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She was right. Hours later, I walked out of the room somewhat self-consciously, into a cloud of masculine cologne. There they stood, all dressed in perfectly tailored suits, hair neatly combed back, and I think Brock even waxed his beard. Each man looked up as I stepped out. Millie had found a pair of dress boots she approved of in my wardrobe and I’d pulled them on along with the suit. The satin of the waistcoat cum top felt odd against my skin, the stiff fabric of the suit making my arms want to hang weird, but all thoughts stopped as they looked me over.

How had I never seen it before? McDonalds held nothing back, and each man stared at me then as if they’d never seen me before or as if they’d been watching me my whole life. My eyelashes started to flutter as emotion surged, but that’s when Millie stepped in.

“No, no, no. I used waterproof mascara, but that won’t stop the eyeshadow from running. Stop with all of this Care Bear-stare shit and get your arses to the party. You can cry afterwards.”

“I can’t wait until some bloke sweeps you off your feet,” Hayden grumbled, coming closer to me. “Then you’ll look at him like he’s the most amazing thing in the world, your whole heart aching with how much you love him.”

“Is that what’s happening right now?” I asked, but I knew. We were of the same mind, all of us now.

“One guy?” Millie said, shooting me a wicked smile. “I’ve been inspired by my bestie here. Monogamy was never really my thing, but poly-whatever the hell this is?” She nodded slowly. “I could get behind that. Or below. Under?”

“We are not talking about my baby sister getting multiple dicks right now.” Hunter offered me his arm. “Shall we?”

Part of me didn’t want to. After today’s bullshit with my family, I was seriously considering going no contact with the lot of them except for Frankie, but I’d promised Nadia. She was amazing, somehow managing to redeem my dickhead brother into someone I could actually stand.

“Let’s,” I said finally.

Chapter 60

Jamie

The trouble with this amazing suit is that it had me walking into the swanky hall Nadia’s family had rented feeling a false sense of security. Looking sharp and having three hot guys at her back could do that to a girl. I scanned the many, many tables as we walked in, then saw my family sitting around one of the central tables, and my grip on the engagement present I was carrying tightened.

“It’s not too late to make a run for it.” Hunter appeared beside me with his own present in tow. “We could dump these presents and run, and then we could spend a very long time looking at how well Mac tailored that suit to fit your body, right before we took it off.”

“Maybe leave the waistcoat on because damn…” Hayden’s eyes slid sideways, the paper of his parcel crinkling as he inspected my cleavage thoroughly.

I sucked in a breath, tossing that idea around in my mind. I’m fairly sure Millie didn’t spend ages pulling my hair back into a tight, intricate braid just for them to wrap it around their fists less than an hour later, but bloody hell the idea was tempting.

“But you’re not going to.” Brock looked completely confident in his assertion, while also being a little sad as he stared into my eyes. “You’re going to see this through for Nadia and Frankie.”

“There you are!”

As if summoned by their names, Nadia appeared, throwing her arms in the air as she rushed over. Frankie was slower to move, forced to break off a conversation he was having and hustle after her as she began to move.

“Oh my freaking god, you look amazing!” she said as she looked me up and down. There it was, more compliments puffing me up, making me think I’d nailed this whole formal wear thing. “Doesn’t Jamie look amazing, Frank?” My brother went to reply, but Nadia rushed forward. “I’m so glad you came.” She pressed a kiss to my cheek, the process made a little awkward by the present I was carrying, then turned to the guys. “And you brought all your boys! I’m Nadia.”

Introductions were made, more kisses deposited on cheeks, but when she pulled away, I awkwardly handed the present over.

“We each got you something, made sure it was from your wish list,” I said.

“Oh, you didn’t need to do that!” she exclaimed.

Yes we did. The pleased flush in her cheeks, the way Frankie shot me a grateful look, because while he liked coffee, he was happy with the crappy instant kind, not the cool pod machine that made amazing stuff that I’d bought for them. We were making Nadia happy, and on that front we were united. He nodded to all four of us before moving forward to take the presents.

“So, you know Mum is gonna shit…” my brother hissed as he leaned in closer. “Do you want me to stick you guys at another table? You might end up sitting with one of Nadia’s great aunts or something, but still…”

It might be preferable to what was about to happen when Mum saw what I was wearing and who I was with. In my mind, the memory of telling my brothers and my dad off had me standing taller, something Frankie noted. Without further conversation, he made it clear he could see I was determined.

“I made sure to leave four spots at your family’s table because I wasn’t sure who was coming,” Nadia said, her words coming out in a rush. This was her day, her celebration, but that didn’t mean she got to relax. “Your mother is a bit put out that Dave and Frannie were seated at the table next to yours, but with their kids, it was all getting a bit squishy. Steve and Amber left theirs with the babysitter.”

So Mum would already be pissed. I nodded and said, “It’s OK. We’ll deal with it.” I squeezed Nadia’s hands. “This is your night. Enjoy it and don’t worry about us.”

But she couldn’t seem to stop. A sidelong look at Frankie and then he was moving closer, his arm snaking around her waist.

“If Mum acts like a dick, you tell me and I’ll sort it out.” I blinked, narrowed my eyes and stared at my brother, expecting him to transform into someone, something else. This was not the Frankie I grew up with. In recognition of that, he swallowed and then pulled Nadia tighter against his body. “Nadia and I have talked, and she made sure I understood how badly Mum treats you.”

“Your mum has been a bit… hectic with the wedding coming up.” Nadia’s words came spilling out. “She was always pretty intense.” I snorted at that. “But then it just got worse. I talked to Frankie, made clear he needed to deal with the situation. Honestly, I was reconsidering the whole engagement for a while there.”