My Brother’s Best Friends

***Reagan***

Iwasfumingwhen August got to my window and was ready for a fight. It wasn’t like me to go straight for a fight, but when I finally got to that point, I let it all out. Unfortunately, August was getting a fight that wasn’t entirely his. The second my window was down and his face was in sight, I let out a frustrated scream and basically exploded out of the car, lowered window forgotten.

“Do you understand how infuriating you three are?!” I stomped past him and into the road. “Do you understand how damning it is for someone to be wanted in the dark and denied in the light? I seriously doubt any of you do. Allow me to enlighten you!”

August grabbed my shoulders and pulled me out of the road. “I don’t know what pissed you off, but stay out of the fucking road.”

“What pissed me off? What pissed me off is that I left and lived my life for a decade! I was fine. I dated men who were happy to claim me. I dated men who were proud of me. I got over how hurt I was by you and the other two stooges! Then, I come back here, stumble into the same thing with you three, and find myself being treated like a dirty little secret again! It hasn’t slipped my attention that the man I dated who ended up being married denied my existence less than you three.”

“Okay, I’m sensing one of the guys pissed you off.”

“Charlie! We spent the day hiking as friends. Friends! And when Russ asked what we were doing, Charlie made up a lie about me being some dumbass that he had to rescue. Of course, we’re not friends, Russ. Of course, I just had to save your idiot sister, Russ. No, Russ, I’m way too much of a fucking boy scout to ever fuck your sister behind your back.”

“Shit.”

“And it doesn’t matter that it’s Charlie today. It’ll be you or Theo tomorrow. You can fuck me like a whore, but the idea that you might be my friend? God, no. I’m sick of it. I didn’t come back here to do the same thing. I’m not going to be that girl. I’m not going to obsess over you guys and accept whatever scraps you send my way. I don’t need you. I don’t need any of you. Do you not see how fucked up it is that you’ll flirt and touch me and then act like I’m no one as soon as Russ comes along?”

“Get in the truck, Reagan.” August took my arm and pulled me over to the passenger side of his truck, opening the door and looking down at me. “Now.”

“You’re going to arrest me for yelling at you?”

He growled and lifted me into the truck. “No, woman. I’m going to have a civilized conversation with you while sitting in an air-conditioned truck in the hopes that you’ll cool off a little.”

I frowned as my anger fizzled out, leaving nothing but sadness. I groaned when tears pricked the backs of my eyes. “I don’t think I want to talk anymore.”

“Too bad. Watch your legs.”

I turned to face the driver’s side of the truck as August got in and slammed his door closed. He adjusted the air vents so they’d blow on me, and I realized that I was pretty hot.

He turned off the flashing lights and pitched up into darkness for a moment before he reached up and punched the overhead lights on. “First of all, no one fucked you like a whore. You’re not a whore. Never were. Second of all, do you want us to claim you to Russ? By the way you snuck out of the room the other night, I got the impression you didn’t want Russ finding out, either.”

I wrapped my arms around myself and shrugged. “No, I don’t want him to know. I have no interest in hurting your relationship with my brother.”

“But?”

I met his eyes. “I could be your friend.”

He swallowed and his hands balled into fists on his knees. “It’s really hard not to grab you and hold you when you say things like that with the sweetest voice, Rea.”

A car sped past us but August didn’t even look at it. I bit my lip and studied the dashboard. “It’s both easier and harder than I thought it would be, being around you guys. I never would’ve imagined coming back to town and falling straight into bed like that. I also couldn’t have imagined that I would still have so much hurt leftover. Being friends with you would be so easy, too easy. I have fun with you. All of you. I don’t trust you, though. What you guys did, I can’t see you without thinking about it.”

“When we lied about sleeping with you, it was all self-preservation, Rea. It was shitty and I hate that it hurt you, but we didn’t know it would. We didn’t talk to anyone besides Russ about it. He’s our best friend and we knew that what we did would’ve killed any chance at a future friendship. I’m sorry it hurt you, though, Reagan. Looking back, I think—”

Growing frustrated again, I cut him off. “Come on, August. I’m talking about telling Jenny it happened in the first place.”

He frowned and shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

“You guys told Jenny. One of you did, anyway. She spread it around and let everyone know that I was a whore. Then, she had fun spreading around that you guys said you never would’ve touched me in a million years and that I was delusional. People called me Single White Female.”

August shook his head. “No. None of us talked to Jenny. We thought you’d told someone.”

“Me?” I laughed. “You clearly don’t understand the optics of a woman sleeping with three men. It wasn’t a brag. I was instantly a slut. Not even a cute one.”

“You didn’t tell anyone?” August scowled and rubbed his beard. “None of us talked. Believe it or not, we were pretty worried about blowing up our relationship with your brother.”

My pulse raced and I kicked off my shoes and curled my feet under me without thinking. “I didn’t talk. If you guys didn’t, who did? Maybe it was Theo. He did marry the devil, after all.”

Snorting, August flipped up the console and held out his hand. “Theo didn’t talk. Neither did Charlie. Foot.”