Page 42 of Sold to the Single Daddies (Southern Heat Reverse Harems #4)

Reagan

“I need to talk to y’all about your brothers.

” I swallowed a large gulp of sweet tea and tried to shove down the urge to cry with it.

I felt more emotional than ever after fighting with Mills and telling Tate and West to stay away.

No matter how upset I was with Mills, though, I couldn’t get the image of his shoulders slumping when he found out about yet another family event he wasn’t invited to out of my head.

He’d crushed my feelings earlier in the day but if there was a chance I could help keep his from being crushed by his sisters over and over again, I was going to take it.

Maxie, Nellie, and Vera, were all sitting closest to me in the middle of the tables we’d taken up at the diner.

Their husbands were spread out around them, each keeping a kid or two busy.

Arlo had Lucky and was having a blast watching Lucky scowl at everyone and everything but Hank.

It seemed Lucky and Hank were already best friends.

“What’d they do this time?” Maxie shook her head. “I knew something was wrong. You look like you’ve been crying.”

“God, those men. They can be such idiots.” Vera rolled her eyes and leaned forward. “Tell us everything they did so we can skin them alive for you.”

I put my glass down a little heavier than I meant to and rattled the silverware on the table.

“Honestly, it seems like that idiot gene runs in the family.”

Nellie sighed.

“Shit. We did it now, didn’t we?”

I nodded.

“Yeah, you did. There’s no reason to assume your brothers did anything wrong, but you did. That wouldn’t even be so awful if you gave them a chance to be here to defend themselves but you don’t. None of you ever invite them to anything. Do you think they don’t notice?”

“I told them they could come tonight.” Maxie’s cheeks were flushing. “I mean… Right?”

“You mean that sad invite you threw out after telling them everyone was getting together? That was pathetic and you know it. I love you guys like you’re my own sisters but you can’t keep doing this to your brothers.

Every time you don’t invite them to something, I watch it hurt them.

They want to be your brothers so desperately but they don’t know where to start and none of you are helping.

” I took a deep breath and shook my head.

“I’ve heard enough about everything that happened before I got here to know they let each of you down.

They’ve fucked up. What was the point in telling them how they failed each of you if you didn’t plan on giving them a chance to be better? ”

Nellie sighed and sat back in her chair.

“It really bothers them when we don’t invite them?”

“Yes! It hurts them. Whether you want to see it, or not, your brothers are like little boys when it comes to their sisters. They know they fucked up and they just want to be invited to the family again. They think you hate them, that the ways they failed you are too big for you to move past. Yet you accepted me with open arms. I was a stranger. They watched you treat a stranger so much better than you’ve treated them.

It’s not right.” I groaned as tears burned my eyes and slipped free.

“Jesus. What a mess. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being blunt about it but I need y’all to see your brothers through a different lens. ”

Vera crossed her arms and frowned.

“Well, tell it like it is, why don’t you?”

“Maybe we haven’t been fair.” Maxie blew out a deep breath. “They just come across as jerks so often. Like with you. We all heard how they spoke to you.”

“And that’s an issue for them to work out with me .

They’re flawed men, I’ll give you that. I’m so angry at Mills right now that I could strangle him.

They make mistakes. I’m pretty sure your husbands do, too, though.

Men are dumb. It is what it is. Intention matters.

Your brothers love y’all. They’re desperate to have a relationship with each of you.

” I clutched my napkin tight in my lap. “Can’t you try for them? ”

“I didn’t know it meant so much to them.” Maxie sighed. “Of course, we can try. They’re our brothers and we love them.”

“We just don’t always show it…” Vera groaned. “I don’t have to apologize to them or anything, do I?”

I couldn’t help laughing.

“I think just inviting them to a family event would be enough.”

“Wait. Why are you mad at Mills?” Nellie wagged her brows. “The honeymoon stage can’t be over that fast.”

“And how much do you love him if you’re mad at him and you’re still down here fighting for them?” Vera leaned across the table to playfully slap my arm. “A lot, clearly.”

I scowled at Nellie. “You told them?!”

She cackled. “No! You just did.”

“You love them?” Maxie wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight. “I should’ve known. You’re protecting their feelings way more than we ever have.”

We were all so huddled together that the rest of the world had fallen away.

“We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about me being mad, them being sad, and you three being nicer.”

“So, are you going to tell us why you’re mad?” Vera rubbed her hands together. “Even if we’re nicer to them and start inviting them places, we still want the gossip.”

I took a long drink of my tea and thought about it. It didn’t take me long to come to my answer. No. If I needed to complain about Mills, I could call Harley.

“Nope.”

“At least tell us if we need to knock some sense into him.” Nellie looked over my shoulder and then back at me. “Or all three of them.”

“They’re stupid men. Of course you could always knock some sense into them.” I rolled my eyes, clearly joking, and then jumped about a foot in the air when Mills spoke from directly behind me.

“Telling our sisters all the bad shit about me that you can, Reagan?” Mills sounded hurt but he also sounded furious. “Did you tell them I cheated? Or that I called you desperate?”

Turning to face him, I saw Tate and West at his side, looking just as frustrated as him. They were all mad at me, that much was clear. They all clearly thought the worst of me. They thought I was ranting to their sisters about them.

“Because they don’t hate us enough as it is.” Tate scowled around the table. “Why not add to it?”

Their sisters were in as much shock as I was. After fighting for them, to have them show up and act like a bunch of assholes was just…terrible.

“Maybe we should all carry this to one of our homes so we aren’t fighting in front of the whole town?” Arlo stood up with Lucky and gently handed him to me. “Our house?”

“Oh, are we invited there? Maybe check with your wife because I’m not sure we are.” Mills turned his glare back to me. “Instead of talking to me, you had to come to my sisters? Do you hate me so much that you want to keep our family apart?”

I realized two things in that moment. The first being that Mills was unfairly beautiful when he was furious.

The second, and most important, being that no matter what I did, they’d never trust me.

If Mills could accuse me of trying to keep his family apart after everything I’d told him, he didn’t know me and he never would because he didn’t want to.

I used their sisters’ justified outbursts to silently slip away.