Her Best Men

“I refuse to believe that,” I said. “Not after what we all shared. You saw how she was shakin’. The smile on her face and how happy she looked. That shit can’t be faked.”

“He’s right,” Dylan said. “What we experienced was genuine.”

“Then what do we do now?” Andrew asked.

The four of us stood around, looking at each other with our thumbs up our asses. None of us knew what to do. Katie was right there, and yet she was so far out of reach it made me sick. And if no one was hearing from her—not even Whitney—then it only stood to reason that Lizzie was deflecting everyone.

“The only good thing about you going to Hunter is that now he’ll do whatever he can to get to Katie to talk,” Andrew said. “You know how he gets when he’s angry.”

“Not like he’ll talk to us about how she is,” Wyatt said. “We might have just lost our best friend.”

“Y’all find it weird that not even Whitney’s talkin’ with her?” Dylan asked. “I mean, isn’t that her other best friend?”

“Yeah, I was thinkin’ the same thing,” Wyatt said.

“For now, I think we should all back off,” Dylan said. “Hunter’s on a hotheaded mission and somethin’s goin’ on with Katie. She doesn’t need us constantly knockin’ on her door with Whitney tryin’ to get in touch with her, and Hunter about to bust it down.”

“True,” Wyatt said. “But I wanna know what’s wrong.”

“We all do,” Andrew said. “But we don’t have a choice. All we can do is wait right now.”

“I hate waitin’,” I said. “But I did it for her. And I’m willin’ to do it for her again if she needs it.”

“I don’t think we have a choice in that matter,” Dylan said. “So, until then—Caleb, clean your face up and get some ice on that thing. You’re startin’ to bruise. The rest of us need to get back to work and try to focus on this Charleston build.”

“What’s goin’ on now?” Andrew asked.

“Besides torrential downpours from their wet season? Nothin’,” Dylan said. “Keep your heads down, stop approachin’ everyone, and let’s see what happens after Hunter talks with Katie. ‘Cause we all know he will.”

CHAPTER 37

KATIE

With the help of Lizzie, hiding out was going well. She kept fielding calls from everyone and stopped people from barging into the apartment. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t want to look Whitney in the eyes and tell her I did exactly what she told me not to do and got played the way she was worried I would. I wasn’t ready to face the brothers yet with the information I’d found out. All I wanted to do was sleep, digest, and allow myself to wallow a bit. I hadn’t given myself time to grieve after ending things with Michael, and my heart hurt more than it could stand.

The sun was overshadowed by the gray clouds hanging low in the sky. A perfect metaphor for how I was feeling. Thunder rolled in the distance, and car horns honked as they rode by the apartment. I knew rain was coming soon, I could smell it. I would enjoy the soothing patter of the rain against the windows.

What I wouldn’t enjoy was the person behind the thunderous knocking raining down against my front door.

“Who the fuck is that now?” Lizzie asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Can you go get it?”

“That’s my job. Be right back,” she said.

I buried myself deeper into my bed and pulled the covers over my head. I closed my eyes as the rain started to fall against the window. The rolling thunder crept closer and closer, silencing the car horns outside as the weather unleashed onto Dallas.

But my brother’s voice could be heard above it all.

“Where the fuck is Katie?” Hunter asked.

“Not in any mood to talk to anyone,” Lizzie said.

“Not your fuckin’ call. Get the hell outta my way,” he said.

“Not a chance. Katie doesn’t wanna talk with anyone, and I’m here to make sure that happens.”

“I’ll pick you up and toss ya outside if it gets me to Katie. Now where the hell’s my sister?”