Page 48 of The Forever Rule

I blinked and leaned forward. “Wait, Kyler is the lead singer of Caged and Reckless? I love that band. How did I not put that together?”

“Well, looks like our brother is on all of our top ten rotations,” Flynn said as he whistled through his teeth.

We all froze for an instant, with Flynn calling Kyler his brother, before we took an awkward drink. We’d been calling the women our sisters out of a forced habit, but fora family that grew up as only brothers, adding another one felt different.

“I don’t know how the time stamp of who’s going to be at dinner next month or where it’s going to be, but most of us live in Denver, so I guess it makes sense it would be us who meet more often,” Isabella said.

I nodded. “And my house is big enough for all of us, but we don’t always have to be here. I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking over.”

“That’s what I was going to say,” Isabella put in. “I was talking to Blakely earlier, and she warned me not to take over like I usually do. But I’ve always done it with my siblings. I can’t help it.”

Sophia squeezed her sister’s hand. “And we love you for it.”

Isabella had so casually dropped Blakely’s name, that I swallowed hard, trying not to think too much about the woman that wasn’t part of my dreams.

Isabella continued as if she hadn’t dropped a rock in the pond that was my mind. “We can make a schedule for dinners in the future because that’s what dear old Dad wanted, and we’re trying, but this is awkward. And I don’t know what else we’re supposed to say. We can go over childhood trauma, what we did in high school, what majors we had in college, but I don’t know what he wanted.”

I stood up, gesturing toward the kitchen. “Dinner is ready to be served, and we can talk over dinner exactly what we want out of this.” I looked around at the people who were all my siblings, in one way or another, andnodded tightly. “That man does not own us. We will not allow him to change everything about us. So let’s figure out a way to make this work.”

“I would love that,” Sophia said with a smile. “I don’t want the resentment over what that man did to hurt us. I’m sure you are all very lovely, and Phoebe speaks highly of you,” Sophia said, gesturing toward Ford. “So let’s make this work. Whatever this is.”

And as we made our way to the dining room, each bringing something from the kitchen, the awkwardness settled in more.

Here we were, breaking bread with people who we shared DNA with, and nothing felt right.

And maybe we just needed to get over ourselves.

“I forgot to ask if you have any allergies?” I asked, frowning. “I didn’t even think to ask, I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s okay, none of us have food allergies,” Sophia said.

Isabella rubbed her arms. “I suppose we should make notes of who has allergies, and who will be in town when. You know, little things that we should know. I don’t even know if any of you guys are married. Or have children. Are we aunts?” she asked, her brows raised.

Ford cleared his throat. “I’m married. But you both know that.”

“We do, but anyone else?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No. None of us have been fortunate as of yet.”

She nodded, her expression unreadable for a moment before she blinked it away. “Same here.”

“I wouldn’t say all of us are single,” Dorian said.

I scowled at him. “Really?”

“I’m just saying, I feel like I need to ask everyone’s middle name from now on to make sure that I’m not accidentally dating a sibling.” He visibly shuddered.

I choked on my drink. “Are you kidding me?”

Dorian raised a brow. “Don’t think it hasn’t crossed your mind. We were very lucky. I mean, there are horror stories out there about children who were donation-conceived, finding out that they’re married to their sibling. That’s just one less thing I’m going to hate Dad for.”

“Thank you for that lovely image that is never going to leave my brain.” Isabella said it so matter of fact, that we burst out laughing, trying not to, and I did my best not to throw a roll in Dorian’s direction.

“Should I ask for Cale’s family tree?” Sophia asked, blinking. “I mean, I feel like this is pertinent information.”

“His name wouldn’t be Cale Cage,” Isabella said, her eyes dancing.

I leaned forward. “I take it your boyfriend’s name is Cale?”

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