Her Protectors: A Reverse Harem Romance

by Victoria Belle

  My ex fiancé.

  My thumb hovered over the “read now” button. Then I locked the phone and dropped it in the front pouch of my purse. I didn’t have the energy to deal with him right now. I needed to get away from this place and from him. Things had ended badly between us, so badly that I suspected he was capable of hurting me.

  I needed this getaway for more than just to check on my mom. I needed to put some distance between me and my crazy ex.

  I pushed thoughts of Nick out of my mind and daydreamed about arriving in St. Simmons and seeing Lulu and the guys.

  ***

  I walked off the ferry, and the sun warmed my shoulders. I shielded my eyes with one hand as I stepped onto the boardwalk and stretched to the tips of my toes to look for Lulu. She shouldn’t be too hard to spot. She was always wearing bright colors.

  “Ashley!”

  I looked to the right along the railing and spotted Lulu rushing through the crowd toward me. As I suspected, she was wearing a neon yellow crop top and pink-framed sunglasses. I raced forward, towing my suitcase along behind me, and we slammed into each other in the middle of the boardwalk as the ferry blew its horn behind me.

  “Lulu!” I cried, wrapping my arms around her and squeezing tight. “You have no idea how good it is to see you!” Tears sprang to life in my eyes. I’d missed my best friend dearly, and all the bad shit that had happened with Nick over the last month had only amplified that longing to be closer to her.

  Lulu held me at arm’s length to get a better look at me. “Damn girl, you look good. You been working out?”

  “Maybe a little. I’ve gotten into spinning lately. Helps me work through some stuff.”

  “Well, it’s done you some favors. Those legs? Holy shit! You could crush a watermelon between those thighs!”

  I giggled and pulled her in for another hug. Then she took one of my bags off my shoulder and pulled me through the crowd out to the parking lot where her hot pink Volkswagen Beetle was waiting for us. She helped me load my stuff into the trunk and backseat, and then we piled in, and she put the top down. We hit the road, and the wind had me thanking my lucky stars I’d worn my hair in a bun. My long blonde locks were thick and completely untameable, and if I wore it down in a convertible, I would literally be combing it out for hours afterward.

  “So, tell me what’s new? How has New York City been? How’s teaching?”

  I stuck my hand out of the car and rolled my hand through the invisible waves of wind. “Teaching is good. New York is okay. Actually, Lulu, I have to tell you something.”

  Lulu glanced over at me as we stopped at a red light. The beach was on my right side, and the sun glared off the surface of the water. Lulu pushed her shades up onto her head, pushing her brown locks off her face and narrowed her eyes at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nick and I broke off the engagement.”

  “What? Seriously?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why?”

  I sighed. “Things haven’t been good for a while now, and then I caught him with another girl in our bed.”

  “That bastard.”

  “Yeah. Pretty much.” I chuckled, and Lulu hit the gas as the light turned green.

  We were quiet for a couple minutes, and then Lulu reached over and grabbed my hand. She gave it a squeeze, and memories of sitting hand in hand in her car came flooding back to me. We always used to do this when one of us was hurting. It was a simple comfort, and one that I had missed dearly. She ran her thumb along the side of my pinky. “You all right?”

  “Yes.” I nodded. “I think it was for the best.”

  “Me too.” Lulu took a left turn, and we headed inland to her place. “Besides, the Thomas boys haven’t stopped talking about how much they’re looking forward to you being back. And they’re technically not your stepbrothers anymore.” Lulu looked over at me and waggled her eyebrows. “Bow chicka bow wow.”

  “Oh God.” I laughed. And damn, did it ever feel good to laugh.

  2

  Dean

  Three steaks sizzled on the barbeque in front of me. My stomach growled as I flipped them over, and the flames licked the grease and fat dripping out of the cuts of meat. I took a sip of beer from the bottle in my hand and stepped away from the heat radiating from the grill.

  My two brothers, Jesse and Ethan, were sitting at my patio table sipping on beers of their own. Normally on a night like this, we’d have been having a family dinner, but now that Anne and our dad were no longer married, the tradition had ended, and as the oldest brother, I’d decided to keep it going.

  I hosted Jesse and Ethan at least once a week, partly because I took pity on them since they couldn’t do a decent grilling job of anything to save their lives, and partly because it was the only way to preserve that feeling of togetherness that had been lost after the divorce. If Ashley still lived in St. Simmons, it would have been easier.

  Jesse kicked his feet up onto the table and crossed his ankles. “So, Ash should be on the island by now. Think she’s at Lulu’s, or what?”

  “Probably,” Ethan said, standing and going to the cooler by the back door. He grabbed a beer, popped it open, and offered me one. I shook my head, and he went back to his seat.“I’m surprised you didn’t offer her your guestroom, Dean,” Jesse said, a hint of mirth in his voice.

  I plated the steaks and shrugged as I turned off the barbeque. “She wanted to stay at Lulu’s.” But that wasn’t the truth. Truth was, I didn’t trust myself to have Ashley sleeping at my place. I’d had a thing for the girl for years and having her asleep in nothing but a T-shirt and panties just down the hall from me would be a sure-fire way to have me doing things I would regret.

  Or not.

  “That food done yet or what?” Ethan asked.

  “Yeah, should be good in a couple minutes. Let’s get the rest of the stuff inside.” I went into my kitchen and pulled out a potato salad from the fridge that Anne, Ashley’s mother, had dropped off earlier that afternoon. She still liked to bring the three of us homemade meals every now and then. I knew it was an attempt to try to keep the relationship between us alive, so I was more than happy to accept. And her food was pretty damn good.

  The three of us went back out and sat down to dig in to our meal. I’d also barbequed some veggies in tinfoil, and I passed the bundles to the others.

  “So you find any decent places, Ethan?” I asked. My baby brother had been looking for his own place for the last couple months in St. Simmons. He was currently crashing on Jesse’s couch, and now that the three of us were starting to see a bit more money pouring in from our security business, he was ready to take the next step and become a homeowner, like me and Jesse.

  Ethan finished chewing his bite of steak and swallowed. “Not really. A couple places hit my radar, and my real estate agent showed them to me, but they weren’t big enough. I want somewhere I can stay for the next little while.”

  “And you’re a picky bastard,” Jesse said.

  “And that.” Ethan nodded.

  I leaned back in my chair and crossed my hands over my stomach. “Nothing wrong with waiting until you find the right place.”

  “Says the guy who doesn’t have this piece of shit sleeping on his couch,” Jesse drawled.

  We laughed. Ethan grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, brother. It’s temporary. I’ll be out of your hair soon enough, and just you wait. You’ll miss me and my charm.”

  “Charm?” Jesse asked. “If by charm you mean your tendency to leave your boxers on the bathroom floor, then no, I won’t miss your charm. Or your damp towels all over the fucking place.”

  “Fuck off. I’m not that bad. And I only use one towel.”

  “Yeah, equally gross,” Jesse said.

  Ethan looked at me for help, but I shook my head. “I’m with Jesse on this one. I’ve gotten a whiff of your towel once or twice. It’s not pleasant. I’ll say that much.”

  The three of us sat around and poked fun at each other for the next twent
y minutes or so as we let our food settle and finished our beers. Then conversation shifted to business, and we were able to be serious for a little while.

  Business was good, and profits were great. The three of us had started our own security agency right here in St. Simmons at the beginning of last year. The first six months had been slow, excruciatingly slow. For a while, it looked like we might not have the success we needed to keep it going, but by the time we hit the one-year mark, we’d landed enough clients to keep our heads above water.

  Now we were turning a decent enough profit for the three of us to be financially secure, and Ethan was joining us in the real estate market.

  Jesse was telling us about a potential new client he may have landed. “I had another company inquire about us the other day. They’re transferring a large sum of cash across the island via truck and are concerned about theft. For good reason, I imagine. They were wondering if we could provide two guys to see it transferred securely.”

  “Can’t see why not,” I said.

  “They requested one of us personally.”

  “Of course they did,” Ethan said. “We’re badass.” He got up to grab another beer.

  “They don’t care which one of us?” I asked.

  Jesse shook his head.

  “Tell them we’ll do the job and get them the paperwork. You’ll put it in the records and update the crew on shift that day?”

  “Sure thing,” Jesse said. Then he tipped back on the rear two legs of his chair and sighed. “Either of you spoken to Ash lately, besides on the group chat?”

  Ethan shook his head. “Nope. Not in a little while, at least. Last time I talked to her on the phone, she’d just gotten engaged to Nick.”

  “The jackass,” I said.

  Both of my brothers nodded knowingly, and Ethan chuckled after swallowing a mouthful of beer. “I think she knew none of us would approve. That’s why we found out weeks after the fact.”

  I grunted, and Jesse picked at a loose thread on the hem of his jeans.

  Nick Myles had been the quarterback on the high school football team. We were in the same grade, so I’d been around him plenty to know what sort of guy he was. I doubted he’d changed much over the last twelve years since we’d graduated. It was probably safe to assume he still had anger issues and manipulated women like clockwork, Ashley included.

  When I’d first heard they were dating, I hadn’t been quiet about what I thought about him. My open and negative opinion hadn’t done my relationship with Ashley any good. She took some space from me and my brothers. It had been a brutal punishment when all I’d had were her best interests in mind. She’d stopped calling. She’d even stopped texting.

  Until I called and left an apologetic voicemail asking her to forgive me.

  She immediately did, and it was swept under the rug like it had never happened, which bothered me a little. It was clear as day that the guy wasn’t right for her. He didn’t treat her like the princess my brothers and I knew she was, and he didn’t seem to realize how lucky he was to have a woman like Ashley Rowe on his arm.

  If she was my woman, she’d know what a queen I thought she was. I’d make damn sure she knew it every minute of every day.

  But she wasn’t my woman. She was my ex-stepsister. It still felt strange and taboo, and I’d spent many hours, days, weeks, and months trying to will myself into not being attracted to her anymore. But it was fucking impossible.

  Ashley was the sort of girl you couldn’t put out of your mind just with sheer will.

  Growing up, I’d taken to her immediately. She was a fierce tomboy with a determination to beat me, Jesse, and Ethan at any sport or competition we presented to her. In most cases, she succeeded. She was quick as a whip on her feet and with her mind. Things had been innocent back then. Everything was like we were on the same level, playing the same games and the same positions and not thinking anything of it.

  And then she turned eighteen, and everything changed.

  She blossomed into a beautiful woman, and I fell for her. Hard. It was no secret that Ethan and Jesse suffered the same torture as me. She’d captured our hearts, and every girl we’d ever tried to date had paled in comparison to her.

  Nobody was Ashley Rowe. Our Ashley.

  My Ashley.

  “What are you thinking about, Dean?” Jesse asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

  “Ash,” I said simply.

  Jesse nodded. “She’s been on my mind all damn week. I got caught up thinking about those care packages she used to send us during SEAL combat training. Remember those?”

  I grinned at the memory of boxes packed with care. She’d lined them in cloth that somehow smelled like her floral perfume and filled them to the brim with homemade goodies, letters, and sometimes pictures. “Who could forget those?”

  Ethan nodded. “She kept me going with those scones of hers.”

  “The cranberry white chocolate ones?” Jesse asked.

  “Don’t fucking say it out loud. My mouth is already watering.” Ethan laughed as he patted his stomach.

  Jesse leaned forward to rest the front legs of his chair on the ground again. “I miss those. Tempting to go back in the field just to get them again. It’s been what, almost a year since we saw her last?”

  “Since she came back last summer, I think,” Ethan interjected. He polished off his beer, pried the tab off the top of the can, and dropped it inside to shake it around. “Before she was engaged.”

  Jesse stared at the table from beneath his permanently brooding dark eyebrows. “Fucking Nick Myles.”

  “Fucking Nick Myles is right,” I muttered.

  “Maybe he’s a better dude now?” Ethan suggested. “Maybe he treats her well and makes her happy. We can hope for that, right?”

  “Of course we can,” I said.

  “But we know better,” Jesse added after a few seconds of quiet. He was right. We did know better…

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