Page 45 of My Ex's Brothers

But it would also be a lot less expensive than nine hundred a month when I’m broke and without a car.

Richard didn’t say what I would owe if I moved in, if anything. I amnotone to assume that I would be living there for free, but being as Tripp and Dane knowmy situation and Richard seems to as well…I can’t imagine they would be charging me a lot, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.

I want to paysomething. I want to contribute somehow…

Oh God, am I considering this? Am I really so desperate that I would consider moving in with the family of the man who wronged me?

Yes. Yes, I am.

I lean my head back against the couch and groan in defeat.

That’s when I hear the knock at the door. I get up, sighing as I open it. Sam stands there with Lyla in her carrier, her diaper bag slung over her shoulder.

“Hey, girl,” she says with a smile as I wave her in. She sets Lyla’s carrier on the ground as I shut the door, but before I can unload Lyla, Sam throws her arms around me and pulls me in close.

Her tight hug makes all the muscles in my body loosen and I let out the heaviest sigh.

“There, there,” she says as the tears hit me out of nowhere. I bring my hands up, wrapping them around her. “It’s okay, let it out.”

“It’s not,” I tell her as I push off of her, wiping my eyes.

I kneel down to unhook Lyla, picking her up and cuddling her close. Sam sets her keys down on my dining room table as she unpacks Lyla’s bag.

“What did Rich say about your car?” she asks.

“He had it towed to his place, says he can fix it.”

“That’s…nice of him,” Sam says carefully.

“Yeah, that’s not the only thing he offered…” I huff under my breath.

“What was that?” she asks as she heads for the kitchen with empty bottles.

“Nothing,” I say as I bounce Lyla who looks at me with tired eyes. “Did you have a good time with Auntie Sammy today? Did you?”

Lyla yawns, curling closer to my shoulder as she stares up at me.

“What else did he offer you?” Sam says, leaning against the kitchen doorframe.

“What?”

Sam shoots me a knowing look. “You said that wasn’t all he offered. So what was it?”

I debate whether I should tell her the truth or not, given the circumstances, especially since I haven’t told her about Tripp or Dane, or…

But then again, she is my best friend, and if there was ever anyone who I could talk to about my burgeoning midlife crisis, it’s her.

“He kinda…suggested I should move in with him. Withthem, I mean. Dane, and Tripp, and him.”

Sam raises an eyebrow and immediately I feel my cheeks flush.

“Where’s the problem there? I’d kill to move in with not one, not two, butthreehot athletes who happen to want to help me…” She smirks at me.

“It’s not that simple, Sam, I?—”

“You what? I know they’re related to he who shall not be named and all, but from what you’ve told me, they seem like they genuinely want to help. Where’s the problem?”

I wring my hands as I look at her, debating coming clean. She blinks, realizing there’s more I haven’t said. The smile that graces her face should make me feel on the spot, but it doesn’t. It only makes me feel safer.

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