I stand in front of my closet door while my Mom fusses over my tie and suit jacket. It's prom tonight and I'm nervous as fuck, but not for the reasons you might think. I've been in love with the same girl since I was 10 years old and I'd like to say it's her I'm taking to prom tonight, but it's not.

"You look perfect honey your date is one lucky girl." Mom winks at me. She knows I don't give a crap about my date.

"Thank you Ma and thank you for helping us with the suits and flowers and shit," I duck my head as her hand comes to smack the back of my head.

"Language!" Ma screams, but she's trying to hold in a smile so I know I'm not really in trouble.

"Let's go fucker!" Bash comes bounding past me out of the bathroom and does manage to smack the back of my head, and a lot harder then Ma would have. I charge after him and shoulder him into the wall to rush past him. I can hear my Ma exasperated and bitching some more about language and I chuckle. My Ma is a saint for putting up with us and my Dad. Between the three of us we have to test her patience on a daily basis, but she always seems to have an unlimited supply of it.

As I head down the steps taking two at a time I see Trevor waiting at the door looking fancy as hell, but with his signature scowl in place. If I have to go on a shitty date with an annoying girl I'm glad my boys have to do it with me too. We didn't plan on going to prom, hell we aren't even supposed to be going it's for Juniors and Seniors, but my Mia is going, so here we are.

Mia was asked by a Senior named Jake and for some ungodly reason she agreed to go with him. She said he's "dope," whatever the fuck that means. He is also the varsity captain of the soccer team, the same soccer team that Trevor is on. Trevor blames himself for Jake asking Mia because Jake first saw her at a game. She was there to support Trevor though, so I think Jake should have fucked right off.

Trevor and Jake got into a heated argument during practice one night over Mia and they both were benched for the next game. Trevor explained that Mia belonged to us, the three of us, but Jake didn't care. He agreed to go with us as a group and that's the only reason he's still alive. Mia's happiness is the only thing we really care about and if she wants to go to prom with a douche nugget then we will be there... also going on the date with said douche nugget. Lucky for us we are fairly popular at school so it was easy to find three Senior girls who were willing to take us as their dates so we could get in.

"You look ugly," Trevor grumbles as he looks me over.

"You look beautiful my pretty little princess," Bash says as he sweeps by planting a kiss on Trevor's cheek. Trevor punches him in the back as he walks away. The only person we are romantically interested in is Mia, but you don't see someone almost every day for 6 years and not form this kind of bond with them. Trevor is my brother, just as much as Bash is.

"Let's go get this shit over with. If one of these girls touches me or if Jake touches Mia I'm going to freak the fuck out. I don't feel good about this."

Trevor looks as miserable as I feel. We haven't made our feelings clear to Mia. I'm pretty sure everyone in this damn city knows what she is to us, but her. She is a flighty little thing and she doesn't believe in love or marriage. She is jaded from her past and she carries it with her everyday. Her Dad used to tell her stories of fairy tales, princesses and gallant knights, but then he abandoned his wife while she was dying and his children while they were grieving.

Mia suffered for years, very much alone, while Cassidy had to figure out how to be a parent and Ella focused herself on school. Mia missed a very good portion of her childhood, and while we stepped in during 5th grade and made our best efforts to give her the one back she lost, she still feels that loss. She still feels that sting of rejection from her Dad, she misses the moments she should have had with her Mom and she regrets not having the memories she should have had with her sisters because they were grieving along side her.

We get in Trevor's truck and head to Sarah's house, Bash's date, where everyone is meeting and the limo is picking us up.

"You guys saw her dress when she bought it. I hate it." I mumble in the back seat.

"No you don't, you love it, but that's worse huh?" Bash turns to me from the passenger seat.

He's right. The bigger problem is I loved the dress. We all went with her to pick one and then all sat there for two hours holding frilly prom dresses over our boners. Every time I see her, she grows. Grows more beautiful and womanly. She is athletic and toned, but her curves are becoming ...well curvy. I've watched her grow from a tiny, sweaty, sparkly, shin kicking brat to this gorgeous, stunning, sweaty, sparkly angel. She becomes more sure of herself everyday and her confidence only makes her prettier.

I'm an ass and I don't want anyone besides my brothers and I seeing those curves. If I could dress her in long sleeved t-shirts and sweats her whole life I would, but she'd still be gorgeous and I'd still be threatening the lives of the other guys at school who look at her.

"I don't understand why we can't sit her down and tell her everything. From 5th grade to now. She deserves to know. Everyone else knows. This is our fault she's going on a date with someone. If she knew how we felt and what our intentions were then this wouldn't have happened. We could be taking her out to dinner or something and not stalking her to some stupid ass prom." I grumble.

"No, if she knew our intentions she would freak out and bail on us and you know that. You know why we can't tell her. She's not ready Liam. She's not there yet. This is her first real date and she chose some idiot she doesn't even really like because she's scared of going on a real date with someone she could actually care for." Trevor meets my eyes in the rear view mirror as he speaks,

"I'm not going anywhere, are you?"

"Of course not fucker." I snap back.

"Ok then. It's fine. We let her go on her date. We let her live her life. We support her, we love her, we're here for her. That's what we do. That's our job. Then when she's ready, she picks us and we start our life. She loves us, whether or not she realizes that I don't know, but she does. She has needed us as much as we've needed her."

Bash turns so he's facing both of us. "I agree and I don't agree. What happens when she falls for someone else? Especially if we are okay with her dating now man! What the fuck? I'm not okay with her dating. I thought this was a one time thing we were letting happen so she could get it out of her system."

"Fuck man I don't know. What happens when we try to control her or tell her what she can and can't do? You know she would ground our balls into fine meat if we did that shit. This night fucking sucks, I want to turn the truck around right now, but I can't sit at home while she's on a date with Jake not knowing what's happening. If he touches her, we snap his wrists. Clear?"

"Clear." my brother and I reply in unison.

I'm pulling into the culdesac at Mia's friend, Sarah's house, when I see Trevor's truck parked out front. They are just arriving and getting out of the car when they see us. I hear Mia's intake of breath and she sees them standing there in their tuxes and she starts picking at the sparkles on her dress avoiding looking at them. Of course it's hot pink and sparkly and there's glitter sprayed throughout her updo that took me two hours and the makeup that took me another hour.

She's nervous and that actually makes me feel better about her choice of a date tonight. She is going with a Senior who I've never even met and the only reason Carter isn't here is because if he did come the kid would be arrested, or buried. I'm worried enough as it is about her males doing something stupid.

I wish I could chaperone, but I don't think they'd like it if I tried to hop in the limo with them...though I'm feeling tempted as I see the stoic faces of Trevor, Bash and Liam.

"They are going to embarrass the shit out of me." Mia grumbles.

"I can only hope so," I say wistfully.

She spits her tongue out at me and giggles. She can whine about her protectors all night, but she knows as well as I do those boys would kill for her, die for her. I also know she feels safer with them here because she let it slip while I was doing her makeup.

"Please be cool, I'm begging you be cool or I'll be so pissed!"

"Mia, I'm always cool what the hell are you talking about? I invented cool. I'm basically a fucking fridge." At that comment she pushes her door open and slams it shut. I'm not sure what I said.

I round the Jeep to see the boys stalking towards her. I smile in anticipation, this is going to be so awesome. Carter bet $50 against one of Trevor's Dads that someone would bleed tonight. I'm not sure what it is about my husband and betting, but he sure wins a lot.

All three of her boys look at her like she hung the moon. Don't get me wrong, this kid is everything I ever hoped she could be and I'm thankful everyday that she turned into the young women that she has, but there is nothing that can match the look of adoration on these boys' faces. My chest hurts a little knowing they are upset she chose to come with someone other then them.

I'm grateful these guys found her in 5th grade. I did my best as a guardian, but I know it wasn't what she deserved. She deserved more. Liam, Bash and Trevor gave her their undivided attention from day one, and although I wasn't sure what to make of it back then, I know now that she needed that time. She needed to be spoiled and doted on. She needed to be dragged to every sporting event, movie and concert in town.

They gave her experiences that I didn't and I have a special understanding with these boys... They keep treating her like a princess and I won't let Carter maim them for their stalking tendancies.

"You look gorgeous," sweet Bash steps up to her first and kisses her forehead. He hands her the flowers in his hand, which I assumed were for his date, but I guess not. They are purple and have sparkles...be still my beating heart I'm going to cry.

"You have too much cleavage showing," Liam grunts as he kisses the same spot his twin did.

"Wow you and Carter must have vidchatted today huh? You sound just like him." Mia has a small smile on her face so I know she's teasing him and isn't really offended by the comment. He takes her hand and slides a bright pink corsage covered in glitter to match her dress on her wrist and then he turns her hand over to kiss the back of it.

I'm momentarily confused because I'm pretty sure her date is supposed to get her one of those, but then again Liam doesn't really give a shit about rules.

"Thank you guys, but you really shouldn't have. I have a date remember?" She asks timidly.

Trevor steps up to her and pecks her cheek. I can tell she's not sure what to do about their affection tonight. She is used to it, but tonight she has a date and it's not one of them.

"I knew you wouldn't survive without some snacks so fuck the flowers I got you the important shit."

"Language!" Mia admonishes him. He just smiles at her like she said something cute and hands her a little bag from a bakery she likes in the mall. She opens it and squeals like a pig. She pulls out a cupcake covered in, you guessed it, white glitter frosting. She shoves half the cupcake in her mouth as she does her happy food dance.

"Shaaaannkkk youuuuuuu Trevy I luhv you!!" She side hugs him and rests her head on his chest while she shoves the other half of the cupcake in her mouth. I start to pull her away with her arm.

"You're going to get cupcake on his tux you sugar fiend, get off of him!"

"My sugar fiend!" Trevor mock growls as he holds her tighter to his chest.

Everyone laughs as some of the awkward tension melts away. Until I hear Mia's date calling her name and all three boys turn to glare at the very unlucky date.