One Night Stand With My Husband’s Brother

Eleanor pushed her son’s door open with one swift kick. The sound of glasswares crashing against the marble tiles was powerful enough to draw her attention.

Once the door was open, she caught Jeffrey swinging a bat against the screen of his LED TV. Eleanor flinched once the glass screen shattered into pieces all over the floor.

Jeffrey clenched the bat in his fists, shoulders trembling and sweat pouring from his head to his bare chest as he shivered. It wasn’t from the cold temperature, but from the boiling anger that brewed within him. The muscles of his back threatened to tear his skin open.

Eleanor’s lips thinned in disgust. She held the door open and stepped into his room. Her right foot stepped on shard of glass and she groaned in frustration.

His room was a total mess. He had thrown his books and shelves to the ground. His sheets and pillowcases were in shambles. His TV screen was shattered, all his favorite sculptures he collected to show off his father’s wealth were nothing but broken pieces on the ground. Jeffrey stood in the middle of the room as the biggest mess of them all.

A quivering, boiling mess.

Eleanor rolled her eyes and threw her hands into the air dramatically. She was sick…so sick of him, and she did not hesitate to let him know.

“I am sick of your silly and childish attitude, young man. When in the world are you going to fucking grow up?!” She yelled, knowing he would not hear her from all the breaking he was doing if she didn’t yell.

Jeffrey seized to move. His mother’s words echoed in his ears and sent unpleasant chills down his spine. Bile rose from his stomach to his throat. He could taste it, the bitter taste of defeat, and he hated it.

He turned to her, slowly, calculating his every move, until his bloodshot eyes locked with hers.

“Grow up?” He muttered through gritted teeth.

“Grow up?! Grow up?!” He flung the bat in his hands to his window, shattering the glass as well. He watched as his mother cringed at the sound.

His chest rose and fell as he forced in heavy breaths. He was not done with her, not nearly.

“You reveal everything that way, and you expect me to grow up? Fuck this! Fuck growing up? Who bloody cares if I don’t? Who gives a fuck about me?!”

Eleanor’s eyes swept through her son’s pitiful appearance. While he stomped towards her as though he was about to pick her up from the ground and toss her out of the window, she stood still and looked him straight in the eyes.

She retained her calm stance; not yelling, not frowning. She closed her eyes to heave a sigh, before she opened it and glared at Jeffrey.

“Mackenzie cheated on you, Jeffrey. Have you suddenly forgotten that?” She took a step closer to him, and he stood still.

“Yes, perhaps you cheated on her a few times, but there is no evidence to prove that, my boy. But she cheated on you, and her two piglets are the evidence, right in the faces of everyone, for the entire world to see.” Eleanor paused for a few seconds, allowing her sentence to sink into her son’s head.

“Why would I stay still, Jeffrey? Why would I stay still when I ought to crush her to her very last bone?”

“How could you, mother?! How could you expose it that way?!” Jeffrey retorted, telling at her.

Eleanor blinked twice, fairly surprised by her son’s outburst. With everything she had gone through for him, she would have expected him to be a tad bit more grateful.

“What are you saying, Jeffrey? It was very clear that those kids are not yours. I have DNA test to prove that!”

“Well fuck the tests, mother!” He threw his fist to the wall in front of him and punched it, hard.

Eleanor winced.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

He was being stubborn, but she was willing to explain things to him no matter how irritated she was. He was all she had, she would do anything for him.

“I couldn’t sit down and be quiet about it, darling. I just couldn’t. How do you expect me to fold my arms and act like everything is okay, when Chase has two heirs? Two heirs from your ex-wife, Jeffrey!”

Jeffrey hissed, kissing his teeth, and looked away from his mother, panting heavily.

“And what do you have, Jeff? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

Eleanor looked over him. She felt a strong gush of mockery, pity and love sweep through her heart at the same time. Her son had the ability to drive her mad with many emotions at once.

As he continued to pace about the room, shaking with rage, Eleanor swallowed hard and continued to speak. Her eyes followed him from one end of the room to the other.

“What am I going to do with you? What have I not done for you, Jeffrey? I have put you on every path I know is good for you, but you insist on straying away everytime. Why? And now…now you’re treating me like the enemy…”

“Because that’s what you end up being all the time, mother! How the fuck am I supposed to get Mackenzie back now?”

He turned to her, and she could see the raw anger brimming in his eyes. He had never looked at her that way before, with so much disdain.

“You only made Chase and Mackenzie grow closer with that stupid article of yours! If you really care about me like you say, you should have at least told me! Would it kill you to do that?”

Eleanor narrowed her eyes on him. Her heart sunk down her chest. All she had ever done for him, but his ungrateful ass never for once appreciated her. She…she’d had enough.

“And what would you have done if I had told you first? Huh? Answer me, boy?” She snapped back.

Jeffrey, still fuming, took a step backwards. He lowered his eyes to the ground and clenched his fists by his side.

Eleanor allowed a mocking chuckle escape her throat.

“Yeah, that’s right. I thought so. You would have done nothing. There is nothing else you know how to do than beat up workers, drink like a hoodlum and stack packing tickets for me to clear for your silly ass. You are just so fucking brainless, I lose my mind just thinking about it.”

Eleanor had both hands in her hips as she thoroughly scolded her son.

Jeffrey, on the other hand, did not care about anything his mother had said, or anything she had left to say.

He turned his back to his mother and shook his head. There was only one thing he cared about.

“This doesn’t matter, none of it does. Mackenzie…I would not let Mackenzie get away with any of this.” He tapped his fingers on his legs as he walked.

“I would not let Mackenzie or Chase get away with cheating on me, and keeping the seed of her infidelity.”

His intestines twisted in his stomach just thinking about it. He was hurt in ways he could not begin to describe or explain.

“So, what are you going to do?” Eleanor asked from behind him.

Jeffrey turned sharply to look at her.

“I’m going to get Mackenzie back, mum. The kids are mine by law. They were conceived when I was still married to her. I would get her back, I’ll make sure of it.”

Eleanor rolled her eyes, before raising her right hand to caress her forehead.

“I still don’t understand why you would want to fight Chase. He would crush you.”

“That’s why I need you, mother.” Jeffrey rushed to her and held her by her wrist.

Eleanor’s eyes widened for a split second. His eyes were filled with pleas, as though he had not tried to yell the roof down on her seconds ago.

“Please, mother. Do not let them do this to me and go scot-free. I need you, mother. I really do.”

Eleanor heaved a sigh and shook her head.

“You did not have to beg me, son. There is no way I would let Mackenzie live happily-ever-after after hiding the result of her betrayal, and with Chase?” She shrugged her shoulders.

“I would see to it that the world hates her. I would make sure she hates herself.” She looked up at her son and squinted her brows on him.

“The best way to get her back is to make Chase hate her. Once Chase hates her, she would run back into your arms. Remember how much she loved you?”

A small smile crept up to Jeffrey’s face immediately.

“Yes, yes, that’s true.” He nodded eagerly, his eyes like those of a love struck puppy.

“So, can you put up a new article right now, mother?”

Eleanor scowled.

How dense could he possibly be?

“Don’t be silly, boy. I know Chase is already tracking down the ones we posted before. Our PI would have to think of a way to block the address.” Eleanor wriggled free of her son’s grip and shook her head.

“Chase is smart, Jeffrey. Our lives would have been better if you were half as smart as he is.”

“Mother…”

“And know that I am not doing this for you. I am doing it for myself. I mean, how can that nobody think she can outsmart me? Some nerve she has.” Eleanor dropped her hands by her side and clutched the sides of her sea blue dress as she forced a chuckle.

Her smile soon dwindled and she sent Jeffrey a glare.

“Get someone to clean this mess up. And make sure to take a shower, you stink.”

Jeffrey looked down at his under arms, and Eleanor hissed, turned away from him and walked out of the room.