one day aspire to have that kind of loving relationship. You’re really going to throw that all away on someone else?”
His father stared at him, big bad James McCauley clenching his fists and breathing hard, a spark of fury in his berserker blue eyes. Looking like a meaner, older version of Mike. But instead of answering, he turned on his heel, stormed to the closet to grab his coat, and slammed out of the condo.
Cam stared at the mess on the couch left in his father’s wake. “ Fuck. ”
***
James McCauley hadn’t been so mad in…well, probably since the last real argument he’d had with Beth. She and Cam were so much alike. The boy and he butted heads, no two ways about it. Mike, James understood. Hell, looking at Mike was like looking at himself as a younger man. And Flynn and Brody, two better, more capable men he’d yet to meet. But Cam. The little prick.
Part of him wanted to take his son over his knee and spank the shit out of him for such disrespect, twenty-nine or no. But a bigger part of him felt so proud that he’d raised such a refined, together young man. A financially successful, physically and emotionally secure adult. One who thought his father could actually cheat on his mother.
Steaming, angry because it felt better to feel rage than hurt, he walked through the snow-cleared sidewalks to a coffee shop on the corner and stopped in for a cup of joe. As he waited, he realized he hadn’t stopped in to his favorite place in a while. The coffee shop on the corner in Queen Anne, where the barista, Amelia, always met him with a smile and a cup of his regular. She had a pretty grin and a spark in her eyes for him, a man a good fifteen years her senior.
No, James wasn’t cheating, but not for lack of wanting. At the thought, he tucked his hands in his pockets and mumbled his order, not making eye contact with the young thing behind the counter.
After paying for his coffee—black, not fancied up—James sat in the back, away from the other patrons.
What had seemed like some harmless flirtation months ago had turned him on his ear. A good-looking woman seemed genuinely interested. He’d been told by many women that he looked good for his age, that if he weren’t married, they’d have made a play. But it had been so long since he’d felt like a real man. Someone attractive, sexual.
Amelia always had a welcoming smile and an extra something she’d give him in the mornings that he never had to pay for. At home, Beth would have nothing for him but criticism. She’d meet with her retired friends, those hoity-toity jerks from the English department of that stupid college where she used to work. They’d always looked down on him.
Through the years spent attending functions with her, he’d suffered in silence, putting on a big smile. Beth would gently prod him about returning to school to get his degree. More work on top of the hellacious construction hours he put in daily. To make ends meet and support his family, he’d worked overtime, holidays, and taken on the odd project. All to make his beautiful wife happy. And for what? So that she could continually try to make him better ? Into something he could never be, a grown-ass Cameron?
She’d succeeded with that one. The boy had never liked his old man. James had tried. He’d teased and cajoled to toughen the boy, not wanting Cam to be bullied the way he’d been when younger. He’d included all his boys in family games and outings, finding common ground with Flynn and Brody, Mike, and even young Colin, the apple of his eye.
But Cam remained distantly out of reach. Like his untouchable mother.
Sex with Beth had never been a problem. Until she’d started holding back. The past few years she’d withdrawn, slowly. Until the last few months when they barely touched. A peck on the cheek, a graze of her hand against his. What the hell did a man have to do to get his wife naked nowadays?
He sighed and felt his age creeping close all over again
His father stared at him, big bad James McCauley clenching his fists and breathing hard, a spark of fury in his berserker blue eyes. Looking like a meaner, older version of Mike. But instead of answering, he turned on his heel, stormed to the closet to grab his coat, and slammed out of the condo.
Cam stared at the mess on the couch left in his father’s wake. “ Fuck. ”
***
James McCauley hadn’t been so mad in…well, probably since the last real argument he’d had with Beth. She and Cam were so much alike. The boy and he butted heads, no two ways about it. Mike, James understood. Hell, looking at Mike was like looking at himself as a younger man. And Flynn and Brody, two better, more capable men he’d yet to meet. But Cam. The little prick.
Part of him wanted to take his son over his knee and spank the shit out of him for such disrespect, twenty-nine or no. But a bigger part of him felt so proud that he’d raised such a refined, together young man. A financially successful, physically and emotionally secure adult. One who thought his father could actually cheat on his mother.
Steaming, angry because it felt better to feel rage than hurt, he walked through the snow-cleared sidewalks to a coffee shop on the corner and stopped in for a cup of joe. As he waited, he realized he hadn’t stopped in to his favorite place in a while. The coffee shop on the corner in Queen Anne, where the barista, Amelia, always met him with a smile and a cup of his regular. She had a pretty grin and a spark in her eyes for him, a man a good fifteen years her senior.
No, James wasn’t cheating, but not for lack of wanting. At the thought, he tucked his hands in his pockets and mumbled his order, not making eye contact with the young thing behind the counter.
After paying for his coffee—black, not fancied up—James sat in the back, away from the other patrons.
What had seemed like some harmless flirtation months ago had turned him on his ear. A good-looking woman seemed genuinely interested. He’d been told by many women that he looked good for his age, that if he weren’t married, they’d have made a play. But it had been so long since he’d felt like a real man. Someone attractive, sexual.
Amelia always had a welcoming smile and an extra something she’d give him in the mornings that he never had to pay for. At home, Beth would have nothing for him but criticism. She’d meet with her retired friends, those hoity-toity jerks from the English department of that stupid college where she used to work. They’d always looked down on him.
Through the years spent attending functions with her, he’d suffered in silence, putting on a big smile. Beth would gently prod him about returning to school to get his degree. More work on top of the hellacious construction hours he put in daily. To make ends meet and support his family, he’d worked overtime, holidays, and taken on the odd project. All to make his beautiful wife happy. And for what? So that she could continually try to make him better ? Into something he could never be, a grown-ass Cameron?
She’d succeeded with that one. The boy had never liked his old man. James had tried. He’d teased and cajoled to toughen the boy, not wanting Cam to be bullied the way he’d been when younger. He’d included all his boys in family games and outings, finding common ground with Flynn and Brody, Mike, and even young Colin, the apple of his eye.
But Cam remained distantly out of reach. Like his untouchable mother.
Sex with Beth had never been a problem. Until she’d started holding back. The past few years she’d withdrawn, slowly. Until the last few months when they barely touched. A peck on the cheek, a graze of her hand against his. What the hell did a man have to do to get his wife naked nowadays?
He sighed and felt his age creeping close all over again
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