CHAPTER 21
The Aftermath
Nate
After leaving Julian’s apartment,something ugly and necessary finally catches up with me. All the avoidance, excuses, and pretending I hadn’t detonated my own life… corners me. I’m being so suffocated by my own choices that I’m done being kind to myself, and even more done being Tessa’s Nice Guy.
Andrzej and my mom tried to tell me what it looked like from the outside, but I didn’t listen because I was so terrified to look inward.
I’d spent months blaming Robyn’s schedule for the way things cracked between us. But it was all me. What I let happen. What I allowed my understanding of love to become. The mess with Tessa wasn’t an accident. It was a weakness I fed by not drawing the line sooner.
So Monday morning, on my lunch break, I walk to her marketing agency, 3Ds, and press the elevator button. Inside my pockets, I clench my fists, uncaring about how my wordscould affect her, only worried about having Tessa dealt with. Once the door slides open, the lights to the company’s lobby are unnaturally bright, with a sterile buzzing. My stomach churns with the kind of anger you have to throw at someone.
Tessa looks up from her cubicle as I approach. For a split second, her smile flickers to something I’ve seen but only now figured out it wasn’t affection. It is calculation and entitlement tangled into one expression she’s worn for years—because I allowed her to think she owned parts of me she’s never had.
I press my hand flat against her desk, steadying the tremor in my fingers. This isn’t a pleasant chat to rekindle shit. “What did I tell you would happen if you messed with Robyn again, Tessa?” I ask, voice low and dangerous, restraint she doesn’t deserve wrapped tight around every word.
She leans back in her office chair and pouts her bottom lip. “What did she make you think I did now?” She spins slightly and crosses her legs. Months ago, my gaze would’ve dropped. Another betrayal I let happen.Not today.
“She didn’t make me think anything. Andrzej showed me your profile. I saw the caption.”
Her pout turns into a smirk. “So, what now? You were all too happy to hang out with me after my last video.”
My skin crawls, and I force a breath through my nose. “I need you to take those videos down. Both of them. And apologize to Robyn.”
“Why? I heard she’s not even in the state anymore.” She shrugs, scrolling her phone like she’s bored. “Leaves room for all kinds of new dalliances, doesn’t it?”
Rage flares so hard I taste metal. “I’m not here to explain why I don’t want to be with you. My reasons haven’t changed since we were twenty and you argued we made ‘sense’, or when I finally pushed you away too gently and too late.” I lean in, lowering my voice so only she hears the threat. “I shouldhave seen it sooner, but it’s three times you crossed a line with me and three times I told you no.”
She smirks. “The last time I made a move, you kissed me back.” She trails the edge of her desk with a manicured finger, and I pull away when she gets close to my hand. She scoffs. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you. You were all too happy to pretty much date me.”
“I never dated you. I never wanted to. I wanted to?—”
“Say it, Nate. What did you want?”
I know what I wanted, it’s shameful, but it isn’t for Tessa to hear. She’s not the one I owe answers to. “Take them down,” I growl.
She lets out a brittle laugh. “I won’t. Besides, sooner or later, you’ll need me. Nobody else has managed to make you feel big and needed the way I have since we were teens, Nate.”
“Do it. Or I promise you—I’ll make your life hell.”
“You wouldn’t even know where to begin. Don’t make threats you can’t enforce.” She chuckles.
“I wouldn’t be so sure I can’t enforce them. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And I’m feeling really fucking determined.”
I turn and head back toward the elevator. A pair of heels clicks behind me, getting closer until a sharp voice pierces the silence.
“Excuse me.”
I look back over my shoulder. A short woman stands there, ashy-blonde curls streaked with black framing her warm, dark skin, her mouth pulled into an unimpressed, razor-thin line.
“You were extremely loud. And I’d love to discuss your issue further in the privacy of a small conference room.”
She gestures toward the row of glass-walled rooms lining the corridor and walks toward the room, turning her head once to confirm I’mfollowing.
Why the hell not?
The woman closes the glass door behind us. Outside, Tessa pretends to focus on her computer, though she inches forward with the need to eavesdrop. The curly-haired lady lowers the blinds so she can’t see us.
