Page 87 of The Forever Rule

“What do you mean?” Sophia asked, and everyone stared at me.

“My mother sent me embroidered towels with not only my initials, but my former fiancée’s initials.Afterwe broke up. After the wedding was firmly canceled.”

James and Dorian just laughed, as Kyler and Sophia looked at me as if they couldn’t quite believe it.

“You were engaged?” Kyler asked.

“Yes. I’m no longer engaged. However, I don’t believe that Mother really believes that.”

“Does Blakely know?” Sophia asked, and my gaze shot to her.

“Yes. We’ve discussed it.” I tilted my head. “So you’re friends with her as well?”

“Yes. She’s come over to dinner sometimes when I’m there with Isabella, and we’ve had girls’ nights. So yes, we’re friends. I am just glad that she knows.”

“Why would it matter?” Dorian asked, and I gave him a look. He ignored me of course.

“Because secrets are bad.” Sophia looked at all of us, eyes wide. “We’re all in this room together because of a major secret.”

“Okay, you got us there,” James said. “But those two have been dating what, a month? When do you lay out all of your past relationships?”

Sophia looked around the room and shook her head. “You know, family conversations were a lot easier when I wasn’t outnumbered.”

Kyler just beamed. “You see? This is how I felt myentire life. Surrounded by women.” He tilted his beer up at us and nodded. “Thank you for letting the pendulum swing our way.”

“I don’t know if I like this very much,” Sophia said primly, before letting out a soft laugh. “But yes, after a month I would like to know if the man I’m currently seeing and most likely sleeping with has had a past serious relationship. I mean, you were going to get married, that seems pretty serious.”

“Seeing as I told Blakely, it’s not really a problem. And Meredith isn’t a problem.”

“Except for the whole embroidered towels thing,” Dorian said dryly.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Please, throw them in mud or something. Mother’s already seen them, so I guess I don’t even need them in there.”

“It’s okay, I’ll most likely spill something later, and use them to clean it up,” Kyler said, a grin on his face so similar to Dorian’s it was a little shocking.

“So, there’s five of us here,” James said, pointing to all of us. “Three from one side of the family, two from the other. I guess we should what, check in with the lawyer so that way we can say that we did it?”

At that abrupt change of topic, I glared at James. We had been having a good time, and now everyone looked a little edgy. “Yes, we can check in with the lawyer. However, I did put out some food for everybody, so we should still fucking eat.” I hadn’t meant for the words to snap, but I was already tired of being put in this situation,and I didn’t want to deal with my brother’s attitude on top of that.

“Hey, I don’t mind good food. I’m just surprised that I was actually in town for this,” Kyler said as he strolled over to the food spread and popped a grape into his mouth. “And I do love cheese boards. Actually, I just love any food.”

“Well that hasn’t changed since you were a kid,” Sophia said with a laugh. “I don’t know how this is all going to work. However, can’t we just think about this as a family dinner without the fact that we’re forced into it?” Sophia asked. The pleading in her tone hit me.

I gave a tight nod. “I get it. The whole reason that I even said I’d have them at my house to begin with was that I want to make sure that I get to know the people that my father hid from us for so long. And apparently that makes me far more sentimental than I thought.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised it’s you saying it out of everyone,” Dorian said, and I flipped him off.

The others laughed thankfully.

“I don’t know how this is going to work for three damn years,” Kyler said, before he strolled into a nearby chair.

“Well you’re out of town more than all of us.” I paused. “Other than Hudson.”

Kyler raised a brow. “Because Hudson lives in this mysterious town that we own.”

“We only own parts of it.”

“Well, I guess I’m going to have to visit sometime,”Kyler said, though I wasn’t quite sure if he was serious or not. I couldn’t get a beat on Kyler. But then again, I didn’t always understand the brothers I had grown up with either.

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