guys all arriving upstairs and sat on the edge of my bed, wishing for one of the infamous alien abductions that had been rumored to have happened in Lunar a few times before. Did I especially want to be probed by aliens? No, but I also didn’t want to sit across from my brother and the three men I’d let screw my brains out just a few nights before. I knew the abductions that had supposedly happened in Lunar were really just acid-induced trips, but it didn’t stop me from hoping. It also didn’t stop the tourism committee of Lunar from hyping it up.
Torn between sneaking out of the back like a loser or calmly facing the guys like the mature adult I was, I was already walking towards the back door when Russ called down the stairs to me.
“Reagan! Come on up! It’s poker night and Lisa made pizza!”
I cursed under my breath. “Yeah, okay! Be right up!”
With no other choice, I slowly climbed the stairs like I was climbing towards my death. I was terrified of facing all three men at the same time. I also wasn’t sure if Russ would be able to take one look at my face and see the truth. I hesitated at the door, considering how weird it would look if I just sprinted back downstairs and out the back door.
Before I could finish calculating the risks, Lisa opened the door and jumped in surprise when she found me hovering just on the other side. I forced a laugh and found myself seconds away from going straight Ashley Simpson on that late-night show.
“I was coming to get you. Pizza’s ready. It’s not normally a big deal to eat at a certain time, but if poker night starts late, it goes late, and the girls refuse to sleep until it’s finished.” She wrapped her arm around mine and pulled me towards the dining room. “There are also brownies for dessert. Special ones for us girls, since we have to listen to them shout at each other for hours.”
My mouth fell open as I looked down at her. “Really?”
She giggled and patted my arm. “What Russ doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”
There was no way I was eating a special brownie because I was already freaking out. I didn’t need another reason to be paranoid, like being high around a cop who had no problem ticketing me.
“Aunt Rea! Sit by me!” Piper tugged at the chair next to hers, fighting the heavy wooden thing with adorable grunts and determination. When she got it out, she cheered and pointed to it. “I’ll help you with cards.”
I looked around the dining room and glued a polite smile to my face. Russ was at the head of the table, with Posie and Lisa sitting next to him. Next to Posie was Piper and on the other side of Lisa was Theo. Sitting next to Piper had me across from Theo and next to Charlie, with August next to Theo, never too far out of my sight. I wanted to cry as I wedged my way between Charlie’s chair and the wall behind it to get to my seat.
The second I sat down, Charlie leaned closer and grinned. “I won’t lie. I miss the braids.”
I told my hands to stay in my lap, but of course, one of them lifted straight to my hair. Knowing they were coming to the house for poker night, I’d curled my hair and applied makeup. I’d also dressed in a nice pair of jeans and a cute tank top that made my boobs look fantastic. I wanted to kick myself for getting all dolled up for them. It was embarrassing.
We passed around pizza and the men talked while Piper gave me a long version of all the rules of poker. I was thankful for the excuse for not having to talk to anyone else. I was thinking I might even escape unscathed when I happened to glance up and catch eyes with Russ.
“I didn’t get to talk to you about the meeting with the Stovalls. How did it go? Did you get to meet Iris?”
Piper and Posie cheered loudly. Posie was fast to inform me that Iris was her best friend.
I kept my eyes on Russ and away from Theo. “It was great. Mary and Jim are so nice. Working for them is going to be a breeze. Honestly, cooking for a family instead of a bunch of execs will be a nice change of pace. And I did get to meet Iris. She seems like a sweetheart.”
“Theo raised a good kid. I bet you didn’t know he had it in him. The same kid who used to shove toilet paper in the school toilets and flush until they flooded. Who’d have thought it?” Russ laughed at his best friend. “Let’s just hope that our kids don’t learn our tricks.”
I smiled and looked to Lisa. “For your sake, I hope the kids take after you. However, I had to stop them from fist-fighting a soccer mom in the car pickup line today, so…”
Lisa snorted and nearly choked on her wine. “No!”
Charlie laughed easily from beside me. “Yeah, I witnessed it. Pretty sure that mom left scared. Our girls showed her. No one honks at our Reagan and gets away with it.”
I felt a tingle at the way he put himself in that sentence but brushed it off. “I got to witness a lot of tense meetings at my last position and I can honestly say that I think Piper and Posie would’ve intimidated most of those men.”
“Speaking of.” Russ grunted and made an unhappy face, a clear indication that I should’ve left while I had the chance. “What the hell was up the other night?”
I froze. Pure panic washed over me as I glanced at the kids, wondering if I was really about to be exposed as a hussy in front of them. “What?”
“That asshole called your phone all night long, Reagan. Lisa accidentally took it with us when we left and I heard it ringing all night. I looked later and saw all the calls were from Ben. Is he bothering you?”
I melted into my chair with relief, but it was short-lived as I realized I had four sets of hard eyes on me, all waiting for a response. I opened my mouth to answer, but I didn’t really have an answer. He’d been calling a lot, and texting, but it wasn’t like he was harassing me.
“Who’s Ben?” August rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward. His eyes were intense as he watched me. “If he’s calling that much, it could be considered harassment.”
“Ben is her shitty ex-boyfriend. An exec from the place she used to work. He got her fired.” Russ had gone into overprotective big brother mode and I grew frustrated as I listened to him.
“Russ, stop.” Lisa must’ve read my face because she patted her husband’s hand and cast me an apologetic look. “Reagan is a big girl. If she’s having trouble, she’ll tell you.”
“I don’t want you trying to deal with that kind of bullshit by yourself, Reagan. That’s all.”
I nodded. “I appreciate that.”
After a few seconds, Russ groaned. “You’re not going to say anything else? Is he bothering you? Is he still calling that much? Does August need to file a report against him?”
Lisa sighed and sat back in her chair. “Brownies, anyone?”
I looked over at my nieces. “You two should help Mom, okay?”
Piper sighed. “Grown-ups always say that when they want to yell at each other.”
Posie groaned and dragged her feet as she stood up and moved away. “They think we don’t know anything.”
As soon as they were gone, I leaned closer to my brother and spoke quietly. “While I appreciate your concern, I have been taking care of myself for ten years, Russ. There’s no need for you to bring Ben up in front of everyone and especially in front of the girls. What if you scared them? Ben is not an issue. He’s a sore loser who’s pissed that he can’t have his cake and eat it, too. Not a serial killer, coming for my skin. Take it easy on the chest-beating, would you?”
Russ scowled. “How about you don’t say things like serial killer and coming for your skin and I won’t panic?”
Lisa came back into the room and handed out brownies. She placed a plate in front of me and winked, but I was too focused on making Russ shut up to pay attention. I took a big bite and chewed, silently worried that Lisa wasn’t a great baker by the taste of things, before going back in on Russ.
“I love you, but you don’t need to panic. Or ever bring up my love life at dinner ever again. Okay?”
He rolled his eyes but I could see his shoulders sinking as he relaxed. “Just promise me that if he doesn’t let up, you’ll let me know.”
I nodded. “Sure.”
Lisa giggled as she watched me eating my brownie and winked again. “Poker night is the best.”
My brain finally caught up to my taste buds and I dropped my special brownie back on the plate, although it was just a few crumbs at that point. Staring at the brownie and then at Lisa, and then at August, I swore loud enough that everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at me.
“What is it?”
I cleared my throat and took a big gulp of water. “Nothing. Nothing, at all. Should we play poker now, or…”
I was going to murder Lisa. I’d consumed most of her special brownie without meaning to and I could only imagine how it was going to hit me when I was sitting next to Charlie and across from Theo and August.
I was screwed.
