But all that goes up in the air as I bump into Ollie, or shall I say, he bumps into me. As in literally shoving my shoulder before disappearing into the office.
I rub my shoulder, trying to ease the throbbing pain. Jesus, was he trying to relive his football days from high school and take me out?
For fuck’s sake.So much for waiting until the end of the night. This shit is happening here and now. We’ve got a bit of time before we open, but I don’t give a shit if it takes all fucking night.
I storm into the office and slam the door. Ollie and Archer both look up with wide eyes at the commotion. “So what, we’re just never going to talk about it, but you get to have your passive-aggressive comments and try to put me in the hospital?”
“Talk about what?” Archer questions at the same time Ollie says, “You mean talk about you fucking our sister behind our back?”
Interesting that Ollie hadn’t told his older brother yet. I assumed he had his brother on the phone before even leaving our driveway. But I guess this makes a little more sense why I’m still breathing.
“You what?” Archer roars, slapping his palms on the top of his desk and standing.
“I stopped by this morning to check on this asshole and found out that he and Payton have been hooking up. He’s the fucking mystery guy she was seeing.”
Archer’s nostrils flare, and his fists visibly squeeze and release as if he’s holding himself back. With my arms crossed, I stand my ground. I’m prepared to fight my boss and best friend if that’s what I need to do to fight for her.
I will always fight for her.
“You can’t just booty-call our little sister because she’s down the hall and willing to spread her legs. She’s fucked-up in the head and not thinking clearly. Joel fucked her up, man.”
I’ve closed the distance between us without even blinking and grip Ollie by the shirt. “Don’t you dare talk about her like that. I already told you once. I won’t do it again.”
My jaw is tight, and I’m radiating anger. I’ll take him being mad at me. I’ll even endure his insults about me, but I will never allow him to speak of her like that.
This time, I don’t have Gabby stopping me from throwing a punch.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Archer intervenes, stepping between us and prying my hands off Ollie’s shirt.
“You, over there.” He points to the far corner near the door for me to go to. When I don’t move, he raises his voice in a more commanding tone. “Go.”
He keeps his hands raised in case either of us makes a quick move again.
“I need someone to explain what the hell is going on, alright? Rhyland, you start.”
Ollie scoffs. “Of course you take his side. Everyone always takes his side. Clearly, blood means nothing to anyone in this family.”
“Ollie, shut the fuck up,” Archer roars at his brother. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had an audience pressed up against the other side of the door, trying to listen. “You had your chance to talk since this happened a few hours ago, and I’m only just hearing about it now. So again, shut the fuck up.”
Ollie pushes off the wall and walks over to his brother’s desk chair and plops down, kicking his feet up on the desk. Archer rolls his eyes at his dramatics. Clearly, he just wants to take the childish route completely. I’m surprised he’s not fucking pouting, too, like a toddler.
Instead of kicking Ollie out of the chair, I guess Archer agrees with having the desk between us, just in case. When he leans against his desk, crossing his arms and ankles, I know that not only does Archer mean business, but that he’s not on my side nor his brother’s.
In this moment, now more than ever, I see their dad, Elliott, in him. So many times, he had taken this same stance, waiting for younger versions of the Mosby brothers to explain.
I exhale a loud breath. This is the conversation I should have had from the beginning, but there’s nothing I can do to change the past. All I can do now is to convey to them what their sister means to me and drive the fact home that I won’t give her up—not now, not ever.
“Well, I guess I should start from the beginning.”
“That would be best.”
Ollie snickers, earning him a scowl from his brother. He quickly holds up his hands in defeat.
So that’s what I do. I tell Archer and Ollie the entire story of falling for his sister. From the moments things changed for me in how I viewed her as more than just my younger “sister” to her coming home and not even thinking before offering her the guest room. Words just spill from my lips as the memories replay in my mind.
I leave out details that would definitely earn me a few black eyes and early departure, such as eating her pussy in the kitchen here and really any details of our sex life, for that matter. I’ll withhold some information from my best friend—things we may have shared in the past, but less so now that the woman is related to him.
During my entire speech, I watched both of them take it all in, and I lost count of the number of times Ollie’s jaw clenched or he cracked his knuckles, as if he were preparing to throw another punch. But by the time I finish spilling my guts, the air feels slightly less charged around us than when I first walked into the room.
