Her Best Men

But he was still my brother. We’d worked hard to build a relationship over the past two years, and I didn’t want to just throw all that away. He was the last person I wanted to talk to that afternoon, but I picked up my phone and dialed his number anyway.

“What do you want?” Josh asked when he answered. He didn’t so much as say hello before starting in on me.

“To talk,” I said vaguely. “That other night was intense.”

“Yeah,” Josh said with a snort. “To say the least.”

“Well,” I said. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” Josh’s anger was evident in his voice. I immediately knew that calling him was a mistake.

“Look, I was just checking on you, okay?” I said. “I thought that, after seeing Julie, you might want someone to talk to.”

“And you thought that person should be you?” Josh snorted again. “The guy who’s fucking my ex-girlfriend?”

“My relationship with Julie is—”

“Relationship?” Josh interrupted. “Please. You and I both know what this is.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I demanded.

“You know exactly what it means,” Josh said. “I’ve seen you work your way through women for two years now, Michael. I’m not an idiot.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said. “Dumping Julie was pretty idiotic.”

“Well, it worked out pretty well for you, didn’t it?”

My own anger was growing by the second. Josh and I clearly weren’t ready to have a civil conversation. I knew he would be angry, pissed even, but I never imagined he would be this nasty.

“Julie means a lot to me,” I said simply. “She’s not like the other girls I’ve been with.”

“You’re right,” Josh said. “She’s not, because she was my girl first.”

“Do you hear yourself?” I asked. “You sound like a petty little bitch, Josh.”

“Whatever, Michael,” Josh snapped. “I don’t have anything else to say to you.”

“Fine,” I said. “We don’t have to talk.”

I was ready to hang up when Josh exhaled sharply and caught my attention again. Despite what he said, he clearly wasn’t done yelling at me.

“Whatever happens between you and Julie,” Josh said. “You at least owe her the truth.”

“The truth?” I asked, my throat tightening.

“You know what I mean,” Josh said. “She’s not something for you to play around with. She’s better than that. She’s better than you.”

“She’s better than both of us,” I said. “That much is clear.”

“Just tell her the truth,” Josh said again. “If you really care about her as much as you claim to, then tell her everything.”

“This is none of your business,” I said. “You broke up with her. She’s no longer your concern.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Josh hung up on me without another word. I pulled my phone away from my ear and stared down at it, shocked and appalled by Josh’s nerve. Who the hell did he think he was?

I was fuming as I jumped out of my chair and began pacing around the room. Part of me wanted to call Josh back and lay into him. I wanted to scream at him, call him out for all the bullshit things he did to Julie while they were dating. She’d told me enough about their relationship that I felt justified standing up for her.