Brother’s Best Friends Are My Mates novel Chapter 84

Lia

“Drive faster, Simone,” I muttered, glancing over my shoulder.

Simone snorted. “Relax, Lia. You act like they’re gonna chase you down in their cars.”

I crossed my arms. “You don’t know that. Colby has tracked me down before just because he ‘had a feeling’ I was stressed.”

Simone laughed. “Okay, that’s kind of cute.”

“It’s annoying.”

“It’s protective.”

“It’s suffocating.”

She shot me a look. “You love it.”

I huffed. “Not today. Their nerves will rub off on me. I already feel like I’m going to throw up. If they were in the car, they’d be hovering, asking me a million times if I’m ‘okay’—and then I really would throw up.”

Simone smirked. “And Matt would dramatically blame himself.”

I groaned. “Exactly! Rain would try to be calm, but his leg would be bouncing, Colby would make stupid jokes, and Jesse would be the quietest one-but somehow the most intense.”

Simone hummed. “So, what you’re saying is… they care.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes. But today, I need space.”

“And that’s why you snuck out.”

I grinned. “I didn’t sneak. I… strategically left early.”

“Uh-huh. And the fact that you checked to make sure they were asleep before leaving?”

“That’s just being thorough.”

Simone laughed. “You are so in trouble when you get back.”

I sighed. “I know. But it’ll be worth it if I pass. And if I fail… well, I’ll deal with their reactions later.”

“You won’t fail.”

“You don’t know that.”

She scoffed. “I do. I know you, Lia. You stress, you overthink, and then you pull it off like a badass. Every time.”

I exhaled. “I hope you’re right.”

“I am right.”

I tapped my fingers against my leg, staring out the window. The sun was just starting to rise, casting golden light over the empty roads.

“How mad do you think they’ll be?” I asked.

“Oh, furious,” Simone said. “Jesse will probably glare for an hour straight. Rain will be passive-aggressive about how you could’ve asked for support.’ Matt will be sulky. And Colby? Colby’s gonna be so dramatic.”

I winced. “I’ll have to deal with it when I get back.”

“Yep,” she said cheerfully. “But first-you pass this test.”

I nodded, gripping the strap of my bag. “Yeah. First, I pass.”

Simone pulled up to the testing center and put the car in park. “Alright, this is your stop, Miss Magical License.”

I unbuckled my seatbelt but hesitated.

“You got this,” she said, giving me a knowing look.

I let out a breath. “I got this.”

Simone grinned. “Text me when you’re done. And, uh… good luck dealing with your four overprotective mates when you get home.”

I groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

She laughed as I stepped out of the car.

“Go kick ass, Lia!”

I shut the door and watched her drive off, heart pounding.

Now, it was just me and the test.

When I walked in, I swear I felt eyes watching my every move but it was likely just in my head. I squared my shoulders, ready to do my best!

This test was only going to decide my very future.

My stomach started to do flip-flops.

What if I failed? I hadn’t asked if I could take it more than once, assuming I would do it automatically on the first try. Maybe that was my mistake.

But Rain had to do it more than once. Maybe I should just accept that this was simply how it might be for me.

“My nerves are threatening to throw me off my game,” I whispered to myself.

“Lia Brown!” the woman at the front desk called.

“Better check in with Simone first. No point in the two of you going there and wasting gas money.”

She’s going to likely tell me to fuck off or something, I thought but I brushed those thoughts to the side. I decided the easiest way to do this was to text Simone to tell her I was going to pick up Lia.

In the end, Simone didn’t give me much pushback. She agreed that I could go ahead and pick Lia up but she wasn’t going to be very happy about it. My response was to just shrug because I knew she wasn’t going to be happy about it.

If only Lia had told us she wanted us to back off. We would’ve! Yes, we could be intense but that was our charm.

And this brought us to this moment.

Lia walked out of the building, giving me a look. I smiled, waving at her to come over and join me.

“Why are you here?”

“To pick you up,” I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

She rolled her eyes. “Simone was supposed to pick me up.”

“Yes, well here I am after you snuck out,” I muttered.

Her eyes narrowed. “I have a right to leave the house. Am I a prisoner or something?”

“Lia, that’s not what I mean and you know it.”

Lia crossed her arms over her chest, eyeing me closely. “Then what do you mean?”

“We would’ve backed off if you just told us!” I argued. “I know all of us can be intense, but we want to protect you. But if you are feeling suffocated then you need to tell us, okay? How are we supposed to know otherwise? No one is psychic no matter how much Rain likes to pretend he is.’

She snorted. “Okay fair enough but sometimes talking to you all is exhausting. It’s easier to just sneak out.”

“And that is something we need to discuss,” I said, gesturing to the car. “In the meantime let’s get home. Unless you want to stop somewhere first.”

Lia shook her head. “No, I’m exhausted from the test, which I think went great by the way.”

“That’s great to hear, Lia.”

Magic was beyond me. I didn’t know a thing about magic and honestly, I liked it that way. It was unpredictable and you never knew what was going to go wrong. One wrong move and it’ll blow up in your face.

Sometimes literally. I had seen Lia once conjure a fireball and launch it at a target. It scared me.

“But you guys have got to back off,” she warned. “A little bit, at least. Now that my magic skills are improving, you risk getting turned into a toad.”

I smirked. “Bet I’ll look like a pretty damn good toad.”

“Agree to disagree.”