Ugh, why had I gathered my brothers here? Right, because all of them were in successful relationships, and here I was, on the precipice of considering one.
With someone I shouldn’t have touched in the first place.
Vomit.
“Before I start, don’t judge me,” I said.
“Too late,” Declan said from across the room.
“Do you really think anything you say is going to faze us?” Cor asked. “We’ve had to sit through far too many lurid details of your hookups.”
“You know if you tell us before Ais gets here, she’ll murder you,” Ollie mentioned.
“Yeah, but if I wait any longer, I’m going to walk right back out this door.”
“I’m not cleaning up any blood today,” Noah proclaimed. “Just saying.”
I tapped my head against the side of the coffee table, somehow sitting in a slouch next to it at this point, as if I was trying to meld with it. My ass was slightly sore, but I savored that because the marks on my cheeks reminded me of every filthy thing Wyatt had done to me last night. And getting fucked by a guy with a Prince Albert? Fuck yes. Already, I wanted a repeat.
“So I might actually want a relationship with a guy,” I blurted out.
Ollie gasped, and Noah’s brows shot up.
“I take it back about not being fazed,” Cor said, blinking at me. “I’m definitely fazed.”
“Rory Harriet Brannon,” Aislin’s voice sounded from the other room. “Did you start telling everyone what was going on without me?”
I rolled my eyes. “Not like I got far.”
“Rory wants a relationship,” Declan said, sipping his tea. “You’re updated.”
“Excuse me?” Aislin screeched as she burst into the room. Clearly I wasn’t the only theatrical kid in the family. “Don’t tell me you’re abandoning me? Mr. I Could Never Settle Down.”
“This is true,” Noah said. “You’ve said that about a thousand times.”
“Okay, but what’s the issue here?” Cor asked. “Because if you guys are already dating, we know you’re enough of a dramatic bitch to drop into the next family brunch with your boyfriend.”
“Rude,” I said. “Accurate, but rude.” I stared at the wood grain of the coffee table before flopping onto the carpeted floor and throwing my arms overhead. “Ugh, so he might be my coworker’s dad.”
“And by might, you mean definitely is,” Declan clarified.
Ollie let out a whistle. “When you pick ’em, youpick ’em.”
“How’d you even meet?” Aislin asked, lying down on the floor beside me. She flicked me in the side.
“I gave him a Prince Albert,” I said, a grin rising to my lips. No matter what happened between us, I’d never fucking forget that evening at the shop.
Cor and Noah groaned.
“Okay, so the coworker is the issue here?” Aislin assessed. She’d always been the smartest of the bunch. “Harper, right? How would she feel about this? I’m assuming her dad’s single.”
“Yeah, been divorced for a bit, so that’s not an issue.” I scrubbed my palms against my face. “But he’s newly bi? So who knows if the glitz is going to fade after a few hookups. I’m fun for a stint, but then they’ve got to deal with the rest of me.”
The last bit escaped without me meaning it to, and I let out a groan. Not in front of the vultures—i.e., my family.
Aislin jabbed me with her pointy elbow. “You don’t seriously think that, do you, Rory? That we’re dealing with you?”
“I’m a lot,” I said, the words ones that had followed me my entire life, from grade school and beyond. Maybe home was a safe space, but so many guys had told me to tone it down through the years.
