Page 52 of Four Fiances & I

“I’m going to bed. Shout if you need me.”

I nod and stand as my brother walks over to where Jasmine is lying on her side, looking to the other side of the bed.

“Good night, Princess. If you need me, come to my room okay.” Jasmine nods but doesn’t turn to face him. he leans over and kisses her head, whispering a quiet “I love you” before standing and looking at me. He runs one finger down his cheek, signalling that she’s crying. Closing my eyes momentarily, I try to let out a deep breath quietly before nodding.

For a moment, when I open my eyes, my twin and I stare at each other before Sean steps forward and hugs me.

“You did what you had to tonight.” He leans his forehead against mine as we hold the back of each other’s heads. “We will go for a run tomorrow and talk. But tonight, I think you need her as much as she needs you.” I nod in agreement and step back from my brother, my best friend.

“Night.”

“Night, Maximus.”

He walks out of the room, and I quickly strip and wash my body and face over the sink before brushing my teeth.

When I return to the room, Jasmine is sitting in bed, with her legs up against her chest, resting her chin on her knees.

“Why are you still up, Shorty?” I ask, climbing into bed next to her. She instantly leans into my side, allowing me to wrap an arm around her.

“He hurt me.” Those three words cause my jaw to clench. I know he was angry and caught up in the fight with Jason, but to treat her the way he did is unacceptable. I have given him the benefit of the doubt tonight, emotions were running high, and we all drank a lot on the way home, but if I ever catch him treating her like he did tonight again, I will beat the shit out of him. I will always defend my Shorty before any of my brothers.

“I know, Shorty.” For a moment, I want to tell her he is an arsehole and doesn’t deserve her, but that’s the anger talking, and I know he will hate himself for what he did tonight. “Please don’t be scared of him. He loves you more than anything in this world and will do anything to protect you. Tonight, things just became a lot; there were too many factors he couldn’t control, and it became too much.” Part of me doesn’t want to defend him, but he’s my brother, and I know he loves her. He killed a man with his fists tonight for threatening to break her. He will hate himself for grabbing her like that.

“I know.” The pain and confusion are evident in her voice.

“Come on, let’s try and get some sleep. Hopefully, everyone will be calmer in the morning, and we can all sit down and talk about what happened.”

The two of us slide down the bed, and I hold my girl as she rests her head on my bare chest. This isn’t how I planned on ending tonight. I thought the four of us would be rocking our girl's world, but then what part of tonight went to plan?

“I’m sorry tonight wasn’t as great as it should have been. You all deserved a good stag do.”

Looking down, I press a kiss to her head.

“It’s just one night, Shorty. We are getting a lifetime with you, which is more than we deserve.” I can feel her moving to say more, but I don’t want to hear her telling me I deserve more than I think I do, not after some of the things I did tonight. I don’t deserve this woman in my arms, and I’m terrified she will realise that and leave one day. I lift a hand and place it on her cheek. “Go to sleep, Shorty.”

I kiss her head one last time before closing my eyes and lying back on the pillow.

“Good night, Daddy.”

ChapterNineteen

JASMINE

I can’t sleep. I’ve tried everything to stop thinking about what I saw on the landing tonight, but I can’t.

I never thought I would see the day Christian and Jason came to blows. They rarely have a cross word, let alone raise their voices to each other.

I’ve known for a while that Christian has held some level of blame on Jason for what happened to me, but I honestly thought he would get over it with time. Now Christian and Maximus, yes, that’s a fight I think we are all waiting for. They seem to be butting heads more and more recently, something they haven’t been able to hide from us. But Jason and Christian aren’t only brothers, they are best friends and more alike than the twins at times.

There is also the fact that tonight, Christian did something he has never done before: he laid his hands on me. When he grabbed my arm and dragged me towards my room, I was terrified. No one has manhandled me like that since I was rescued from Taylor and my mother. The irony is that I think Christian killed someone tonight for being in that house and being present when I was assaulted. Then he came home and treated me like that.

Maximus rolls away from me in his sleep, and I use it as an opportunity to get up and check on the puppy. Maybe some cuddles from Embry will make me feel a little better. Slowly, I climb out of bed, not wanting to wake Maximus and tiptoe out of the room. Closing the door quietly behind me, I head towards the stairs, planning on heading to the conservatory where the puppy sleeps because he still has the odd accident at night, and Christian doesn’t want him peeing everywhere.

As I walk quietly past Jason's room, I notice a light coming from under his door. I stand outside it for a moment and remember the way he looked at me after Christian had gone to his room. He didn’t want me to touch him, and he looked like he was guilty of so much more than he is. I can't let him blame himself for what happened to me anymore.

Not stopping to knock, I walk straight into the room and look at the bed where I expect Jason to be. When I don’t see him there, I look to his bathroom and see another light on. I walk quietly to the door and push it open, finding Jason standing in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist as he checks out his injured face in the mirror. There are tissues covered in blood in his sink, as well as a few other first-aid bits.

As I open the door further to enter, Jason turns around and stares at me for a moment.

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