“Officer Mighty Kick,” Brad added with a sneer.
Mack frowned. “Hey.”
“Sorry.” Brad’s sneer vanished. “Tex said I had to insult her to get your goat, but I couldn’t think of anything nasty. And she does have a mighty kick.”
“She does.” Tex nodded. “So what’s up? Why have you been avoidin’ us? Are you choosing the chick over the dick?” He looked around at them. “We all said we’d never do that.”
“I’m trying to make it easier for you idiots to move on,” Mack blurted. There. He’d said it, no matter how much it hurt.
Brad sat up straighter. Maybe Hernandez had a point and Brad really did have a poker up his ass. “Explain that.”
Mack groaned. “You guys are making this uncomfortable.”
“Kind of like the way we felt when you were blowing us off without a reason.”
Mack flushed. “I’m sorry about that. I just thought if you didn’t have to keep babying me because you thought I had nothing else going on in my life, you’d start enjoying yourselves more. I mean, it’s kind of obvious you only hang out with me when you have nothing else to do with your girlfriends. Fiancées. Whatever.” He sucked down more soda, feeling stupid.
“I knew it.” Tex slapped a hand on the table. “I knew that’s why you’ve been lyin’ and keeping away. It was me getting engaged, right?”
Mack blinked. “You asked her?”
“Well, not yet. But I’m going to.”
“And, no, that’s not it. I like Avery, Bree, Maggie, and Emily. I love the fact that you guys found women who actually love you, and isn’t that a shock.”
Brad scowled. “Hey.”
Reggie rolled his eyes while Tex smirked and said, “It’s true. Bree loves her a Texan.”
“But I can see where things are heading. You guys always feeling like you can’t be with your new families because Mack needs help. Mack needs attention.” He shook his head. “Hell, even Avery and Bree were giving me pity looks when they ditched the last time we all hung out together because they could see I needed you guys more. It made me feel stupid.”
Brad’s expression softened. “Damn, Mack. We’ve all felt that way at some point. But did it ever occur to you that we like hanging out with each other, not just you?”
“I… What?”
Reggie nodded. “Look, I love my sisters and my dad. And sometimes I need core family time. Now I’m living with Maggie and Emily, and I love them dearly. But they’re not my buds. You guys are. I like just hanging out with the crew sometimes. And that’s for me, not you, Mack.”
Mack hadn’t thought about their get-togethers in that way.
Tex nodded. “Yeah. I mean, Bree’s amazing. I love the sex.”
Brad sighed. “Tex…”
“But I like hanging with you guys too. It’s different and necessary. I miss my brothers a lot. But I got you fellas. Or at least, I did before Mack started breaking things up.”
Brad nodded. “We all knew eventually we’d grow up and find girlfriends, get married, maybe even someday have kids.” He smiled at Reggie, who smiled back. “But we are the core of our family, Mack. All of us. Not just you.” His voice gentled. “I know your family treats you like you don’t matter. Like you’re not as important as the good little soldiers who follow your mom and dad. But we’re not them.”
Mack sucked in a breath, startled. He’d let the way his parents and brothers treat him impact the way he looked at his friends, through that same lens of unacceptance. But the guys here had bled for each other. Literally. They watched each other’s backs.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you how I felt. But I didn’t want the pity.” He glared at Tex, who pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. “You, cut it out.”
Tex coughed and drank his soda.
Mack tried to hold back a laugh. “I’m serious. I, well, maybe I was indulging in a little self-pity.”
“A little?” Reggie murmured.
“I heard that.”
