Page 82 of Perfect Bragg

“Me three.”

I hold up my hand to stop my brothers. They’re wrong. I’m no one’s father. I can’t be. “I’m merely helping out until the custody hearing is over.”

“Which is why you change Robin’s diapers in the middle of the night.”

“And switched up your schedule so you can care for Robin during the day while Harmony’s working.”

I scowl. “Someone has to care for her. I’m not letting Harmony lose her job.”

“Mom would babysit,” Riley says.

“My mom, too,” Peace adds.

“Time to tell the truth,” Miller orders. “What’s holding you back from committing to Harmony?”

“I told you, Robin.”

“And we’ve cleared up the Robin situation,” Brody says.

“I’ll get out the rum.” Miller starts walking toward the kitchen.

“I am not playing truth or punch.”

Truth or punch is a ‘game’ we play when one of us is struggling but won’t admit what’s going on with him. It usually ends up with all of us drunk and one of us bruised.

He shrugs. “Okay. I can punch you and skip the truth part.”

I retreat a few steps. Miller’s my height but he has a good twenty pounds of muscle on me. A punch from him would not be pleasant.

“You want to know why I can’t be with Harmony?” I hiss.

“I think we’ve made it obvious we do,” he replies.

“It’s your fault.”

His brow wrinkles. “My fault? How is it my fault?”

I rub a hand down my face. Shit. I didn’t mean to blame him. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault.”

“Damn straight. It’s not.”

I inhale a deep breath before admitting the truth. “I can’t be a dad because I would ruin the child.”

“Ruin the child?” Brody shakes his head. “I admit your jokes are horrible but listening to crappy jokes for a lifetime won’t ruin anybody.”

“I’m not referring to my jokes. I’m referring to how I allowed my dad to bully my twin and didn’t do anything to stop it.”

Riley chuckles. “I thought I was the idiot in the family.”

“Don’t worry,” Brody says. “You still are. Leaving Moon because you worried you’d turn into our dad was pretty idiotic.”

Riley points at me. “Not as idiotic as thinking you can’t be a dad because your own dad bullied your twin.”

“Not because Dad bullied Miller, but because I did nothing about it,” I hiss at him.

Miller clears his throat. “One, I hid how bad Dad was hurting me from everyone. Including you. How could you have done anything about it when you didn’t realize what was happening?”

“I should have paid better attention.”

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