My Ex’s Roommates: Chapter 56

“This feels like a pretty stupid idea now that we’re standing here.” Dylan looked up at the prison’s visitor center and wiped sweat from his face. “This is the most fucked up version of meeting the family ever. Hey, good to meet you, I seriously fucked up and hurt your sister and now she hates me, but how’s life?”

I wasn’t exactly feeling all that great, either. No matter how much Dylan insisted on taking responsibility for what happened, Carter and I had been there, too. We’d been just as ready to hit send as he was. We’d all fucked up.

Carter ran his hand over his head and shrugged. “If they decide to murder us, it’s going to make the conversation I had with Dad this morning pretty awkward.”

“She’s not talking to them. The least we can do is come here and explain why face to face. Maybe they’ll have advice for us.” I groaned. “Besides telling us to fuck off.”

Dylan stood up taller and nodded. “Let’s do it. The faster we do this, the faster we get back home to keep an eye on Harper. If we’re not dead.”

I led the way through the check-in process and, in what felt like not enough time, we were sitting at a table waiting for Harper’s brothers to come out. I sat between Carter and Dylan and forced my hand to rest on my knees without fidgeting. We were grown men. We’d fucked up. We deserved whatever her brothers threw at us.

I felt Carter stiffen and looked up to see Danny, Jay, and Matt coming our way. They looked even bigger than I remembered and I felt like I could see even more ink creeping down their arms and up the collars of their jumpsuits as they sat in front of us.

Danny sat across from me and tilted his head as he studied each of us. “What’d you do?”

Jay sat forward. “Harper has never refused to talk to us before and the little spitfire that keeps calling us to give us updates about Harper won’t spill more than to say the three of you are idiots. And now you’re here so I’m going to need one of you to open your mouths to tell us what you did to our sister that’s made her shut down.”

“It was me.” Dylan looked at each of them as he explained what happened with the picture and how Jake had sent it out to everyone with all of Harper’s information. “I let the win go to my head. I felt like a fucking god after taking Jake down and proving everyone wrong and I wanted to take him down one more peg. That picture was private and special between the four of us and I wanted to use it to hurt him. I caught myself before I did but I still somehow hit send. It was a mistake but I did it. I caused all the shit that Harper’s having to deal with.”

I gripped his shoulder and shook my head. “It wasn’t just you. We all got caught up in beating Jake. We all thought about it but you just had your phone first. It could’ve been any one of us. We all fucked up. Not just you.”

“Where is she now?” Danny’s hands were fisted on the table, his face hard.

Carter made a frustrated sound. “At our house. Where she’s been for four days straight without leaving her room except to go to the bathroom. The rest of the guys on the football team know and respect Harper so they’ve been staying at the house when we can’t. When she starts going to classes again, she’ll have someone with her at all times. With Jake giving her information out…things got ugly fast. We’re prepared now.”

Matt tapped the table in the direction of Carter’s knuckles. “How ugly?”

“If Casey hadn’t called to tell me Harper was walking to class by herself I don’t know what would’ve happened.” Carter’s jaw clenched and his whole body shuddered. “They had her trapped in a circle of them. They ripped her backpack up and broke her laptop. One of them had his arm… He had his arm around her chest, pinning her to his chest when we got there. She sounded so goddamn scared…”

Danny watched as Carter quickly wiped his eyes and scowled. “What’d you do?”

Carter sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what’d you do when you got there and heard my baby sister sounding so goddamn scared?”

“The same fucking thing you did but with more money.” Carter shrugged and leaned in. “They’ll never have another day on this earth without feeling the consequences of their actions.”

“The one who had her pinned?” Jay growled out the words.

Dylan met his hard gaze. “Broken arm in two places. Nasty breaks. Even with surgery his arm will never be one hundred perfect again.”

“Daddy’s money kept you out of jail?” Danny was still focused on Carter, his anger palpable.

Carter didn’t budge. “Yep. You shouldn’t judge that too harshly because it’s going to get you out of here, too.”

“Casey’s your sister?” Shaking his head, Danny grunted. “Crazy must run in your family.”

“Deep and strong but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong. You can expect to be called before the parole board any day.”

I watched an array of emotions flash across their faces. Disbelief, shock, hope, and then anger. I held up my hands to stop whatever they were thinking. “None of us expect you to suddenly feel warm and cozy towards us. You don’t owe us shit. Casey did most of the work and the three of you have perfect records here. It would’ve happened eventually.”

“You don’t expect us to suddenly sing your praises and forget what you did?” Jay’s eyes were full of suspicion. “A tit for a tat?”

Dylan splayed his hands out on the table and ground his teeth together before speaking. “No. You should fucking hate me and I don’t expect this to make a difference. Harper won’t let us in and she’s avoiding your calls. She couldn’t do that in person. She needs someone and if she won’t let it be us, then it’ll have to be you.”

“You love her?” Danny’s quiet question left the table quiet.

I knew how I felt but we hadn’t talked about love. I thought that Carter and Dylan were on their way if not already in love with Harper but I needed to hear the answer just as much as her brothers did. I needed to know that I wasn’t the only one fighting with his whole heart on the line.

“I love her.” Looking away, Dylan frowned for a moment before meeting Danny’s eyes again. “I don’t deserve her after what I’ve caused. I’m sure you agree. You should know that I’m not just going to walk away, though. I love her and I’m not going anywhere.”

Carter smiled for the first time in days. “Same. I love the shit out of your sister and I’m going to pull out everything in my disposal to get her back.”

Everyone turned to me and waited. I raised my eyebrows. “I thought I made it obvious already. I’m so fucking in love with her. She’s amazing. She’s somehow the nicest person I’ve ever met and also the same person who is way too fast to tell us that we played like shit and need to not embarrass her. It may not be normal, what we want with her, but what the fuck is normal? Most people would’ve said her relationship with Jake was normal but it was beyond fucked up. We’re going to show her that we’re right for her and I’d like the other three most important men in her life to be okay with that. It’s asking a lot and you can tell us to go fuck ourselves but your sister is happy with us.”

“Not right now. We’re not counting right now…” Carter added helpfully.

“She’s happy with us most other times…” I cut my eyes at Carter and grunted. “Not the right time to remind them of how much we fucked up.”

The three of them looked back and forth between each other and I held my breath as I waited for their answer. We’d be fighting to get Harper back no matter what but it would be a whole lot easier if they were on our side, or at least not actively against us.

Matt finally leveled a look at Carter. “How would you feel if it was your sister?”

I prayed Carter didn’t answer with a joke the way I knew he typically would. I felt like we were on the precipice of something big and I needed him to pull through.

“I’d be fucking furious. Casey drives me nuts but I love her and I only want good things for her. It would be hard to accept anyone after they hurt her.” Carter looked down at his hands on the table. “It’s hard to say how I’d feel about the man, or men, who hurt Casey because I wouldn’t know their feelings. I know our feelings for your sister and I believe wholeheartedly that she’d be happier and better off with us. We’re fast learners and this isn’t a mistake we’d make again.”

Danny took a deep breath and focused on Dylan. “You look like shit.”

Dylan grunted. “Then I look better than I feel.”

“How much have you slept since all this happened?”

“I don’t know. I got used to sleeping next to Harper and it’s not the same without her.” Seeming to realize what he said, he cleared his throat. “We have innocent sleepovers?”

Jay rolled his eyes. “Our sister’s still a baby to us but we’re not stupid. She’s a grown woman. She can do what she wants.”

“In every area of her life.” Danny let the words hang in the air for a moment. “But we won’t get in your way. Don’t make us regret it, though. This place hasn’t been so bad that I wouldn’t be willing to come back. Remember that.”

I let out a breath and felt a weight lift from my chest. We were that much closer to getting Harper back.

“So… Casey?” Jay’s grin was remarkably shit-eating as he looked at Carter.

Carter held up his hands. “Casey does what she wants. Fuck with her at your own risk. You wrong her and she’ll get on her computer and fuck up your entire life. Just ask Jake.”