front door, my anger getting the best of me. I’d taken my best friend’s shit. I had the bruises to prove it. Reagan had been gone for almost a week and I was done. Done waiting, done placating Russ’ temper, and done pretending that I wasn’t absolutely losing my fucking mind. Charlie and Theo were at my back, the two of them just as lost as I was without Reagan.
Lisa finally opened the door, her scowl transforming into something softer at the sight of us for a moment, and then it was back to scowling. “You three have a lot of nerve banging on this door. You’ve officially made my calm and peaceful life a living hell.”
I didn’t have the patience to pretend to feel as bad for her as I should’ve. “Sorry, Lisa. Where’s Russ?”
She full-out smiled then, showing she was as crazy as I’d always known she was. “Basement. Go around the back. The girls are just starting to calm down and I don’t want them losing it again if they see Russ chasing you out the front.”
I nodded and almost rushed away, but something about the way she looked at me made me pause. “You talked to her?”
She nodded. “She’s okay.”
“Where is she?” I knew I sounded unhinged, but I didn’t care. “We need to bring her home, Lisa.”
She put her hand on my shoulder and sighed. “I know. I wish I could tell you. I want her back, too. At this moment, I’d rather she be here than her brother. She wouldn’t tell me, though. Probably because she knew I’d send you three after her.”
I tugged at my hair and backed away. “Thanks anyway, Lisa.”
“Hey. What’d you do?” She looked over my shoulder at Charlie and Theo. “I know that for her to have run, something had to have happened. Did you act like idiots after she told you?”
Charlie, looking every bit the washed-up footballer in his misery, frowned deeper. “Jenny made her think that we aren’t serious about her. We made a stupid bet before—”
“Told us what?” Theo eased Charlie out of the way and looked down at Lisa. “What are you talking about?”
Lisa’s face paled and she slapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh, god.”
“Lisa.” I pulled her hand away from her face and studied her face. “What is it?”
She groaned. “Pearl somehow knew I’m pregnant.”
I was confused, but I’d celebrated every pregnancy with Russ and Lisa. Pulling her into a hug, I lightly squeezed her and forced myself to show her that I was happy for her, even if I was dying a little inside from missing Reagan. “Why the secrecy?”
“She also insinuated that Reagan was pregnant, too.”
I stumbled backward. My heart slammed against my chest and I had to force myself to breathe. “Pregnant?”
Charlie growled. “That’s not funny.”
“Well, I’m not joking, Charlie Taylor.” Lisa planted her hands on her hips. “Reagan didn’t know. She was starting to put it together at the lake and then Jenny showed up. I just assumed she told you guys that she’s pregnant and you panicked and said something stupid.”
“She’s pregnant?” Theo sank down on the porch steps and hung his head between his knees. “She’s pregnant and she’s just…on her own?”
“She’s pregnant?” Charlie looked at me and then back at Lisa. “Okay, give me your phone. I think we can trace her last call or something. We need to find her. She can’t be in the city by herself in her condition. She needs to be here, with us, so we can take care of her.”
Lisa smacked Charlie and rolled her eyes. “You’re not the FBI, Charlie.”
“You don’t know the lengths I’ll go to or the money I’ll spend for her, Lisa. I have an entire trust fund sitting untouched. I’d burn it to the ground for her.”
She hugged him then, tears spilling over. “I don’t know where she is, guys, but I’m sure if her brother called her and talked to her, she’d tell him. It’s not like she’d ever believe his stubborn ass would tell you where she was.”
“Pregnant.” I bent forward and rested my hands on my knees, sucking in a lungful of air. My mind raced with the possibilities. Elation was quickly replaced with outright fear. The woman I loved was gone, out in the world somewhere I couldn’t protect her. The things I’d seen in life were usually kept at bay, but thinking of Reagan exposed and helpless brought them all raging back like the worst nightmare.
I charged towards the back of the house, happy to beat the shit out of Russ if I needed to. He was going to call his sister and he was going to do it right then.
“Oh, shit.” Theo jumped up and raced after me, seeing the look on my face. “Charlie! A little help!”
I kicked open the fence and found Russ at the back door of the basement, pulling a box out. He’d just straightened, startled by the sound, when I grabbed him and slammed him against the side of the house. “You’ve had your time brooding. Call your sister and find out where she is. Now!”
Russ shoved against me, but I had him beat by a few inches and twenty pounds of muscle. “Get off me, asshole!”
“You kicked her out and she’s pregnant! If anything happens to her, I’m going to—”
“What?” Russ finally pushed me off and paced away. “She’s pregnant?”
Theo, still watching me closely, nodded. “We just found out ourselves. You can imagine that emotions are a little high. We need to find her and bring her home, Russ. She belongs here, with us.”
“With you?” Russ turned a glare on Theo. “With all three of you? What the fuck, man? You’re all just going to share my sister? That’s sick.”
“We love her.” Charlie’s quiet words left the backyard silent. He walked closer to Russ and put his hand on our friend’s shoulder. “We love her, Russ. Maybe we always have. It’s not conventional and I fucking know it’s not what you want, but that doesn’t change anything. She loves us, too, Russ. She wouldn’t have chanced hurting you if she didn’t.”
Russ knocked his hand away, but it lacked his full anger. “You fuckers lied to me. Ten years of lying. I made fun of her for being obsessed with you three like she was some loser stalker.”
I growled. “None of us told you to bully your sister, Russ. We fucked up. We shouldn’t have lied, but we were stupid fucking kids. The idea of ruining our friendship felt too huge to own up to what we’d done. We should’ve been men and told you the truth. That we’d watched Reagan grow into a woman and that she meant something to us. All of that aside, though, we never once joined you in making fun of her. We told you to stop. You were cruel to her for no reason.”
He charged at me and swung, but I easily dodged his punch and hit him instead, giving him back some of the bullshit he’d given us the week before. Groaning and cupping his eye, he stumbled away. “Fuck! You don’t think I’ve been thinking about this shit all week? I know what I did and the way I acted to her. She never cut me off, though. She never held it against me. She’s too fucking good for any of you. She’s too fucking good for me, too. She deserves a brother who would’ve been there for her. Not me. What did I do? I kicked her out of the fucking house.
“It’s our house! Did she mention that I have no right to kick her out of the house that she owns half of? Nope. She just let me treat her like shit and left. Goddammit!” Russ picked up the box he’d been moving and threw it farther into the yard. “I’m fucking furious with you three. You went behind my back and you slept with my sister. In ways that I can’t even begin to consider. But I fucking hate myself right now.”
My anger fizzled out and I followed him as he walked over to sit on the patio furniture. Charlie and Theo settled in the chairs across from us and we all just sat there, looking at each other. Finally, Theo laughed.
“What was in that box, man?”
Russ groaned and stretched his neck from side to side. “Fucking books. I think I just threw my entire spine out.”
It didn’t take long before we were all laughing, some of the tension broken. When we grew silent again, I sucked in a big breath and thought of Reagan out there, pregnant.
“I need you to call her, Russ. I love her. I need her back here. If she really is pregnant, I can’t just let her stay out in the world, unprotected. If she won’t come back here, I’ll go to her.”
Charlie nodded. “Without a second thought.”
“It’d be hard with Iris, but I’d do it. If I sell the shop and my bike, I can afford to fly back and forth to see her plenty.” Theo shrugged. “Whatever it takes.”
Russ pulled his phone from his pocket and set it on the table. “I’m not over this shit. I need Reagan to have whatever she wants, though. Whatever it is.”
“It’s us.” Theo sat back in his seat and looked from Charlie to me. “She wants us. She needs us, Russ.”
“Don’t fucking make me regret this.” Russ pressed a button on his phone and then glared at us. “Just so we’re clear, this is for Reagan. And Lisa. Lisa is threatening to murder me in her sleep.”
I didn’t care why he did it as long as he dialed the damn number and talked to his sister. When he put the phone to his ear and awkwardly said hello to her a few seconds later, I felt lightheaded from the relief. And frustrated. We’d been calling Reagan nonstop, but I’d worry about that later. I just had to find her first.
