Page 2 of Honeymoon Phase
If I never see Robyn Whitaker and her “husband” again for the rest of my life, it will be too damn soon. Those two took their fucked-up relationship back to Colorado Springs with their baby on the way and I tried not to spit on their car on their way out of town. The shame I have over that relationship is something I can’t even look my father or mother in the eye about.
“Let’s make a pact to never fall in love,” I add, my eyes sweeping down the mountain vista to land on the small rural community of Jamestown. It rests at the bottom of Fletcher Mountain and it’s a place I intend to call home for the rest of my life, even if that means I have to spend the next decade making up to Judy for trashing her bar.
“Seriously,” I add, turning to address both of my brothers. “We can do one-night stands or casual fucks or random hookups. We can satisfy our needs however we need to, but we don’t do girlfriends. Ever. We sure as hell don’t do wives. All relationships do is bring trouble. Hell, look how it turned out for Max.”
Wyatt and Calder both jerk their heads back, not laughing at my glib tone, but taking it seriously, which I appreciate. As the youngest of four boys, I tend to let the older brothers do the dictating, but I want to be heard right now. Our oldest brother Max’s story is a messy one. He lives in Boulder and is successful in business, and a great dad to his daughter, Everly. But losing his college girlfriend and the mother of his daughter to another woman wasn’t easy on him. It’s been years since he was divorced and he’s still a stiff, controlling pain in the ass. And I get it. No amount of time can heal that level of trauma.
That situation, plus our mess with all three of us secretly fucking the same woman behind each other’s backs, makes it painfully obvious that the Fletcher brothers are not suited for true love. Our parents’ happy marriage did not translate into our DNA. Letting a woman in is a recipe for disaster. Who needs that mess in their lives?
I step closer to my brothers, capturing their full attention when I grip each of them by a shoulder. “We have this peak. We have our homes. We have our father’s business. We’re best friends who live the dream up here... or we used to, before we let Robyn get between us. Nothing in life is more important than us. Right?”
“Damn right,” Wyatt growls in his deep timbre.
“Hell yes,” Calder confirms, grabbing my shoulder back.
I smile the first smile I have in the past few months of the shit show that was my love life with the woman who moved into the barn apartment and caused this conflict with my brothers. It feels good. Healing. Like we’re getting back to who we used to be and can finally see the forest through the trees.
“You boys done with this bullshit now?” our dad’s voice barks from nearby and all three of us turn our heads to look at him.
I straighten and move to stand in a line to silently voice my apology alongside my brothers for ripping our family apart, not to mention our father’s business.
“Good,” he huffs back before offering a tight smile. “Maybe you can come see your niece, then.”
“Seriously?” I ask, stepping away from my brothers to move toward my dad as hope blooms in my chest. My brothers both look just as excited as I do. It’s been months since we’ve seen Everly. Max cut off our contact with her when this Robyn thing all blew up and rumors started circulating around Boulder. And no matter how many times I texted asking if I could just talk to the little tyke on the phone, he refused. Said we needed to get our life together before we could be uncles again.
Honestly, Everly is probably my number one reason to never let a woman into my life again. She isn’t even ten years old, but she’s got us all wrapped around her tiny finger. She’s an important part of our lives, and I’m ashamed I let this Robyn stuff allow me to lose sight of that.
“We’re not here for a long time. We’re here for a good time,” my dad says with a wink. “Let’s go spoil our Evie-girl.”
And with that, we all hightail it off the peak and down to Boulder where romantic love can be a thing of the past and our niece can resume being the one and only love of our lives.
Chapter 2
Fact or Fiction?
My niece has bigger balls than I do.
Luke
Present Day
My brothers are lying assholes.Sellouts. Traitorous jerks. You know those people who say one thing and do another? That’s those three fuckers.
Ten years ago, we stood on this mountain and made a pact to be she-man woman haters until we were old and gray. But the image I’m looking at right now is the exact opposite of that. I’m staring at disgusting rural mountain suburbia. It’s like our rustic mountain setting is being gentrified. This scene of my brothers and their new lady friends looks like it could be out ofAlternative Amish Lifemagazine or some bullshit.
How the mighty have fallen.
Wyatt walks over to his wife of five months, Trista, and holds his hands out to take their eight-month-old baby, Stevie. They’re on the front porch of Calder’s cabin while Calder stands there in all his tattooed, bearded, obnoxious glory. He has his fucking pet cat strapped to his chest in a baby carrier while his hand is stuffed down his girlfriend Dakota’s back pocket, groping her ass as they all sip on lemonade and cool down after they’ve just moved Dakota permanently onto Fletcher Mountain.
Sellouts.
Then there’s Max standing up there with his wife, Cozy.They’ve been married for years now and Cozy and Dakota are best friends, so they were all too happy to drive the thirty-odd minutes up from Boulder and help Dakota get settled in. Their two kids are loving all this too. Even though Everly’s at college, she’s still smiling and slurping down refreshments with Ethan like this is the best day of her life because Dakota’s auntie status is more official now.
All three of my brothers are coupled up even though a decade ago, we stood right on this lookout point and made a pact. A pact that we held strong but they somehow forgot about the moment these three women came into their lives.
Heavy sigh.
Max gets a free pass since he wasn’t a part of this pact. He’s Mr. Corporate and lives a very different life in Boulder, but I thought after his divorce, he’d be anti-woman as well.
