Her Best Men

“Are you tellin’ me you all fucked my sister? That your definition of ‘courtin’?” he asked, his face turning a dangerous shade of red.

“Hunter. Listen to me. Somethin’s goin’ on with Katie. We all agreed to be together. Exclusively. Then the next day she came in, said it was all a mistake, then sent a text to Dylan sayin’ she quit. This isn’t like her.”

“No. It fuckin’ isn’t. But it sounds like she came to her damn senses and did what she needed to do. My sister’s better than that. Better than any of you fuckers. And if you lay one more finger on her, I’m gonna hunt you all down and mount your fuckin’ heads on my wall!”

“Hunter! We love Katie! And somethin’s wrong. We gotta figure out what’s—”

My argument was stopped when Hunter’s fist connected with my jaw. I tasted blood as another swift punch connected with the underside of my chin. I went stumbling backward, bracing myself for another hit before Hunter’s hands planted into my chest. He shoved me out the damn door, my ass hitting the porch as blood trickled from my lip.

“I don’t know what the fuck you guys did to my baby sister, but I’m gonna find out. And if you four fucked her then fucked her over, we’re done. All of us. For good.”

Then he slammed the door and left me lying there on his porch.

My jaw was throbbing with pain as I stumbled to my truck. I slowly made my way back to the resort and came in the back door so I wouldn’t startle the guests. I was making my way to my office as Dylan came around the corner and, once he saw me, it was on like Donkey Kong.

“Caleb. What the fuck happened to you?”

“Don’t ask,” I said.

“Well, I’m gonna. Looks like you got slugged pretty good,” Dylan said.

“Who got slugged?” Andrew asked.

“Caleb got hit?” Wyatt said.

“Were you guys campin’ ‘round the damn corner or somethin’?” I asked.

“What happened?” Dylan asked.

“I went to go talk to Hunter. See if he’d heard from Katie,” I said.

“You fuckin’ didn’t,” Andrew said.

“And y’all call me the stupid one,” Wyatt said.

“Shit. Now Hunter’s gonna come after all of us,” Dylan said. “Why the hell’d you go and do something like that? We’ve got enough going on as it is.”

“Did ya at least leave the relationship part out of it?” Wyatt asked.

“No,” I said.

“Then you’re an even bigger idiot than I thought,” Andrew said.

“Look, we’re not gettin’ anywhere. Dylan doesn’t have headway with Whitney. None of us can get in touch with Katie. Lizzie’s answerin’ her damn door like a pissed off Doberman. Hunter seemed like a fair shot,” I said.

“Think your jaw might tell ya different,” Wyatt said.

“The only thing I can think of is the fact that Lizzie might have somethin’ to do with this,” I said.

“The hell would’ve Lizzie done, though?” Dylan asked. “I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t stand Lizzie. Never could.”

“She was tolerable in high school, but she’s insufferable now,” Wyatt said.

“Caleb’s right. It’s the only theory that makes sense,” Andrew said.

“I have no idea what the fuck she could’ve done, but it’s Lizzie for fuck’s sake. She could’ve done anythin’ to sway Katie’s mind. They’re close,” I said.

“But we can’t prove that or anythin’. For all we know, Katie did think we were a mistake,” Wyatt said.