I knew she was going to chew me alive for th
is. When I admitted to her that I’d slept with all the brothers and wanted to settle down with them, I knew she was going to be incredulous. She was the one who had warned me against this, to not get emotionally caught up in my game playing or whatever it was I was doing. I wrung my hands in my lap as a tear dripped onto my skin.
“I talked with Wyatt today, and I think they are going to ask me to choose one of them to be with,” I said.
“And you don’t want to do that?”
“No. I want them all. I’ve cared for all of them for as long as I can remember.”
“Katie, caring about them and being in a relationship with all four of them are two different things.”
“I just don’t know what to do,” I said.
“Look, you’re reeling from a marriage you stopped, and you’re trying to rediscover what your life means now. And that’s okay. It’s okay to want to screw around and have men you think are attractive and do what you need to do to get yourself settled. This can’t be an actual thing you think you can do,” she said.
“I don’t know what to do,” I said. “Help me, Whitney. I care about these guys.”
“You ended your engagement at your rehearsal dinner a month ago, Katie. You’re letting your emotions get the best of you.”
“No, I’m not. If anything, I haven’t been allowing my emotions to run my life in a long time. And sure, it got me my law degree, but it also got me Michael.”
“He was good for you until a point. But you stopped listening to everyone around you who told you he was getting bad for you. Including me.”
“So what? I should believe every word you say and not try to do anything else?” I asked.
“When your emotions are in upheaval like this, yes,” she said.
“You’re a piece of work. I came to you specifically with this because I didn’t need someone cheering me on like Lizzie would. I needed someone to rationally talk me through this. But no. All you care about doing is telling me I’m an idiot for doing this and that they’re just going to toss me away now that they’ve had me.”
“I wouldn’t be your best friend if I didn’t tell you the truth. No matter how hard it is to swallow. I’m worried about you, Katie. Do you want me to take some time off and fly out there?”
“No, thanks. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Katie, don’t be like this.”
“I gotta go. Talk to you later.”
I hung up the video call with Whitney and fell back onto the couch. Now I didn’t know what to think. I had one best friend that would want nothing but stories. I had another best friend that wanted nothing more than to make me feel stupid for all this, and I was nowhere close to getting the answers I needed. Wyatt had already walked away from me angry. The other brothers were keeping their distance. And it felt like everything was crumbling before it could get off the ground.
I peeled myself off the couch and slid out of my work clothes. I left them in a pile on the floor before I slipped into bed. The next day was going to be a long day of in-house counsel work. Their former lawyer was officially gone, and there was a lot of paperwork regarding this Charleston installation waiting for me when I clocked in come eight in the morning.
And I was going to need sleep if I was going to shove all this aside to be professional.
CHAPTER 31
ANDREW
I hated working Saturdays. My brothers and I had been developing this damn resort and shit for years, and we still couldn’t have our damn weekends to ourselves. I slid from my office and decided to hit the breakroom. I could turn out the lights and lay the fuck down, especially after staring at all the damn paperwork for the build in Charleston. The construction crew was working their asses off in between the bouts of rain the area was having, and I was trying to get a head start on all the bullshit paperwork I’d need to fill out to requisition everything for the damn place.
“Hey, Andrew,” Katie said.
“Katie?” I asked as I pushed into the breakroom. “What are you doin’ in here?”
“Just trying to find a quiet space. Today’s been a pretty rough day,” she said.
“Tell me ‘bout it. You okay?”
“Yeah. Just a lot of paperwork.”