A knock on the door caught our attention and I looked up to see Johnny leaning against the doorframe. He frowned at us and crossed his arms over his chest. “Get her back. I like her. Hell, pretty much everyone likes her. I don’t know what y’all did but you need to fix it.”
Hayes pulled his fist back and punched a hole in the wall. “Goddammit!”
Cash and I both stared at our more mature brother with a type of understanding that only came with a shared heartache. He’d never been prone to violence; that was way more Cash’s style. Or mine. Being away from Cassidy was hurting each of us. The idea that she was hurting because of us was killing us. It fucking hurt to think that I was no better than any of the people who came before us.
“The three of you clearly care about her. Why the fuck haven’t you fixed it yet?” Johnny blew out a long breath. “Y’all look like shit. Get your girl back and get that constipated look off your faces. Assholes. We have a championship game in the works.”
I couldn’t give a shit about football. Not until we fixed things with Cassidy. “Come on. We have to go get her.”
“I’m serious. Why haven’t y’all fixed it already?”
Cash sighed and looked away while Hayes wiped his bleeding knuckles on his shorts and stayed silent. I blew out a harsh breath. “We thought she needed space. We’ve never done this before. I thought she’d come around and reach out. I don’t know what the fuck to do.”
“Fight for her. Prove that you care and that you’re willing to do whatever you need to do to get her back because you love her.” He grinned after a moment. “Have you told her you love her?”
Hayes let his head fall back and stared at the ceiling. “We have to go.”
“Make sure you get her back here. She’s really grown on everyone and we’re all debating ending the season early by breaking all of your arms.”
I pushed past Johnnie and jogged towards the exit. If we didn’t get Cassidy back I’d break my own arm. “I don’t know what we were doing. We should’ve made a move days ago. She deserves more than this.”
I climbed behind the wheel of my truck and took a second to breathe. We couldn’t just break into her house and say a few words and hope that would be enough. She deserved romance, or some shit like it.
“Flowers.” Cash read my mind and reached forward to slap my shoulder. “Stop by that flower shop just off campus.”
Savannah called as we were leaving the shop with three massive bouquets of flowers. The florist had sworn that the flower mix she used was the perfect apology arrangement. I didn’t know what the fuck that meant and I had my doubts that Cassidy would, either.
Hayes answered Savannah on speaker and the three of us waited to see what our sister had to say. I couldn’t rememberbeing angrier at our little sister. We’d practically raised her but hearing the things she’d said about Cassidy had made each of us furious. I wasn’t sure I was ready to chat with her yet, not after the disastrous dinner at Sam’s.
“You can’t give me the silent treatment after answering the phone. That’s childish.” Savannah sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. I was wrong-”
“You were damn wrong about Cassidy.” I growled out the words, the memory of her tearing into Cassidy fresh in my mind. “You had no right to bring your boyfriends and gang up on her like that.”
“Wait. That’s why you’re pissed at me?” She let out a laugh that just pissed me off even more but was quick to soothe me when she realized it. “No, wait! I’m only laughing because I thought y’all were mad that I brought the guys to dinner. But you’re all mad about Cassidy. You fucking idiots. You like her, don’t you?”
“No, shit, we like her!” Cash shuffled both his and my bouquet in the back seat. “Weloveher. And she’s going to be a part of our lives now. If she ever forgives us. So you’re going to have to treat her with respect. Same goes for your boyfriends. If you want to see us and spend time together, you’re going to need to apologize to Cassidy and treat her better.”
“You love her?!”
Hayes gripped the phone harder. “Yeah, we do. You have a problem with that?”
Savannah laughed again. “I don’t think I do. We picked her up that night and drove her home, you know? I saw how crushed she was. She loves y’all. And now that I know she wants nothing to do with my men, I’m okay with her. She’s intense. But I guess she’d have to be to put up with the three of you.”
“Why are you so sure that she doesn’t want your assholes?” I couldn’t help asking. The jealous dickhead inside me was stillwondering if maybe that was why Cassidy hadn’t rushed to contact us.
“Oh, she lost it on them. She had Cole in tears that night and now that I know everything, I know he deserved it. It was also so clear that she was in love with y’all. She only had eyes for you three idiots.” She grunted. “Are you not sure that she’s over my guys? And what do you mean, if she ever forgives you?”
When none of us answered Savannah made a sound not unsimilar to a whale in labor.
“What all have you tried to earn her forgiveness for acting like she didn’t matter to y’all?”
I cleared my throat, more and more aware of just how fucking stupid we’d been. “We thought she needed space.”
“Oh, my god!” Savannah screamed and then kept screaming. “Why are men so fucking stupid?! You told everyone what you had with her was fake and that you were just screwing her because you could basically and then you didn’t chase her down and beg her to understand you were stupid and didn’t mean that? Wow. Your stupidity knows no bounds. You just confirmed to her that her worst fears are true. She gave her heart to more men who don’t want her. Way to go.”
“We do want her!” Hayes punched my dash again and the thick plastic snapped under the force. “We fucking want her. We… We’re just…”
“Stupid?” Savannah supplied helpfully. “I’d have to agree. It’s insane that I’m the one out of the four of us who’s actually concerned about her feelings. Yet y’all are the ones claiming to love her. Are y’all planning to make it right or are you just going to let her continue to feel unloved and used?”
