Page 115 of Secret Baby for My Brother's Best Friends

She’s pointing her finger at James' stunned face.

“...You don't get to tell me what I can and cannot do with my life,” she said. “Yes, I'm dating him and Adam and Sam. I'm with three men all at once. And yes, I have feelings for all of them, so now what are you going to do? I’m not a little girl anymore, James. I appreciate your concern and everything, but you don’t get to dictate who I am and who I’m not with. Making a mistake with Eric doesn't mean I'm going to be wrong about every single guy I date, and I don't appreciate you throwing that in my face."

"Jesus, are you hearing yourself?" James sneers. "Do you have any fucking clue what people will say about you once they find out what you're doing? Do you know what it's going to be like at work? The construction guys, do you know what the fuck they say about women these three toy with?"

"That's their problem. If there’s a scandal, I’ll deal with it. If there’s a fallout at work, I’ll deal with that too. If you want to fire me, go ahead. But don’t ask me to choose between you and them… because I’m not sure you’re going to like my answer."

James is stunned by her response, and so am I. I know how close she is to her brother. Through all her stories about her family, their closeness has always been the one marked constant, the shade of light in an otherwise messed-up tale. He's the one who took care of her and didn't let their parents simply neglect her.

Now, she’s telling him to his face that she would choose us over him. Hurt flashes in his eyes, and her expression softens, but she doesn’t take back the words. She doesn’t immediately apologize or say anything to appease him. Instead, she simply stands there, regretful but firm anyway.

James turns his eyes to me.

Betrayal flashes in their depths. His cheekbones stand out starkly on his cheeks, and for a second, I think he's about to take a swing.

But then he turns sharply, storming out of the house.

I follow him.

"Jake. Wait."

“What have you done to my sister?’

"Nothing. Just listen–"

“Fuck off." He gets into his jeep and glares at me through the window. "You told me you would take care of her, and now you’re treating her like she’s a common-"

“Careful,” I say, my voice dropping an octave. I have a lot of sympathy for his situation right now, but the second that he starts calling his sister names is when all my goodwill disappears. "Let's relax before we say something we regret."

“Go to hell," he mutters as he fumbles for his keys, pulling them out of his pocket and sliding them into the ignition.

I stand there and watch him start the car, then I move closer to the window and place my hand on it to prevent him from rolling it up.

“Your sister loves you,” I say

“Of course I know my fucking sister loves me," he snaps. "I don’t need you to tell me. Now back off before I slice your fingers off."

I stare at him. On one hand, I don’t want him to leave here angry, but on the other hand, I know that anything I say right now is only going to make it worse.

I back away, and he rolls his window up all the way before driving off. I head back into the house and find Chelsea biting her lip, the guilt bleeding out of her eyes. Jake has his hand around her waist, and she leans her entire body into his.

“I should have said that differently, shouldn’t I?” she asks.

“Maybe, but there's no use dwelling on it now. It's not your fault. Emotions were heightened for both of you."

She shakes her head.

“I didn’t mean…he just kept bad-mouthing Jake and demanding I leave with him. I was just trying to let him know that I wasn’t going to abandon Jake just because of him, but then it sounded like…”

"Shh, it’s okay.” I draw her forward, meeting Jake’s gaze. It’s a curious mix of guilt and amazement. He clearly didn’t expect her to say what she said, didn’t expect her to choose him in front of her brother, and the fact that she did makes him both sorry and a little gratified, which only enhances his guilt.

And love.

He loves her. The tenderness with which he stares at her makes it obvious, though I think I've probably known for a while that he's in love with her. And so am I. And so is Sam.

We can’t keep playing this game anymore and pretending like what we have here will end at some point, because none of us are willing to let her go. And it appears that she’s not willing to let us go either.

“Just give him time,” I murmur into her hair.