Chapter 240

Neil and Archer’s growls became more and more prominent until they were echoing down the hallways, loud enough to likely be heard even outside.

I try to step between them, but Archer’s hold on me is vicelike, keeping me immobile at his side. And none of my shouting seems to be getting through.

“You guys are ridiculous!”

It isn’t until Beau comes rushing down the hallway that they finally stop growling long enough to even consider doing anything else.

“What the hell is this all about?” Beau says. “I could hear you guys growling from the whole other side of the Pyramid.” Beau looks between them, annoyance on his features, until he sees me standing there in Archer’s clothes. Then he bursts out laughing. “Nice outfit, Nanny.”

“Archer fucked Chloe,” Neil says flatly.

Beau’s laughter cut off immediately. “What?” His gaze sliced straight to Archer.

“Neil fucked her first,” Archer shot back.

Beau looked at Neil instead. “You did what? You… You both did?”

Archer and Neil both nod at once.

Beau’s accusatory gaze falls onto me instead. “Nanny. You fucked the two of them and not me?”

Archer shoved at Beau’s shoulder, causing him to stumble. “Back off, Beau.”

Beau righted himself immediately. “Don’t tell me to back off. I’m the odd one out here. If anyone has a right to be pissed, it’s me!”

At this point, I’ve had more than enough. I was tired of the posturing, of the bullshitting, of them pretending I’m not even here. Let them argue with each other as much as they want. Let them have all the pissing contests in the universe.

In the end, it was my decision when and with whom to lose my virginity. I don’t regret it being Neil, nor do I regret being with Archer last night.

The rest of whatever this is, is for them to sort out among themselves. At this point, it has very little to actually do with me.

I tug at Archer’s arm that’s wrapped around me. When he doesn’t let go, I shout, “Hands off, Archer!”

Startled, he gives me enough to room to slink out of his hold.

“Where are you going?” he demands.

I roll my eyes. “Where do you think?” Obviously, I’m going to the place we were supposed to be going before all this posturing bullshit began: to breakfast. “You can find me when you are done being an asshole.”

When the hells freeze over.

I wave as I walk away.

The three brothers watch me go for a moment, before their argument kicks up again without me. See? I don’t need to be present for this.

“You should have consulted me!”

“I’m not going to call and ask your permission before I fuck!”

“You had no right to take her virginity!”

“You have no right to give her your clothes. She doesn’t belong to you.”

“Oh. But she belongs to you, is that it?”

Ug. I walk into the kitchen. I can still hear them arguing but fortunately the words are too muffled to properly discern in here.

Steven is already there. He’s having eggs, sitting at the counter. Mia is in the high chair beside him, holding her bottle.

“Steven,” I say. “Mia.”

She giggles in response.

“What are they arguing about out there?” Steven asks.

“You don’t even want to know,” I say as I walk to the fridge. I’m feeling too lazy to make anything good so I grab a frozen waffle to shove in the toaster. As it’s cooking, I look back and see Steven still watching me. Waiting for an answer? I sigh. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“At the beginning,” he says, like that’s such an easy thing to do.

I wait for the toaster to finish, using the time to gather my thoughts and figure out just what I want to say. By the time the waffle pops, and I cover it in butter and syrup, I’m ready to spill the beans.

I sit beside Steven, look him in the eyes, and with a length exhale, explain, “I lost my virginity with Neil.”

Whatever I expected Steven’s reaction to be, it wasn’t what I actually got.

Steven begins to growl low and dangerous.

I blink at him, entirely surprised.

When he sees my reaction, he startles too. “Sorry,” he says. “I have no idea where that came from.”

“It’s okay,” I say, not sure how else to handle the situation. Did Steven… get jealous too? That seems really unlikely, since our relationship is not romantic at all, but I can’t deny what I just saw.

That reaction… that growling… that was just as Archer and Nicholas and even Beau had done.

We eat in silence, the air becoming somewhat awkward between us. Usually, he’d small talk by now. He’d tell me about his experiments, or I’d complain about school or something one of the other brothers had done.

For us to just sit there like two strangers feels uneasy. I kind of hate it.

Maybe there’s a way to salvage this. If I talk about… I don’t know, the weather or something, maybe I can bring our friendship back on track.

The weather, though? How cliché can I get? No. Steven is my friend. We should be able to talk about anything, and it would be okay.

I searched through my brain, trying to decide the best, safest conversation starter. Before I can land on something, Steven speaks.

“Can you watch Chloe? I need to take care of something.”

“Uh… sure,” I say. I missed my chance. Things might always be awkward now. Shit.

“Thanks.” Steven stands. He puts his plate in the sink and heads out the door. Just as he’s leaving, Beau comes in.

Beau still seems pissed, his face all scrunched. Though when he sees me, he tries to school some of that annoyance away. He saddles up beside me, gives me a smirk, and says, “So…”

He’s about to proposition me, I can feel it down to my bones.

Normally, I might not even mind it. After all, I accept Beau for all of his horny tendencies. I even enjoy a lot of them.

But after that pissing contest in the hallway, I’m not exactly feeling turned on for any of those three brothers.

Mostly though, I’m worried about Steven.

“Will you watch Mia for me?” I ask Beau. “I need to check on Steven.”

“He seemed fine?” Beau begins, but I’m already standing. I haven’t totally finished my waffles, but there’ll be time to eat later. Right now, I need to repair my relationship with Steven.

I wonder where he could be. He has to be in his lab, right? But when I enter, the lights are off and no one is in there. I almost turn around to search elsewhere, when I hear a strangled noise, like someone cutting themselves back from saying something.

Looking around, I notice that the door from Steven’s lab to his bedroom is slightly open. The lights in there are on.

Okay, great. I’ll head in, apologize, make sure everything is okay, and then I can leave and deal with Beau and whoever else.

I walk closer to his bedroom. The door is open about three inches. Through that opening, I see Steven with his back turned to me. His arm is moving, like he’s…

He’s…

“Ah,” he gasps. “Oh, Chloe…”