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When I got home, I threw my keys on the counter and went into the bathroom to shower. As I stood under the hot water, I thought about Claire. She looked beautiful but had sadness in her eyes. I was in love with her, and I wouldn’t deny it. It hurt not to see her every day, cuddle with her on the couch, and sleep beside her in bed, holding her tight in my arms. She said she had feelings for me, but I had difficulty believing it.
When I was in the shower, my phone went off. Wrapping a towel around my waist, I grabbed my phone and saw I had a text message from Christian.
“Hey, are you home?”
“Yeah. I’m here.”
“Want some company? Charleigh is out with the girls.”
“Sure. Come on over.”
“Great. I’ll see you in ten minutes.”
I threw on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt, dried my hair, and heard a knock at the door. When I opened it, my brows furrowed when I saw Sam, Stefan, Sebastian, Simon, Shaun, and Christian standing there.
“Hey, you guys.”
“I hope you don’t mind. I brought my cousins with me.” Christian smiled.
“And we brought the beer.” Simon grinned as he and Sam held up two six packs.
“Come on in,” I said.
Simon and Sam set the beer on the counter. We all grabbed a bottle and went into the living room.
“So, what’s up?” I asked.
“We need to have a little chat about our sister,” Simon said.
I let out a long sigh before tipping the bottle to my lips.
“Listen, Nick. We like you,” Simon said. “You’re good friends with Christian, and that makes you a part of our family.”
“We think you’re a great guy,” Sam said.
“I appreciate it, but I don’t want to talk about Claire.”
“Too bad,” Simon said. “We’re going to talk about her because Shaun and I had to go pick her up at the brewhouse.”
“Why?” My brows furrowed.
“Because she was drunk off her ass,” Stefan said.
“She turned to alcohol to escape the pain of your conversation today,” Simon said. “I know I haven’t known her very long, but she is our sister, our blood, and we don’t like seeing her like that.”
“Simon—”
“Don’t interrupt, bro. I’m not finished. Yeah, she didn’t tell you who she was. Everyone makes mistakes. Hell, we’ve made more mistakes than we like to admit. You need to understand what kind of head space she was in at the time. Her mother had passed away; she’d just found out who her biological father was, found us, packed up her life, and moved here. I admit that she probably didn’t handle the situation the right way. She dove head-first into the unknown. And in the midst of all that, she met you.”
“She used me to get to you guys,” I said.
“Nah, I don’t think so,” Simon said.
“Listen, Nick,” Shaun said. “I’m not going to lie. I sort of used Jenni to get to my brothers.”
“Sort of, bro?” Sam smirked.
“Shut up. The point is that was my intention. But when I met her, I fell in love with her. I mean, how couldn’t I? She’s an amazing and beautiful woman. The guilt I felt every single day keeping that secret from her nearly destroyed me, but it didn’t. You know what did? Her finding out and hating me for it. Finding out you have siblings you never knew about isn't easy. And it’s not something as simple as knocking on one of their doors and announcing who you are. Christian knows how it feels, and so does Carter.”
