Chapter Seventeen
“Mallory?”
I hadn’t even realized I was standing, but I was, and then Isaac was coming in, looking at me with wide eyes and a handful of donut boxes. I looked at Hannah and pointed at Hank. “Can you watch him? I just need a minute.”
“Of course.”
I grabbed one of the boxes of donuts on the way to the bathroom and locked myself in with it. I knocked the toilet lid down and sat down, head between my knees. Everyone knew. Everyone. Knew.
I groaned and sat back up. The head between the knees thing wasn’t working. Instead, I opened the donut box and grabbed one. Shoving half of it in my mouth at once, I let out a little scream and looked up at the ceiling, like there would be answers there.
“Mal?” Blake’s voice was gentle as he called to me. “What’s wrong?”
“Whath’s wrongth?” I chewed my donut and tried again. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong is that everyone knows!”
“Everyone knows what?” Julian joined Blake at the door.
Isaac was right there with his brothers. “Apparently, Cousin Hannah, or the girl we used to know as our cousin, told Mallory that everyone knows about this.”
“This?” Julian grunted. “Oh.This.”
“Yeah,this! The whole town knows I’m letting multiple brothers do things to me!Sexualthings!” I grabbed a second donut and shoved it into my mouth. “Thethual thingsth!”
“Well, this is a code red and I’m not equipped for it. I haven’t been a part of this whole tryst just yet, so I didn’t do this. I didn’t break her; I’m not fixing her.”
I jerked the door open and glared at Julian while wiping my mouth. “Yet? Yet? If you ever think you’re putting your thing back in me, you’ve got another thing coming! I’m done with the three of you! You let me do this, knowing I was going to be the talk of the town because of it. People probably think you’re putting your things in my butt! Just a dick everywhere. Here a dick, there a dick, everywhere a dick, dick!”
Blake covered his mouth and looked away.
“Are you laughing? Are you actually laughing right now?” I shoved the box of donuts at him and stomped towards the front of the office. I knew I didn’t want to scare Hank, so I stomped into Blake’s office and slammed the door behind me. Then, I realized I needed more donuts, so I opened the door just as the three idiots were trying to get in. “Give me those back, you giant, walking turd.”
One of them put their foot in the way of me closing the door, and they all three filed in after me. They stood in a small semi-circle, watching me like I was a feral cat, primed and ready to rip their faces off. Maybe I was.
“We know you’re upset, Mal, but let us talk to you and explain.”
I frowned at Isaac, the least mad at him because he’d brought donuts and hadn’t said anything too stupid so far. I took a bite of a donut with cream in it and pouted when the cream plopped out on my dress. I realized I was going to cry about a half-second before I was crying. I rubbed at the cream and dropped the donut on Blake’s desk, sinking into his chair. “I’m a mess and everyone is going to think this is likethe dress. You know? And that other dress didn’t end too well for her. Monica still gets shit on.”
Isaac hurried around the desk to kneel next to me. “Hey, I promise no one is thinking poorly of you.”
“And if anyone ever did, we’d murder them.”
I wiped my eyes and tilted my head at Julian. “Murder them?”
He wagged his brows. “Anything for the girl who will never sleep with me, or any of us, again.”
A smile played at my lips, but I bit it back. “I’m a mom. I’m already judged for what I do. In the city, if I worked too much, I was an absentee mom who sucked. If I worked too little, I was setting a bad example for my kid. If people thought I was dating, they judged me. If they thought I was keeping Hank away from men, they judged me. It was nonstop, and now I get a new start, and everyone knows I’m sleeping with multiple men at the same time!”
“It’s not weird here for us. Everyone knows us. They know all about us.” Blake gestured around the office. “This town has been supportive of us from the very beginning. They take care of us. They’re not going to judge you.”
“You’re men. I’m not the same. I’m a woman and a mom. It’s harder. They’re going to think I’m a slut. They’re going to think I’m a bad mom.” I angrily swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming. “I’m not a bad mom. I’m a good mom. And I’m not usually a slut. I haven’t slept with anyone in forever before y’all. And even if I had, that’s my choice. But people don’t see it that way.”
“You’re not a slut, Mal. You’re in a relationship with us. This is a consensual thing that’s happening between adults. People know that.”
“A relationship?”
Julian grunted. “I guess this is my cue to go.”
Blake shook his head. “No. You, too. You’re a part of us, Julian, whether you like it or not. We come together.”