Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jack

M y face burned as the words sank in. I blinked at him, unsure if I was supposed to laugh, flirt back, or throw myself out the window. Instead, I did the most sensible thing I could think of: I bolted.

I practically tripped over my own feet getting out of Bradley’s old bedroom. My heart was thudding in my chest like I’d just sprinted a mile. I couldn’t deal with this right now—not the smirk, not the words, not the... feelings.

Once in my room, I slammed the door, leaning against it as if Liam might follow me. Of course, he didn’t. He probably didn’t even notice how fast I’d run away. I grabbed the first clothes I could find—a pair of sweats, an old hoodie, and my sneakers—and yanked them on. Then I glanced in the mirror and realized I’d forgotten something very important if I was to wear these gray sweats out of the apartment.

“Shit, I’ll need underwear too.”

After putting them on, I realized I could barely think straight. I needed to figure out what the hell was going on in my head.

After leaving my bedroom, I made a beeline for the front door. My hand was on the knob when I heard footsteps behind me.

“Jack?”

I froze.

I didn’t want to turn around, but I did. And there he was—standing in the hallway with a towel slung low around his hips, damp and shiny from the shower. Damn it, he was too sexy, dripping water down his neck and chest.

Liam cocked his head, his expression soft. “Are you okay? Because I know what it’s like to—”

“I’m fine.” The words shot out of my mouth too fast, too sharp. “I just... I need to clear my head.”

Before he could say anything else, I threw the door open and stepped out into the hallway, closing it firmly behind me.

The elevator was blessedly empty when I stepped inside. I hit the lobby button and leaned back against the mirrored wall.

My reflection stared back at me—flushed cheeks, slightly messy hair, and eyes that couldn’t quite decide whether to look pissed off or terrified. I didn’t know which one I actually felt.

“I think I felt more than I’m supposed to,” I mumbled, staring at my mouth as it formed the words. Then I dropped my head into my hands.

The ding of the elevator stopped me from spiraling further. On the third floor, the doors opened, and in stepped an older woman who looked like she should be gracing the cover of Chic Seniors magazine. She eyed me like I’d just stepped out of a mud pit, her lips twitching with something between amusement and disapproval.

“Ma’am,” I murmured, gesturing for her to step out first when we hit the lobby. She swept past me without so much as a nod.

Before I could make it out of the elevator, Nessa appeared, almost tackling the poor woman in her haste.

“Jack!” she called, grabbing my arm. “You’ve got to tell Liam—”

“Nessa,” I groaned, already knowing this wouldn’t end well.

“—that he’s so damned handsome, but he really needs to do something about those eyebrows. They look like two caterpillars glued to his forehead! If he’s going to make X-rated videos, the least he can do is be well-groomed.”

The older woman stopped, turned around and stared at us for a moment, then rushed away.

“How do you know about that?”

She flashed a full-on I’ve-got-you-now smirk. “My bestie Moira and I found Lucien’s FantasyFans page. Small world, huh?”

My mouth opened and closed a few times, no words coming out.

“Don’t look so shocked, sweetie,” she said, pinching my arm. “I think it’s cute. But seriously, you should get in on it too. You’d make a killing.”

Before I could muster any kind of reply, she winked at me, patted my arm like I was some kid playing dress-up, and headed toward the Dimitri’s security desk like nothing had happened.

I stayed frozen in place, the elevator doors dinging closed behind me. For the second time that day, I felt like the ground had been ripped out from under me, but this time it was because Nessa knew.

And, apparently, she thought I should be in the videos too. Should I tell her I’m going to be in them? Or should I wait for the world premier of my first video?

I bolted out of the building, Nessa’s voice echoing in my head like a bad sitcom laugh track. The second the cold air hit my face, I broke into a run. My sneakers pounded the pavement, the familiar rhythm of my strides anchoring me, keeping me from completely losing it.

Running was my go-to. It always had been. When my mom died, I ran. When I got a B on an exam instead of an A and felt like the world was ending, I ran. Something about the movement—the sound of my breath, the burn in my legs—had a way of dulling the edges of whatever was clawing at me.

But today, it wasn’t working.

No amount of sweat or sore muscles was going to fix this.

I pushed harder, my feet slamming the sidewalk as if I could outrun my thoughts. But they kept pace, relentless. For years, Liam and I had been best friends. And I’d always kept my feelings buried, shoved deep down where they couldn’t mess with what we had.

Because I’d seen it happen before.

In college, I’d watched couples jump headfirst into something they swore would last forever. They’d get three months of bliss, maybe four if they were lucky, followed by weeks of misery as everything fell apart. Then they’d stop speaking and act like strangers in the same room.

I couldn’t lose Liam like that.

So why the hell had I agreed to make that video with him?

I stopped abruptly, doubling over and gasping for air. Sweat dripped down my forehead, stinging my eyes as I wiped it away with the sleeve of my hoodie.

And there it was—the truth I’d been dodging since I said yes to him.

I’d done it because I wanted to be with him. To make him happy.

I couldn’t stop being there for him, no matter how much it scared me. Because that’s what I did—what I’d always done. And now, here we were, teetering on this edge, and I didn’t know how to keep us from falling.

If this was going to work, it couldn’t just... happen.

We needed rules.

I’d always been good at rules. They gave me structure, a way to navigate through chaos. And right now, things between Liam and me felt like the eye of a hurricane—calm on the surface but ready to spin out of control.

I started running again, slower this time, letting my thoughts organize themselves.

First rule: I couldn’t let myself get caught up in how drop-dead gorgeous Liam was. Because he was. Objectively, he looked like he belonged on a billboard in Times Square. But I wasn’t about to tell him that. No freaking way. That would give him the wrong idea.

We were just best friends helping each other out. And really, what choice did I have? If I didn’t help him, how was he going to pay rent? I didn’t want to lose this apartment—the first proper home we’d had on our own. The idea of giving it up because of circumstances beyond our control felt like failing.

A gust of wind whipped off the river, cutting through my hoodie and making me shiver. My breath came out in short clouds as I slowed to a jog, then stopped completely.

It was time to go back.

I had to face Liam. Like a man.

And I had to establish boundaries. Rules that would keep us from losing what mattered most—each other.

As I turned back toward the apartment, the city lights stretched out ahead of me. I walked for a moment before picking up the pace.

I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to say to him. But I knew one thing for certain.

This time, I wasn’t running away.

I froze at the front door, my hand hovering over the doorknob like it might shock me. My pulse hammered in my ears, loud enough to drown out everything else. I thought about turning around and going back outside to run another mile. Or ten.

Instead, I took a deep breath and reached for my key, sliding it toward the lock. Before I could insert it, the door opened, and there stood Liam, balancing a basket of laundry on one hip.

He was wearing those shorts again. The ones that should probably be illegal.

“Hey, you look like you’ve just run a marathon, Jack,” he grinned. Liam’s gaze swept downward, lingering for half a second too long before making its way back up.

I flushed, heat prickling my neck despite the chill still clinging to my skin. “I, uh, needed to clear my head,” I muttered, brushing past him into the apartment. Then I remembered my growing pile of dirty laundry. “Wait a minute, Liam. I’ll come with you to the laundry room.”

I bolted to my room, stripping off my sweat-soaked clothes and pulled on fresh ones. I grabbed my hamper and a fistful of mismatched socks, then hurried back to meet Liam, who was waiting by the door with a patient look on his face.

The laundry room was unusually empty for a Saturday. It felt strange, almost too quiet, like the universe was giving us a moment of peace. I dumped my clothes into a washer, only to realize I’d forgotten detergent.

“Here,” Liam said, shaking some into my machine without waiting for me to ask.

That’s how it always was with us—one of us covering for the other without making a big deal about it. Even with something as inconsequential as freaking laundry detergent.

Then I realized I didn’t have quarters either.

Liam reached into the pocket of those shorts, and I forced myself to look away, my ears burning. “Got it,” he said casually, feeding both machines like it was nothing.

As the washers started up, he turned to leave. “I’m gonna head back to—”

“Wait.”

He stopped, looking over his shoulder.

“We need to talk,” I said, trying to sound firm, though my voice came out quieter than I intended.

Liam sighed, his expression softening. For a moment, I wondered if he could read my mind.

“Come on,” he said. “We’ll talk while I edit.”

I followed him back to the apartment and into Bradley’s old room, which Liam had turned into his workspace. His laptop sat on the desk, the faint hum of it filling the silence. My eyes darted to the unmade bed and the unmistakable jug of lube on the floor. Heat crawled up my spine, and I glanced away.

Liam cleared his throat. “Let me show you what I’ve got so far.”

He sat at the desk, motioning for me to come closer. I hovered over his shoulder as he explained his editing process, but I barely caught a word.

On the screen, I watched myself—us.

The video was... OMFG hot.

I couldn’t believe that was me. Doing things I’d never imagined, things my dad would probably disown me for if he ever found out. But the worst part—the part I couldn’t stop thinking about—was how incredible Liam looked.

The only reason I looked halfway decent was because I was with him.

“So,” Liam said, snapping me out of my trance, “what do you want to talk about?”

It took me a second to remember. I cleared my throat, trying to shake the haze from my brain. “Rules,” I said. “We need rules to keep things, um, sane.”

Liam raised an eyebrow but nodded, waiting for me to continue.

“First rule,” I started, “we only... you know, do it when we’re making a video.”

Liam’s face scrunched up. “Why? This is our business. It’s not like we have some horrible boss telling us—”

“That’s just the way it has to be,” I interrupted, more forcefully than I intended.

He shrugged, but I swore I caught a flicker of disappointment in his eyes.

“Also, we should get tested. Just to be safe,” I added.

Liam frowned. “Jack, I’ve never done anything that would—”

“It’s non-negotiable,” I blurted.

“Fine,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “We’ll go on Monday during your lunch break.”

I was about to come up with another rule when the screen caught my eye.

Liam was on top of me, sitting on my chest, the moment frozen right before... the moment. My throat went dry, and I felt a jolt of heat low in my stomach.

I glanced at Liam, who was suddenly very interested in crossing his legs and wiping his forehead.

He coughed. “Video’s ready to upload. If you want to back out, now’s the time.”

Liam looked up at me with those big brown eyes, and my heart clenched. If I had any sense, I’d tell him no. Walk away before this went too far.

But then I thought about everything Liam had been through. Losing his job. Bradley’s arrest. His fear of failing.

“Go for it,” I mumbled.

His fingers flew over the keyboard, and after a moment, he turned to me with a small smile. “It’s done. We’re live.”

My pulse quickened, but before I could say anything, Liam stood and looked me dead in the eye.

“Jack,” he said, his voice low, “I know you said we shouldn’t... you know, unless it’s for a video. But why don’t we strike while the iron’s hot and make another one?”