Page 11 of My Brother’s Best Friends Entanglement

"Don't say 'have to', that makes her sound desperate!" he hisses. I roll my eyes and say, "As long as you want, need, have to. Whatever, it's a roof over your head. And Leon needs to know you'll be okay."

"I'm fine," she insists.

"You're sitting on a car bonnet staring at a real estate sign."

"People do that. I hear it's very meditative."

"Okay, well when you're done praying at the altar of Monroe Real Estate, Leon's room is yours for as long as it is required," I say.

"With you three living there? Y-you'll be there?"

And there it is. It's not the house. It's the house's inhabitants. Namely, me.

"Will I be living in my house? Yes."

She shakes her head. "I'm not moving into a house with three men I barely know," she says.

"You know us, Lex," Zachary argues.

"No, I knew you." I think I hear her murmur something like "or I thought I did" under her breath, but I can't be sure.

And fair point, I mean, it's been years since we saw her. Do we even really know who she is any more? She's lived a whole lifetime since she was last here.

"Guys, it's okay. I'll sort it out. It's not a problem."

I sit on the bonnet in front of her. "From where? Your car?"

She doesn't answer. I clock Rhys in my peripheral vision. He's drifted, gone from the fence, and pacing back and forth on the footpath in front of the house. I watch him pivot and come back towards us. He stops in front of the car, not looking at any of us, tucks his hands into his pockets and says, "We'll leave you the house for the week. It's yours. All yours. Leon promised it to you and we messed up your plans, it's only fair."

She lifts her head. "You cannot leave your own house!"

Rhys shrugs. "It's fine, it's just for a week. If, after that you haven't found a place, we'll sort something out then."

She opens her mouth, but nothing else comes out. She turns to me, and I shrug. "Fine by me. Zachary?"

He nods once. "We've got plenty of options. It's not a problem."

She exhales and rubs her forehead. "Oh my god, guys, I am not kicking you out of your own house."

Zachary waves a dismissive hand. "You're not kicking us out. We're offering. If it gives you a place to stay, then we're happy to do it."

"One week," I say. "Stay for a week. Use that time to find something longer term. And if you don't, we'll figure the rest out then. One week."

She looks at me. And then at Zachary, who's giving her a soft smile and a "what've you got to lose" shrug.

Her eyes slide to Rhys. He moves his head a single inch and meets her gaze. And then he waits. For her to come to her own conclusion. It's extremely effective. I have tried to learn it for years and I don't have the patience.

"Is this really okay with you?" she asks, the slightest waver in her voice.

A pause. He barely breathes. And then he says, "Why wouldn't it be?"

Then he turns and walks back to the car.

She looks at the for sale sign one more time and then sighs.

"Okay. One week," she says, with a nod, as if trying to convince herself. "I'll stay at the house. And you guys don't have to leave. That's just⁠—"

"Sweet? Incredibly generous? Superheroic of MCU proportions?" I offer.