A Subtle Breeze by Bailey Bradford (libby ebook reader .txt) 📕

that one behind us, she has some serious issues.” He turned to glare out of the back window of the truck. “She also just turned right a block back.”

Zeke nodded. “Probably heading home to prepare for a holy war. You know, I can’t ever recall her being particularly happy, she was always just so angry and judgmental. Even before I came out, Eva would nag and preach and just fly off in rages sometimes, but she never viewed her own behavior as wrong. She seemed to think she was the only righteous person in town, other than her then-fiancé John. Since he was our preacher’s son, he was automatically elevated up the holier-than-thou ladder in her book.”

Brendon flopped back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, she just sounds like a pure treasure to me. Someone ought to bury her and slap an invisible ‘x’ over the spot, then burn the damn treasure map.”

Laughter burst out of Zeke before he could help it. Brendon in a snit fit was just too cute, and it felt damned good to have someone indignant on his behalf. “As good as that sounds at times, she’s still my sister. And I’m pretty sure the devil wouldn’t want her any closer to hell than she already is, too much competition, so burying her probably wouldn’t work.”

Grumbling, Brendon shifted in his seat. “Nessa said that Eva went off in front of them, calling you an abomination and such. She said even your mama couldn’t get her to shut up.”

“Yeah.” Zeke nodded. “She lost it. Said I was ruining the family name, that John wouldn’t want to marry into our perverted family, lots of things like that. Mama couldn’t get her to calm down, and when Eva started physically threatening me, Mama told her to leave. I tried to talk to Mama about it, but she said she wasn’t having that kind of hatred in her house no matter how much she loved Eva. So, my sister packed a couple of bags and left, ran crying to the preacher about all of us sinners, which pretty much put an end to Mama’s going to church. Eva got her husband, her place in the church, and she has all those bitter feelings to keep her occupied, but she tossed aside her family. Didn’t even come to her own mother’s funeral. You can’t tell me that is what Jesus would do.”

Brendon snorted. “Baby, I don’t think you should use her name and Jesus’ in the same paragraph, hour, day or week, just to be safe. So, Eva left, but she would verbally assault you every chance she got in town, and Enessa thinks her constant spewing about how evil gays are is what fueled those idiots to attack you.”

Zeke pulled into Gloria’s driveway, shutting the truck off as he faced Brendon. “I never told Nessa, don’t want her to know, but Eva did very deliberately work those guys up to come after me. She told me so herself, when she stopped by the hospital to tell me how much she wished I had died like I should have. Like she wanted me to.” Why that still hurt so much, he didn’t know. He’d had plenty of time to get past his sister’s hatred of him, but couldn’t.

Brendon sat motionless on the bench seat for so long that Zeke was starting to worry. He was seriously considering reaching over and shaking the man or something when Brendon finally nodded before getting out of the truck. Zeke slid out and followed him silently to the house, wondering what the hell was going on in the man’s mind. He found out as soon as they stepped inside and Brendon shut the door.

“Look, I know that Eva is your sister, but what she did, it’s all just beyond fucked up. She’s beyond fucked up.” Brendon shook his head when Zeke would have spoken. “No. No excuses. I don’t know your other sister Elizabeth, but I know you and Enessa, and neither one of you are anything like Eva. In fact, y’all are two of the best people I know. I think that, like so many people feel they are born gay, others are born evil, mean or good. Trying to murder your brother—that’s just evil, you know it is. She of all people should know that, being married to a preacher’s son. I mean, what, did she just conveniently forget the whole Cain and Abel story in the Bible? And you may be all chivalrous about never hitting a woman, but I will rip that bitch’s head off if she ever tries to hurt you again.”

Zeke didn’t know what to say, but when Brendon put it like that, even calling his sister a bitch couldn’t irritate him. Before he could decide what he did feel about that speech, Brendon grabbed his hand and tugged him down the hall into the guest room. Zeke assumed he was going to have to help the man pack and was totally unprepared for the shove in the middle of his back that sent him tumbling onto the bed.

“What the fu—” His voice stuck in his throat when he rolled onto his back. Brendon was stripping, throwing his clothes off in a frenzy and kicking off his shoes. Zeke rose up on his elbows to watch, his own cock filling hard and fast at the sight of the beautiful, bare, male flesh before him. Brendon reached into one of the bags sitting on the dresser and pulled out a tube of lube and a condom.

“Scoot up to the middle of the bed,” he ordered as he approached the bed. Zeke’s mouth dried up as he took in the look on Brendon’s face. Erotic, determined and wanting, his expression sent sparks of heat zinging through Zeke. He moved to the center of the mattress, his erection uncomfortable against the denim jeans. When he reached down to unbutton them, Brendon snarled at him, which, he realized