Real Love Ch. 07

Writer's Notes:

'Real Love' is my personal tribute to JammyJimmy's (JJ) story, 'Threads: The Island'. I give JJ credit, because credit is due, for this story and for my own inspiration and entrance into writing. 'Real Love' is actually the first story I wrote, even before 'Tale of Two Teens', my first published story.

As I was writing this story way back when, I was hoping JJ would be the editor. Having been unable to make contact with him, I have been reluctant to release it. Some say JJ has passed away, but I don't know. JJ, if you read this and want this story removed, please contact me. Several readers have relayed to me, both publically and privately, that they would like it released.

Therefore, 'Real Love' is an unauthorized, reimagined rewrite and sequel to JJ's story, 'Threads: The Island'. The general storyline in JJ's story is embedded in this story. Several of the character names have been changed because this is my story. Anyone who has read JJ's story will identify the characters quickly, starting with my main character, Bradley Weber, formerly known as Kyle Watson in JJ's story.

This story is long, but tolerant and filled with several emotions. If you stick with it, you will experience euphoria, happiness, sadness, sorrow and it will make you horny. You'll be disgusted, pissed off, scared and you'll grieve, cry, frown, smile and sometimes, you'll laugh, I hope.

'Real Love' starts off slow, but gains speed with age. Feel free to leave comments about what you like and what you dislike about the story. Feedback is a good thing for those writers who want to know what reader's like and dislike about their stories.

Please don't be mean in the comments because those that put in many hours over a period of several months, and thought into designing and writing these stories don't appreciate it, nor do they deserve it.

I do hope you enjoy the 'Real Love' series. Just don't forget one important detail -- it's fiction. Please do give us 'not so professional' writers a little slack.

JJ, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, fair winds and following seas my friend.

Let the saga of Bradley Weber continue...

MDSW

* * * * *

As Captain Wales steps out of the cabin onto the rear deck, Brad realizes that Kelly's comments have settled his nerves a bit and he makes a mental note to thank her later.

It's too late to think about anything else as a woman appears on the rear deck and shakes hands with the Captain. Brad recognizes the long, dark curly hair, the taut physique that can't be hidden by the calf-length olive shorts or the loose white blouse.

As she turns to walk up the gangplank to the pier, Brad knows she's looking at him, knows that on the other side of the huge sunglasses that completely covers her eyes, those eyes are looking at him.

He swallows and takes a step forward to take her hand as she steps clear of the gangplank.

"Hi," he manages to croak, his mouth dryer than a drought in Death Valley.

"You must be Bradley Weber," Peggy says, shaking his hand. "I'm Peggy Gray."

He recognizes her voice immediately, that slight huskiness bringing back memories of her talking to him in the strip club.

"Pleased to finally meet you and please call me Brad," he mumbles. Then remembering Kelly's earlier advice to just be himself, he adds, "Sorry. I'm really nervous."

"Oh, you're not the only one," she smiles and Brad feels himself relax a little.

"That's good to know," Brad says as he turns a little and gestures to Kelly, introducing her as his assistant."

Then, he directs her to Charles.

"This is Charles, the Island Manager."

Peggy moves clear of the gangplank to shake hands with Charles and Brad feels his stomach tighten again, suddenly.

Stacy is standing at the boat end of the gangplank looking directly at him, searching with her eyes, seeking assurance it's really him, but she knows. He does the same, an unconscious gesture, his eyes taking in her dark hair framing her face, her figure that closely resembles her sister but seems somehow more voluptuous, more natural. Brad watches as she gently bites her lip, then steps forward.

"You must be..." Brad begins.

"Hi. I'm Stacy Capone. You can call me Stacy," she says lamely, cutting him off with a friendly smile.

As she reaches the end of the gangplank, he offers a handshake. She reaches for his hand and they shake. That's not what she wants to do, but she accepts it in favor of not upsetting the apple cart. Then she gets brave and gives him a kiss on the cheek, hoping he doesn't go bonkers on her, but it does startle him.

"Sorry to startle you," she says, stepping back. "I just thought if I'm meeting my brother for the first time, I should at least give him a kiss."

She makes definite eye contact with him for those two important words, letting him know she got his message from the lawyer and it has been understood.

Brad lets out a breath and nods.

"Nice to finally meet you," he says, stepping back.

He knows, as soon as he does it, it's a bad move. He feels the tip of his toe brush the edge of the wooden pier and, as his arms flailed to reach the nearby wooden post, he knows he screwed up on an epic level.

Brad falls backward into the water, barely missing Betsy.

"Kelly. Did you plan that?" he says jokingly as he surfaces.

"I'm so sorry Brad, I did not," she says, embarrassed for him, but laughing none the less.

Everyone is embarrassed for him but, one by one, they join in, laughing at his total embarrassment.

Captain Wales and his crew helps Brad out of the water and onto the pier. As Brad stands there looking at everyone laughing at him, he instinctively shakes his head to clear the water from his ears. Realizing his action, his embarrassment turns his face red, then into a chuckle, then a smile, then he laughs with them. Yes, he's indeed embarrassed, but the humor of the moment gets the best of him.

"Anybody know where I can find a hole to bury myself in?"

They laugh a little harder and louder.

"Stacy, did you meet Charles, the Island Manager, in all the commotion?" he asks, still dripping wet.

She says no so he introduces them, then he introduces her to Kelly. They all proceed off the pier to the main house and gives the sisters a quick tour of their new home while Kelly hustles Brad to his suite to shower, change his clothes and change the color of his face.

"I still can't believe I just did that," Brad says as he showers the salt water off his body in his en-suite bathroom. "What a fucking moron."

He hears Kelly chuckle from her seat on the edge of the bath.

"Hey, it could've been worse," she says.

"How?"

There is a pause.

"Good point."

"Cheers," he grunts.

"Oh, I know," she says quickly. "You could've pulled Stacy in with you. Or you could've fainted and broke your nose."

Brad pauses.

"Yeah, okay. I'll give you those. Either of them would have been worse."

"Plus, it's kinda like making a dramatic entrance. The proverbial splash heard around the Island."

He hears her chuckle again.

"How long have you been saving that one?"

"Since Captain Whales crew pulled you back onto the pier."

Brad finishes rinsing the gel off him and turns the shower off.

"I'm done."

"Alright. I'm gonna go grab you some clothes."

Brad hears her move out of the bathroom and opens the shower door, still impressed at how the white glass turns clear as he opens the door. He grabs a towel, dries himself off and then wraps it around his waist and walks through to the bedroom.

Kelly has thrown a pair of faded blue jeans on the bed and a pair of Converse All-Stars with a pair of socks sticking out the top.

Brad grabs the denims and turns his back to the dressing room. He gets his left leg into them when the towel falls off and as he hurries to put the right leg in and pull them up when Kelly appears in the doorway.

Brad knows she saw his ass as he hops upright, yanking the jeans up to cover himself. He glances over his shoulder, seeing her amused expression.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she smirks and turns back into the dressing room. "You need to get some sun on that."

Brad chuckles.

"You talking about my ass?"

"Yup," she calls back. "Don't tell my boss though. I don't want to get fired for sexual harassment."

"I think that only happens if I talk about your ass, doesn't it?"

"Don't know what to tell you, Brad," Kelly calls back. "I guess we're a long way from sexual equality in the workplace. Someone should look into that."

"Someone like you?"

"Or you?"

Brad smiles as he sits on the bed to pull on his socks and sneakers. He's been enjoying the conversations with Kelly recently. He doesn't know if it is just him, or if they had a bit of a flirty thing going on. Maybe it's her frank honesty or her natural personality, but Brad feels drawn to her as if she's a friend he's known for a long time.

With a frown, he realizes she's the only thing he has on the Island that's even close to a friend. He doesn't know what Stacy is and he's all too aware that he felt like a love struck teenager when he saw her on the boat. As for Peggy, he has no idea if she recognized him or not. Whatever the case, he knows he needs to tell her.

His good mood now gone, he fastens on his sneakers and stands up.

"Kelly. Have you got a top for me?"

"I can't decide," she calls. "Come in and help me choose."

Brad sighs and walks into the dressing room, seeing her flicking through the racks of tops and shirts that hang neatly on two rails. She turns and looks him up and down, then pulls at a lemon colored polo shirt.

"No," Brad says, immediately shaking his head.

"The only thing I've got that goes with those jeans is this mental bermuda shirt," she says, frowning. "I'm quite surprised that Margaret put it on the list."

"She didn't. I kinda bought it on impulse."

Kelly chuckles. "Well you're gonna have to take the jeans off and change them, Brad."

"Just give me something black. It'll be fine."

"Hey, you're not the one who's going to have to put up with an apoplectic Margaret," Kelly mutters as she pulls out a dark pair of loose linen trousers and a black v-necked top. "Come on, Brad. Get your jeans off so we can get out of here. Everyone's waiting for us."

"Right here?"

"I'm not gonna look so stop being a baby," Kelly replies.

Brad stares at her for a second but she's busy browsing through the tops again. He shrugs and bends down to unlace the sneakers, then steps forward to grab the linen trousers.

Kelly holds them out to the side and as he takes them, he sees her eyes flicker down to the side, as if trying to catch a glimpse. He frowns as he replays it in his head, wondering if it had just been an involuntary movement, a sensing motion kind of thing, or if she is deliberately trying to sneak a peek at his cock.

For fucks sake, Brad. Just get changed, he tells himself.

With his eyes fixed on her, he pulls the denims off and slips the linen trousers on. It feels a little odd to see her standing there, only a few feet away while he has his dick out.

"Maybe I'm just imagining it."

"Got the pants on yet?"

"Yeah," Brad replies, lacing up his Cons again. Kelly turns and brings him the v-neck top while he slips it on and shrugs it into place.

"You'll do," she tells him. "Let's go."

"Where are we meeting?"

"Downstairs in one of the business suites."

"Wait, I need to dry my hair," Brad says quickly.

"Leave it," Kelly replies quickly. "They'll think you've been rushing and didn't wait to dry it."

"That's kinda true."

"Except for the wardrobe uncertainty," Kelly agrees. "You'll want to gloss right over that part."

Not only is meeting his sisters torture for him, he also expects the will to be on the same level. Still, he has to endure it and so does his sisters.

* * * * *

Kelly leads Brad downstairs and around the side of the pool, turning left to head into one of the business suites where he can see Mr Alden sitting behind a desk. On the other side of it sits three large leather chesterfield armchairs, Stacy in the one on the left, Peggy on the right.

He takes a deep breath, feeling the tension of what's to come. He knows inside this room he will find out what his future will be, what his responsibilities are and what Danny Packard, the man who gave him up for adoption, will have to say to him and his sisters.

"Good luck, Brad," Kelly says quietly. "I'll see you when you get out."

As he enters the room, Kelly closes the door behind him and returns to her en-suite.

Brad, Stacy and Peggy listen intently to the lawyer as he explains the will and the options relating to their future. It's a lot of information, not to mention a lot to comprehend. As the meeting ends, the girls go their separate ways to their own suites and Brad goes to his balcony. Brad takes a seat, chain-smoking and watching a spectacular sunset that he just can't appreciate.

The afternoon has been too draining. The meeting lasted nearly three hours with Mr Alden reading them Danny Packard's last will and testament, a lengthy document that has taken up forty one pages in total and then the lawyer went through each item on each page, answering questions from the three stunned siblings.

Ellen sees him there and asks him if she can bring him something to drink. He asks her for an orange, pineapple and banana fruit drink he had earlier that day so she goes off to get him one and returns with the refreshing drink quickly. Handing it to him, he says thank you and off she goes.

Shortly after, Kelly comes out of her en-suite expecting Brad to be done with the meeting, and she's right. When she spots him from inside the lounge, she comes out and takes a seat beside Brad. Seeing his drink, she calls Ellen and asks her to bring another.

"It's a lot to take in," Kelly says gently.

"Do you want to read it?" Brad asks, nodding towards his copy of the will on the table.

She shakes her head. She's surprised at his willingness for offering her to read something so private.

"I don't need to read it Brad, I helped Danny write it. I can tell you it had one hundred and fourteen revisions that I know about."

"Fuck me," Brad mutters.

He knows about document control and records management from his work, but a document with a hundred and fourteen revisions, belongs in government.

"It's a lot of information," she says.

"It's a lot of fucking money," Brad blurts out.

He lights another cigarette.

"What's bothering you about it?" Kelly asks after a moment. "Most people would be delighted that they're suddenly filthy rich."

Ellen brings Kelly her drink and disappears.

"It's not the money Kelly," Brad says. "It's the weight of responsibility and he just fucking dumped it on us, having never said a word to any of us in twenty-three and a half years. He has no clue if we're up to the job and he made us responsible for the livelihood of thousands of people all over the world."

"He wouldn't have done it if he wasn't sure you and your sisters can handle it."

"How could he know that though? He never spoke to us, no knowledge of us beyond what he reads about us in reports from other people. He didn't know us at all."

Brad looks at the blue binder on the table, seeing the big letter P embossed on the front. He wants nothing more in that moment than to throw it over the pool into the sea, then pretend it's all some horrible mistake. He also knows he has to man up and face his future, and so does his sisters.

"So now Stacy, Peggy and myself have been handed this massive burden of responsibility that we can't cleanly walk away from and our lives are no longer our own," he continues. "I mean, think about it. I would have been lost without you here, and I can't imagine what it'll be like in a few weeks or months time without your help either. I can see clearly why I'll need security around me, why I'll need people to cook and clean for me, and I get all that. I understand it. But, my life is not my own anymore either. I can't date who I want, I can't finish work and go to the cinema with my friends. Or go get hammered and phone in sick. I can't go home and close my door or drop in on my mom and dad for a chat. My time's no longer going to be my own."

He slumps down in the wooden chair and puts his feet up on the table.

"It's like prison for the rich. You can have anything you want except free will and there's no escape. That's what's bothering me about it," he concludes.

"Just give it a bit of time, okay," Kelly says gently. "Give your head a bit of time to wrap itself around the enormity of everything that's happened. It's not as bad as it seems, believe me. I've been living it for the last five years with Danny."

Brad shrugs.

"We'll see."

* * * * *

"Am I interrupting?"

Brad turns in his seat, recognizing the voice.

"Hi, Stacy."

Kelly gets up and says, "Hi Stacy, I'm Kelly."

She moves toward her and shakes hands with Brad's sister as he stands.

"I'm Brad's assistant."

"Like Nikki is for me?" she asks, smiling.

"Yes, exactly like that," Kelly says, giving her a warm smile. "And like Rick is for Peggy."

"Rick? He's... Um..." Stacy's voice trailed off.

Brad remembers the strange looking white man he's seen walking down the pier behind Peggy. There's something about him that reminds him of Mr Potato Head in spandex. Brad remembers a few of Ed's favorite put downs and the one about Forest Whitaker and Ugly Betty having a love child, who didn't so much fall out of the ugly tree as smash it to bits on the way down, seems particularly apt.

"He's a really nice guy and smart too," Kelly says quietly. "Thinks all men are secretly in love with him though, which I'm pretty sure qualifies him as delusional, but I love him to bits."

"He seems nice," Stacy says, agreeing. "Brad, you got a minute?"

"Sure."

Brad takes a deep breath.

"I've got a couple of things to do," Kelly says, moving towards the stairs. "I'll be back in ten, Brad."

"Okay."

Brad turns to Stacy and beckons her inside and they sit down on the leather sofas in front of the TV.

"Harrison Ford made this table," Brad says, feeling nervous and immediately cursing himself for blurting out the first thing that pops into his head.

Stacy rolls her eyes.

"That's... interesting," she replies.

For some reason it makes Brad chuckle and he snaps out of whatever mood he's in.

"Okay, fair enough. So how are you doing?"

"Shocked. Scared. Confused. Excited. Exhausted... And, I haven't slept since I found out."

Stacy looks at him closely and lowers her voice.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw your photo."

"I nearly passed out when I saw yours," Brad admits. "I turned as white as a sheet according to Mr Alden."

"Me too," she says frowning. "So what are we gonna do about this?"

"Well, it's probably not the best idea to pick up where we left off, is it?"

"That would be no," Stacy replies flatly. "So we keep quiet, right?"

He nods.

"I think that's the way to go. The problem is Ed and Casey know."

"Oh, fuck," Stacy blurts out. "And my friends too."

"Yup."

Stacy runs her hands through her hair then rubs her face. Her eyes meet Brad's.

"Are you still close with them?" she asks.

"They're my best friends, both of them. What about yours?"

"Still close with Margarita, not so much with Shawna or Rosie," she replies.

"Listen, I realized this problem yesterday, so I've had a bit of time to think about it, to try and figure my way through it," Brad begins slowly. "Last night, I was freaking out, and yesterday, Mr Alden told me I should trust Kelly, so I..."

"You told her?!"

Stacy's expression hardened instantly and for the first time, Brad sees her anger.

"Listen Stacy. We need help with this," he tells her bluntly. "There are ways we can make sure it's in everyone's best interests to conveniently forget."