17. Luke

Chapter 17

Luke

I peek around Corey and watch his face fall.

“Well, I haven’t realized jack shit,” Seth whines impatiently. “Who are these jerks?”

“My brothers,” I squeak.

Benny looks at me, unimpressed. “So now he speaks.”

That seems to bring Corey out of his stupor. “Don’t talk to him like that.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Tyler says with a shit eating grin.

Well, this is going to shit.

“How about we all take a breath,” I say in my calmest voice, fully stepping out from behind Corey.

“No,” Benny says, turning his dildo towards Corey. “How about Tyler beats this guy up, and then we take you home. Honestly, I thought Perry would have done a better job keeping you from joining a sex cult.”

“No one is beating anyone up,” I say, throwing my hands in the air. “And I haven’t joined a sex cult. Corey is the only person I’m having sex with.”

Benny looks hurt. “I can’t believe you lost your virginity and didn’t tell us.”

Corey looks down at me. Whatever he sees on my face has him scowling.

“Seth, could I borrow your desk chair?” Corey says.

Seth looks confused but heads across the landing to get it. We wait in silence for a minute until Seth is back with the chair.

“Thanks, man. I’ll shout if we need you.” Corey pulls me down to sit next to him on the bed. He gestures to my brothers to sit on the two desk chairs.

“It’s kind of sus that you won’t leave so we can talk to our brother alone,” Tyler says, taking a seat.

“If he asks me to go, I will. Not while you guys try to make him feel like shit, though.” Corey very pointedly looks at Benny who doesn’t even bother to look guilty. “As you’ve traveled all this way, how about you let Luke talk.”

He takes my hand and smiles at me encouragingly.

Fuck, I love this man.

“I don’t know where to start,” I admit.

Tyler looks at me sadly.“Lukey, we haven’t video chatted with you for weeks, and then at Christmas, you sent a text that just said, ‘happy holidays, hope you are well.’ What the fuck, man?”

All the anger and resentment, loneliness, and jealousy start to pour out of me like I’m some weird rage demon.

“Why haven’t we video-chatted Tyler? Because you two kept fucking canceling on me. I understand that you have hockey and Zeke. And Benny has stripping and Chase, but I’m busy too. I have cheerleading and college classes, and I still made time to see you. You guys have each other. You can probably hang out daily, but what about me? I miss you guys so much, and it felt so shitty that my only family kept canceling on me for shit that I would have canceled if it was the other way around. Yeah, the Christmas text was a dick move, but I was angry, so I channeled my inner Perry. I wanted you guys to feel as unloved as I did.”

Corey slowly strokes the back of my hand. His way of comforting me without saying anything.

Both of my brothers look devastated.

“We didn’t mean to-”

“I know, but intent doesn’t always mean much,” I say softly.

Benny looks dejected, and Tyler looks determined.

“We will make it up to you. Could we be more flexible about the dates? Keep it to two a week, but if Benny or I can’t make it, the other one still will.” Tyler suggests, looking at me and Benny. “And you’re still going to come and stay with us this summer, right?”

This time, he looks at Corey with uncertainty.

“Luke and I haven’t really talked about the summer, but I will be going home to Oregan. I looked at the map, and it’s only five hours from Lakehaven so we can easily visit each other if Luke wants that.” Corey says with a smile.

“I very much want that,” I tell him. I look at Tyler who is looking hopeful. “I think it’s a great idea. Benny?”

“Yeah, I’m down. I don’t want you to ever believe we aren’t always thinking of you. We love you Lukey.” He says, eyes shining with unshed tears.

I rush across the room and pull him up into a hug, Tyler quickly joining us. It only takes a few seconds for us all to be sniffling, trying to hold back the tears.

I have missed this so fucking much. Tyler is in his last year of school and then he and Chase are hoping to join the AHL. The likelihood of them being kept together is surprisingly good. My hopes are to get a position at a school that is close to them. I want to live near my brothers. Have games nights and move nights. When I eventually have children, I want them to have their uncles close by. I love my brothers so much.

Eventually, we all pull away.

“Are you going to introduce us to your boyfriend?” Benny says, eyeing Corey.

“Be nice, and don’t hit him with your dildo,” I tell him as I go over to Corey and press a kiss to his smiling lips. “Why do you have a dildo anyway?”

“Oh, it’s not mine. We stopped by the cheer house and Bradley gave it to me to use as a weapon when he told us you were kidnapped by a sex cult. On reflection, he might have been a tad stoned.” Benny just shrugs.

“That dude would really get on well with Celeste. I think Milo would lose his marbles, though,” Tyler laughs. “Why did he say sex cult, though?”

“I have no clue. Corey and I met when I teepeed his front yard, and he threatened to get me kicked out of school unless I did whatever he said.”

Corey looks at the ceiling, running his hand down his face. “You are a little shit.”

“Yeah, but I’m your little shit.” I smile sweetly at him.

“Yes, you are.” He kisses my temple. “I promise I didn’t coerce your brother into sex or a relationship.”

“Could we roleplay that, though? It sounds hot.”

Corey rolls his eyes. “Like I’ll say no to you.”

“I definitely have the best boyfriend,” I say, smiling at my brothers. “The sex is insane. He does this thing with his mouth-”

“Okay, how about you discuss our sex life during your next video chat? Preferably when I’m not there.” He gives me his sexy, dead stare until I reluctantly agree. It’s a shame because I enjoy flustering him. “Great. I’m going to get us all a drink. I won’t be long.”

I watch him leave, appreciating that he is giving me some alone time with my brothers.

“He is hot.”

“Seriously. Is that man made of lava?”

I ignore my brother’s words and blurt out the first thing on my mind.

“I’m in love with him.”

Tyler snorts. “Duh, anyone who has spent more than thirty seconds with the two of you can see you’re disgustingly loved up.”

“I haven’t told him yet.”

Benny looks at me shrewdly. “Do it. Not in front of us, obviously, but tell him. He’s definitely on the same page.”

I love this. Being with my brothers and talking about Corey. Seeing them is everything I needed to go from happy to euphoric. I can’t wait to see them this summer. Zeke and Chase, too. We are going to make a triple date happen.

I pull my brothers in for another hug. This moment means everything.