“I can’t believe you talked me into this dumb shit.” I pulled my fishing pole out of the water and tossed it behind me.

“You gotta learn to relax,” Mike said before taking a sip of his lukewarm beer.

We’d been ten miles off the coast of Florida, sitting in the middle of goddamn nowhere, bouncing on the waves of the Gulf of Mexico for three hours and hadn’t caught one fish. Not one. Not even a minnow nipped at our lines. All we’d accomplished was blowing through a shit-ton of beer and almost getting sunburned.

“This is better than working,” Thomas said, pulling on his line as if there might be something on the other end.

Joe kicked his feet up on the edge, leaning back in one of the captain’s chairs that lined the side of the boat. “I needed a day away from the women. They’re acting weird this week.”

“Just this week?” I laughed. Izzy wasn’t acting weird, not after finding out her mother was cancer-free.

But I knew exactly what Joe was referencing. Izzy had told me about the shitstorm hiring Kat had created with the other women in the family.

“Anyone know what’s going on?” Anthony asked. “I can’t figure it out.”

The man, God I loved him, but sometimes he was clueless. Usually because he was too busy or self-absorbed to realize what was happening in plain sight, but it still boggled my mind.

“Who knows. I don’t even let it bother me. All I know is that Mia dropped to her knees and sucked me off the other day as soon as I walked in the door from work.” Mike grunted and thrust his hips. “Shit was hot too.”

“I wish Max would do that. All I get is the damn stink-eye.”

“Angel isn’t acting weird at all. Is Izzy?”

I shook my head, but I kept my mouth shut.

“You two are fucking lucky. It’s been like PMS Central at my place,” Anthony added.

I stretched out across the leather bench at the front of the boat, soaking up the sunshine and listening to the steady waves lapping against the side of the boat. “What’s changed in the last week or so?”

I felt like I should at least throw them a bone out of loyalty and being brotherly and shit. I knew I’d want to figure the shit out sooner rather than later if I were in their shoes.

Mike let out a loud sigh before raking his hands through his hair. “Nothing.”

“You sure?” Thomas finally reeled in his line and gave up just like I had.

Joe scratched his head. “Kat?”

Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a winner. At least one of the brothers had some sense left in his head to figure it out.

“You think they’re upset about her?” Anthony asked Joe.

Joe shrugged. “I don’t understand why they would be.”

“Nah, that can’t be it.” Mike pursed his lips. “They’re not jealous.”

Thomas walked behind Mike and smacked him on the back of the head. “Don’t be a dumbass. They feel threatened.”

“So I got sucked off because Mia was threatened by Kat being near?” He looked even more confused than before.

“Bingo,” I said, throwing my arm over my face to block out the sunlight.

“Fuck. I don’t want her to feel that way, but I also want another surprise blowy.”

“Did you really just call it a blowy? Are you fucking five?” Anthony barked and started to laugh hysterically.

“Shut up, asshole,” Mike growled. “How are we going to fix this?”

“We’d better start paying more attention to our ladies,” Joe told them.

“Um,” Anthony mumbled. “If I pay any more attention to Max, I might as well crawl up her ass.”

“Still not getting any anal from her, huh?” Joe teased and made a tsk-tsk noise.

“Fucker, that shit is locked up tighter than Fort Knox.”

“You lost your game, my man.” Joe laughed.

“Why did we ever come out here?”

“To fish,” Thomas reminded Anthony.

“I came out to get away from the insanity and drink.”

“We’ve accomplished that, but it looks like a storm’s rolling in soon, and I feel the need to remind my woman who owns her,” Joe said, tossing his fishing pole aside. “Who’s with me?”

“Maybe I’ll get a blowy tonight too,” Anthony teased.

“Fuck that. I’m going straight for the ass. No better time to play the anal card than right now.” Mike collapsed next to me. “You with me, man?”

“Always, brother,” I muttered under my arm. “You’re a beast.”

“Take us home, Thomas,” Joe said from across the boat. “I have a woman to please.”

At least one of them had some sense. While Mike and Anthony wanted to use the situation to their advantage, my other brother-in-law had his head on straight. He knew the way to make his woman feel better about the entire Kat situation was to shower her with attention and remind her how much she meant to him. The other guys…they were greedy fuckers, but they did love their wives too.

By the time we made it to shore, a storm had indeed rolled in, and tethering the boat to the dock wasn’t so easy. But I had a feeling the hard work for the men around me was just beginning. They talked a big game, but the women in their lives were the bosses, leading them around by their dicks.