairy." I whispered into his hair.

We pulled apart as we heard clapping and turned to see Jerry standing in the doorway with his arm around Camille.

"Well that was just lovely ya'll."

Everyone laughed and I stood and helped Jack to his feet.

"Aw shut it Jerry."

Camille received a kiss on the forehead before Jeremiah pulled away and started walking towards the front door. When he reached it he turned back with a smirk.

" Well, ya'll comin'?"

I shared a confused look with Jack before asking, "Comin' where?"

At this Jerry's face lost some of it's glow.

"To Ma's house."

Resigned, Jack and I walked to the door and slipped our boots on.

The snow crunched under our feet as we walked over to Jeremiah's "family van".

"Shit man," I realized, "I got my car parked across the road. I'll just meet ya at Ma's house."

I turned and started to walk down the driveway, stopping when Jack shouted at me to "Wait up!".

He skidded to a stop beside me and we crossed the road together; no matter how much Ma tried to get us too, we still never looked both ways before crossing.

My car was a beaten down piece of shit, but it got me from A to B so I wasn't the least bit embarrassed when I told Jack he had to wiggle the door a bit before opening it.

When we were inside I started my baby up and pulled away from the curb, telling Jack to buckle up.

"Man Bobby, some thug you are." he whined as he clicked the belt into place.

"Hey," I told him, " I happen to like havin' you around so every time you're in my car you betta' be wearin' your seatbelt CrackerJack."

He grumbled almost the entire way to Ma's house. I, on the other hand just sat there and enjoyed the alone time I'd gotten with him. Every once in a while the heaters would blow his scent my way and I would barely be able to focus. All I wanted to do was reach across the seat and pull him over next to me.

If only that black pain in my ass hadn't gotten to him first!

I was fuming as we pulled up to the house and met Jerry by the porch.

The creaking of the familiar screen door calmed me down a bit and seeing Angel sitting there waiting for us finished the job. Man, it was good to see him. I was finally with all my brothers again.

Surprisingly everyone listened to me when I told them to take their old rooms and said I'd be takin' Ma's, even Jack who I thought I'd get at least a little bit of fight out of. I guess he just didn't wanna rile me up and risk the peace we had goin'.

Christ being in Ma's room was weird, and to top it all off I spent 15 minutes in the bathroom crying like a little girl.

Wiping the remnants of tears from my face I exited the bathroom and followed the music to Jack's room where I sat down and tried to appear manly.

"You still makin' a racket on that thing?" I asked him.

He laughed a bit and answered, "Ya, still makin' a racket."

Then, man that kid has balls, he looked at me with a smirk and asked me, "So…too weird in Mom's room?"

I decided to be honest.

"Way too weird."

I sat there then and listened to him pick away at his guitar before Jeremiah came and told us he was gonna go pick up a turkey and Angel came and tried to convince us he wasn't goin' to see La Vida Loca, otherwise know as "Sofi".

I tried to warn him she had another man but that black bastard brother of mine never did have too much brain to him.

"I tell you, I'm not goin' to see that girl and I'm NOT!" he argued.

"Whatever man." Jerry laughed and then turned to Jack, " Hey Jack, Derek's downstairs on the couch waitin' for ya."

I growled and everyone turned to look at me.

"Umm, okay." Jack replied, glancing at me as he did so.

He placed his guitar down on his bed and hurried from the room.

Angel looked at me and laughed before walking down the stairs.

"What the hell was that about?" I demanded, turning to look at Jerry.

He came and sat down next to me before laughing himself.

"Man, Bobby you are so obvious."

I didn't even need to ask for an explanation, the look on my face did it for me.

"You in love with that boy." Jerry stated, "And before you even ask, no I don't think it's weird , neither does Angel and neither did Ma."

I was shocked.

"Ma knew!"

"Of course Ma knew! When have we ever been able to keep anything from that woman?" Jerry said, "Now I'd love to stay and talk about your problems more but I need to get to the store before it closes."

Jerry patted me on the shoulder sympathetically and the walked from the room with a chuckle.

It took me some time to sit there and process things before I rose and headed downstairs.

I saw red.

Jack sat on the couch with Derek, or rather he sat on Derek while "D" sat on the couch. They were

making out wildly, black hands gripping Jacks ass.

Like I said…I saw red.