My Ex’s Roommates: Chapter 61

“What the hell?! How could you not tell me that you were getting out? Who picked you up? How long have you known about this? Why wouldn’t you tell me?” I pushed away from my brothers and glared up at them. “I would’ve picked you up and- Wait. You didn’t break out, right? Tell me you didn’t!”

Danny growled. “Are you kidding, Harper? No, we didn’t break out. We got paroled. Thanks to your boyfriend and his sister and their daddy’s money.”

“You got paroled and you didn’t tell me?!”

Jay jumped in. “How were we supposed to tell you, Harper, when you wouldn’t answer our calls?”

“Don’t turn this around on me!” I could feel my face going red. “Where are you paroled to? Where are you going to live? You just made all these decisions without me?”

Matt moved over and whispered something to- I froze as I realized Dylan, Silas, and Carter were standing beside us, watching us argue. Matt grinned at Carter and coughed when he swung his gaze back to me and realized I was watching him.

“What was that? What’s going on?” I crossed my arms. “Why are you whispering and acting all buddy buddy with them?”

Danny sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Little Harpoon. Aren’t you excited to see us?”

I bit my lip to stop myself from immediately arguing. That was the thing about my relationship with my brothers. They were my everything and I trusted them completely. That meant I could be one hundred percent myself around them. Before they’d been sent away it was our norm to bicker seventy-five percent of the time. It was how we’d teased each other and communicated without making things super heavy. I was sure raising a girl just five years younger than them was complicated and hard a lot of the time. Bickering saved us from the serious, overly emotional talks we had to have along the way.

Since they’d been in prison, though, I hadn’t been able to argue with them. I felt too guilty, too lonely, too lost. They were home, though. Free. My heart swelled and tears peppered my eyes but I blinked them away and hugged them again. It mended something deep in my soul to be held by them. Unfortunately for them, though, it didn’t kill my need to argue with them about them not telling me they were being released.

I slapped Danny’s arm after I pulled free. “Of course I’m excited to see you. I’m shocked that you’re here. That doesn’t mean I’m not upset that you made plans without me. Where are you staying? I want to come with you.”

Dylan made an unhappy sound and stepped forward. “Harper…”

Matt gripped Dylan’s shoulder and shook his head. “We need to talk, Harper.”

Jay nodded. “You’re in so much trouble that you don’t even know the hell coming your way. The way you ignored our calls and refused to speak to us for two weeks? If you were still in our house, living with us, you’d be grounded for the next ten years. You know better than to cut us off like that. We were worried sick about you.”

“Luckily for you, you have a good friend and good guys here who didn’t let us go blind.” Danny looked back at my roommates and his jaw worked as he clenched and unclenched. “They came to see us and told us what happened.”

I gasped. “You went to see my brothers?”

Silas crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance like he was bracing for a fight. “We hurt you and caused you to shut them out. Seemed only fair that we face up to what we did and fill them in.”

My stomach fluttered. They’d gone to see my brothers.

“You can’t come live with us, Harper.” Danny sighed. “First of all, for the first six months of our release, we’re in a halfway house. It’s just part of the requirements. Second of all, no. I love you and I would do anything for you, but I’m not going to help you run and hide from your feelings.”

My spine stiffened as anger surged through me. “Excuse me?”

Silas cleared his throat. “Maybe take it down a notch?”

“We’re going to play an old game of ours, Harper. Truth on three.” Matt moved closer. “No going back. What you say on three sticks.”

I balled my hands into fists. “Is this really how we’re going to spend your first day home?”

“Truth on three, Little Harpoon.” Danny stepped closer to me and grabbed my shoulders. “If you tell us that you’re only here with these guys because they’re guarding you like a bunch of junkyard dogs when you feel unsafe, we’ll find a place for you. We did some investing while we were away and we have some money. We’ll find somewhere with the best security available. We’ll put you in a hotel from now until we find the place. Then, in six months, we’ll find somewhere big enough for all of us and we’ll bring you with us. Of course, we would. You’re our baby sister and we’d never do anything we thought would leave you unhappy.”

I rolled my lips between my teeth and waited to hear the truth they were going to demand.

“But if you still feel anything for these guys, you need to face your feelings and do what you need to do to fix this.” Ducking his head so I had to look him in the eye, Danny lowered his voice so I knew he was serious. “Truth on three. Are you ready to leave here and give up on whatever you had with these guys? Are you prepared to put an end to everything here so the four of you can move on?”

Panic clawed at my throat. He couldn’t ask me that. That… I wasn’t ready to answer that. I couldn’t. Why was he-

“One.”

It wasn’t fair. I couldn’t trust the guys. They hurt me. I should want to leave.

“Two.”

I could see the guys shifting from the corner of my eye and I felt their panic mixing with mine. They’d been trying so hard. They hadn’t given up on me, no matter how much I pushed them to.

“Three.”

My voice was choked as I followed the rules of our old game, opening my mouth and letting my answer out whether I’d consciously gotten to my answer or not. “No.”

Dylan let out such a harsh burst of air that was a shock of sound in what had become a painfully quiet space. He bent over with his hands on his knees and then turned away completely.

Danny grinned at me and patted my cheek. “Stop being a brat, Harper. You’ve got these three all twisted up and it’s time to forgive them if you want to stay here and be with them. No more hiding. No more letting them cater to your needs while you hide away. No more missing class and work.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You think you can just come back and boss me around?”

“Yep.” He laughed at the scowl on my face and pulled me in for a tight hug. “You’ve always managed to get in your own way, Harp. Consider this our way of helping you get out of the way so you can be happy again.”

“And don’t try to say that you weren’t the happiest you’ve ever been.” Jay ruffled my hair. “We could hear it in your voice. For the first time, we’d stopped worrying about you every second of every day. You want them. They want you. Work it out.”

Dylan came back and stared at me with his hands on his hips. “You can’t push her into forgiving us before she’s ready.”

Silas reached out and smacked Dylan’s chest. “Shut up.”

I needed a few minutes to gather my thoughts and feelings. I was almost in a state of shock over my brother’s being home and to add anything else on top of that made me feel like I couldn’t catch my breath. There were so many eyes on me, watching me with varying degrees of hope and expectation.

“I think I just need five-”

“Honey! We’re home!” Silas’ mom, Samantha, strutted through the front door with her husband and kids in tow. “We thought we’d- Oh, hello! Who are you three giant men?”