“Hello?” I rasped.
“Julianna Marie Thatcher,” she shrieked. “You better explain yourself this instant, young lady! Everyone and their mother is talking about how you’re sleeping with three different men!”
I groaned. “Mom, I need you to listen…”
“This is absolutely ridiculous. Have you seen the things they’re saying about you?”
“What is going on, Julia?” Dad demanded.
“Oh, Hank, my poor nerves!” Mom wailed. “I found out this morning when I went to the grocery store. Everyone was looking at me like some sort of freak! My daughter, out there sleeping around like a floozy!”
“Is it true?” Dad asked. “Please tell me it isn’t true.”
I gritted my teeth. “I’m… seeing them. All three of them.”
“At the same time?” Mom gasped. “It’s one thing to date different people. I get it. I used to be a young, wild thing, too. But that video made it look like…”
I sat up in my bed, irritation burning a hole straight through my chest. “So what if I am sleeping with all of them? The four of us are consenting adults. What we get up to in the privacy of our own four walls is nobody’s fucking business.”
“Julia!” Dad snapped. “I can’t believe this. I thought we raised you better.”
“This isn’t right, Julia,” Mom added. “This isn’t right at all. It’s just…wrong.”
“Why is it wrong?” I challenged. “They’re incredibly respectful, protective and kind. They treat me really well and we just want to make each other happy. What’s so wrong about that?”
“Threemen,” Dad hissed. “What will everyone think of us now? I’m ashamed to show my face in public. I won’t even be able to go across town without being gawked at.”
“Is that all you care about?” I snapped. “Seriously, Dad? I’m the one being dragged through the mud by the press, not you. You should be happy I’ve found three special someones who love me. There are people out there who aren’t even lucky enough to find one!”
“Love you?” Mom croaked. “Did they say they love you?”
I opened my mouth just to snap it shut again. “I mean, no. They didn’t say it, but they—”
“Doyoulove them?”
“I… I don’t know. I like them all very much. I care for them deeply.”
“I didn’t raise you to be a fool, Julia. How can you be so naive?”
Dad sighed. “Come home immediately. You need to break this off as soon as possible before the damage is irreparable.”
“You can’t tell me what to do. I’m a grown-ass woman!”
“Julia, do not test me.”
“No, don’t testme. All you care about is what this means for you and your reputation in Sunville. I personally don’t give a flying fuck. If you aren’t going to at least offer a sympathetic ear, then I’ve got absolutely nothing to say to you.”
I hung up and tossed my phone to the foot of the bed, rolling over to scream into my pillow. I hated this. I hated every bit of it. All I wanted was to be back at the hotel with Dylan, Cash, and Red. I wanted a reset to exactly twenty-four hours before. W hen we were celebrating Red’s win, and the future seemed full of wonderful possibilities.
I fought the urge to return to them, had to fight my inner instincts to go back to the men who made me feel safe and adored and cherished.
Do you love them?
Mom’s question echoed around inside my skull. My heart quickened as I mulled the question over. Maybe somewhere deep down, I knew that I did.
I loved the way Dylan was a grump with everyone except me. I loved how easily Cash made me laugh, how being with him was always a breath of fresh air. I loved how Red looked at me like I was the most precious thing he’d ever beheld.
I loved how passionate the three of them were, how they always had each other’s backs, how they were endlessly supportive of each other’s dreams. They were a unit, a team. It was a genuine delight to see them work together, well-oiled cogs in a seamless machine, striving towards one big, daunting goal.
And I was the wrench in that scenario, the one variable that threw their operation into chaos. I was doing them a favor by removing myself.
Not just for my own good, but for theirs.