All Due Respect Read Online Free PDF Page B

everybody’s father, then He’s your mom’s father, too.” Seth slung an arm over his bent knee. “Now if you were a father who loved your children—no matter what—would you make them burn in hell forever?”
    Jeff didn’t hesitate. “No.”
    “Neither would God, Jeff,” Seth said. “Your mom isn’t burning in hell, son. She’s watching over you from heaven.”
    Confusion muddied his relief. “But Dad says—”
    “I know. But you’ve thought this through for yourself now. You know the truth in here.” Seth gently touched Jeff’s chest through the fence, felt his heart pound against his fingertips. “People say and do all kinds of things when they’re in pain. They keep hoping something will make them feel better.”
    Jeff’s lip trembled. “It makes me hurt.”
    Rage threatened Seth, but he swallowed it back down. More rage, Jeff did not need. “Your dad hurts you?”
    “When he says stuff.” Jeff dragged in a deep breath that lifted his chest. “He doesn’t love me. I don’t know why:” Jeff glanced at Seth. “Is something wrong with me?”
    “No, it’s just grief. It’s not your fault.”
    “Maybe it is.” He bowed his shoulders and stared at
    Seth’s shoes, as if confessing the most shameful, unmentionable sin. “Dad says only Mom wanted me and then she died. Now, he’s stuck with me.”
    Camden was a real piece of work. A bastard, through and through. “I don’t know a lot about kids, Jeff. But I know a good one when I see one, and you’re a good one. Don’t you ever let anyone tell you different.”
    “It’s hard to remember.”
    It was. Particularly when you heard you were lousy a lot more often. Seth’s voice went thick. “Are you scared he’ll hurt you, buddy?”
    Jeff stared off into the pin oaks. The wind slicked his hair back from his face. “Maybe. He—he used to hurt my mom.” Turning, Jeff stared hard, willing Seth to believe him. “But he was always real sorry. Mom told me he was.”
    Seth sincerely doubted it, but he kept his opinion to himself. Jeff needed the lie. “Okay, but no more nightmares of your mom burning, because she’s not. She never was. I said so, and I never lie.”
    “Dr. Julia told me.” A weak smile touched Jeff’s lips, and he swatted at a mosquito buzzing his neck.
    Seth’s smile froze on his face. It wasn’t just dust and dirt, Jeff was bruised. Even under the armpit. He’d been grabbed and jerked. Hard.
    The front door creaked open, and a man stepped out onto the porch. Had to be Camden. Mid-twenties, brown hair, CPA slump in his shoulders. He topped out at about five eight and moved with a giveaway swagger that pegged him as a severe sufferer of the little, big-man syndrome. So you ‘re short. Act tough, bluster and bully, and people will consider you important.
    Seth pretended not to see him but made sure his voice was loud enough to carry. “I told Dr. Julia I’d check on you everyday while she’s away.”
    “You did?” Jeff’s smile got broader. “Every day?”
    Camden’s grimace deepened. “Yeah,” Seth said. “You know how women are. Worrywarts.”
    “Yeah.” Jeff’s nod nearly cracked his neck. “Worrywarts.”
    Seth bit back a smile. Jeff loved it. Knowing Julia was worrying about him made him feel safe, as if he mattered. And, of course, he did. “So is that okay with you?”
    “It’s not okay with me.” Camden came off the porch and walked three steps down the sidewalk, toward the fence.
    Seth looked down at the man, debating. He couldn’t hit him; he’d kill him. And though he had left the Special Forces, his hands and feet were still considered lethal weapons. Camden might deserve killing, but if Seth did it, then he’d be in prison. He couldn’t help the boy from prison. He had to give diplomacy a try. It’d set a better example for Jeff, and keep Julia off his back.
    Seth turned a cool gaze on Camden. “Why would you object?” he asked, letting the implication that Camden had something