My Brother’s Best Friends

Russ shoved against me, but I had him beat by a few inches and twenty pounds of muscle. “Get off me, asshole!”

“You kicked her out and she’s pregnant! If anything happens to her, I’m going to—”

“What?” Russ finally pushed me off and paced away. “She’s pregnant?”

Theo, still watching me closely, nodded. “We just found out ourselves. You can imagine that emotions are a little high. We need to find her and bring her home, Russ. She belongs here, with us.”

“With you?” Russ turned a glare on Theo. “With all three of you? What the fuck, man? You’re all just going to share my sister? That’s sick.”

“We love her.” Charlie’s quiet words left the backyard silent. He walked closer to Russ and put his hand on our friend’s shoulder. “We love her, Russ. Maybe we always have. It’s not conventional and I fucking know it’s not what you want, but that doesn’t change anything. She loves us, too, Russ. She wouldn’t have chanced hurting you if she didn’t.”

Russ knocked his hand away, but it lacked his full anger. “You fuckers lied to me. Tenyears of lying. I made fun of her for being obsessed with you three like she was some loser stalker.”

I growled. “None of us told you to bully your sister, Russ. We fucked up. We shouldn’t have lied, but we were stupid fucking kids. The idea of ruining our friendship felt too huge to own up to what we’d done. We should’ve been men and told you the truth. That we’d watched Reagan grow into a woman and that she meant something to us. All of that aside, though, we never once joined you in making fun of her. We told you to stop. You were cruel to her for no reason.”

He charged at me and swung, but I easily dodged his punch and hit him instead, giving him back some of the bullshit he’d given us the week before. Groaning and cupping his eye, he stumbled away. “Fuck! You don’t think I’ve been thinking about this shit all week? I know what I did and the way I acted to her. She never cut me off, though. She never held it against me. She’s too fucking good for any of you. She’s too fucking good for me, too. She deserves a brother who would’ve been there for her. Not me. What did I do? I kicked her out of the fucking house.

“It’s our house! Did she mention that I have no right to kick her out of the house that she owns half of? Nope. She just let me treat her like shit and left. Goddammit!” Russ picked up the box he’d been moving and threw it farther into the yard. “I’m fucking furious with you three. You went behind my back and you slept with my sister. In ways that I can’t even begin to consider. But I fucking hate myself right now.”

My anger fizzled out and I followed him as he walked over to sit on the patio furniture. Charlie and Theo settled in the chairs across from us and we all just sat there, looking at each other. Finally, Theo laughed.

“What was in that box, man?”

Russ groaned and stretched his neck from side to side. “Fucking books. I think I just threw my entire spine out.”

It didn’t take long before we were all laughing, some of the tension broken. When we grew silent again, I sucked in a big breath and thought of Reagan out there, pregnant.

“I need you to call her, Russ. I love her. I need her back here. If she really is pregnant, I can’t just let her stay out in the world, unprotected. If she won’t come back here, I’ll go to her.”

Charlie nodded. “Without a second thought.”

“It’d be hard with Iris, but I’d do it. If I sell the shop and my bike, I can afford to fly back and forth to see her plenty.” Theo shrugged. “Whatever it takes.”

Russ pulled his phone from his pocket and set it on the table. “I’m not over this shit. I need Reagan to have whatever she wants, though. Whatever it is.”

“It’s us.” Theo sat back in his seat and looked from Charlie to me. “She wants us. She needs us, Russ.”

“Don’t fucking make me regret this.” Russ pressed a button on his phone and then glared at us. “Just so we’re clear, this is for Reagan. And Lisa. Lisa is threatening to murder me in her sleep.”

I didn’t care why he did it as long as he dialed the damn number and talked to his sister. When he put the phone to his ear and awkwardly said hello to her a few seconds later, I felt lightheaded from the relief. And frustrated. We’d been calling Reagan nonstop, but I’d worry about that later. I just had to find her first.