Page 67 of Sold to the Single Daddies

“Fine.”

I sidestepped each of them and grabbed the baby monitor. My heart was pounding away in my chest but I already knew the outcome of the conversation. I was leaving. I hurried down the stairs and went to the dining room table. I put myself on the opposite side from them and crossed my arms as I waited.

Tate stood across from me and gripped the back of a chair.

“Our sisters told us what you were doing when we came in like a bunch of assholes.”

I shrugged. “Okay.”

“Why were you arguing for us after the way I talked to you?” Mills seemed genuinely confused and it made me ache even more.

“I’ve done everything I could to show you who I am. I’ve made it clear how much family means to me. I was willing to stay here even when you three were being awful to me in the beginning because I wanted a family for Lucky. For you to think I’d do anything other than fight for your family shows you haven’t paid attention at all. You don’t know me. Maybe you don’t want to. I don’t know. This talk isn’t going to change what I saw tonight, though. Whatever I thought was happening here…I was wrong.” I wrapped my arms around myself and held on tight. “You’re never going to let me in. You don’t trust me any more than I trust you, apparently. Worse, you don’t trust my motives. You think I’d try to come between you guys and your sisters. The way you looked at me tonight…I don’t want that anymore. I want to leave. Iamleaving.”

West pulled out a chair and sank heavily into it.

“You’re already in, Reagan. We trust you. Things with our family have been tense and it made us act stupid tonight.”

Mills gripped the back of his neck.

“It’s my fault. I fucked up a lot today. Don’t take it out on my brothers, Rea.”

I frowned at him.

“You did fuck up today. You hurt me. You talked to me like I was nothing. But you didn’t fuck up alone. All three of you thought the worst of me tonight.”

“Just like you thought the worst of me today.” Mills leaned forward with his hands braced on the table. “You thought I fucked Melanie.”

I nodded. “I did.”

“Can’t we just chalk this day up as a loss and move on?” He sighed. “Please, Reagan.”

“No. I can’t keep doing this. Everything with you three has been one extreme after another. The way I feel… It’s too big to be healthy. It hurts too much when you look at me like you hate me or talk to me like you did tonight. I’m leaving.”

“I care about you, Reagan. Doesn’t that matter?” West stared up at me with so much emotion shining in his eyes that it felt like I was being strangled by it.

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head.

“How can you care about me when you think I could try to alienate you from your family?”

With a surprising amount of anger Tate slammed his hands down on the table.

“Don’t question our feelings for you. We care about you, Reagan. We’ve crossed so many of our own boundaries to be with you and we haven’t regretted it for a moment. You’re worth it. You belong here with us. We made a mistake tonight and our sisters made sure we knew it. I was fucking humbled and I feel like a piece of shit for questioning you. I want to make it up to you. I want to spend all my time with you, Reagan, so I can fix this and prove to you that I want and need you. I can’t do that if you run away, kitten.”

Tears peppered my eyes but I blinked them away.

“I’m sorry. I’ve already made up my mind. I’m going.”

“No.” Mills came around the table and pulled me into his chest. He held me with my arms limp at my sides and rested his chin on top of my head. “You can’t leave, Reagan.”

“I have to. This is just going to keep happening and I can’t take it. The longer I stay, the stronger I feel for y’all, and the more it’s going to hurt.” I inhaled his scent greedily, knowing I might not ever get that close to him again. “I don’t think I can go back to Dallas. Being that far from Lucky would kill me. I’ll find somewhere in town to stay.”

“Stop it.” Mills held me tighter. “You’re staying here. We’re going to fix this.”

I shook my head but Mills gripped my hair in his big fist and held my head still. Tears leaked out faster.

“There’s nothing to fix.”

“Let her go, Mills.” Tate’s voice was flatter than I’d ever heard it.

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