Page 102 of Thanking Her Brother's Best Friends

Lines of worry and sorrow etched deeply into his face, like rivers carving paths through rugged terrain. The furrows on his brow bore evidence of how difficult the ride here must have been for him.

"Ben, we'd never hurt her." I shook my head. "We love her, but more than that, we respect and cherish what we have, and we totally think she has the capacity to whoop all of our asses if we try to cross any limits.” My voice softened.

"Honestly, you don't ever need to worry about that. We know what she's been through with Dave. She's not going to go through it again."

"And you—" His voice broke. "You're not going to bail on her? Forgive me, Aiden, but I know how it's been for you and women."

Ah. Okay. I'd be hurt in any other context, but Ben was Selene's brother. And even though he'd been stupid—not unlike what I'd been in the recent past too—he loved her.

He had every right to ask these questions.

"I'd die if she wasn't in my life," I said simply. "I've tried it for a while, and it's killed me internally. I can't say what has changed, but I know I'm here for the long haul."

Ben responded with a brief nod. "And you guys?"

"We feel the same way," Dom replied. "We love her, Ben."

I thought of something else to say, but before I could, Selene appeared at the foot of the stairs. "Ben?" She took one look at him and broke down.

Ben crossed the distance between them as fast as he could and wrapped his arms around his sister. He held her as she cried and cried, her face buried against his chest.

"Got room in your heart to forgive another asshole?" he asked, hugging her tightly. "Selene, I'm so sorry. About Dave, about never asking you why you left—and everything. I don't..." He took Selene's hands and held them earnestly.

"I won't lie and tell you I understand what you guys have going on here, and I... God knows, it's not something I can relate to, but I'm going to support you. Whatever it takes for you to be happy. You deserve it. You always have, right from the time you were born."

"You mean it?" Selene whispered.

"Selene, Mom used to say that I take such good care of you, it's like I'm a godsend in your life," Ben replied. "But it was always the other way around. You saved me. Not once, but multiple times. Growing up would have sucked without you. You're more than my sister. I felt like I could always boss you around because of the hold I had on you. That was shitty of me. And the things you said about Abigail—"

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "The words kind of burst out."

"You were right," he replied quietly. "We've had problems since long before the marriage because she was in love with someone else. We fell out of love a long time ago, but we'd been together for so long, it only felt like a natural progression to seal the relationship that I now realize we never had."

"Ben." Selene hugged her brother again. "Fuck, I'm so sorry. I didn't... I never would have said these things if I knew."

"I'm glad you said them, and the other things too. You've had a tough run, Selene. And you've been so strong throughout your life. I know you'll never stop being strong, but you deserve to rest for a season, to just enjoy the good things around you."

"Thank you for saying that."

Ben turned to the three of us, and while he was smiling and had distinctly misted eyes, he bared his teeth in the best possible impression of an alligator.

"You guys, if any of you does anything wrong, so help my next to zero knowledge of cooking, I'm going to have Biscuit cut you lot up and cook you into stew."

"Heh." Niall chuckled. "No, okay, I'll tell you Dom's secret recipe so you can cook him just how he likes it."

Dom balked at that. "Hey, that's my grandma's recipe. I ain't sharing that with no one. You can take Pierre's Italian stew recipe instead. Very umami and hearty."

Selene wrinkled her nose. "Ew. What in the mother of the next potential true crime documentary is this? Ben, there's something else you need to know."

"I don't think I have room for another stroke," Ben joked, dropping his arm around Selene's shoulders. "But try me."

"The boys and I... we’re pregnant with triplets.”

“Oh, my heck." He smiled. "Fuck, Selene, I am so, so happy for you. The last time, after what happened with Ollie and your doc telling you it would be your last pregnancy... I knew how cut up you were. And for the years to wind down and come to this..."

The boys and I moved closer to them.

"I should be thanking your best friends," Selene mumbled between tears and a little snort.

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