My Ex-Boyfriend’s Brothers (Ex Marks the Spot)

19. Ryan

19

***Ryan***

I let myself into Luke’s cabin and whistled as I looked around the two-story house. “It pays to be the oldest, huh?”

Luke walked across the open cabin to hug me. “Good to see you, bro. I especially like how you’re pretending like you didn’t sneak in here and steal my dinner yesterday.”

I slapped his back and grinned. “I had to feed my date.”

“Ah. Your date.” Jackson stood up from the large leather couch and came over to gently shove me. “Is that who drank my wine?”

“I know better than to openly admit my sins.” I followed them to the kitchen island and settled on one of the stools. “So, what’s this meeting about?”

“I was wondering the same thing. It’s not very often big bro calls a family meeting.” Jackson settled next to me and elbowed me in the side. “Can we expect Bradley to show up, too?”

Luke let out a snort. “Yeah, not for this conversation. I don’t think he’d like it very much.”

I groaned. “Then that means we’re talking about Maggie.”

Jackson sighed. “Why would the three of us be talking about Bubbles?”

Luke leaned against the cabinets opposite of us and rubbed his jaw. He needed a shave but other than that, he looked like he’d been taking care of himself. “It seems like we’re all three chasing after her.”

“The fuck?” Jackson looked at me and then at Luke. “She’s mine. I’ve waited-”

“Six years.” Luke rolled his eyes. “Just like the rest of us.”

I rested my elbows on the counter and rubbed my temples. “I’m guessing this is the reason she wouldn’t let me come in with her.”

“And the reason she wouldn’t let me take her on a date today.”

Luke and I both looked at Jackson, ready for him to commiserate with us. When he smirked, I punched him in the side. “What the fuck are you smirking about? What happened?”

“She let me come inside.” Jackson definitely meant the double entendre if his cocky expression was to be believed.

I had to get up and move away from him so I didn’t hit him harder, in the face. After I put a safe amount of space between us, I glared at him. “You’re serious.”

He nodded. “So, like I said. She’s mine.”

“Do women who are yours typically let me make out with them against a tree?” Luke winced when Jackson stood up. We both knew Jackson’s temper was famously shitty.

“She was with me for our date and we got pretty far.” I figured I’d throw my hat in the ring, too. If Jackson was going to start swinging, he’d have to hit both of us.

“Hitting us isn’t going to change the situation we’re in, Jack. She clearly likes all three of us.” Luke grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and took a long drink. “We need to figure it out. I don’t want just sex from her.”

“Neither do I!” Jackson growled the words out and paced. “What is there to figure out?”

“How we’re going to navigate this, Jack. We all want her. She can’t decide which of us she wants. At least, it seems that way. We need to work something out so we don’t end up killing each other.” Luke looked at me. “Can you jump in here and help me out?”

I blew out a rough breath and walked towards the living room. “Give me a minute.”

Both of them followed me. Jackson’s mood continued to sour. “I care about her. If you think I’m going to just stand by and let one of you take her from me, you’re fucking wrong.”

I sank into the couch and stared up at the ceiling. “I didn’t think I’d be here again, watching the woman I want date another one of my brothers…”

“You both care about her?” Luke sat across from me. “In a real way?”

Jackson grunted. “Yeah. I care about her.”

“Yeah.” I nodded and looked at both of them. “I tried to move on. Nothing worked.”

“So, what do we do?” Leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, his frown showed just how unhappy he really was about the situation we’d found ourselves in. “I guess I always knew you both were interested in her, too. God knows we weren’t all that secretive about it. How she didn’t know, I’ll never understand.”

“Brad.” I scowled as I thought about what she’d told me about the day at the pool. “He convinced her that there was something wrong with her body.”

Jackson glared at me. “What the fuck is wrong with him?”

“Don’t look at me expecting an answer. I think she’s fucking perfect.” I crossed my arms and scowled back at him.

“Same. She’s sexy as hell and has always been way too good for him.” Jackson blew out a deep breath. “She’s too good for all of us.”

“Alright… This isn’t helping.” Luke stood up and grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the bar. “I don’t want us to end up hurting her. How do we have her choose one of us without this entire thing blowing up in our faces?”

I tuned their conversation out as a thought popped into my head. During my travels, I’d seen a lot of different types of relationships and family dynamics. There was a village I’d visited in southern Europe where the women were so drastically outnumbered by the men that they’d developed a new way of living. Instead of the harems of mens’ fantasies with dozens of virgins, or whatever some men thought sounded fun, it was a harem of men for one woman.

Even as I thought about it, I dismissed it. That was insane. The entire idea of bringing that type of relationship into a reality where women and men were equal in number seemed ridiculous. Maggie would be able to choose one of us. We’d just have to figure out a way for her to decide who she wanted and the two she didn’t pick would just have to deal with the consequences.

I stood up and paced. I didn’t want to chance ending up watching Maggie marry one of my brothers. The first time around had been bad enough and she’d never even been almost engaged to Brad. If she chose me, how would I bring her home for family events when I knew the history there?

“I have an idea.” I didn’t even realize it was my voice saying those words until I noticed Luke and Jackson staring at me.

“What is it?” Luke gestured between Jackson and himself. “We’ve gotten nowhere. Jackson’s ideas are all about who’s the strongest.”

“And Luke’s ideas are all about who has the most money.”

I cleared my throat. “It’s going to sound insane.”

Jackson laughed. “We’re discussing how to get the woman we want to pick between us. We’ve already passed that point, Ry.”

I cringed. “I don’t know if we have.”

They both listened as I spoke with varying degrees of horror and shock but neither of them tossed me out. I took that as a decent starting off point. And by the time the whiskey ran out and we were all shitfaced, the horror and shock had turned into shrugs and maybes. Morning brought hangovers and sobriety but the horror didn’t return.