chapter 28

“You fit with us. You’re funny and smart.” Blake stroked my stomach with his big hand. “And you’re absolutely beautiful.”

“We just know. It’s not typical for all three of us to like the same person. We’re different men with different needs, but you shine to all of us.” Isaac wiped my tears and sighed. “Even Julian. Seeing him talk to you is like watching some of his old self come out.”

“We haven’t spent a lot of time with you, but we know what we know. Call it a triplet thing.” Blake combed his fingers through my hair. “And whatever you’re so worried about won’t be too big for us to sort through.”

I choked my feelings out through my tears. “I just don’t deserve this. I’m horrible.”

“You’re not.” Isaac growled. “Now, stop it. You’re running on too little sleep and coming off of a pretty big experience. You need rest.”

I sniffled and suddenly felt just how tired I really was. I yawned and curled into them. My brain slowed with the steady stroking of my hair from Blake. My eyes were so heavy that I let them close and sighed. “I hope you don’t hate me.”

Isaac shh-ed me and kissed my forehead. “We couldn’t hate you. Now go to sleep.”

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Karacameandgot me from work the next day, her excuse that she missed Hank and me, but I knew her true motives. She wanted gossip. Lucky for her, I was feeling like spilling my guts. I told her to pick me up with lunch already in the car if she wanted me. There was no way I was going out in public until I absolutely had to. Not when everyone knew I was boning the Steele brothers.

She didn’t disappoint, which was how I knew she was desperate for the tea. She showed up with an entire pizza and two massive slices of chocolate cake, to be paired expertly with a giant Diet Coke. I strapped Hank into his car seat and then sank into the passenger seat.

“You look…rough.” Kara looked me over, the smile dying on her lips instantly. “What happened, Mal?”

I calmly put on my seatbelt and stared straight ahead. “Just drive, okay?”

“Jesus. Did you rob the place? What’s with the grim expression?” Even while questioning me, she pulled out of the lot and drove away from town. “There’s an overlook up here that we can park at.”

“Julian is Hank’s father!” I screeched the words out and then buried my face in my hands. “Oh, god. I said it. I said it and it’s out there.”

Kara slammed the car to a stop on the side of the road. “What?”

I looked back to check on Hank and then turned to face her. “Hank. Julian Steele is his father.”

“No, that’s impossible. You just started dating him.”

“I’m not dating.” I shook my head. “I mean, no, never mind. I slept with him before. It was that day I met you at the bar after I left that asshole Niall.”

“I’m not understanding.”

I tugged at my hair. “I had sex with Julian that day. In the parking lot. We slept together and I got carried away and didn’t use protection. Hence, the little bundle of joy in the backseat.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“I wish I was, Kara. I really wish I was.” I dry heaved, the stress turning my stomach. “I’m going to throw up.”

Kara pushed me away from her while rolling down the window. “Not in my car! I just got it cleaned!”

I laughed through a dry heave, hysterical. “Are you kidding? That’s not supportive.”

“Sorry that I’m not being supportive when you’re telling me that you had Julian Steele’s baby! I’m having a little bit of a hard time computing this. You sleep with Julian and get pregnant, and then what? Did you tell him? Did he know this whole time?” She looked at my face and then swore. “You never told him. He still doesn’t know, does he?”

“No. None of them know. I’m a monster.”

“How the fuck did I manage to set you up with a set of triplets, one of whom fathered your fucking child?” She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Obviously, you need to tell them. Julian deserves to know he has a son. And as much as Julian isn’t my favorite Steele brother, he’ll be a good father.”

I shoved open the car door and hung my head out the side to get some fresh air. “Everything’s going to change.”

“Yeah, it is. Hank will have a father. And uncles. He’ll have a bigger family and more love.” She smacked my arm. “And you’ll be fine. This doesn’t mean you’re losing Hank. He’s your baby, Mallory. No one can take him from you. You’re a good mother.”

I blinked away tears. “I don’t know how any of this happened, honestly. I thought I could stay away from this place, away from Julian. I didn’t even know his last name. I thought he’d never know or care. And then you set me up with his identical triplet, and it all went to shit. I like them. I like them a lot and I’m going to blow it all up.”

“Side note. I did really fucking great setting you up, didn’t I? I knew you’d be just kinky enough to love having three men. And they’re good men. Good men who are a good match for you. They like you. They’re not going to drop you. Just explain things to them.”

“I think I might just throw up instead.”

“Not in the car.”

“I know!”

“You don’t have to shout at me. I’m sitting right here.” She sniffed like she was upset. “It’s not like I’m the one who got you knocked up with a Steele baby.”

“Kara, I’ll push you off the overlook and be glad for it.”

She laughed. “Relax, Mal. Yeah, this is big, but the guys will understand. You’re just going to have to talk to them. Today. Now. Literally right now. I’ll drive you back.”

“No! I can’t just tell them right now. I’m not ready.”

“Too bad. You have to talk to them. The longer you wait, the worse it’ll be.” She didn’t even wait on me to close to car door before she pulled back on the road and headed towards Steele Lumber. “I can’t believe you got knocked up by Julian Steele.”

I shouted at her as I slammed the car door shut. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“And leave me with the responsibility of telling Julian? Yeah, right.”

“You’re making this worse!”

“That’s impossible.” She looked over at me and sighed. “I mean, it’s fine. Things are fine.”

“I’m so glad you’re taking me back. I can’t wait to get out of this car and get away from you. I’m so mad at you! You were the least helpful you’ve ever been!”

Kara laughed, and it eventually got me, too. When we were both laughing, she pulled over again and turned off the car. “I thought you were a bratty teenager again for a second there.”

I wiped my eyes, suddenly crying. “I just feel like I made so many mistakes. And then I came here to start something different. I don’t even know what I wanted, but just something better than being alone in the city. Now I’ve made a mess of this. What am I supposed to do?”

“You haven’t made a mess, Mal. You’ll sort it out with the guys and things will be okay. Better than okay because you already have a family with them. They just don’t know it yet.”

“Everyone knows I’m sleeping with three guys at the same time. Did you really know that was going to happen when you set me up with Isaac?”

Stroking my cheek and pushing my hair back out of my face, Kara smiled. “I had an idea. Everyone does know that the brothers prefer to act as one. They also know that they haven’t had anyone special in their lives since that twat Grace. I guess I thought they’d be good for you. A man for every occasion. And god, I have to believe the sex is everything. Not that you’ll tell me anything about it.”

“I can’t go out in public. Do you know how it feels to know that everyone knows I’m having wild sex with three brothers at once?” I cringed. “I have three holes, Kara. There are three brothers. You do the math!”

She’d just taken a drink of her coke and spewed it all over the windshield of the car. With a screaming laugh, she looked over at me and then down at my crotch. “Oh, my god!”