Evan was willing to bet that Grady had called and asked his brothers to drop over because he was here, but he had no idea why.
But all of them seemed ready to give advice, so he didn’t give a damn why they were all here.
“I don’t even know what kind of flowers she likes, and I don’t know what I did wrong. She just . . . changed.” He’d thought about sending her flowers, and it annoyed him that he didn’t know her favorites.
“What happened before she transformed?” Grady asked solemnly.
“We had incredible sex without a condom,” Evan admitted reluctantly, hating to share anything personal between him and Randi with anyone. But he was desperate.
“And then what?” Dante queried after taking a slug of his coffee.
“I told her I was relieved that she was on the pill and wouldn’t get pregnant.” It was a normal response as far as Evan was concerned.
“No way!”
“Holy shit!”
Dante chimed in, “You might as well have told her you just wanted to get laid.”
“Well, I did . . . kind of,” Evan replied, squirming in his chair uncomfortably. “But only because I really like her and I’m attracted to her. But I don’t ever want to have a child.”
“Why?” Jared asked quietly. “Because of your disability?”
Evan’s head shot up, his expression anxious. “Hope told you.” He had no doubt where their enlightenment came from.
“She told us everything. You could have told us, Evan. Damn, I took enough crap from the old man. He must have made your life a living hell,” Grady grumbled.
They had no idea just how bad it had been, and Evan wasn’t going to apprise them of the details. “I lived. But the problem does seem to be hereditary.”
“Your kid won’t have our father,” Dante reminded him. “He or she would have you.” He hesitated before adding, “Randi loves kids. Maybe she doesn’t want to have some of her own now, but hearing how relieved you were could have been mistaken for a lack of interest in anything other than sex. Did you explain?”
Evan shook his head slowly, contrite that he might have inadvertently given Randi the idea that she wouldn’t have been a fit mother for any child he fathered. She’d completely misunderstood if that was the case. In reality, he was terrified of fathering a child with any woman, and he didn’t want to talk about it. Trying to change the subject, he asked, “Any advice on what I can do to make her understand?”
“Grovel?” Jared suggested.
“Talk to her. Tell her the truth about everything,” Grady remarked.
“Make her realize that you care about more than just getting laid,” Dante replied sensibly. “You do care about her, right?”
Evan looked at Dante and nodded slowly. There was no reason to deny it anymore. Just thinking about the fact that he had obviously hurt Randi with his comments made his gut ache so much that he reached into his pocket and popped a few of his ever-ready antacids. He was getting to the point where he didn’t go anywhere without them.
Yes, he’d wanted to fuck her, but there was far more to how he felt about her than just that. Emotions were tangled with his desire, and she hadn’t understood his obvious distaste at the idea of fathering a child.
She didn’t understand that it wasn’t her; it was him.
Dante added, “Because if you aren’t serious about her, a couple of the detectives have been asking about her. Every single guy at the station thinks she’s hot.”
Evan saw red and slammed his fist down on the table. “She’s mine. Tell them to back the fuck off or I’ll crush every one of them, officer of the law or not.”
He flew completely off his rocker at the thought of Randi being with anyone but him, and his fury blinded him to the fact that he never lost his temper completely. Not that he would have given a damn even if he was rational enough to think about it.
His brothers just grinned.
“Did you see Elsie’s article in the paper today, dear?”
Randi had popped into Natural Elements to see how Beatrice had weathered the blizzard. Obviously, she was doing fine. The elderly woman’s enthusiasm was infectious.
“She’s got an article out today?” Randi asked curiously as she looked at the eclectic collection of items for sale in the store. “I’m surprised, since the snow just stopped last night.”
Beatrice’s head bobbed excitedly. “Yep. She titled it ‘Blockbuster Movie Star Coming to Amesport.’”
Randi laughed as she listened to the drama in Beatrice’s voice as she relayed the title of Elsie’s article.