Dare Me Tonight (The Knight Brothers 3)

“Jase!” She jumped into her brother’s arms and he groaned.

“Did you put on weight?”

“Rude!” She shot him a raspberry and wriggled down to her feet. “I know you know I’m pregnant.”

He scowled. “Yes, and I’m going to kick the ass of the man who took advantage of you.”

Alex nodded beside him. “I’ve been good but it hasn’t been easy.”

“You two will do no such thing. He’s in the kitchen because he drove me here. And you’re going to be nice to him. N.I.C.E.,” she said in case they needed it spelled out.

“Boys, listen to your sister.”

At the sound of her mother’s voice, Sienna was reminded of why they were here. She sat down next to Jason, who reached out and held her hand, which she appreciated given the nerves overtaking her.

“What’s going on, Mom?” Sienna couldn’t stand to be in the dark any longer. “You’re not sick, are you?” Sudden nausea overtook her at the thought.

“No, no, nothing like that, although you’re going to be upset.” Her mother paced the floor, her silk robe flowing around her. “I know you’ve noticed things with your father have been… different lately. More strained.” She wound her fingers tightly together. “Well, we’re getting divorced,” she said, her voice catching on the last word.

“What? Why?” Sienna asked, completely caught off guard. Her parents had had a loving marriage. Had they come together in an unconventional and unfortunate way? Yes. But they’d seemed to love each other.

Her mother glanced from Jason to Alex and an uneasy feeling twisted in Sienna’s stomach. “What is it? And why are you looking at them like they have the answers?”

Jason squeezed Sienna’s hand tighter. “Dad’s having an affair,” he said, meeting her gaze.

Sienna blinked. “Wait, you know? Did Mom tell you before I got here?”

Alex shook his head. “It’s a really long story.”

She wrenched her hand free of Jason’s. “Well, I have all the time in the world, so talk.”

Her mother lowered herself into a chair. “Tyler ran into your father at a restaurant with another woman and it was obvious they weren’t just friends or business partners. He told his full siblings.”

Sienna narrowed her gaze. All her half siblings knew. Of them all, Avery hurt the most that she’d kept the news from Sienna, because they were the closest.

She swallowed hard. “And then what happened?” She wasn’t about to put the pieces together herself.

Jason and Alex exchanged guilty looks.

“Ian told his wife, and she told me,” Alex said.

“And Alex told me,” Jason added.

“And we agreed I should tell Mom.” Alex rubbed his hands together, clearly knowing now withholding the information from her had been a mistake.

But they’d done it and betrayal settled in her bones. “You all kept it from me. All of you.” The brothers she’d grown up with. Her best friend. Ian. The rest of her half siblings. “Why?” she asked, tears forming in her eyes.

Her mother walked over and sat on her other side, putting an arm around her shoulders. “At first you were away at school and we didn’t want you distracted.”

She set her jaw. “And then?”

“We didn’t want to upset you.”

“So you treated me like a baby and not the adult that I am,” she said, her voice rising. Maybe she should be focusing on feeling badly for her mother and the divorce, and she did, but right now she was hurt.

“What’s going on?” Ethan showed up in the doorway, looking pissed. “Why do you sound upset?” His gaze zeroed in on Sienna.

“Who is this?” Jason asked, rising to his feet. He hadn’t been at the hospital when she’d been brought in, so he hadn’t met Ethan.

Alex stood as well. Both of her brothers, arms folded across their chests, glared at Ethan.

“Jason, this is Ethan Knight. Ethan, my brother Jason. You already met Alex at the hospital,” Sienna said, gesturing between them.

Her brother narrowed his gaze. “This is the baby’s father?”

Ethan stepped up, extending a hand to Jason.

Her sibling’s scowl and deliberately ignoring Ethan’s greeting radiated fuck off in its anger and animosity, and Sienna groaned. “Jason, come on. Be nice.”

“We’ll discuss that later. Right now, there’s no reason for him to be here. It’s family business,” Jason said.

“If Sienna is upset, there’s every reason for me to be here.” Ethan held his own with her siblings, and was it wrong for Sienna to find that just a little arousing?

“Ethan, it’s just that…” Her mother’s voice trailed off. “We made a mistake and Sienna is understandably upset.”

Her words made Ethan’s scowl worsen. “She’s not supposed to be stressed.”

“I’m an adult! I can handle the information that affects my life and the people around me, and I’m sick and tired of being babied! I’m not sick with cancer anymore!” she yelled, then stormed out of the room without looking back.

Her heart pounded rapidly in her chest and her pulse was racing as she headed out to the car. It was obvious to her that her family still considered her a child and incapable of handling important news until there was no choice but to pull her in. And that stung.