Chapter Ten
ETHAN
The week after the art exhibit felt too calm.
Henry had flown back to the States to see his dad.
He seemed to be doing okay, and I thought he might finally be close to agreeing to talk to someone.
A professional. Someone who could actually help him deal.
He’d talked to Mateo too, and that seemed…
fine. Even though the last time I’d seen Mateo leave our apartment, he’d looked like a kicked puppy again.
And then there was Sebastian and me. A whole different disaster.
I had no idea where we stood. I hadn’t spotted him on the running trail again, and most of our office interactions were distant—well, our version of distant. Not nods, because we didn’t do nods, but the winks and lip bites we threw at each other from across the room weren’t actual intimacy.
And they shouldn’t have been.
Because he still hadn’t broken up with his fucking boyfriend.
The only reason I knew this was that Vanessa—Sebastian’s assistant—and I were friends now. Lunch-break friends. And she let slip a couple of times that Luca had come by or had been calling him.
Sebastian himself had barely been visible.
When he was, he moved through the floor like a storm front rolling in—phone to his ear, jacket slung over his shoulder, tie loosened, beard darker against the hollowing shadows under his eyes.
More than once I’d caught sight of him late in the evening when I was leaving, still in his office with the lights low, the glow of his monitors reflecting off his face.
He was working insane hours. Even by his standards.
And every time our eyes met, he still found the energy to smirk at me like nothing in his world was on fire.
I should’ve been focusing on my schoolwork—and I was. The Sebastian obsession was just a side project. The classes were interesting and challenging, and unlike some in uni, I felt like they actually prepared me for the real world, which I was also a part of.
Budgeting was its own challenge, but I’d worked out my credit card debt with the bank, turning it into smaller payments I could actually manage. I’d only received one paycheck so far, but for the first time in months, I felt like I had my life under control again.
When Henry returned on Saturday, he announced we’d all been invited to a club opening.
Not a surprise—he got invited to these every day of the week—but he came back from his trip a little off.
Exhilarated and light, but also more chaotic.
Still, after working, studying, and overthinking full-time, I was craving a shift in pace, so I didn’t complain.
Not when we showed up a little early for the VIP party.
Not when we both started drinking faster than usual.
Not when we got our picture taken, and Henry posted it on social media, and it blew up in minutes.
Nope. Tonight was going to be a fun night out.
An hour and a half later, Henry and I were well past tipsy, swallowed by the dance floor, surrounded by a pack of strangers who had instantly become our new best friends.
Henry’s arm hung over my shoulders; someone else kept shouting along to the music.
The bass rattled my ribs. Sweat clung to my skin.
The whole room smelled like cologne, alcohol, and bad decisions.
Henry yelled something in my direction, but the chorus drowned him out. Then—
“Oh! Hey!” He peeled his arm off me and waved wildly.
“What?”
He leaned in until his hair brushed my cheek and shouted in my ear, hot and loud, “Everyone’s here!”
Flinching, I followed his line of sight… and of course. Mateo. Sebastian. Luca. And the little entourage glued to him like decorative barnacles.
I groaned. “Why did you invite them?”
“Because I like my brother, and they’re my friends?”
“I can’t be drunk around him.” I frowned and took a half-step back. “Now I have to stop drinking.”
“You do whatever you think is necessary,” Henry said, patting my chest. “Just keep Slutty Ethan under control and you’ll be aces! Let’s go say hi.” He latched onto my hand and dragged me through the crowd.
They were gathered around a tall table in the VIP area, the lights softer here, cooler, the music more muffled under the balcony. Luca and his friends were a little farther off, snapping pictures of everything—again.
Henry said hi first, stopping beside Mateo, slipping his hand onto Mateo’s shoulder as he leaned in to talk animatedly into his ear. Mateo nodded at me in greeting, trying to follow whatever Henry was babbling about.
I faced Sebastian Langley. Our eyes met, and just like every other day this week, we both tried not to be too obvious about our stupid, hidden smiles. But something in his felt… strained. Like it arrived a fraction too late.
Then again, he’d shown up tonight. Things couldn’t be that bad.
Sebastian leaned a little closer, a glint behind his eyes. “Are you two having fun?”
There he is.
I grinned. “So much fun. Doesn’t it look like we are?”
“So much,” he echoed, mouth tilting in a low chuckle. Then his gaze dropped—and so did his grin.
I frowned at the sudden change, followed his stare… and saw it. My hand still wrapped around Henry’s. When I looked back up, his expression was composed again, perfected into that polished, controlled calm he wore like a second skin. But that tiny crack? That brief flicker of something real?
Cute. And telling.
Was he actually bothered by that?
I’d been wondering since the art exhibit—the change in his mood, the tension, the way he’d loosened the moment I explained the whole babe thing.
Sebastian couldn’t still be jealous of his own brother, could he?
That was insane.
And it absolutely needed to be confirmed this very second.
“Mateo,” I called.
He leaned over the table, Henry tipping a little into him and dropping my hand to steady himself.
I grinned. “Do you dance?”
Mateo chuckled. “Some. Not much.”
“You should ask Henny to dance. He’s an unbelievably sexy dancer.”
Henry blinked at me, slightly horrified by the grenade I’d just handed him, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
Mateo only smiled, cocking his head in Henry’s direction. “Is that right?”
Henry visibly swallowed. “I’m… capable. Better than Ash, in any case,” he said, trying to deflect.
I looked back at Sebastian. His face had gone still, eyes narrowed just enough to give him away.
Bingo.
I shifted a little closer, my shoulder brushing his arm. His eyes dipped straight to mine.
“He’s not so bad,” I said.
The little smile he gave me was mouthwatering. Okay, pack it in. I needed to get some water in me. Soon.
A glass was set in between Sebastian and me, making me take a step back. I was startled when I realized it was Luca, moving in next to his boyfriend.
“Hi, Ethan,” he said, tone and stare cold as ice.
Well, hello. What’s this? A little honesty from Mr. Perfect?
“Hey.”
“Ash, you know what?” Henry said, moving in closer. “One of the owners said he knew you. Come say hi with me?”
Sebastian stiffened, his gaze flicking from Luca to me. “Sure.”
They left, and I expected Luca to go back to his friends, but he stayed right where he was, staring at me.
“I think it is time for you to stop,” he said.
My brows knit. “Stop what?”
He smiled, but it was tight, forced. “Your need to be so close to him all the time.”
And there it was—Sebastian’s boyfriend finally calling it out.
A sharp discomfort twisted low in my stomach. Just enough to make me pause. Just enough for the smallest voice in my head to whisper that maybe he had a point. Maybe I should step back, acknowledge the boundary, and stop hovering around someone who was technically still in a relationship.
I should have.
Too bad my restraint was nonexistent.
I leaned in, meeting his stare without flinching. “We’re just close like that. You know—old friends.”
“Working for him? Really?”
“What can I say?” I shrugged. “We share a lot of interests.”
He didn’t move. “People notice. They talk. It reflects on him.”
Ah.
So that’s what this was about. His perfect image.
“I’m good at what I do,” I said evenly. “The only thing I reflect on him is success.”
No polite smiles this time. “You are making everybody uncomfortable.”
“Everybody? You sure about that?” I took a step closer, refusing to shrink under his stare. “Look, I’m always going to be in his life. You should be getting used to it, not feeling threatened—”
“I don’t feel threatened by you,” he cut in quickly.
I smirked. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Luca used his height to his advantage, moving in. I clenched my teeth and held my ground.
“You act too desperate to be threatening,” he said. “Just keep your distance tonight.”
He grabbed his glass and walked away, while I stood there, jaw slack.
A hand landed on my shoulder. “Ethan,” Mateo said, a warning under his breath.
“Did you hear that motherfucker?” I snapped, outrage punching straight through me. “He called me desperate.”
“He’s jealous too, Ethan. Think about—”
“No. No thinking.” I blew a sharp breath out through my nose. “Desperate? I’ll fucking show him desperate.”
I spun toward the Langley brothers but paused—one tiny alarm bell going off—then tapped Mateo’s arm. “Hey, you know Henny and I have zero feelings for each other, right? Like none whatsoever.”
Mateo gave me a confused little smile, then nodded.
“I need his help right now, so whatever you see, keep that in mind.”
Mateo just chuckled and waved his hand, like saying, Go forth.
Say no fucking more.
I resumed my storming, and when I reached them, I slid under Henry’s arm and wrapped mine around his waist. Henry barely registered it, but his brother—standing right beside him—definitely did. Sebastian was talking to another guy and stopped mid-sentence for a beat before continuing.
Gotcha.
“Hey, babe, come dance with me?” I asked Henry, lowering my voice just enough to make sure it carried.
“And shots?” Henry asked, already smiling at me.
“And shots.”