Chapter 73: Jean Broody vs. Bradley Jackson ~ When suppressed desires explode… Fam support!

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“Is this about Bradley and your brother?” Lucy looked at the faces of each of her sons.

“Yep,” Sam said as he grabbed his mother’s glass of juice and reclined comfortably in one of the loungers. “Dad needs to…”

“I told Jean I’ll handle it,” Lucy said. “You lot really don’t need to gang up on the poor man because that will only worsen the situation. You know how stubborn your father is.”

“The plan is not to gang up on him,” Sam said. “We only want him to know that it’s not okay to have such extreme views. Especially not now that it affects one of us.”

“Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day, son,” Lucy said. “Your father has felt that way about same-sex relationships for years. Surely you can’t expect him to just wake up one day and forget about all that. It’s going to take some time. He needs to be worked on. And that is why I said I’ll handle it. I also agreed with Jean when he said he wanted to talk to him too. I think that would be great because Michael would see just how much his son is in love and…”

“Wow, wow, wow…” Jean raised both hands as if to ward off an attack. “No one said anything about lo…”

“Shut up, Jay.” Both Sam and Tyler said in unison as Lucy rolled her eyes.

“Dude, you’re so in love with the guy it’s like you have diarrhea.” Dean snorted. “You just can’t hold it in.” Everyone burst into laughter at Dean’s words except Jean. He looked…stunned.

“Hey, it hits you when you least expect it,” Lucy said as she rubbed Jean on the back. “Get used to it.”

“Meeting him was fate,” Dean said. “Deciding to help him was a choice. But falling in love with him, was beyond your control. You can’t decide who should own your heart. Soldier boy has it in his grip already and there’s nothing you can do about it. Suck it up, bro. It’s your turn.”

“Fuck.” Jean breathed when it finally dawned on him that he honestly had no control over how he felt about Bradley. Dean was right. His heart literally reacted to anything that Bradley did. When Bradley smiled at him, his heart fluttered inside his chest. When he spoke to him in a certain way, his heart always jumped with joy. Whenever he thought Bradley was in danger, his heart would pound with dread. And when Bradley hurt him with his words or actions, he felt physical pain inside his chest. Bradley had a direct connection to his heart. “Oh fuck!”

“Yeah, you can say that.” Tyler drawled. “We had a chat with Josh before coming here.” He informed Lucy. “We told him to start psyching dad up.”

“Not going to work,” Lucy stated.

“He’s not going to talk about Jean,” Sam said. “He’s to have a heart-to-heart conversation with the man. Let him appreciate the fact that you can’t help who you love.”

“Hmm…that can work actually.” Lucy nodded. “At least he will accept it coming from Josh than you two shrinks.” She chuckled. “God, he hates it when you two try to make him see reason. What’s the word he used the last time?”

“’Shrinky’.” Tyler laughed. “Dad is impossible. Anyway, we think Josh can do a good job because…well, you’re not going to believe what he told us. So apparently there’s a really funny flaming queen…a friend of the family, who he’s told has been coming around every day to cheer Auntie Charlotte up since Uncle Eric died. When dad and Josh got to the house this morning, he was there.”

“Oh my god!” Lucy gasped as Jean burst into laughter.

“Serves him right.” Jean laughed.

“Josh says the guy is so funny dad looks like he doesn’t know whether to laugh at his jokes or strangle him,” Tyler said, drawing laughter from the others. “I hear the queen has been giving dad his full attention because he says dad looks so much like Uncle Eric blah, blah, blah…”

“That queen had better keep his hands off my husband.” Lucy gave a mock growl, making her sons laugh.

“He doesn’t want your husband, mum.” Sam chuckled. “It’s more like dad makes him miss Uncle Eric because of the resemblance. I hear dad says the guy would have been funnier if he wasn’t a flaming queen. And that he’ll take a regular gay bloke over a flaming queen any day.” More laughter greeted his words.

“Josh has a good opening then.” Lucy laughed.

“Yeah.” Dean grinned. “And they are going to be around that guy for a whole week. Dad will be giving guys such as Bradley and Jay pats on their backs by the time that queen is through with him.”

“You guys are not being fair to your dad you know.” Lucy sighed. “He doesn’t act hostile towards Damon, Kyle, and Chris when he meets them, does he?”

“No, because he knew and liked them before they decided they prefer cock.” Dean murmured. “Sorry.” He muttered when his mother gave shot him a withering look.

“The point is, he doesn’t hate them,” Lucy said firmly. “And how about Tristan? Your father didn’t know him before he turned gay, did he? But he adores that boy. Maybe it’s because he knows how much Dean likes Tristan. He doesn’t hate Tristan. So really it’s not the people he hates. It’s the concept.”

“Same shit,” Tyler muttered.

“No, it’s not.” Lucy countered. “Your father may have his faults but he’s not a bad person. I wouldn’t have married him if he was.” She said softly. “He’s a very reasonable person. We just have to make him appreciate what Jean and Bradley have.”

“I asked him what he would have done if any of us had turned out to be gay,” Tyler murmured. “He said we will never find out.”

“Well, he could be cocky about it because none of his sons was, as far as he was concerned.” Lucy shrugged. “And Jean is not gay…” She turned to look at Jean. “Are you?”

“Labels.” Jean chuckled. “I guess I am…just for Bradley.” He grinned.

“Yeah, but you like women too so that makes you bi, I believe.” Lucy turned to look at her other sons. “Anyway the point is, your father is going to have to make a choice. His hatred for the homosexual way of life or the love of his son. And what do you think he’s going to choose?”

“Me.” Jean pointed a thumb at himself.

“Bingo.” Lucy gave a dazzling smile. “Just as he accepts your friends because as Dean puts it, he knew and liked them before they decided they preferred cock…” The men burst into laughter. “…he knows and loves you, Jean. So he’s going to accept you. And just as he adores Tristan because Dean adores him, he’s going to love Bradley because you love him. Don’t worry about your dad, son. Trust in his love for you.”

“Word!” Dean grinned as Jean kissed his mother.

And as the men spent the rest of the afternoon with their mother, Jean felt very light and hopeful. It was almost as if a load had been taken off his shoulder. He believed his mother’s words. His father loved him. He was going to trust in that love.