He picked up a beer bottle cap and threw it at our youngest brother. Mark caught it and tossed it to me, rolling his eyes and collapsing onto the couch between Miller and Magnum.
“Yeah, well, Jenna will be stuck at Feathers and Fur for ten hours tomorrow doing spays and neuters, while I start a twelve-hour shift at the station. I can’t be hung over, but we all needed to be here to knock some sense into you, Mav.”
“I take it that’s why you brought the spawn of Lucifer over?” Magnum asked, gesturing to Phoebe, who was licking her paw and slow blinking at us.
Creepy-ass cat.
“Most people let their animals stay home alone from time to time,” Miller said, rolling his eyes.
“I have no problem leaving her at home, but you know Eloise started daycare last week and has been fighting all kinds of germs, so Phoebe hasn’t been given that much attention.” Mark walked over and leaned down, scratching under the cat’s chin and cooing. “She gets along fine with Malibu, so why wouldn’t I bring her over? She loves riding in the Tahoe.”
“If ‘gets along fine’ means your cat bullies my dog, then sure, they get along.”
I glared at Mark as I continued to pace, walking into the kitchen and pulling a bottle of headache reliever from the cabinet. Maybe I should have held it hostage until they left, but I wasn’t that much of an asshole, and chose to be the bigger person, even grabbing a few bottles of water from the fridge.
“You’re my hero, oh wise one,” Magnum groaned, passing the medicine to Miller after shaking several pills into his hand and chugging the bottle of water. “Remind me why we drank so much?”
“We were bored. Maverick was wallowing in self-pity. Mark spent the evening glaring at us. And we needed to celebrate your impending fatherhood.”
“Ah. That’s right,” Miller said, rubbing his hands together. “Emma and I have her first prenatal appointment on Thursday.”
“That’s great and I’m happy for you,” I groused. “Now, can the three of you please leave me alone so I can sleep once this bottle is empty?”
“Not a chance bro-nado,” Magnum said, cracking his knuckles and spreading his legs. He rubbed his hands on his thighs and tilted his head, glaring. “We’re not leaving until you talk about this. This is just the beginning. The three of us have decided to camp out here as long as it takes.”
“What about after this weekend? Are we just not going to open the store?” I growled, running a hand through my hair.
“If that’s what it takes. You weren’t coming in any way, were you? Isn’t Summer’s court hearing coming up.”
“As if she still wants me there after I fucked up so badly.”
“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere,” Mark said, blocking my path and putting his hands on my shoulders. I let him steer me to my recliner, shoo Malibu off, and push me down. I rested my elbows on my knees and dropped my head forward, closing my eyes.
“So what? You said some things you shouldn’t? We’ve all been there.”
“None of you have been where I am, Miller.”
“Back off, asshat. This is what we mean. We get it. Things have been rough. But you have a great girl who, for some unfathomable reason, is nuts about you. What more is there to think about?” He punctuated his reply by leaning over and elbowing me in the ribs.
I winced and batted his hand away, raising my head and furrowing my brows. “She hates me. That’s all there is to it.”
“You’re not that special,” muttered Mark, cracking open a bottle of water and taking a drink. “Most women hate you eventually.”
“Wow. Not helping,” Magnum said, glaring at our youngest brother.
“Actually, he’s kind of right,” Miller chimed in, laying his head on the back of the couch and rubbing his temples. “You are spectacularly bad at women. It’s like a gift. Some people waterski. You self-destruct relationships.”
I threw the remote at Miller, who caught it, laying it on the coffee table next to a handful of empty beer bottles.
“Shut up, Miller.”
“What? Am I lying?”
I groaned, leaning back in the recliner and kicking up the footrest. “You don’t get it. Summer isn’t like any of the few and far between women I’ve hooked up with. She makes me feel things. And I yelled at her. Told her I wasn’t the right guy for her because I couldn’t just fall into a relationship.”
My brothers stared at me until Magnum broke the silence. “Idiot.”
“Not just an idiot,” Miller added. “A poetic idiot. That was some woe-is-me, Nicholas Sparks-level tragedy crap.”
