Page 29 of Borrowing My Bestie's Brothers

They were all still halfway through their beers, but the guys quickly drank the rest in response to an offer of free beer.

“Jamie—” Brock started to say, his tone all too familiar. It was the long-suffering one he used when I’d fucked up something again. I didn’t need a lecture this time, all too aware of my transgressions.

“You want a beer too, boss?” I said the last word with undue emphasis. “On it.”

Every stride away from the table helped clear my head, but that only made things worse. What the hell was I thinking? This was fake. Millie had set the whole scenario up and I’d… Why the hell…? Why?—?

“Back already?” Millie said with a raised eyebrow, wiping down the bar. “If you’re gonna say Brock is driving you to drink, welcome to the club.”

“Ah, no…” I shoved a hand in one pocket, then another, looking for my wallet, remembering now I’d put it on the table. I looked back forlornly, only to find Brock had turned his stool around to regard me steadily. “Hey, it’s my shout and I left my wallet on the table?—”

“The table that’s all the way over there?” she asked with a slow smile.

“Right, and I don’t want to have to walk back to the table.”

“All the way over there.”

My eyes narrowed as she repeated herself for emphasis.

“Just gimme another round and make mine a double. Put it on my tab. You know I’m good for it.”

“I’ll give you a free double if you tell me why you don’t want to go and grab your wallet,” she countered.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Oh, on the contrary. I really, really do.” She moved around the bar, grabbing glasses and pulling beers, but looked pointedly at me, and that’s when I considered telling her the truth.

Millie didn’t love the kind of female attention her brothers got. She’d found herself too often making friends with girls who were just using that as a means to get closer to the twins, something she’d confessed to me one night. When we were teenagers, her parents were even forced to escort some of the girls that attended sleepovers back to Millie’s room. I’d sat with her through her disappointment, her feelings of being used, and promised her one thing.

I’d never go there with any of her brothers, yet here I was, ready to jump Brock’s bones.

“Mills—”

“You may as well tell me, Jamesina.” I let out a little growl at the shitty nickname she only dragged out when she was really determined. Another rum and Coke went sliding towards me, the stink of alcohol strong.

I took a drink, winced and then said, “I suck at fake dating. I was rude to Brock earlier and now…” I stared at the bar, not her. “I was kind of…”

“Enough foreplay, Jamie. Spit it out.”

“Foreplay…” I stared at her. “About that.” I laughed shakily, sure I was about to burn this friendship to the ground. “You promise not to get mad?”

“Bitch, this isn’t high school. People don’t go out of their way to talk to me because of my parent’s other crotch goblins. The guys live their lives and I live mine. Anyway, I set you up with Brock. Seems not entirely unreasonable that the two of you might actually hit it off. So…” She leaned over the bar with a grin. “Are you?”

“I think…” I shifted restlessly. “I mean, I don’t… I don’t know how to talk about this without mentioning your brother’s dick.”

“Oh my god.” She shrank back. “Try.”

“Um… so he was doing the whole PDA thing,” I said, searching around for the words.

“Saw that. You two look cute together. Your mother is gonna shit when she sees you at it.”

“And he was… responding.”

“Responding?” She gagged theatrically. “Got it.”

“And I responded to his responding?” I span my hands around, unsure how to phrase this, so I just spat it out. “I may or may not have accidentally started grinding on your brother’s lap.” Her splutter was explosive. I was forced to wipe saliva from my face with a napkin. “I mean he pulled me close and he was obviously enjoying the experience, and so was I and Mills–he’s hot. I know you don’t like girls talking about that, but Brock’s really, really hot. If he wasn’t your brother, I’d have been under that desk of his, getting to know not-so-little Brock way before now.”

“Well…” That masculine voice and Millie’s gleeful expression told me everything I needed to know. I had a death grip on my drink, lest I completely lose my shit. A finger slid up my spine, forcing it to arch under his caress. “That would’ve made doing paperwork a whole lot more interesting.”

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