Page 64 of Thanking Her Brother's Best Friends

"You guys think I'm spoiling my kid?"

The three of us wheeled around at the same time, and Ollie ran to the door to jump into Selene's arms.

She replied by hugging him tightly and told him to go take a shower before dinner. Then, she turned her attention to us with her hands on her hips.

Man, she looked like she could kill the three of us with her bare hands.

20

SELENE

"No, seriously." I stormed into the living room with the intensity of a furious tap dancer. "Educate me on how to be a better mother for my child. Who better to advise me than three men who—oh, the irony—haven't even fucking parented a fucking plant in their whole lives."

I swung around on the boys, who looked like they were in the principal's office for some wrongdoing. If my memory served me right, they used to spend a lot of time in Mrs. Adleman's office when we were kids too. I glared at them.

"Heh," Dominic emitted a nervous chuckle and shifted guiltily on his feet. A bead of sweat trickled down from his forehead to his neck.

"Come to think of it," he said, blinking at me warily, "I did try to grow a few philodendrons, but I can't say I did a very good job."

I snorted and folded my arms across my chest. "So, what were you doing in there? Teaching my kid to think that he can't rely on his mom?"

"With all due respect, Selene," Aiden said with a touch of defiance in his tone, "youhavespoiled your kid."

A low groan sounded from the depths of Niall's throat, and Dominic looked like he wanted to be anywhere else in the whole world except here.

"Come again?" I asked, my voice equal parts deadly and quiet. "And clearer this time. For the whole room."

"Look," Aiden continued.

He stood up from his perch on the modular, L-shaped leather sofa that formed the centerpiece of the room, its metallic accents attuned to the ambient lighting. "Selene, no one here is questioning your abilities as a mom."

"Oh, thanks," I responded, my voice dripping in sarcasm, "because that totally did not cross my mind."

"I get why you're being defensive, but that was never our intention. When we got here, we found that Ollie had transformed his nursery into the Gates of Hell. Lego blocks everywhere. Toys scattered around. And he refused to listen to your nanny. He was throwing a screaming tantrum."

Against my hardest attempts to keep glaring at Aiden, a tinge of worry seeped into my eyes. I took a seat on one of the low-profile armchairs upholstered in supple white leather. I traced the clean lines and polished chrome frames, reminding myself to breathe.

Aiden wasn't wrong.

I loved Oliver with every last drop of blood in my body, but of late, there were more and more moments when I could not figure out whether there were any likenesses between us except the way he looked.

Right from the time he was a baby, Ben and everyone else used to say he was more of a mini-me, even though he was a boy. He had the same shade of reddish hair, the same eyes, even the little ways in which I smiled or spoke or my mannerisms—they were all ingrained in him.

But I came from an impoverished background that taught me to be kind to everyone around me. After catapulting into wealth, I realized that it was easy to be mean to people.

Sometimes, it wasn't even intentional. With Ollie, it was more that he'd become so used to having things handed to him that he couldn't imagine life would ever be any different.

"Did he say anything bad to Franny?" I asked quietly, tapping my foot nervously against the seamless expanse of polished marble.

"No, he was just—let's say if this were American Idol, he'd definitely win awards for shattering glass with his pitch. Selene, the boy needs to learn humility. And he won't get that from expensive gifts, holidays, or your bending over to every little command he makes."

I raised my face to align my gaze with Aiden's. Part of me wanted to shout and tell him that I didn'tbend overto my kid's demands. But Aiden and that bluntness of his...

There were no lies there. And in that instant, I realized that this was the first time Oliver had real father figures around him, barring Ben. That these three boysactuallywanted him to be an upstanding little man.

The thought was terrifying. I was used to caring for and loving my kid alone.

"I guess I never thought about it this way." I rubbed my face wearily. "I'm sorry, guys. I've had a long day, and the media has been unrelenting. Then, coming home to this... I know you didn't mean to hurt me. Sorry I launched at you like a furious hedgehog."

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