I shoveled out stalls since Andrew was at the main house doing fuck-knew-what. It seemed more and more like he was defaulting to me doing all this shit, but I didn’t mind. Least, not at that moment. Shit like this helped me to clear my mind and right myself for the day. If I had pent-up frustrations or anger I needed to get out, shoveling pounds of horse shit really took it out of me.
But I was so high-strung that I was thinking about taking the night and finding me a corner to pull Katie into.
I knew what I’d interrupted between her and Caleb in the kitchen. I wasn’t stupid. My brothers acted like I was, but they were wrong. They were sharing a moment and it made me nervous. First Caleb and Dylan busting in on my moment with her with pizza, and then me catching her with Caleb.
I exited one of the stalls as Andrew and Dylan came into the stables. They had their stern faces on, which meant some shit had already gone down that day. I readied myself for what it could be.
“Wyatt, we gotta talk,” Andrew said.
“I can tell by those look on y’all’s faces,” I said breathlessly. “What’s up?”
“We know you’ve slept with Katie,” Dylan said.
My eyes locked hard on my brother’s face before I jammed the shovel into the ground.
“And if I have?” I asked.
“Cut the shit,” Andrew said. “We’ve slept with her, too.”
“Wait. What?” I asked.
“Yeah. The three of us have slept with Katie. Digest that so we can get on with this,” Dylan said.
“Has Caleb?” I asked.
“Not to our knowledge, but we know he’s interested,” Andrew said.
“That why he’s not a part of this conversation right now?” I asked.
“Nope. He’s off for the day. Otherwise, he would be here,” Dylan said.
“So, then what’s the point of this little pow-wow? To make us all feel like shit?” I asked.
“Sleepin’ with Katie don’t make me feel like shit,” Andrew said.
“Yeah, let’s not go down that road right now,” Dylan said. “Sensitive topic that needs to be discussed.”
“And I’m discussin’ it,” Andrew said. “Look, we gotta talk about this.”
“Yeah, I’d say we do,” I said. “Since we’re on the topic, I caught Katie and Caleb in the kitchen last night. I think they were havin’ a moment.”
“That’s on Katie,” Dylan said. “What she chooses to do is her decision.”
“That how we’re runnin’ with all this then?” I asked. “Lettin’ Katie choose one of us? Or are we sharin’ her like we have other women in the past?”
“I’m not sharin’ Katie,” Andrew said.
“I’m not sure I could, either,” Dylan said. “All of this goin’ on already churns my stomach.”
“We can’t just make her choose. If we corner her and do that to her, she might run in the opposite direction from all of us,” I said.
“See? I told you he’d say that. I already told him that,” Dylan said.
“And sharin’s off the table?” Andrew asked.
“Yep,” I said.
“Uh-huh,” Dylan said.