Page 110 of Sexting My Best Friend's Brothers
“It was a security protocol,” he murmurs. “But… I apologize. I didn’t intend to cause fear. Only to ensure presence.”
Tessa looks at Asher, then back to me. The fight doesn’t drain out of her. It calcifies.
I watch her gaze snap from Asher, to Owen, and finally to me. The fear I saw a moment ago is gone, replaced by a cold, hard resolve that chills me to the bone.
“Get out,” she says.
Her voice isn’t trembling anymore. It’s ice.
“Tessa,” Owen starts, stepping forward with that pleading, puppy-dog look that usually works on everyone. “Just listen?—”
“No,” she snaps, stepping back. Her glare sweeps over us before locking dead onto me. “I listened when you told me I was a liability. I listened when you threatened to bankrupt me with a lawsuit. And I listened when all of you made it clear I was just a problem to be solved.”
She gestures violently to the boxes around us.
“I did everything you asked. I packed. I quit. I found a new job. And now that I’m actually walking out the door, you decide you want your toy back?”
“You’re not a toy,” I growl, my jaw tightening. The word makes my skin crawl.
“Then stop treating me like one!” she yells. The anger she’s been suppressing finally boils over. Her chest heaves, her eyes blazing. “You don’t get to show up here, break into my apartment, and tell me you’ve ‘solved the problem.’ I’m not a bug in your code, Ethan. I’m a person. And you hurt me.”
The air in the room solidifies, thick with the truth of her accusation.
Her words strip the armor right off me. She’s right.
We treated her like a variable to be managed, not a woman to be loved.
“I know,” I say roughly. “I know I hurt you.”
“Then why should I stay?” she challenges me, crossing her arms over her chest. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t go toNebula. Markus Vance might be a shark, but at least he doesn’t pretend to be my family while holding a gun to my head.”
“Because we love you,” Owen says.
The words hang in the stale air of the apartment.
Tessa stops moving. She looks at Owen, searching his face. The charm is gone from him, stripped away to reveal a raw, terrified honesty.
“Owen,” I warn low in my throat. We haven’t discussed this. We haven’t used that word.
“No,” Owen shakes his head, ignoring me. “She wants a reason? That’s the reason. We don’t just ‘want’ you, Tess. We aren’t just ‘solving a problem.’ We’re miserable. I haven’t slept in three days. Asher has been staring at a blank screen for forty-eight hours. And Ethan?”
He gestures to me.
“Ethan tore his office apart an hour ago because he thought he lost you. We aren’t functioning. We aren’t complete without you. We’re just three broken guys who realized too late that we found the missing piece.”
Tessa looks at me. Her gaze is searching, demanding the truth.
“Is that true?” she asks.
I could lie. I could pull rank. I could try to salvage my pride. But looking at her standing there, surrounded by the boxes I forced her to pack, I realize I don’t care about pride.
“Yes,” I rasp. “It’s true. I tried to protect the company. I tried to be the CEO. But the moment you walked out of that office… Ididn’t care about the company. I just wanted to burn it down if it meant I couldn’t have you.”
“And you?” She turns to Asher.
Asher’s looking at the floor. He lifts his gaze, his blue eyes unblinkingly honest.
“I can’t calculate a future without you,” Asher says simply. “The probability of my happiness drops to zero. You’re the only variable that matters.”
