I mean, it’s seriously early for some big intervention moment. I’ve only been seeing Riggs and Maddox for a few weeks. It’s not exactly casual, but we’re not making vows either. So really, this is all premature and again, none of their business.
“This needs to be addressed, Kayla. Before news begins making the rounds,” Cameron proclaims. As the oldest, he likely assumes he’ll be taking the role of leader for this. But realistically, he’s not the sibling we all go to for advice and wisdom. That would be me.
“There is no news.”
Cameron lifts an eyebrow, scowling at me in an approximation of Dad’s look of disappointment, though I’d never call him out on that because while I can be a bitch, I’m not cruel. Instead, I blink calmly, not responding. Undeterred, he comes at me again. “Declaring it doesn’t make it so. You know as well as I do that the optics of your dating anyone affects all of us and the company. Add in that you’re dating someone who has paparazzi of their own? It’s a PR nightmare.”
“I think you meansomeones,” Chance corrects, his nose crinkled in distaste.
Samantha turns her whole body his way. “You need to fix your face. It’s saying things you don’t want to say.”
Rather than straightening at her rebuff, he frowns deeply. “Or it’s saying what we’re all thinking. Are you actually dating two men?”
He doesn’t mean dating. No, he makes it sound like I set up shop on the nearest street corner, spread my legs, and hung anOpen for Businesssign from my big toe, letting every Tom, Dick, and Harry line up to use me like a glory hole.
“And if I am?” I spit back, challenging him with a bold, decisive glare. He seems surprised by the heat in my response, like he thought this might be some sort of misunderstanding. As though Kyle didn’t see what he said he did. As though the picture wasn’t of my private moment with Riggs and Maddox, but of them… I don’t know, just standing around me? “Would it be the worst thing if I found something like what each of you have?”
It's an intentional attack. I have stood by each of my brothers as they found the women at their sides, some with more ease than others, but all with their own fair amount of drama. Andnoneof them have been what would be ‘expected’ of a Harrington. I have helped them, cheered them on, and yanked their heads out of their asses by force when needed. A little return on that relationship investment only seems fair.
“Of course not,” Cameron says, his level head giving him the wherewithal to simmer things down. “We want you to find happiness, even love, with… a specialperson.” He emphasizes the singularness of person as though I don’t understand what the issue is, even taking Riley’s hand to demonstrate that it’s not only possible, but desirable. She stares at me like she wants to say something but ultimately stays quiet, letting the siblings handle this among ourselves. Family dynamics as complex as ours aren’t in her comfort zone, but she’s never one to shy away from telling Cameron when he’s screwing up, so I don’t holdher silence against her. She’ll have my back in her own way.
“Can I ask a question?” Luna holds up her hand like she’s back in school. Her cheeks are squirrel-big with cheese, her eyes wide behind her glasses like she’s surprised to hear her own voice.
“Depends on what it is,” I say cautiously. Luna is the first of my sisters-in-law, and while I respect the hell out of her, I don’t always understand her. Her brain, while brilliant in its own way, is mostly filled with Disney songs and random splatters of color, not bullet-point lists and target dates like mine. We couldn’t be more different as women, but where it matters most, we’re the same—our love for Carter. Their relationship is what began the healing of our family, and I will be eternally grateful to her for that. But I’m still wary of what she’s about to ask.
“How did you meet two professional hockey players? I mean, was it a work outing or a foundation thing? You don’t even like sports.” She smiles warmly, not a hint of malice in her question, which is why I choose to answer it despite everyone else nearly leaning forward in anticipation of my response.
“Originally, at a bar.”
“What do you mean, originally?” Carter asks, his eyes narrowed.
It’s possible I shouldn’t have included that, but I did so purposefully and glance at Samantha meaningfully, getting another woman on my side. She’s quick on the uptake, exclaiming, “This is the one-night stand you were considering an encore performance of?” Her grin is beaming, her pride in me palpable. “I told you that Kayla Fucking Harrington could do whatever shewanted. And whoo, you took me at my word. High-five!”
She holds her hand up for an air high-five across the coffee table, and I give her a small smile of appreciation.
“You knew about this?” Chance exclaims, shock-filled eyes turning to his wife.
“Not this, exactly.” She gives me a meaningful glance that clearly says ‘you left out the best part.’ “But that Kayla had a knock-your-socks-off experience that changed things for her and she wanted it to be more than a once in a lifetime thing? Yeah, I told her to go for it.”
Chance’s jaw drops like he can’t believe the words that just came out of her mouth. “Again, you should fix your face or I’ll have to fill everyone in on how our relationship started.” She looks at him boldly, daring him to open that door, and thankfully, he clacks his mouth shut. I appreciate Samantha’s assistance, because in the same way they don’t want to hear the details of my sex life, I don’t want to hear about my brother’s either. “How did you get from there to here?” she asks me, focusing the conversation and giving me back the floor to use how I want.
“They found me, which I didn’t take well, basically verbally tearing their heads off before sending them on their way. But someone reminded me that I deserve happiness, so I decided to see if I could find it.”
“And have you? With two men?” Chance asks, still stuck on that fact. I’m not surprised. He’s my brother with a ‘right is right and wrong is wrong’ mentality, and this is not the norm, if there is even such a thing. But of my siblings, he’s the one I’ve always been closest with, so his condemnation cuts deeper.
“With two professional hockey players,” Kyle specifies, holding up two wiggling fingers with a grin. He’s enjoying this, like it’s some sort of game we’re his pawns in. But I’m no pawn and this isn’t a game. It’s my life.
Baring my teeth, I growl, “Fuck you, Kyle.”
It’s the first unplanned move I make, and I regret it instantly. It’s a tell as obvious as if I’d scratched my nose at the poker table, and my brothers all know it because we grew up in the same house, receiving the same lessons at Dad’s knee. It might as well be a cavernous crack in my don’t-give-a-shit hard shell.
“Are you happy?” Samantha asks calmly, back in therapist mode and smoothing over my outburst with a return to the important question.
Still mad, just not at her, I snap, “I was, until this asshole showed up and ruined everything.”
I point an accusatory finger at Kyle and he holds his hands up,acting surprised at my vitriol.
Dani, who I’ve learned faces down rougher than Kyle pretty much every day, leans his way, assuring him, “You deserved that. And worse.”
