AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Before you start some long-winded spiel on how I’m a bitch, why don’t you hear me out for once?” Lauren asked.
I motioned for her to sit down, and she flopped into her seat.
“Sam and I have known one another for sixteen years, Logan. I know her the best out of everyone. She came to me when her parents tried to control her. She came to me the first time a boy ever kissed her. We snuck out late at night, and I’d lie to her parents for her so she wouldn’t get grounded. Hell, I almost went to the same college as her until I got that free ride on the other side of the state. I was there when she took those pregnancy tests. I was the one that held her while she cried. While she sobbed about not knowing what to do and being scared and wondering where her life was going to take her next. Me. That was me. Not you guys. Not you, Logan. But me.”
“So you're jealous,” I said.
“No,” she said. “I’m hurt.”
I watched my sister’s eyes well with tears, and I furrowed my brow.
“I begged you guys to talk to me. Not because I was worried about you, but because I was worried about her. She ran to her parents, Logan. People who had verbally abused and manipulated her throughout her entire life. And the only assumption I could make was that whatever happened in Vegas was less tolerable than that. Less tolerable than abuse, Logan.”
I leaned back into my chair as my hands slid across my thighs.
“So I’m sorry if you think how I’m acting is fucked up. And I’m sorry that Sam hurts. But I’m hurt too. You guys are my family. We are all each other has Logan.”
“You knew about the pregnancy before we did,” I said.
“And yet once we figured out she was pregnant, she didn’t say a damn word. Nothing. She intentionally kept me in the dark because she thought I would react worse than her own damn parents, Logan. She wouldn’t tell me who the father was. She wouldn’t tell me what was going on.”
“Have you tried putting yourself in her shoes?” I asked.
Lauren’s face turned red. “No, I didn’t. Because I would never one of my best friend’s brothers, let alone four of them at once,” she snapped.
“You watch your language,” I said.
“That’s rich coming from you.”
“Look Lauren, none of us expected or planned for it to happen. But it’s happening. There’s a baby now, Laur. Your niece or nephew. You’re going to have to find a way to get over this somehow.”
“I don’t know if I can,” she said stubbornly.
“The fact that your best friend has four men willing to love her and support her and take care of her and her child should be a good thing to you. We are the only family Sam has left too, Lauren.”
I watched a tear escape the side of my sister’s cheek, and I reached for her hand. It didn’t matter how many ways we split this. Lauren hurt. Whether she had a right to be or not, that wasn’t for me to decide. I wasn’t here to convince her that she had no reason to feel the way she felt.
But I wasn’t going to allow her to hurt Sam any longer, either.
“All of us love Sam, Lauren. I lov
e Sam. I’ve loved her for longer than I care to admit it. And all of us want to take care of her.”
“Does she know that?” she asked.
“We’ve all been trying to tell her,” I said. “Here’s all I know,” I said, “so long as Sam doesn’t have your approval—or at least your friendship through all of this—Sam will never let us in. We can admit to her how we feel every day for the rest of our lives, until we’re blue in the fucking face. But none of it will matter if she doesn’t have her best friend.”
“I can’t,” she said breathlessly.
“Sam’s pregnant,” I said, “with one of our children. And she doesn’t give a damn whose it is. She doesn’t want the DNA test, and neither do we. Because it doesn’t matter, Lauren. All that matters is that Sam and that baby are taken care of and loved. We want to give that to her. But she’ll never take it unless she has you. Her best friend. Don’t you see that, Lauren?”
Her eyes panned over to mine, and I drew in a deep breath.
“You think you don’t matter. That all of this has happened behind your back. But really? You’re the one that matters the most. None of this works without you. Lauren, you and Liam brought this family back from an unspeakable tragedy after mom and dad died. You shouldered emotions you never should’ve felt at your age, and you shoved them to the side to take care of us. It’s why all of us were so happy for you when you met Todd. When you finally had someone to lean on yourself. Sam has someone to lean on. Four people, to be exact. But the one person she wants to lean on—the one person she wants more than anything—won’t even talk to her.”
More tears crept down Lauren’s cheeks, and I knew she was listening. I knew she could hear me even though her eyes averted my gaze. Her body was shaking. Her hands were clasped tightly in her lap. That was the root of all this for her. She’d lost her parents, and she was afraid she was losing the rest of her family to Sam.
“Stop treating her this way,” I said as I got up. “Because all Sam wants is to have her friend back. All she wants is to know she’s loved by the only people she considers family no matter the choices she makes. Her parents tried to control her. Don’t do that to her. Don’t be that person.”
