CHAPTER 27
Sonnie
“It sounds stupid to me.” Rosie scowled at Drake and then looked back at me. “It’s stupid, right?”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I’d been playing referee between the guys and Rosie since she woke up from her nap and they started talking plans for how to move forward with me. Rosie wasn’t afraid to state her mind and the guys were stubborn, so it was a pain in the ass to be in the middle. “I don’t think it’s stupid, Rosie. I—”
“You’re already getting bullied!” She stood up and balled her hands into fists at her sides. “You read what people are calling you! Doesn’t it bother you?”
Cole cleared his throat. “Don’t yell at your sister. She hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“You’re not my dad! You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rosie stomped towards the staircase and glared back at me. “You’re being an idiot if you go along with this.”
“Hey!” Drake looked like he wanted to lecture Rosie, but she was right. They weren’t her guardians. I was.
“Stop.” I looked at the three of them and blew out a big breath. “She’s not wrong. I’m younger than you three but I’m not that young. Agreeing to do this does make me an idiot. I’m already being ridiculed and called some of the worst names I could dream of. If I go forward with this, I’m setting myself up for more of the same.”
Rosie walked back over to where I was sitting on the couch and looked down at me. “So, you’re not going to do it?”
I looked down at my hands in my lap and sighed. “It’s not that simple, Rosie.”
“What do you mean?”
I licked my dry lips and worked out my thoughts. I didn’t want to say too much in front of the guys, but I knew Rosie wasn’t going to stop fighting until she understood my decision. “There’re layers to it. I gave my word I’d help them and I haven’t done that, yet. They’re going to get me into their class, Rosie, and I can handle being called names if it means I get the knowledge and respect that comes from taking that class.”
“And?” Rosie put her hands on her hips. “That’s not good enough.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her insistence. “There’s also the fact that I like them, Rosie.”
She hesitated and frowned as she inspected the three men watching us. “Are you sure?”
Price grunted. “We’re perfectly likable.”
I met his gaze and the heated look he sent my way was an instant reminder of the way he’d taken me in the shower earlier. Blushing, I looked back at Rosie and nodded. “Why don’t we go talk in your room?”
“It’s not my room. We don’t live here.”
Price groaned and ran his hands through his hair. “Is this what all kids are like? Everything is an argument.”
I rolled my eyes at him and went with Rosie to the room she’d be staying in. It was beautiful, of course, with a stunning view of the pool and lake. I walked to the floor to ceiling windows and let out a slow breath. That view was the epitome of peace. “This definitely beats our view, huh?”
Rosie perched on the side of the king size bed and watched me instead of the view. “What do you want to talk about?”
I moved to sit down next to her and wondered if normal big sisters would take their little sisters’ hands or if they would wrap their arms around their shoulders. Rosie and I had never gotten to be normal sisters, so I didn’t know. I pressed my hands between my knees instead and smiled over at her. “I appreciate you sticking up for me. I really do. It’s a strange feeling in a way. Mom never worried about stuff like that. She never cared to do the mundane things like sticking up for her children. You don’t have to stick up for me, though, Rosie. You’re still a kid. You shouldn’t have to worry about me.”
She frowned. “You stuck up for me plenty. Even when you were still a kid.”
I had to swallow around a sudden lump in my throat. “I’m your big sister. It’s my job.”
“Whatever. That doesn’t mean I can’t worry about you. What are you doing with them, Sonnie?”
I flopped my upper half back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. “I really do like them. Maybe it makes me an idiot, but I like each of them a lot. I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense, liking three men, but I do. They’re each really nice.”
“So, what? You’re, like, dating them? All three of them? For real?” She lay back next to me. “It’s not that big of a deal, I guess. But people online seem to think so. No one is being mean to the guys, though. Just you.”
“Unfortunately, that’s just the way it goes for women most of the time. You heard what they said, though. Their publicist thinks the possibility of a relationship will be taken more seriously if we continue to date in public. And these dates will be one-on-ones. Maybe it’ll get better. The guys seem to think so.”
“They didn’t seem so sure. They mumbled a lot and didn’t make a ton of eye contact. What if they don’t care about your reputation, Sonnie? What if they leave you no better off than all of Mom’s boyfriend’s left her?”
That thought had me sitting back up with a near crippling amount of anxiety. “Mom’s boyfriends were all assholes. We both saw that.”
She rested her arm over her eyes. “She didn’t.”
I stood up and walked over to the windows again. “I like them, Rosie. It scares me, too. I mean… It scares me so much. I don’t want to mess up. I try hard to make sure everything is taken care of and it’s still never enough. I can’t afford to make mistakes. But if I never take chances, what’s the point?”
She sat up and studied me. “They don’t seem like assholes.”
I smiled. “They don’t, do they?”
Heaving a giant sigh, she shrugged and fell back on the bed. “Okay. Fine, I guess. You’re dating three men. Three famous men.”
I glanced at her bedroom door and rubbed my palms down my thighs. They were sweaty with residual anxiety, but I’d meant what I said. If I didn’t take chances, what was the point? I liked them and I wanted to see what happened with them. I just hoped they were right about my reputation getting better after a while.