Her Best Men

“His name is ‘Max’?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Rowan said. “‘Max sounds kind of douchebag-ish. And I’m tired of calling him her ‘fiancé.’ She doesn’t have a ring on her finger and she hasn’t agreed to the wedding. She doesn’t have a damn fiancé.”

“We’ll need to fill Chance in on all this shit,” I said.

“Why?” Ethan asked. “Just tell him what to do. It’s what he did in the military. Followed orders.”

“What the hell’s your problem with Chance?” Blake asked. “You’ve been on his ass more than usual. It’s gettin’ old.”

“Then turn your head when it happens,” Ethan said.

“I just don’t know when I’m gonna stop being the peacemaker between you two,” Blake said. “It’s getting old. You both need to grow the hell up.”

“Stopping is easy,” he said. “Just fucking stop. There. No more peacemaker. And if Chance didn’t walk around like he owned this damn family, we wouldn’t have an issue.”

“And if you stopped walkin’ around like everyone was supposed to give you attention like you got when you were a baby, then we’d all be less pissed at you all the time,” Blake said.

Minus the banter, Rowan had a point I hadn’t even considered. The idea of sharing Kyra between the six of us was mind-boggling but it did solve the issue of who would get to spend their lives with her. I had no idea how a family would work. Kyra always talked about having children of her own one day but those were one of the many things couples talked about and figured out as things went along.

We could make it work. Rowan and I just had to convince everyone else of that.

But before any of us could get a response in regarding what Rowan had said, we all heard Chance’s truck pull up. This was a conversation he needed to be a part of, whether Ethan liked it or not. A conversation that needed the input of the eldest brother. Ethan wouldn’t be okay with that, but that was only because he and Chance were practically the same person. The same hotheaded, dick-measuring, constantly-competitive idiot.

Just like Dad.

But the moment Chance’s truck inched closer to the house, I saw Ethan’s eyes narrow just as I looked out the window to clock what he was already staring at.

“Son of a bitch,” Ethan said.

“Ethan, no,” I said. “Come on. Take a breath.”

“What is it?” Blake asked as he looked out the window.

But I was already up and running after Ethan, who was headed for the front door.

Chance was up against his truck, pinning Kyra between it and his body. Their lips were locked in a passionate kiss, one where her arms were strung around his waist while his hands cupped her cheeks. I could see the smile on Kyra’s face while they kissed and though there was an ounce of jealousy that made its way through my body, most of me was simply happy that one of us had patched things up with her. I stalked out the front door as I heard Rowan murmur “shit” behind me and Ethan hurtled outside like he was ready to beat Chance’s face in.

His fists were balled up at his sides, his strides were long, and, before I knew it, Rowan was beside me, stopping me in my tracks.

Blake pushed past me before I had a chance to get to Ethan. He grabbed Ethan’s shoulder and stopped him before he could reach Chance and Kyra, but Ethan was struggling against him. I tried to get away from Rowan so I could go help. The last thing Kyra needed was to see this display of anger and jealousy. It would ruin any chance I had of convincing the brothers—much less her—of Rowan’s insanely intriguing idea that just might solve all our issues.

Rowan finally let go of me and folded his arms across his chest. It was good that Owen had gone up to his room. Otherwise, we’d be fielding two very angry brothers while Chance sucked Kyra’s face off against his truck. It was easy to handle Ethan because he was strong but not muscular. He kept himself tailored just fine but he also enjoyed the slim physique he painstakingly kept up over the years. Owen, on the other hand, was built like a brick fucking house. It would take Rowan and me just to get him to slow down, but it would take even more of us to turn him around and get him back into the house like Blake was doing with Ethan.

Chance whirled around just as Ethan was shoved back into the house and he was staring Ethan down before Blake walked over and grabbed Kyra’s arm. Chance tried to stop him but Blake only shot him a look and, for the first time in a long time, I saw Chance relent. Then, before we knew it, Blake was walking Kyra across the lawn and back to her house.

It was probably for the best but I knew Chance wasn’t gonna be happy with Blake when he got back.

“You think we should’ve intervened somehow?” I asked.

“No,” Rowan said. “Kyra needs her space, as does everyone else, honestly. The fact that Chance had some time with her that resulted in something like this means there’s hope. Kyra isn’t the kind of girl that would kiss Chance like that if she was actually considering her fiancé’s idiotic proposal, right?”

All I could do was shrug. This situation was so fucked up I didn’t even know what to do about it. And Kyra wasn’t the only one who had a lot of thinking to do. With the suggestion Rowan had thrown out over breakfast, my mind was whirling a million miles a minute. Could we all share her? Was that something that could work with hotheads like this in the family? If jealousy flared up like this over a fucking kiss, who was to say it wouldn’t rip the entire family apart trying something like that?

“I think what’s good for her right now is one of us at a time,” I said. “Look what it did for her and Chance. One at a time is what she can process positively, so that’s what we should give her.”

“You should come out of that room more often,” Rowan said. “You’ve got some good ideas.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - BLAKE