Chapter 3
THREE
Beckett Harrington
Finding Theo’s apartment wouldn’t be hard. He’d lived in the same place freshman year, and he’d mentioned his father was continuing the rent.
What I didn’t know was what I’d be walking into. Last year, he’d floated the idea of a roommate, then dropped it entirely. Had he found one? And if he had—why hadn’t he asked me?
I liked living with my brothers, but I would’ve chosen Theo in a heartbeat.
I’d known him almost as long as I’d known them.
Our mothers were best friends and had planned their children together—though only one of them actually raised hers.
Theo’s mom did the work. Mine hired nannies.
To be fair, Lucas had been an accident. I was the first child planned with intention.
Theo and I went to the same private schools throughout our entire lives.
We attended the same charity galas, where we’d hide together to drink or smoke until one of our parents found us and dragged us back into the room.
He was the only person I’d ever had a sleepover with.
The only person I’d never had to explain myself to.
I was certain I knew everything about him—and certain he knew everything about me.
I showed up at his house the night I lost my virginity to Julia from our math class, still half in shock, and he hadn’t asked a single unnecessary question.
There was no one I trusted more than Theo Pembroke.
Although spoiled and vainglorious, he was my best friend.
I wouldn’t be who I am without him. He’d even chosen the same college as me, knowing my father would never allow me to go anywhere else.
Not many people could say that about their best friend.
Which was why it bothered me more than it should have when he said he wanted to live alone—then casually mentioned a roommate.
Heading to college together, I’d always told myself Theo and I were untouchable. People drifted, friendships faded—but not ours. Now, walking through the city with my hands shoved in my pockets, that certainty felt thinner. Fragile. Like something already cracking.
Before going to his apartment, I stopped at a coffee shop I knew he loved.
The Sleepy Bean was warm and crowded, the air thick with roasted beans and sugar. I ordered his usual—a vanilla oat milk latte—and added a double chocolate chip muffin at the last second. Theo loved all things chocolate, so I could never go wrong if anything I brought him included chocolate.
I’d never understood how he drank something that sweet, but Theo loved indulgences. If I was about to upend his day, I wanted something tangible in my hands. Proof that I still knew him. Proof that I was still his friend.
I told myself he’d support me. That nothing between us would change.
But the thought lodged in my chest anyway: he’d be the rich one now.
The stable one. I’d be the friend who suddenly counted dollars and hesitated before ordering another drink.
I hated how quickly the balance had shifted, how exposed it made me feel.
I had a few hundred dollars in cash tucked into my wallet—money I’d pulled out on instinct last week, without knowing why.
It felt lighter every time I thought about it.
I’d have to open my own bank account. Learn how to exist without someone else quietly handling things for me.
If the accounts my dad funded were frozen, then mine were too.
Before today, I would’ve never cared what the number on the screen said. Now, I couldn’t believe a drink and a muffin cost thirteen dollars. I frowned as I handed the cash to the cashier, already missing the ease of tapping my card wherever I went, never having to think twice.
I would’ve been completely screwed if I hadn’t taken that money out. The realization settled like a weight in my chest as I stepped aside to wait for my order—another unfamiliar concept. Beckett Harrington didn’t wait. People waited on him.
Is this how Asher lived? No wonder he was so bitter.
Less than a minute later, the woman behind the counter called my order, and I scooped it up. Only then did it hit me that I’d spent a decent chunk of what I had on something that didn’t benefit me at all. And somehow, that made me feel good—even if I had nothing to show for it.
Campus wasn’t far from downtown, but I lived closer to campus, while Theo’s apartment sat right at the edge of downtown, in the part closest to campus. I left my car on a side street with free parking and walked the last few blocks to his place. Honestly, it might’ve been easier to walk.
Theo had given me the passcode to his door last year. I could’ve knocked, but instead I let myself in. My best friend had nothing to hide from me.
Or so I thought.
A strangled moan drifted down the hallway, and I froze, unsure whether it was pain or pleasure. There was a small chance Theo was masturbating, but he’d never struck me as overly sexual. At least not outwardly. I hadn’t seen him hook up with anyone… almost ever. Unlike me, he never talked about it.
I knew he liked men. He preferred to bottom, and the first person he’d slept with had been some jackass from our school who never deserved him. That fact still stuck with me, sharp and unresolved.
I set the treats down on the kitchen island.
Theo’s place was massive, with a wide-open living room spilling seamlessly into the kitchen and dining area, the kind of layout meant to impress the second you stepped inside.
Toward the back, a hallway branched off to three bedrooms, one with its own bathroom and another bathroom tucked neatly between the remaining two.
I didn’t know why one man needed a three-bedroom apartment, but Theo loved it. The building was luxurious, all glass and polish and quiet hallways. The glass was tinted enough that no one could see in, but we could see for miles. It was a stunning view.
If I hadn’t been so focused on living close to the business building, which soon wouldn’t matter if I had my way, I would’ve chosen something in the same area.
Theo’s door and guest room were wide open, revealing that no one was inside. The third room hadn’t had anything in it last year, but there was nowhere else the sound could’ve come from, unless he had hidden a secret room from me.
The third room’s door was slightly ajar, but I couldn’t see inside until I got closer, and what I saw made my heart race.
Theo. On his hands and knees. Back arched, with someone behind him, pounding into him relentlessly.
If it weren’t for the growing moans, I’d assume Theo was in pain by the scrunch of his face against the bed.
Theo’s eyes squeezed shut. “Yes!” His fingers clawed at the sheets, knuckles white.
“That’s the spot. Don’t—” His words dissolved into a ragged breath.
“Please don’t stop.” His throat worked, Adam’s apple bobbing with each gasp.
Behind him, black, tousled hair shifted in rhythm, catching the light.
I knew that hair. My stomach dropped. I blinked hard, as if the image might rearrange itself.
There was no way it was him. Theo wouldn’t hide something so huge from me.
He wouldn’t end up in bed with the man I hated. My rival. My enemy. Asher Montgomery.
The bane of my college existence.
Theo’s fingers had a death grip on the comforter below him.
My breath caught in my throat as I watched, a rush of heat flooding downward, my jeans suddenly too tight.
I shifted uncomfortably, unable to look away from the scene before me.
The women I’d hooked up with had never made me feel this—this dizzy, this alive.
I’d always blamed the whiskey for dulling those encounters, for making everything feel distant and mechanical.
But now, stone-cold sober and burning up, I wasn’t so sure anymore.
I’d have to explore that later, because I wasn’t sure what turned me on more—the idea of being inside Theo, or being him.
I had never expected my body to react to seeing two men together, especially when one of those men happened to be my rival. The man who spent his years making me doubt myself.
I watched, frozen, as Theo announced what was about to happen and then came so hard it landed everywhere—the comforter, the pillow, his stomach—untouched. I didn’t know that was possible. Now, I wanted to experience it.
My chest felt tight, as if something had gone wrong inside it. Holy fuck.
I wasn’t just surprised. I wasn’t just staring. I was aware of him in a way I never had been before, and the realization hit harder than the sight itself.
Apparently, I’d been missing out. And worse—I wasn’t sure anymore what that said about me. In the span of one day, I began questioning everything I thought I knew about myself.
Once Theo finished, Asher didn’t slow down.
If anything, it only drove him harder, the rhythm sharpening as he kept moving, relentless.
The sounds filled the room—raw, unfiltered—and my body reacted before my brain could catch up, a low, unwelcome heat curling tight in my gut.
I almost thought I might come in my pants from watching them together, and that thought messed with my head.
Asher’s left hand left Theo’s hip and gripped the back of his neck instead, pressing his face further into the comforter, but Theo didn’t seem to mind.
I rubbed my rapidly swelling cock, but the feeling made me groan out loud, and the man I had been watching—my rival—took notice.
Theo was in his own world of pleasure. Asher looked at me, a smirk forming on his face when he noticed my hand placement.
“Do you want my cum, baby?” Asher asked my best friend, causing my heart to skip a beat. Theo was mine. Asher had no right to call him baby.