Chapter 3 #2
“Yes! Please, please, please. I want to feel you drip out of me everywhere I go. Want to be so full.” I reached into my pants and squeezed the base of my dick to stop myself from erupting at the sounds Theo made. He sounded so fucking beautiful and eager.
Asher’s eyes never left mine as he finished inside my best friend, his hips faltering once before he stilled and pulled Theo close, holding him there like a claim.
His breath carried across the room, rough and satisfied, and my body betrayed me anyway, a sharp, unwanted stir that made my stomach twist.
“So fucking good, Theo,” Asher murmured, voice low, intimate. Then his gaze flicked back to me, deliberate. Calculated. “As always,” he added lightly, almost amused.
The message landed clean and brutal. He wanted me to know this wasn’t new. That this wasn’t an accident. That Theo wasn’t mine—he was his.
And the worst part was how my pulse answered the challenge before I could shut it down.
I pushed the door open, and for a split second nothing moved—then Theo reacted.
He pulled back abruptly, shoving Asher away as if speed alone could erase the last few minutes, as if I hadn’t already watched everything unfold.
The motion felt frantic, almost desperate, a clumsy attempt to reassemble dignity where it no longer fit.
The room seemed to hold its breath, heat and embarrassment settling into my skin at the same time, and no one quite knowing where to look—or how to pretend this was anything other than what it was.
“Shit,” was all that came out of his mouth. My best friend of my whole life had betrayed me, and he had nothing else to say.
Asher chuckled before walking buck-ass naked to a tripod I hadn’t realized was at the end of the bed, seemingly turning it off.
Without a word, I turned and headed the other way, my steps quick and uneven as I made for the door. I didn’t know whether it was shame or hurt pushing me forward, only that staying felt unbearable. My chest burned, thoughts tripping over each other. Why would Theo let Asher fuck him on camera?
“Beckett! Wait, please!” Theo called after me, panic fraying his voice.
I stopped with my hand half-raised, fingers curled like I might still bolt. We couldn’t outrun this. I couldn’t. I needed answers—needed them badly enough to stand there and feel everything I was trying not to.
“I’ve been making videos on FanFeed since we got here,” Theo said, the words spilling out fast, practiced and raw all at once.
“For money. I have… expensive habits. Ones I really don’t want to explain to my father.
So I figured out a way around it.” He swallowed.
“Asher needed a place to stay. He needed money. I helped him out—gave him a room, showed him a quick way to make cash.”
The room felt smaller with every word.
“He lives here?” I asked, my voice tight.
“And you didn’t tell me?” I shook my head, a hollow laugh threatening to break loose.
“Theo, this place—your place—has been my comfort since the first time I visited. Since you moved in. And you brought the man I loathe into that space without even bothering to warn me?”
The silence that followed was heavy, stretched thin between us, full of things neither of us had said yet—and things I wasn’t sure I could forgive.
“I was going to tell you tonight,” Theo said quickly, the words tripping over each other.
“I was scared of how you’d react when you found out.
Same reason I didn’t tell you about the videos.
” He hesitated, eyes flicking away. “I value your opinion more than anyone else’s.
I didn’t want to change how you saw me.”
“Theo.” My voice softened despite everything coiled in my chest. “I love you through all of it.” I shook my head. “I’m pissed you lied to me, yeah—but I could never hate you. I could never think less of you for what you chose to do to make money. I might not understand it, but I support you.”
I stepped toward him before I’d fully decided to, wrapping my arms around him without thinking too hard about the fact that he was still naked. Still warm. Still very much a reminder of what I’d walked in on.
“Uh,” Theo said, stiffening slightly. He cleared his throat. “I’m covered in cum, Harrington.”
“I know.” The word came out rougher than I meant. I swallowed. “I, uh… I watched it happen.” I reached back and scratched the nape of my neck, suddenly unsure where to put my hands, my eyes. “I hope I didn’t violate your privacy. I just—I couldn’t stop myself.”
Theo groaned, dragging both hands down his face. “Jesus. That’s so embarrassing. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“Don’t be,” I said immediately. Too immediately. “I don’t mind. It was kind of hot.”
The silence that followed was thick and wrong and buzzing, the words hanging between us like something alive. Heat crawled up my neck, settling in my cheeks. I broke eye contact first.
I turned, grabbed the treats I’d brought, and held them out like a peace offering. A shield. “Here,” I said, forcing a lighter tone I didn’t feel. “Your favorite latte. And a treat.”
Somehow, it felt easier than saying anything else. I needed to change the subject so we could begin to move on.
Just when things began to feel marginally less awkward, Asher emerged from the room—thankfully clothed this time.
He dropped onto the couch and lay back, casual as anything.
“If I’d thought more about how often I’d have to see you after moving in,” he said, not bothering to look up, “I probably would’ve chosen to live in my car.
” He glanced up then, eyes flicking over me with lazy contempt.
“So what brings you here, Harrington?” A smirk tugged at his mouth.
“Daddy couldn’t buy you something more entertaining to do today?
” He paused just long enough to let it sink in.
“Or are you here to buy a paper from Theo?” he added lightly.
“Because I can’t account for your decent grades. It’s certainly not your brain.”
“I get that being smart and attractive is unfamiliar territory for you, Montgomery. Not everyone struggles in the same way,” I said, my jaw locking as the words left my mouth, my fists curling at my sides.
Asher stood up from the couch, stomping toward where I stood next to a naked Theo, who stood between us to stop us from getting too close.
“I came to talk to my best friend,” I said, my voice low and rough. “I didn’t expect to see you—and I didn’t want to.”
Asher’s expression didn’t soften. If anything, it went still, sharp around the edges. His gaze pinned me in place.
“Doesn’t really matter what you wanted,” he said. “You saw me.” A beat. Deliberate. “And you didn’t stop looking.”
“I’m not in the fucking mood, Montgomery. I’d shut the fuck up if I were you,” I threatened, sick of his shit and how he acted better than me.
“Aw, did you run out of hair gel this morning? Better call Daddy to buy you some more. You’re looking a little rough,” Asher teased, and not in a friendly way.
“You don’t know shit, Asher. Some of us have real problems to deal with right now, okay? Drop it,” I warned him one last time. If he didn’t back off, I couldn’t be blamed for what happened.
“If Daddy can buy your way out of it, then it’s not a real fucking problem, Harrington,” Asher said calmly. “Some of us have actual problems—like scraping together rent and tuition. Things you’ll never have to worry about.”
Something in me gave way.
“He can’t buy his fucking way out of jail when his assets are frozen!” I shouted.
Asher had pushed me to the edge of a cliff, and I had thrown myself off.
Asher went still. Then his mouth curved. A smile, slow and mean.
Behind him, Theo sucked in a breath and backed toward the hallway, bare skin suddenly feeling wrong in the room, as if he could undo this by putting clothes on.
“Good,” Asher said. “I’m glad that piece of shit finally got what was coming to him.” His eyes never left mine. “It’ll be your turn one day.”
That did it.
I didn’t hear Theo when he appeared again, didn’t register the warning in his eyes. My fist was already clenched, my body already moving. I swung and connected hard. The impact snapped Asher’s head to the side.
He staggered back a step. Then he laughed.
Asher wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand, looked down at the smear of blood there, and spat onto the floor. When he looked up again, he was still smiling—wider now, satisfied.
“I guess you’re ready to join your dad, Harrington.
He can’t buy you out of fucking assault charges now, you giant prick.
Fucking hell.” He had intentionally wound me up, knowing how I’d react, and I fell for it.
He was right. I didn’t have my dad to help me anymore. I couldn’t even speak to my dad.
“Jesus Christ. Both of you—stop. Shut the fuck up.”
Theo’s voice cut through the room, loud and frayed. He was dressed now, but it didn’t matter. The damage had already been done.
“I can’t take the fighting anymore,” he went on, hands raking through his hair. “The bickering. All of it.”
Something in my chest hollowed out.
“I’m out of here,” I said quietly, the fight draining from me all at once. “I’ve got enough shit to deal with already. This is… this is too much.” I let out a slow breath, as if it could steady me.
It didn’t.
All I’d wanted was to talk to my best friend. The person who’d always known how to ground me. I needed his strength. His perspective. His support.
Instead, he’d let it spiral. Let Asher push and sneer and provoke without stopping him.
Because Asher had gotten to him. Had touched him. Fucked him. And the realization twisted something ugly in my gut.
I didn’t know which loss hurt more—everything I’d just lost outside these walls, or the growing fear that I was losing Theo, too. Losing him to my rival. To the man I hated. The only person who treated me like dirt beneath his shoe. Me, Beckett Harrington.
“I’ll see you later,” I said, already turning away. Then, softer, less certain, “Maybe.”
I didn’t look back as I headed for the door. If I heard Theo tell me to stop, I knew I would. And I couldn’t afford that—not tonight. Not now.
So I left before he had the chance.