“So, I’m assuming Claire and Lucy are here?” I said, hoping to deflect from what I had just started.
“They went into town with Kat. She had to run some errands for the wedding. Anna sent over a list of things Kat needed to do.”
“Speaking of Anna, where is she?” Joe asked. “I thought you two were together?”
I ground my teeth together, trying not to snap. “We got in a fight.”
“About what?”
“I told her to stay away from Corduroy.”
“Who’s Corduroy?” Derek asked.
“Oh, man, did you miss it at Thanksgiving.”
“Yeah, well, I was kind of in the middle of a war,” Derek reminded Will.
“Carter Roy, remember?” Will asked. “Big guy, always trying to outdo Robert when we were in school. Had a thing for Anna, but never made a move.”
“What? You all knew about that?”
Will turned to me and grinned. “Knew about it? It was common knowledge that he was waiting for his opportunity to pounce. He was always hanging around her, giving her rides when you weren’t around…Come on, you can’t be that stupid. You had to know that everyone knew.”
I glanced around at my brother’s, who were all staring at me like I was in fact an idiot. “Wait, so all of you knew about this?”
Andrew shrugged. “Hell, I was a freshman in high school and I knew that Corduroy wanted her, and I could barely figure out how my dick worked yet.”
“You’re lucky that he didn’t make a move sooner,” Will pointed out. “All those years you were gone and she was just hanging around. It’s so obvious.”
“What’s so obvious?”
Derek shook his head, propping his feet up on the table. “He wants her because you’re back and he’s always had a rivalry with you. This isn’t about her. This is about beating you.”
“Shit.” I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. “Then what the hell am I supposed to do? I’m an hour away. I can’t be here every night.”
“And he’s going to see that,” Joe pointed out very unhelpfully. “He’ll move in, remind her of why things could be so great with him. He’ll probably remind her every chance he gets that you left her alone and pregnant.”
Derek practically fell out of his chair as he sat up. “You did what?”
“Thanks, man.”
Joe shrugged. “We all knew. Figured it wouldn’t matter if Derek knew also.”
“Let’s go back to you knocking up Anna,” Derek said. “Where the hell is the baby?”
“I hid her in town,” I said sarcastically. He glared at me. “She gave the baby up for adoption.”
“And you left her?”
“She moved to her aunt’s house. Fuck, do I really have to do this again? I feel like a broken record.”
“Why the hell didn’t you tell any of us?”
“Because Ma and Dad didn’t want me to, and I agreed to it. They wanted to make sure that Anna didn’t become the talk of the town. Her mom agreed to send her to live with her aunt, and one day she was gone. Honestly, it just sort of happened.”
“And you didn’t try and stop her?” Derek asked, still baffled by what I said.
I sighed heavily. “Look, I was in high school. I made a mistake. Are you going to tell me you never made a mistake?”
“Not like that!”
“I don’t know,” Hunter said. “You did call Claire fat.”
“I did not! I said she had a juicy ass! That’s a good thing.”
“Yeah, I don’t see any woman seeing your side in this,” Eric laughed. “I can’t believe you said that.”
“He also said she had thick thighs,” Hunter laughed. “I believe he said she was sturdy like a tree.”
We all burst into laughter while Derek sputtered to correct what Hunter was saying.
“I was trying to compliment her. I was saying that she had a big ass to hold onto!”
“Does that work on all women?” Andrew asked. “Should I be taking notes?”
“Oh, it gets better,” Hunter laughed. Derek stood and shot Hunter a threatening glare, but he just brushed it off. “He said that he didn’t want a model. They were all beauty and no brains,” he barely got out around his laughter. “And then…and then Claire said that she was glad that if she didn’t have beauty, at least she had brains!”
I covered my face with my hand. That was embarrassing even for me, and I wasn’t even there.
“Oh God, how the hell did you land her?” Will asked. “She’s gorgeous and you said that shit to her?”