Page 48 of The Brothers Next Door

“We’re discussing the situation between us,” Darrin said.

“Oh. What about it?” Maybe if I pretended to be aloof we could forget that we needed to have this conversation. Everything could go back to normal. “Everything is fine, right?”

“We’ve got an issue.”

“Oh.” I tried not to frown, but it didn’t work. “What’s the issue?”

Nate jumped in. “We’ve been talking, and when this all began we were all just having some no strings attached fun. It wasn’t supposed to turn into something serious.”

Chewing at my bottom lip, I nodded, not trusting myself not to start rambling like an idiot. Oh God, were they both going to break up with me? If I couldn’t make a choice did I lose them both? This wasn’t my idea, this was theirs, dammit.

“But it has turned serious,” Darrin cut in, taking my hand in his.

“And that’s where the problem comes in,” Nate continued.

“Why is there a problem? So, we’ve come to care for each other. That was bound to happen, right?”

“Yes, I suppose it was,” Darrin admitted, with Nate nodding his agreement. “I guess we hadn’t considered this far in advance and now here we are.”

“What’s the solution? Are you guys breaking up with me?” I looked from one man to the other, not able to stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks.

Nate took my free hand and gave it a squeeze. “We’re just discussing the options, okay? The problem is that we both have strong feelings for you and we had certain rules we’d put into place to try to keep things from becoming…” He grimaced. “For lack of a better word, unbalanced.”

My brows furrowed as I stared at him.

“For instance, we were to only sleep with you together, but Darrin and you…”

“I’m sorry. This is my fault.” I looked at Darrin. “I saw how upset you were and I heard the story for the first time and…” I turned back to Nate. “It just happened. It doesn’t change how I feel about either of you.”

Taking a deep breath, I gathered my resolve and decided to just let the chips fall as they may. “I’m in love with you both. I want and need you both. But I also don’t want to be the person that comes between you two. I’d never be able to live with myself I did.” I didn’t have any siblings, but always wanted some. Jealousy over my friends having brothers and sisters was a familiar feeling for me.

As much as it would kill me, I’d back away from this if I had to.

“I can’t choose.” The room grew eerily silent. My silent tears were threatening to turn into sobs, so I pulled my hands from the brothers’ grasp.

“Layla,” I heard one say as I stood and stepped away from the sofa.

Turning back to them, I forced a smile to my lips. “I’ll give you both time to talk and discuss it. Just know I can’t and won’t make a choice. I refuse to be the one to break you two apart. I want you both or neither.” Grabbing my purse which was sitting at the door, I slipped out and into the hallway, hoping and praying they would stop me and tell me I was being foolish, we’d all stay together.

They didn’t.

I should have known from the beginning that this was going to end badly.

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