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The man nodded, moving to get my order, but as soon as he pulled away, she appeared.

Was this what lay beneath the mask of civility? Marjorie’s eyes flashed as she stared up at me, but I couldn’t give two shits about whatever poison she had brewing in that head of hers. I went to move away, but her hand shot out, grasping my forearm so hard it was either stop where I was or shove her aside.

Shoving sounded so damn good.

But pushing middle-aged women to the ground was frowned upon for some reason, so I just stared her down.

“Something you need, Majorie?”

“What is this?” she snapped, right as the barmen put my drinks before me.

I picked up a drink and took a sip from it.

“It’s a rum and Coke.”

“No.” She used the tense tone only mothers seemed to master. “What are you doing with my daughter? What are you and your…” Majorie swallowed as she looked back. “Brothers doing with Jamie.”

I settled against the bar.

“Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yes.”

Her intense stare was off putting, the whites of her eyes way too apparent, but… underneath that frenzied manner, I could see it. There was a woman who worried about her daughter. It was that, the fact my own mum would worry whenever some guy or guys came knocking on Millie’s door to declare their intentions, that had me taking her seriously.

“Loving her.” It hurt to say it still. This was a feeling that had been kept down for so long that when it was summoned forth, it came in this god-awful rush. “I love Jamie, and some part of me thinks I always have.”

“She started work with you as a child!” Majorie blustered.

“And back then I loved her as a sister. As a young woman trying to find her feet, needing guidance, not my dick.” Her nose wrinkled at my crude words, but hey, I was never one for niceties. “That came later.”

“So this is a… sexual thing for you.” She glanced back at the table, then at me. “You’re using my daughter.” Her breath was coming in harder and faster, her tone picking up. People started turning around to find out why. “Do the three of you do this often? Find unsuspecting girls and then seduce them with your lies.”

“What. Lies.” My words were forced out between gritted teeth. “What lies, Majorie?”

I pushed her hard because I saw Jamie jump to her feet, crossing the floor in long strides. She was rushing forward to save me from her mother, but Jamie didn’t understand. There was nothing Majorie could say to me that would make a scrap of difference. I didn’t give a shit about her or her damn family, just Jamie.

That’s why I wanted her mother’s poison expressed before her daughter could be touched by any of it.

“That you care about her.” Majorie’s brows drew down, turning her already harsh face into something truly ugly. “One of you I could perhaps accept, but all three.”

She turned around to scan the floor, finding the twins, but they were hot on Jamie’s heels. We knew what needed to be done, and that did not include sitting around and making small talk with her family. Jamie had been so stressed about the idea of coming to this party she was willing to pretend we were her dates. Our mission hadn’t changed, even if our relationship had. We needed to protect our girl from her family’s toxic waste.

Of course, that wasn’t how it worked.

“A successful businessman?” Majorie sneered. “Not one, but two male models? I looked them up, saw their surfwear photos. All of you, in love with my daughter.” She shook her head sharply. “Jamie was always telling lies as a child, but she was always so easy to see through. Amber said that you’re all the brothers of that best friend of Jamie’s.”

“And you think that’s why we did this?” I shook my head. Majorie and I existed in such completely different realities there was no communicating across the chasm between us. “That this was just a favour to Millie?”

“What else could it be? My daughter can be quite pretty if she makes an effort, but for some reason, that girl has no pride in herself. Never making an effort, always looking like some kind of street urchin, and even when she does try, she walks in looking like a man.”

Shut up, I wanted to snap, but the need to show respect to my elders that my parents had instilled in me kept me quiet. Shut the fuck up.

“What the hell she thought she was doing spending money on a suit.” Majorie shook her head. “It makes her look chunky, the jacket cutting across the widest part of her hips…”

Majorie’s speech faded away, a sharp whine starting up in my head as Jamie stumbled closer. Her eyes went wide, her hands slapping down instinctively on her hips and then tugging her jacket tighter around her. No, I wanted to say, needing that brave, beautiful girl back. No. Hayden and Hunter said something to that effect to her, but Majorie? She kept on going, right up until a voice cut through it all.

“Holy shit, Mum…” Frankie stumbled forward, eyes wide, a look of shock so pure I knew it was real. He studied his mother the same way someone might a venomous snake they’d just stumbled across, with growing horror.