I decided getting blackout drunk was the only way to deal with everything.

Boyfriends of High School Past? Get drunk.

Demon Ex-fiance of Days Present? Get really drunk.

Clusterfuck of the Century Future? Blackout.

We were all in my Dad's den because Beth thought it would be helpful if they all pitched in with the effort to clean it up. Not that it was messy. It was just very, very full of all my Dad's photographs from the past six decades.

My father was a bit of a packrat. His den was full of file boxes that contained thousands of photos that spanned almost his entire lifetime. Most were organized by year or timeframe by box, but each box had multiple copies of the same photos, some were labeled, and some weren't. When I had moved back to take care of him, most of our days had been spent with me going through a box, holding up each picture to him so he could tell me the details. He had a story for every single photo, his memory just as sharp as it had always been. Honestly, I couldn't have dreamed of a better way to spend the last few months with my dad. His stories made us both laugh and cry, and they were wonderful. We had only made it through three boxes before he had passed away.

Thankfully, my brother and I had talked my dad into embracing the digital age, so most of the pictures he had taken over the last fifteen years or so were stored on his laptop or USB drives. But there were still a lot of boxes to go through, and it had become too overwhelming for me to handle.

Beth was delighted with every photo of herself she found, showing everyone until we all ooh'd and ahh'd over it, our reactions getting increasingly more obnoxious the more we drank. When I made a snide remark about one of them, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and blew me a kiss.

"Can I help it if your dad found me so photogenic?"

With her cascading blonde hair and pale complexion, it was no wonder she photographed so well. When we were younger, she was convinced she was a descendant of Tinkerbell because there could be no other explanation for why she was so pretty.

My dad wasn't a creep who just liked to take pictures of pretty girls. He had been a professional photographer and was never without one of his cameras. Since Beth and I had been practically joined at the hip our entire lives, there was a good reason there were so many pictures of her in his endless boxes of photographs. She was almost as much his daughter as I was.

I was not having a great time going through the pictures. Every time I found one of Riley or one of us together, tears burst forth, and I became a blubbering mess. The boys collectively decided this was not a great idea and forbade me from looking through any more boxes.

Now, hours later, we had all given up on the sorting. Joshua and I lay side by side on the floor, giggling at something stupid he had just said, even though I had no idea what it was. We held hands and stared at the ceiling, which was beginning to spin and making us laugh even harder.

Beth and Maleko were both sitting cross-legged on top of my father's desk, playing some card game, but instead of cards, they were using the photos. Mal was frowning, Beth winning whatever game it was they played. Every few minutes, she would yell "Yahtzee!" and he'd curse angrily.

Noah separated himself from the group, sitting sullenly on the couch near the back of the den. He nursed an open bottle of tequila while staring out the window into the backyard. The willow tree and bench where we had spent a lot of summer nights together had captured his attention. I wondered if he was recalling all the private moments we had shared under that tree. I knew every time I looked at it, he was all I could think about.

"We should chop it down!"I exclaimed, sitting up. I forgot I was holding onto Joshua. He tried sitting up with me but lost his balance and tipped over onto his face.

"I'll go get the axe!" Mal shouted and hopped - kind of - off the desk. While I struggled to make it to all fours and then to my feet, he was struggling to walk to the door. He grasped the frame and stopped.

"Wait - why do I need the axe?"

"Chop it down, chop it down," Joshua was mumbling into the floor. He had not bothered to move.

Noah rose from the couch and came over to hold me steady before I fell onto Joshua."You're not chopping anything down. Especially that tree."

"But I don't like it."

"Yes, you do."

"I don't," I pouted at him.

Mal wobbled over, pointing out the window. "That tree?"

"Yes. Go chop it down."

"Chop it down, chop it down," Joshua continued his chant.

Noah grabbed Mal's arm to prevent him from his quest. Sober Mal would have been impossible to stop. He had been muscular ten years ago but was now built like a tank. I reached out a hand and ran it over his bicep, smiling up at him.

"Sexy," I purred.

He flexed under my palm, and I smiled like a child on Christmas morning.

Noah pushed him away, not so hard that he'd tumble over but just enough that he had to lean on the wall to catch himself. I could no longer reach him, even as I fought Noah's grip and extended my arm towards those luscious arms.

"Regan blew Noah under that tree," Beth chimed in from the desk. She was stacking all her winning "cards" and singing quietly to herself.

"She blew me in the living room," Joshua rolled over onto his side. His fingers closed around my ankle. "But she hasn't blown me in here."

"She sucked me off at -"

Noah cut off Mal with a slash of his hand. "We are not comparing notes right now."

"Chop it down!" Beth and I shouted at the same time, erupting in laughter.

"I'll get the axe!" Mal again attempted to make it to the door.

"Dammit, you guys!" Noah yelled. "No one is chopping anything down."

"Nanny Noah is no fun," Beth taunted.

"Nanny Noah, Nanny Noah," Joshua laughed and used his grip on my ankle to pull himself closer.

Mal shoved Joahua away with his foot and wrapped his arms around me, twirling me in a circle, a huge grin on his face. He was so beautiful when he smiled and I told him.

"You're beautiful," Mark answered and kissed me. He tasted like the rum we had been sharing—spicy and sweet—an echo of his personality. I let him devour me, losing myself as all of our moments together came rushing back to me. My lack of protest and eagerness to get even closer to him earned me a growl of approval.

Ignoring everyone else in the room, he backed me into the bookcase and pressed his hard body into mine, his hands pushing under my hoodie. I gasped when he palmed my breasts, my eyes opening wide and finding Noah watching us.

"We need to take you home with us," Mal whispered, his lips grazing over my jawline and down my throat. "Home to Boston so we can all be together again. So I can have you whenever I want."

I moaned in response, his teeth finding that sensitive spot along my collarbone. "You live in Boston? Riley lives in Boston."

Noah took a step forward, mouth open to intervene.

Mal pulled back, intent on pulling my hoodie off. "Well, yeah. We all live together."

Beth let out a guffaw from her perch. "Oh shit."

Joshua was suddenly on his feet, and Noah had stopped dead in his tracks.

My hands pressed against Mal's chest. "You all live with Riley?"

He was oblivious to the slip-up he just made. He was still smiling and trying to kiss my neck.

My drunken veil was lifting slowly, but in a few seconds, I'd get there. Pushing against Mal, he finally realized I was no longer on board with getting naked with him. He stepped back, really confused and frowning.

"What's wrong?"

"You all live together." I snapped my attention to Noah and Joshua. "With Riley."

"Ohhh," realization dawned on Mal. "Forgot you didn't know that."

I was going to throw up.

"How long?" I asked Joshua, knowing he was the least likely to lie to me.

"For about six years," he answered quietly. He knew it was about to get really ugly in here.

Anger caused my body to start shaking with a feeling of betrayal that my brother never told me. My twin had been lying to me. Desperate to try and stay in control, my nails dug into my palms when my gaze settled back on Noah.

"You got back in touch with him six years ago? And none of you bothered to let me know?"

"Nah," Mal spoke up. "They settled everything long before that."

Noah clenched his jaw. "Mal, for fuck's sake, shut up."

Beth fell off the desk to come over and watch the drama unfold, waving Mal to continue. "Please, Mally, tell us more."

He opened his mouth to obey, but Joshua cut him off. "Don't."

My feet took me a step further from Noah and closer to the door. He watched my movement carefully, probably trying to figure out how quickly I could run away. I crossed my arms over my chest. "Riley just decided to forget all about everything. One day you were suddenly BFF's again?"

"It wasn't so simple." He threw a look over at the other three, hesitant to talk in front of them.

"I suddenly find myself with an excessive amount of time on my hands, so please," I waved my hand at him to continue."Fill me in."

"You want to do this now? Here?"

My sharp, irritated look fell on Mal and Joshua, who had the good sense of looking guilty. "They already know all the details, don't they? Nothing they haven't heard so yeah, I want to do this now. Here."

Beth stood ready beside me, arms crossed and braced for a fight. Like always, she was there if I needed her to jump in.

"My parents died. Car accident."

Nice one, Regan. Insert foot in mouth and bite down hard. "I'm so sorry."

I had really liked his parents. Particularly his mother. She had always been so normal acting for someone so rich. She liked to work in the hardware store and get her hands dirty right along with the rest of her employees. She'd be laughing the whole time.

"I was having a really hard time," he continued, dropping his eyes toward the floor and then out the picture window, looking out into our backyard.

"Not just because of my mom and dad, there was other stuff going on, and I called him. It was like we never had that fight, never went two years without talking. He even came down for their funeral."

"Why didn't he tell me any of this?" It broke me a little more inside, knowing Riley had kept this from me for so long. He knew how I had felt, he knew how hurt I had been and how after all this time, I hadn't been able to move on. Had he still hated the idea of Noah and I being together so much he hid their friendship from me?

"Because I asked him not to. At least at first, he thought that was probably a good idea. I needed to take care of some stuff first."

"Eight years later, I guess you're still working on that." I didn't even try to hide the bitterness in my voice. "What kind of stuff takes a decade to fix?"

He didn't acknowledge my question even though I knew he heard me. He seemed lost in thought.

"What else should I know about you and Riley mending things and you all making deals to keep me in the dark?" It was almost comical to think of Riley laying down the ground rules.

Riley: I'll be your best friend again but my sister is off-limits, got it?

Noah: No more sex with Regan, got it!

And they lived happily ever after.

"There was no deal. We just decided to move on from it."

"Something you excel at. I should know."

Now Noah threw his gaze back to me, angry.

"Did you think you could come over here and things would just be okay? Normal? You have to know that I want answers - I'm owed answers, Noah. You disappeared out of my life without even a goodbye."

He frowned."Pretty sure you witnessed the reason for my departure. You were there when Riley was beating the shit out of me."

"Tell me what happened after that night. Tell me why you left me. All of you."

Noah gave me a sideways glance while he checked in with Joshua and Mal. "Reggie –"

"Now, Noah, or get the hell out of my house." When he remained silent, I turned and stormed out of the den and the house. I had no idea where I was going, especially without a coat and in my fuzzy polka dot slippers, just as long as it was away from them. Of course, he followed after me, leaping down the front steps and grabbing my hand.

He was exasperated with me, running a hand through his hair, his eyes wild as he tried to gather his thoughts."Will you just give me a minute to think?"

Tugging my hand back, I leveled a glare at him. "I need to know what I did wrong."

"You?" he nearly yelled. "All this time, you've thought it was your fault? Shit, Reggie."

"What was I supposed to think? You didn't give me much reason to think otherwise, did you? After we had just," I waved my hand at him. "You know."

"You couldn't be more wrong." He took a few deep breaths before looking back up at me, seeming to decide about something.

"None of it was your fault. None. Of. It."

My eyes widened as he looked down at me, and I instantly knew what he would say. "It was because of another girl, wasn't it?"

"Yes," he bit out.

Knife. In. Gut.

It shouldn't hurt me so much. It was a long time ago, and we were young. But it killed me to hear him admit it. God, it really killed me.

"Okay, that's fine. I mean, it was, like ten years ago, so no big deal, right? What did I expect? We were so young and not together very long. It wouldn't have worked out anyway. It's fine. All good."

Somewhere in my rambling, I began turning from him, and he used his body to back me against the side of his car, not roughly, just hard enough to snap me out of it, especially when he gently tilted my face up towards his, and I saw his hard expression.

"I didn't go looking for her, Regan. I wasn't trying to find anyone else."

My laughter was not kind. "So, in your effort not to find anyone else, you accidentally slipped your dick into some girl?"

"No! I mean, the only girl I wanted was you."

"Not enough, I guess."

"I was drunk –"

"Done. I am so done with this." Wrenching myself from his grip, my fuzzy slippers made soft 'puff' sounds in the snow as I tried stomping away from him. Again, he didn't let me get far, grabbing my arm to stop me.

"I would have come back for you. I was just going to stay away long enough for Riley to calm down. A month, two at most."

Sneering, I pried his hand from me. "And would you have told me about the other girl when you came back? Or just let me think you stayed away to help?"

He paused too long before trying to answer and that was all that needed to almost be said.

"I'm glad you told me all of this. Ever since you left me, I always remembered you as the one who got away. The one true love of my life that ruined it for everyone else." I stomped up the porch steps, angry and relieved at this new development.

"And now?" he yelled after me.

"Now you're just the loser that left me for another girl." I opened the front door and slowly turned to look at him, smiling. "I never want to see you again, Noah."

And then I slammed the door with a very satisfying thud.