Page 22 of Rolling with my Best Friend's Brothers

The laughter dies quickly.

Avery shifts uncomfortably in the pause. “Beatrix, what’s going on?” She throws a hand up in the air, expertly handling the baby with her other one. “Wait, no. Don’t tell me what happened. Tell me if you want to date them.”

Beatrix meets the already perfected mom gaze Avery is boring into her. The hurt on Beatrix’s face speaks volumes about how I need to learn to control myself. The agony descending on me while waiting for her to answer is about to crush me.

I’d give anything for the crowd to start a ten-second countdown so I’d know how long before I can breathe again.

Beatrix’s voice is shaky. “I’m sorry, Avery.”

A jolt of energy shoots through me. She could have lied, denied the whole thing, but at least part of this will be public. It gives me a shred of hope.

“I knew how upset you would be and I did it anyway. It all happened so fast. They overheard my camgirl call through the baby monitor and they—”

“Shhh.” She cuts Beatrix off. “I don’t need any more description.”

“It’s over. I promise.” Beatrix has every right to remind us that it’s over.

While I get an F on my tactic, I tried. Reality filters in and I’m faintly aware of people moving past us. The weight of what I’ve done still has my feet merged into the floor. I should apologize before I trudge off, anyway.

“Do you want it to be over?” Avery shocks all of us by asking.

“You are my priority. I’m here for you and the baby.”

“That wasn’t my question. Do you want it to be over?” Avery drags out the reiterated question. “Don’t make me the bad guy. Give me the truth.”

“The truth is that it’s over.”

I’ve never felt so hollow, so purposeless. I force myself to look somewhere other than at Beatrix. The scoreboard is my landing spot. “She’s right. I messed up, it’s over. I’ll get my shit together.”

Avery takes an authoritative tone. “I’ve never once heard Wyatt say that he loves someone. Never seen Gabriel look at someone the way he looked at you in the hospital. And Mammoth never stumbles over his words. Stop lying to me. You’re the people I trust the most and you’re pissing me… making me mad right now. I’m not fragile just because I had a baby. Answer the freaking question.”

Our apologies mix over each other, then we give Beatrix space to answer the looming question.

“If it doesn’t bother you, yes, I would like to explore this thing with your brothers.”

“Hold on. Yes, it bothers me, but it would bother me worse if I made all of you unhappy. For fuck’s sake… ugh, I’m going to have to work on not cussing. For crying out loud, Mammoth’s asking you to move in.”

“That surprised me too.” Beatrix smiles at Mammoth and I’m relieved that she’s relaxing.

Avery says, “There are going to be rules. I am not going to be able to handle any PDA, perhaps forever, but I won’t live with them forever. This has always been a temporary arrangement.”

I’m barely keeping my cool, but Avery’s PDA statement is clear. I want her to know I hear her and will comply. “Rules. A lot of rules. Got it. And imagine how cool it will be if we’re one big happy family.”

The baby stirs, giving us all a moment of relief as Avery goes into mom mode. We can’t hug Beatrix the way we want to, but we can share smiles and marvel at what an amazing mom our little sister has become. That’ll have to do for now.

“Is it okay if we take Bea into the hall for a second?” I ask.

Avery laughs. “Bea? You know it’s Beatrix. Never Bea.”

Beatrix shrugs. “There’s something about when he says it that I don’t hate. I’m hopeless, Avery.”

Avery shoos us out, and as we step into the hallway.

Mammoth takes Beatrix’s hand. “We’re going to make this right. We’ll be one big happy family.”

“I hope you’re right… Mason.” Her use of Mammoth’s real name catches me off guard.

I’ve never seen my big, burly brother grin like a little kid the way he is now.

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