Page 89 of My Brother's Teammates

His face is bright red, his eyes narrowed, his teeth clenched. In my periphery, his fists clench and unclench at his sides.

He throws his hand up, his forearm catching my outstretched hand as I approach him and flinging my arm away.

“Whoa.” Mateo steps forward, hand out, palm facing Harrison. “Dude. Take a breath.”

Harrison’s nostrils flare as he looks at us all one by one. “The underwear.” He sounds like he might be talking to himself. “It was yours.” He looks me dead in the eye. “Which one of them are you fucking? It’s Jace, isn’t it? I was fucking right about you banging him.” He points a finger in my face as he advances on me again. “Say it, Charlotte. Say it out loud.”

My mouth falls open, tears welling in my eyes as I scramble to find the words, the answer, something to calm him down, to make him see reason, but all I have is the truth, and that’s going to make him even madder.

I look at Roman, then Mateo. I don’t get to make eye contact with Jace because my brother’s not fucking stupid. He knows all of us. Whatever guilt he sees on his friend’s faces is enough for him to make the leap, though he probably could have guessed from how they all rallied around me when he first came in.

“You can’t be fucking serious, Charlotte!” He steps back, shaking his head. “My best friends? My teammates?” No matter what I say right now, it won’t change a thing. When my brother sees red, there’s no talking him down.

I need to try though. “Harrison?—”

“And you three?” His voice cracks, breaking as he addresses his friends. “My fucking sister? All of you? Together?” His stare holds Jace’s, who still hasn’t said a fucking word, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. Doesn’t Jace always have something to say?

“I know you’re all about sharing a piece of ass, but my fucking sister?”

His words drench me like ice-cold water, and I gasp. But before I can think, or react, a fist connects with Harrison’s jaw with such force that a gnarly crunch fills the heavy silence.

It’s Jace’s.

There’s a pregnant pause before someone shoves me out of the way as chaos erupts, and I land on the couch with a thud that knocks the air out of my lungs.

Harrison throws a hook back at Jace, his face twisted in an animalistic snarl with his lip curled and blood covering his teeth.

Jace grunts as Harrison’s knuckles catch his face before Mateo and Roman can intervene. It’s like an on-ice melee without the equipment. The coffee table flips and a couple glasses crash to the floor with the latest copy of Sports Illustrated. Mateo’s braced against Harrison’s body, his feet planted, but Harry isn’t backing down, his arms flailing. “My fucking sister? All of you? I can’t believe this. My fucking best friends.”

Roman’s in front of Jace, staring him down, his hands held up in front of his body. He’s not touching Jace, but it’s clear from the resolve on his face that he will if he’s forced to.

I can’t fight the tears anymore. They’re spilling down my face as I try to press myself through the angry bodies to get to my brother. “Harrison, please. It’s not like that. Could you please just listen?”

“Listen to what? The guilty silence of my sister and my three best friends? Don’t think so, Charlotte.” The way he spits the word Charlotte makes my blood chill in my veins.

“I-it’s not like that.” My lip’s trembling, just like my hands.

“Like what? You mean you’re not fucking half my team behind my back?”

At that, Mateo steps back from Harrison, and there’s another bone-crunching punch as Mateo’s fist meets Harrison’s face. “Watch your fucking mouth, Harrison.”

“Stop!” I screech. “I can’t take it. Please. Please stop hitting each other.” I hold my hands up. “Can we calm down? Let’s sit at the table and talk about this. We can make coffee and… talk, please, Harry. Please just calm down.”

Four men fall silent, their heavy breaths the only sound in the apartment as their chests rise and fall. My roommates are glaring at my brother, and my brother’s glaring right back. Blood’s trickling from a cut under Harrison’s eye and another at the corner of his mouth. Dried blood trails from Jace’s nose to his chin, and he’s got a shiner already blooming on his cheek. They’re going to look worse in the morning.

“You fucked my sister.” Harrison isn’t letting it go.

Before I can defend myself, say that I fucked them right back, Jace grunts. “How you’re talking to her right now is way worse than anything we’ve done to her.” The scathing glint in Jace’s eye is scary as fuck.

Harrison grunts, looking back at me. “My best friends? Really?” His voice cracks. But despite the slump to his shoulders, I don’t know if he’s going to break down into tears or start throwing fists again. His face falls. Is he expecting the answer to change? Does he need to hear me list my crimes out loud?

Roman shifts guiltily, and Mateo casts his eyes to the floor, but Jace stands firm, scowling at Harrison like nothing he says will make him back down in this moment.

I’m not ashamed of sleeping with three men at the same time. I feel bad for keeping secrets from my brother, but who I choose to let touch me is my business. From somewhere deep inside, I find the strength to lengthen my spine and meet his hard stare, even if I’m still crying.

“Harrison, I’m sorry for keeping the truth from you. But yes, I’ve lived here for around two weeks.” I swallow, trying to press my hands against my thighs to stop them shaking so hard.

“By living here, you mean fucking my friends?”

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