Chapter 3
VIOLET
Shock makes me go still, and I glance quickly between Rhett, Lennox, and Sawyer. Because they’re the ones who spoke up. And considering how tense things are between them, I’m guessing it wasn’t a coordinated thing. They just all spoke up at the same time. To say they’re dating me.
What the hell is going on?
The table is silent, everyone looking as shocked as I feel.
Andrew’s eyes are wide, and he also looks between his brothers, shaking his head. “Wait, what? You… you’re dating my brothers? All three of them?”
God, I hate this. I feel caught, pinned underneath the silence and the stares from everyone else at the table.
I have no idea what to say now. I had no idea they were going to speak up and say what they just said.
I don’t know what they’re doing. I just wanted to save face in front of Andrew and not have to deal with the terrible, condescending pity in his voice when he talked about me not having anyone.
A glance at his three older brother confirms that none of them consulted with the others before deciding to speak up. They’re looking at each other the way you look at someone when they say something that surprises you, but it’s a subtle thing, probably not noticeable to anyone else.
The three of them are just as surprised as I am.
Rhett recovers first, clearing his throat and shrugging. “Yeah.”
Mom is staring at the three of them, looking between them and then back to me. “What?” she asks, shaking herself. “I’m sorry… I just… what?” She seems stunned and confused, and there’s a small part of me that is amused at catching her off guard.
Lennox snorts. “It’s the twenty-first century,” he says in his deep, even voice. “It’s a nontraditional relationship. You’ve heard of those, right? We’re all dating Violet.”
Coming from Lennox, it seems almost reasonable. He has this way of talking that makes everything he says sound believable and true.
But Mom doesn’t seem to be digesting it well. She leans back in her chair, her eyes wide. There’s a twist to her mouth that lets me know she’s not on board and is put off by the situation, but she’s too polite to go off about it with guests in the house.
So she just swallows and nods shallowly. “Oh. Well, then.”
“Okay, wait,” Andrew says, cutting in. “How did you even start dating them?” He addresses that to me. “They haven’t been back here in years.”
None of his brothers seem to know what to say to that, and I falter for a second, my brain scrambling to come up with something that will sound plausible.
“We’ve been doing long distance,” I say all at once, remembering the plot of a movie I watched recently. “We reconnected online a while ago, and things just sort of sparked between us.”
Isabelle raises an eyebrow. “Online? Like on a dating app?”
I shake my head. “No, it was on social media. One of them sent me a message to check in, and I responded, and it went from there.”
“And you never stopped to think you didn’t need three of them?” Isabelle laughs, sharing a look with Andrew that’s not quite snide, but definitely isn’t warm.
“Nope,” I say, popping the ‘p’ sound obnoxiously. “Go big or go home, right?”
“Are you happy?” That question is from Dad, who so far hasn’t said anything about it.
I cringe a little internally, because it doesn’t feel good to lie to him.
Part of me is waiting for him to try to defend my honor or something and demand to know what the three of them think they’re doing, all dating his daughter.
But of course he doesn’t. My dad is too hands off for that. Too calm and eager to stay out of any drama.
He looks at me steadily, and I give him a little smile, nodding. My insides twist with guilt.
“Yeah,” I say out loud. “I’m pretty happy.”
“That’s good,” he replies.
Mom looks like she doesn’t know what to ask, her lips pressed into a thin line. I know if I let Isabelle and Andrew get going, then they’ll come up with all kinds of questions, trying to either make me feel bad or poke holes in the story.
I need to wrap this up before it gets more out of hand.
“It’s not that exciting,” I tell them. “We’ve just been talking a lot, and one thing led to another.”
“Three times?” Isabelle throws out.
“Yes,” Rhett says firmly. “That’s why we’re all here.”
“Uh, I’m also getting married, remember?” Andrew says. “Don’t forget about that.”
“That too.” The way Rhett says it makes it sound like an afterthought, and I have to smother the ripple of amusement.
My heart is still pounding through the conversation. I’m half waiting for all three of them to laugh and admit this is all a lie, or for someone to see through everything, but it doesn’t happen.
They seem as committed to this as I am now.
Isabelle folds her arms, leaning back in her chair. “It’s a little weird for you to be dating all three of Andrew’s brothers, isn’t it, Vi? I mean, he is your ex.”
For a split second, I see red. I have to work to bite back the comment I want to make, which is that Isabelle is sitting there at the table, wearing an engagement ring from my ex.
If anything’s weird, it’s that. But that would cause more drama, and I don’t want that right now. I don’t want things to get ugly.
“Now, now,” Mom says, jumping in. Maybe she can sense the tension growing at the table between me and Isabelle. “This actually works out for the best. Your brothers already have their own invites to the wedding, Andrew, so your cousin can still come, and Violet still gets her date. Her… dates.”
Instead of looking happy about that, Andrew just looks irritated. His eyebrows turn down, and he’s a half step away from pouting.
But he doesn’t argue. He just nods and starts pushing food around on his plate.
The conversation moves on, thank goodness, with Mom rushing in to start talking about other wedding logistics. That’s enough to soothe things with Isabelle, now that she’s back to being the center of attention, but I can’t really focus on anything that’s being said.
I just keep replaying the conversation over and over again in my mind, still more than a little shocked that this is where we ended up.
Dinner wraps up with no more surprises, and Mom gets up with a smile. “Alright, if we all want to move to the living room, we’ll have some dessert and coffee.”
Everyone gets up, but before the older Sullivan brothers can go far, I lean in to whisper to them, “Can I talk to you? All of you?”
“I guess we should,” Sawyer says, nodding. The other two nod as well, and I lead them down the hall to the guest room, closing the door and locking it for good measure.
It’s not far enough away from the living room that we can be loud about this, so I start off in hushed tones. “What was that? What just happened?”
Lennox glares at his brothers. “It’s a good question. What the fuck was that?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Sawyer replies with a snort. “You spoke up the same as we did.”
“Easier to place blame than take responsibility though,” Rhett fires back. “Always has been.”
Lennox rolls his eyes. “So now you’ve got the moral high ground? Makes a nice change, I guess.”
“Which one of us are you talking to?”
“Either of you. Same shit applies.”
Sawyer laughs, and there’s something almost bitter about it. “What were you saying about having the moral high ground again? You know what they say about pointing fingers, Lennox.”
“Don’t talk to me,” Lennox says, holding up a hand.
“What are you, five?”
“I was going to ask you the same question. Some of us grew up, learned about responsibility.”
“Oh, here we fucking go.”
I just stand there, watching the three of them go back and forth. This is particular issue is a new thing for them to argue about, but it’s clear that they’re used to fighting with each other like this. It’s like they’ve just picked a new subject to have an old argument about.
Their voices are hushed, but there’s legitimate anger and irritation in their words, and it doesn’t really seem like they care if they hurt each other’s feelings or anything. But I guess there’s truth to the fact that family can hurt you like no one else.
Finally, I feel like I have to interrupt them or we’ll be in here all night.
“Hey,” I say, risking pitching my voice a little louder to get their attention.
I hold up my hands, and they all stop, turning to stare at me.
“Sorry. I just… look. I appreciate what you were each trying to do for me, I really do. I was embarrassed, and it was only going to get worse. But you don’t have to do this.
It’s obvious you don’t really…” I trail off, not sure how to say ‘you don’t even want to be in the same room with each other’ without sounding rude.
“You don’t really need to do this,” I finish. “So it’s okay.”
I swallow hard, staring down at the carpet, my lips pulling down a little. “And it would never work anyway, right? Who would ever believe that I was dating all three of you?”
When I chance a glance up, all three of them are frowning at me. I let my eyes slide back to the floor and keep going.
“I’ll just go tell everyone the truth. That you were all trying to help me save face, and it was a lie.”
My stomach clenches at the thought of that. If I didn’t already feel shitty enough about my ex marrying my thin, beautiful sister, this will just be the icing on the cake. I get to humiliate myself and look even more sad and pathetic.
I can already imagine the way Isabelle will laugh about it. Violet couldn’t get a date to the wedding, and then had to lie about it. Ha ha ha.
It would be easier if the floor opened up and swallowed me right now.
But that doesn’t happen, and the Sullivan brothers just keep looking at me, so I take a deep breath and walk out of the guest room.
There’s the sound of warm chatter from the living room. Mom is still holding court, and Isabelle is glowing under the praise and light of being the favorite. Andrew has one hand on her knee, and they’re leaned into each other. A picture perfect couple.
No one looks up when I walk in. They don’t seem to notice I’m there at all.
When there’s a break in the conversation, I open my mouth, ready to just get it over with—but before I can say anything, someone catches my wrist.
It’s Sawyer, one of his big hands pressed to my skin. “Wait,” he says in an undertone.
His brothers are behind him, and I half turn, confused.
Sawyer uses the grip on my wrist to pull me back toward him. I stumble back, ending up pressed flush against him, and my cheeks flush as I feel the heat of his body through our clothes. He feels strong and solid, and my heart pounds. I wonder if he can feel it.
Before I can say or do anything, he palms the back of my head and leans down to kiss me.