AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m glad you have her back in your life,” I tell her softly and she smiles at me like I’ve just given her the best gift she’s ever gotten.
I turn my hand over and grip hers to bring it to my lips, kissing the back of it before I let her hand go and hop out of the car. We walk in comfortable silence into the restaurant, and I think about how different life would have been if I didn’t have my brothers while I was growing up.
Lachlan has always been the quintessential big brother and Jordan has been the voice of not taking things too seriously. There were times when I had to live up to my place as the middle child and mediate between them, but it all worked out in the end. I wouldn’t change any of it now, even the harder times. Even when I wondered if we, or I, was the reason our mom ran off.
I shake off the thought because it doesn’t matter now. She’s been gone a long time and I had to let it go a long time ago. If I didn’t it would have eaten me alive. As if Lennon can read my thoughts, she slips her hand into mine and gives it a squeeze as we follow the hostess to our table.
I look down at our woman in surprise to find her giving me a soft smile. I untangle our hands and wrap my arm around her shoulder to pull her against my side, needing her closer, needing her touch.
As we sit down at our table, I realize that it’s been a long time since I’ve been out on a date. I hope I don’t fuck it up. I don’t think my brothers will ever forgive me if I do. We’re a package deal when it comes to this thing with Lennon.
It’s not the relationship I thought I would have, but it makes sense for us considering we would never allow someone to come between us. We’ve always been better as a unit. I don’t know why I didn’t realize earlier that the only way our future would make sense would be to share a woman between us.
As we enjoy dinner together, the conversation is light and filled with all sorts of information I’ve been dying to know about her. I soak up every single fact about herself she gives me, and I file it away. I might need it later.
She loves comedies, bad teen romance, and classic black and white movies. The last one surprises me and, even though I’m sure it’s obvious from my face, all she does is wink at me. She likes cheddar cheese flavoring on her popcorn and hates everything coconut.
As the night progresses, everything seems to feel easier and easier between us. I know for sure, now more than ever, I want this to work. I need it to work.
I don’t think I could walk away from her now, even if she said there was no way she could be with the three of us. I wouldn’t give up and neither would my brothers.
She’s ours. Since she didn’t slam the door in my face when I showed up at her place, I have a feeling she’s coming around to the same conclusion.
CHAPTER 13
LENNON
This has been the best date I’ve ever been on. I know it might sound cheesy, but it’s true. What I said to Kemp when he picked me up is true—I don’t need all the fluff. Having dinner with good food and good conversation is better than anything fancy.
Who the hell needs to get dressed up and worry all night about doing the wrong thing? Give me a hole in the wall place to eat and a good laugh any day.
I was not expecting Kemp to be on the other side of my door when I heard someone knocking. I thought it might be Jordan since he’s so eager. Then I thought it might be Lachlan since he’s not shy about wanting to spend time with me.
Out of the three brothers, Kemp has been the hardest one for me to get a solid read on. He keeps himself pretty closed off most of the time, but not in the same way Lachlan does. He’s broody in a bad boy sort of way I can appreciate after spending a lot of time around bikers. I was digging Kemp’s vibe, for sure, but I wasn’t sure if he was as all in like his brothers clearly are.
Any doubts I had have been put to rest tonight.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure about accepting his invitation, if you can call it that, to go out to dinner at first. Then I remembered the conversation I had with Evelyn earlier in the day.
With me moving, I hadn’t had the chance to catch up with her more than letting her know I had arrived and was safe after heading to Charleston for a little while.
I felt instantly more at ease when she answered the phone this afternoon after work. Her voice was bright and filled with excitement, “I was just thinking about you. I gave you some time to get settled and to start working, but I’ve been dying to know how everything is going. Now, give me all the details.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at my best friend and thank the universe, again, that we found our way back to each other. There was some drama, which I didn’t need to explain in detail to Kemp, but it didn’t last long and reconnecting with Evelyn was exactly what I needed in my life.
“Well, it’s been,” I paused and sat back on my couch, getting settled in for a long conversation, “interesting.”
“Oh really. You can’t just stop there,” she admonished me. “Tell me everything.”
It wasn’t something she just said either, I knew she wanted all the details. I gave them to her as well. The only thing I glossed over was the night I spent with the brothers at Club Ecstasy. She didn’t need to know everything about the night, but I gave her enough for her to be able to give me the kind of advice only a best friend can give.
“Wow,” she breathed when I was done telling her everything that has happened since I officially, and permanently, made the move to Phoenix. “That sounds like a lot.”
“It is,” I admitted, feeling the weight of it all pressing down on my chest. “I’m conflicted,” I confessed honestly.
“I can tell,” she mused. She was quiet for a moment and there was a hesitancy in her voice as she asked me, “Are you conflicted because they’re your stepbrothers?”
“No,” I practically shouted, scared for a moment she would feel like I was judging her since she’s beyond happy with her own stepbrother. I could never judge Evelyn for anything. “It’s not even been two weeks since I met them, though I didn’t know who they were that night. We’re only stepsiblings on paper. I don’t care about that. Not really.”
