Her Best Men

“Just leave me alone, okay?” she asked as she pushed through us. “I’ve told you what I needed to say. I don’t know what came over me or what I thought could come of this, but it was nothing but a silly teenage fantasy.”

I reached out my arm and caught her as she walked by me. I jostled her, forcing her to look up at me with tears in her eyes. This wasn’t like Katie, and I wasn’t going to stand by and have her walk out of my life again.

“Did it feel like a teenage fantasy when I was holdin’ ya like this?” I asked.

I pulled her into my chest as she placed her hands on my body.

“Caleb, let ’er go,” Andrew said.

“Did it feel like a teenage fantasy when I did this?” I asked.

I crashed my lips down onto hers, and I felt her moan against my skin.

“Caleb, cut it out,” Dylan said.

“Does this feel like a teenage fantasy now?” I asked in a whisper.

I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as a tear wafted down her cheek.

“What happened?” I asked. “What changed over the course of the last two days?”

“I can’t do this,” Katie said breathlessly. “I just can’t. I’m sorry.”

She pushed out from my grasp and turned her back on all of us. I watched her walk away, rounding the corner and taking off down the hallway. Her heels clicked quickly along the floor until an office door slammed, then I turned toward all my brothers who were staring, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

“What the fuck was that?” I asked. “What the hell happened?”

“She left,” Andrew said. “That’s what happened.”

“Well, why the fuck did she do that!?” I asked.

I looked at Dylan and Wyatt, but all they did was shrug.

“So that’s it,” I said. “We’re just done? Like that? After everything we all just went through?”

“I don’t know,” Dylan said. “Does anyone know what the fuck’s goin’ on? Wyatt, you said you talked to her or somethin’?”

“She called me yesterday. Wanted to check up on me and make sure I was okay with all of this.”

“Those were her exact words?” I asked.

“Yeah. She was in good spirits yesterday mornin’.”

“Then what the hell happened after yesterday mornin’?” I asked.

“Don’t look at us,” Andrew said. “Fucked if we know.”

“Somethin’ ain’t right,” I said.

“She ain’t ours anymore,” Wyatt said.

“There’s never been a point in this lifetime where she hasn’t been ours. Y’all know that as well as I do. So, are we gonna figure out what the fuck’s goin’ on, or are we gonna stand here with our cocks in our hands lookin’ like a bunch of pussies?”

I watched my brothers look around the room at one another before Andrew turned his head back to me.

“You got a plan, Sherlock?”

“Fuck yeah, I got a plan,” I said. “So sit down and shut the hell up.”