Bradley James Read online

  Bradley James

  A Sweet Gay Romance

  James Brother Series Book 2

  By C. E. Wilson

  Contents

  Bradley James

  James Brother Series Book 2

  Bradley James

  James Brothers Series Book 2

  Disclaimer

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Note From the Author

  Bradley James

  James Brothers Series Book 2

  By C. E. Wilson

  Amazon Edition

  Copyright 2019

  This book may not be replicated or reproduced in any manner without the express and written permission from the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re- sold or given away to other people. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it to the author and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Disclaimer

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  Bradley James woke up with a bad headache. He couldn’t remember where he was, and that was unusual. He remembered dropping Celest off at home and stopping at the convenience store to get a drink and going to his truck that was parked at the back of the store, but that’s all he remembered. He stood up and held his head. It felt wet, so he looked at his hand, and it was covered in blood. He tried to remember where the hell he was. He got his first look around the area he was in. It seemed to be a basement or something like that. It was filthy, and there was only one small window at the top of the wall.

  The glass was so dirty; it only let a small bit of light in. He looked for a door and found one, so he went to it and tried to open it. It was locked. Bradley yelled, “Help, please, I’m locked down here. Anyone up there?”

  Bradley stepped back from the door when he heard footsteps on the stairs outside the door. He listened to a voice that was a little muffled. “What do you want?”

  “I want to know where I am and why I’m in this basement? Who are you?”

  “Shut up and go back to sleep. I don’t have time to keep running down here. When my brother gets back, he can tell you what he wants to. Until then, just shut up.”

  Bradley went over under the window. He looked around and found a chair and pulled it under the window. He got on the chair and looked out and saw nothing but what looked like a field. No houses anywhere. He tried to measure the window and his size, but he doubted he could have gotten out of the window when he was five. It was tiny. He did find the latch on it and opened it to allow some more light to come into the room.

  Bradley was happy to get some fresh air as well. This basement smelled horrible. He couldn’t figure out who had him locked up in this nasty basement and why. Who did he ever hurt that would do this to him? Maybe they were going to get ransom money from his dad and mom. Yeah, that had to be it. Bradley thought about his phone and reached into his back pocket to get it and call his dad, but his phone was gone.

  Bradley’s head was killing him. Maybe this brother would bring some Tylenol back with him and give a couple to Bradley to get rid of it. They would need him in good shape to get money out of him, wouldn’t they? Maybe he could get the guy that was here to let him out to go to the bathroom, and he could escape before the other brother returned. He walked over to the door again. “Hey, can I go to the bathroom? I also need some water. I am about to die of thirst.”

  The other one came down the stairs again. “What do you want now?”

  “I need to use the bathroom, and I need some water.”

  “Use the corner of the room for a bathroom, and you can ask my brother for water when he gets back. He should be here in about an hour.”

  “Who is your brother? Do I know him? Can you tell me why I am here?”

  The guy laughed. “No, No, No. Now shut up and go back to sleep or something.”

  Bradley heard him going back up the steps. He looked around and saw several items he could use for self-defense if these guys attacked him, as long as they didn’t have a gun. He found a claw hammer. He set it on the bench, he was lying on when he woke. He also found a car tire iron and set it beside the hammer. As he was looking around, he heard a car come near the house. He wondered if this was his rescuer or if this was the brother coming back.

  It wasn’t long until he heard footsteps coming down the steps. They stopped in front of the door, but no one said anything. Bradley picked up the tire iron and went to the door. “Hello? I know you’re there. What do you want with me? Please tell me what I did to you to make you take me, prisoner.”

  The footsteps started to walk away when Bradley called out again. “Please, I need to use the bathroom, and I need some water. You have to keep me in good health for my father to pay your ransom.”

  The steps stopped and came back to the door. “I’m not asking for ransom. I’m keeping you.”

  “Why? What do you want me for?”

  The footsteps went back to the stairs, and this time didn’t stop. He could hear the muffled voices upstairs and the footsteps, but he couldn’t identify the voices when they were this muffled at the door and from overhead.

  A while later Bradley heard footsteps coming down the stairs. A slot on the door opened, and a tray was sitting there with some food and a bottle of water. Bradley went to the door, picked up the tray, and looked out the slot. He saw a boy he didn’t recognize about fifteen years old. He asked, “Why are you and your brother doing this to me? Please let me go, and I’ll tell the police I don’t know who you are. It’s not a lie. I don’t know who you are or why you're doing this to me.”

  “This is my brother’s gig, not mine. I can’t let you go or decide what’s going to happen to you. I know he wants to keep you. That’s all I know.”

  “I’m not some sort of puppy that you can pick up and keep or take to the shelter. I’m a human with a family that is probably going crazy with not knowing where I am.”

  “No, they’re fine. He texted them all from your phone and told them you needed some time to adjust to your gayness. At least that is what he said. I don’t know anything about all this.”

  “You do understand that when I get rescued that you’re going to be in as much trouble as he is. You’re an accomplice to what he has done by not letting me go.”

  “I hate to tell you, but you’re not going to be rescued. This house is so far out in the country that we don’t have any neighbors. To walk back to town would take several days. He would find you again before you could get anywhere.”

  “Can you get my phone or really any phone for me. I’ll tell the cops that you helped me, and they will go easier on you. Just call my dad and let him know what has happened to me and he’ll get the ball rolling.”

  “My brother would kill me, and I mean that he would actually kill me. He doesn’t even like me. He only has me here to watch out for you, so you don’t see who he is.”

  “So, I know him?”

  “Oh yeah, from what
he has said, you know him very well.” They heard a car door shut and the boy jumped up. “Remember, I didn’t tell you anything.”

  Bradley nodded and took his tray and went to the bench to eat it. He noticed that the boy had left the slot in the door open. Bradley got up and walked over to the door and stuck his ear up to the slot. He heard the boy explaining that he just took the food tray down to Bradley. When the brother spoke, it shook Bradley to the core. It was Ben Sanchez that took him. Ben was Bradley’s ex and the one that outed him to his father at his brother’s wedding to an amazing man named John Willis.

  He should have realized that’s who it was. He knew he was going to have to do something to get away. He wouldn’t get a break from Ben, and his brother didn’t seem willing to help him. Bradley didn’t even know Ben had a brother.

  Bradley heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He yelled, “Ben, stop being an idiot and come in here and talk to me like a man should.”

  Ben’s face came into view in the slot that his brother had slid the food tray into. “I see you figured it out. Did my little brother tell you it was me?”

  “No, you’re the only one that is crazy enough to kidnap me and lock me into this nasty basement. You need to let me go. You know my family will not let this go. They’ll hunt until they find you and when they do, I’m going to make sure you go away for a very long time.”

  “All your family thinks you need some time to get your head together. I text your dad and your brother, so they’re going to think you're fine. No one else is looking for you. I made sure of that.”

  “What are you planning on doing with me? Just keep me in this nasty basement until I die. Then what Ben, have you even thought this through? Just let me go, and I won’t tell anyone about this. I’ll say the same thing that you text them.”

  “I’m going to wait until you decide that you love me and will marry me. Then we can go get our license and get married. Your brother married a man, and I don’t see why you don’t want to marry me. Your dad knows and said it was fine that you're gay. I don’t see what the problem is.”

  “I don’t think that with you kidnapping me and keeping me locked in here that I’m going to be able to fall in love with you. Let me go and now that my dad knows I’m gay, then we can see where it will go between us. As long as you keep me locked up in here, it isn’t going to happen. Sit down and think about it, Ben. I don’t want someone that keeps me in a cage.”

  “You know you love me, so just admit it.”

  Bradley shook his head and finished eating his food.

  Chapter 2

  The owner of the convenience store was cleaning the parking lot and noticed that the pickup truck was still sitting at the back of the store. It had been there now for a couple of weeks. He had asked all his employees if any, had given permission for the owner to park there and none had. He went back into the store and called the police station. He said, “This is Barney at the Quik Stoppers. I have a pickup sitting behind my store for two weeks now, and I did not give the owner permission to leave it here. Can you send someone over and have them get in touch with the owner to come to get it?”

  A short while later two officers pulled around the back of the store and got out looking over the truck. One of them called in the tag and got the response of who the owner was. The officer told the dispatcher to call the owner and ask if he knew where his truck was. The dispatcher called the number for the owner. “Hello, I’m looking for Bradley James. Is he there?”

  “No, this is his father, Charles James. Can I help you with something?”

  “Yes, Bradley’s truck has been in a convenience store parking lot for two weeks now, and the owner wants it moved. If Mr. James cannot pick up the truck, the officers will call a tow truck and remove it from the property.”

  “Bradley’s truck is in a parking lot? He has been missing for two weeks. Can you transfer me to the officer that’s with my son’s truck?”

  “Yes, sir. Hold on, and I will transfer you.”

  “Hello?”

  “Yes, sir, this is Charles James. That’s my son’s truck. He has been missing for two weeks. Does it look as though there was foul play? He texted us and said he needed some time alone, but we haven’t heard from him since. He is only seventeen.”

  “Have you reported him missing?”

  “No because of the text we got from him, and my older son got the same text. We just learned he’s gay and felt he needed the time since he text us. I can check his bank account and see if he has taken any money out of it. If he hasn’t, then there is a big problem. He would not leave that truck sit in a parking lot. He loves that truck.”

  “Sir do you have an extra set of keys for this truck. The store owner wants it removed from the property. If you can come and get it, we won’t have to have it towed. We will wait here and check everything out while we wait for you, then we can go to the station and fill out a missing person report on your son.”

  The officers looked around the truck, and at the driver’s side of the truck, they found some blood. One of the officers got a kit from the car and took a sample of the blood. Other than the blood, they didn’t find anything else. Bradley’s parents arrived, and they opened the locked truck. Nothing looked out of place or wrong. The officer got another DNA kit from his car and took a sample from Charles to compare it with the blood on the ground to see if it was Bradley’s. If so, then it was foul play.

  Bradley’s mother (Martha) got in the truck and started it. It ran just fine. They followed the officers back to the police station to fill out the papers for Bradley since he was now listed as a missing person. They gave the officers a picture of Bradley that Martha had in her wallet, and they sent out a BOLO on him.

  Charles called Bradley’s older brother and told Clayton that Bradley was missing and not just taking some time to adjust to being out. The first thing that Clayton said was to check out his ex Ben Sanchez. He seemed the type to do something to Bradley.

  The officers ran his name and found he had been in trouble many times. He was nineteen and had a very troubling record. Charles told the police about him coming and starting trouble at Clayton’s wedding. In the meantime, Clayton went to the courthouse and got all the information on properties that were in the Sanchez name. He went to the police station and met with the officers and his parents. He gave the information to the police and let them handle the search. There were three properties in the Sanchez name. One was in Ben’s name, but it was out in the county. He had inherited it from his grandfather.

  The police had to call in the Sheriff’s department as they did not have jurisdiction out in the county. The other two properties were in the city, so they set out to search them while the sheriff’s department went to check the property in the county. When the sheriff’s deputies got to the house in the county, it was abandoned. They went through the house and even checked in closets and the upstairs. They checked the basement, but there was no sign of anyone being there in a very long time.

  The police officers checked the two properties in the city, but they were also abandoned, and no one was in or around the houses. They went back to the station and put out a BOLO on Ben Sanchez to see what he knew.

  Charles and Martha went home and started making flyers to put up around the city on Bradley. When they had made a hundred of them, they left to go put them around the town near the school. It was possible that someone had seen what happened to Bradley.

  Cade Maxwell had just left football practice when he noticed the flyer on the pole near the school. He stopped when he saw it was a picture of Bradley James. He was a guy on the football team that Cade was crushing hard over. He read the words from the flyer, and his blood started to boil. He had thought to approach Bradley and ask him on a date, but he wasn’t sure that Bradley was gay. He never said anything to Cade, but he saw Bradley watching him.

  The flyer said that they were looking for Ben Sanchez for information on the disappearance of Bradley. Cade thought, ‘yeah unl
ess I find him first.’ He never did like Ben. He was trouble. Cade went to his truck and headed for the hamburger joint that Ben worked at. Ben had made several passes at him, but he wanted no part of Ben Sanchez.

  Cade pulled into the parking lot. He parked the truck in a parking space and went inside. He tried to see into the kitchen, but he was unable to see in there and didn’t want to start anything by just walking into the kitchen. He sat down at a table, and the waitress came over to him. “I’ll have a burger. Is Ben working? He makes the best burgers.”

  “No, sorry. Ben has taken the week off. He said he had some problems at his little brother’s house, and he had to get it fixed up.”

  “Oh, really. Do you know where this house is? I am friends with Ben and can help him do the repairs. I didn’t know that Ben had a little brother.”

  “Ben doesn’t talk about his little brother. He is Ben’s half-brother. Same mother but different fathers. The kid is sweet, so I don’t know what Ben has against him. I don’t know where the house is only that it is out in the boondocks. He said they don’t even have running water there. He’s supposed to fix it up for his brother, but that doesn’t make sense since he hates the boy.”

  Cade snorted. “Does anything that Ben does make sense? He’s strange for sure.”

  The girl laughed. “Yeah, he keeps talking about his boyfriend, Brad. He said he is getting married as soon as he can convince Brad to marry him. He said he has ways to get him to marry him, and that is all he wants. Now, what do you want on your burger?”

  “I think I lost my appetite so we will just have that later. I’ll be back soon for it.”

  The waitress nodded and walked away. Cade got back into his truck and went to Ben’s house. He followed him home one day so he would know where he lived. He wanted to make sure he didn’t get near this guy. When Cade got to Ben’s house, he was relieved to see Ben’s car in the driveway. He would follow him and see if he could find Bradley.