“We’ve been looking into your story about Avery,” Hunter continued, “and it smells fishy.”
“It stinks to high heaven,” Garrett said, shoving Carl, one of my half brothers, out of the way. Garrett had a tablet and was tapping the screen as he approached me.
Normally I liked to keep my head down. That was how I had survived in the compound: didn’t make noise, just worked silently in the background, building an empire. I didn’t need the flash and attention; I preferred my solitude. It was inconvenient to be the object of the intense attention of all of my brothers. I squared my shoulders. There was a billion-dollar contract on the line, and after dealing with Avery’s family, the spiteful part of me wanted her to win that house.
“You have never been seen on a date with Avery until Thursday evening,” Garrett stated.
“We hung out late nights in the office,” I replied.
“You have never brought her to your condo.”
“Didn’t seem serious yet.”
“You never went to her house.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Oh yes I do. Walker and Owen Frost have a cybersecurity contract with the city, and I had them pull camera footage for me from her street.”
“That is illegal.”
“Only if I get caught. You haven’t bought her gifts. You have done nothing to indicate she is anything to you. You haven’t even bought condoms.”
“Are you going to be a dad?” Archer exclaimed.
“That bitch better not be pregnant,” Greg snapped.
I threw myself at him and roared, “Don’t ever disrespect my girlfriend again!”
“Hey!” Remy shouted, pulling us apart. “We’re brothers. Family sticks together. Now, Blade has decided he’s in love with Avery—”
“I didn’t decide, I am,” I corrected.
“Blade doesn’t make rash decisions,” Weston piped up. “I know my brother. If he’s in love and serious about this, and I believe he is, then we should support him.” He hopped over another one of my brothers and gave me a hug. “I’m happy for you, man. And just so you know, I’m going to be your best man.”
“Of course.”
“It wasn’t a question,” Weston said. I laughed.
My chest clenched. I hated lying to my family, but I especially hated lying to Weston. The fact that he was a hundred percent supportive made it worse than if he had yelled at me like the others. It was enough to almost break me into spilling the truth.
“I want to be a groomsman too!” Archer called.
“Me too!” chimed in several of my other brothers.
“He cannot have fifty groomsmen,” Hunter said.
I felt guilty for lying to them and didn’t have it in me to tell them they couldn’t participate. “Why not?” I retorted.
“We have to cap it,” Archer insisted. “We’ll limit it at, oh, twenty-five. Some of us will have to bring our own bridesmaids unless Avery is a total social butterfly. There will be aHunger Games–style competition to see who gets one of the coveted spots.”
“Let’s see the ring!” Remy said.
My brothers cheered as I pulled it out of my pocket and opened the box. Archer dramatically recoiled, several of my brothers swore, and even Hunter looked visibly repulsed.
“Did you…run that by any of her friends?” Mace asked carefully after a moment.
“It’s not that bad,” I said, snapping the box shut.
