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involved.
    Chay had mentioned Remi’s dad had slapped him around as a kid without being too specific. Jake was beginning to suspect the abuse hadn’t ended with Remi moving out.
    Things just didn’t add together. Sterling seemed to think Remi had kicked up a fuss over Chay and Keaton because he was afraid of their father. How the man got to Remi was not a surprise. From what Jake witnessed today, Remi would do anything to keep his brother safe.
    Remi came back into the living room with two beer bottles in hand. Giving one to Jake, he sat on the couch with a leg underneath him.
    “Thanks.” Jake took a swig of beer and turned his body to more easily see Remi.
    Dipping his head in acknowledgment without ever making eye contact, Remi fiddled with the label on his bottle. He smelled uneasy. Not upset exactly, but nervous. Why?
    Did he think Jake would condemn him for his father’s sins?
    “If you want my help, you have it, but I need to know what’s going on.”
    Remi glanced up, his eyes solemn. “I don’t even know if I can afford to pay you.”

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    Jake started shaking his head as soon as the word afford left Remi’s lips. “I’m not worried about it. You’re my”— mate —“my friend. If you feel like you have to pay me, we can work something out. I’m not agreeing to help you for money. I keep getting the hint that you think Sterling is in danger of being hurt by someone and I want to help if I can.” Not to mention that helping—protecting—his mate was his job and made him feel good.
    “Okay.” Taking a sip of his beer, Remi pulled his other foot onto the couch, bending it in front of him and resting his arm on it. He watched the beer bottle dangling between his fingers for a few moments and nodded, like he’d made up his mind. “It’s Dirk. He’s never hurt Sterling before. This is the first time, but…”
    “But it probably won’t be the last,” Jake finished for him. Fuck. Even Remi called him Dirk. The guy was a piece of work. What kind of man didn’t want his own kids calling him dad?
    “Well, that was my experience when I lived there, but I’ve always kept him from hurting Sterling. He pretty much ignores Sterling as long as Sterling stays out of his hair and I continue to live my life by his rules.” Shaking his head, Remi snorted. “I’ve done that. I don’t even hang around my fag best friend anymore.” The venom in Remi’s voice said the word fag wasn’t his, but his father’s. “Well, not where he would find out about it anyway. I still go to Chay and Keaton’s, I just hide my bike. Pretty fucking pathetic, huh?” He took a long swig of beer, finishing it in one shot. He set it on the table and rested both his hands on his knees. He appeared far away, lost. “Simon and Bobby came with me to pick up Sterling one day and he kicked them out of the house. He told them to never come back because they’re still friends with Chay. So I pretty much steer clear of them too.”
    Jake had the urge to pull Remi into his lap and assure him it’d be okay, but instead he sat and listened. His heart ached for Remi. Given what he’d learned throughout the day, it shouldn’t come as such a shock the amount of control Remi’s father had over his life, but it did. And it pissed Jake off to no end. The idea of someone threatening his mate didn’t sit well with him.
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    Remi’s eyes were watery, the scent of tears heavy in the air, but he didn’t cry. He laughed, almost evilly. “The son of a bitch even told me what I was going to do for a living. One night over dinner he said, ‘You need to fill out this application to the fire department, I already told the fire chief to be looking for it.’ He threw the application at me and asked Sterling, ‘What do you think about Remi being a fireman?’ I don’t know if it was a threat or not, but I didn’t even argue. Besides, Sterling seemed to