Page 51 of Her Three Tech Bros

“He was running his mouth at me for no reason.”

“And so you decided being the bigger person was beneath you? You had to make it worse?” I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose and closing my eyes. “None of this even matters. Why are you at each other’s throats like this? Everything was perfectly fine last night.”

Ethan holds his hands up and steps aside. “Don’t look at me. I got woken up by this just like you did. All I’ve been doing is trying to get them to stop.”

“Oh, yeah, because Ethan can never do any wrong,” Logan mutters.

“You want to say that a little louder, buddy?”

“Stop!” I shout. “Enough, okay? Can we all just act like adults right now?”

“That’s what I was trying to do when I was going outside to get some fresh air,” Logan says. “It’s not my fault someone has a temper.”

“Oh, I have a temper? Do you hear yourself right now?”

“Yeah, I –”

“Guys, please!” I shout again, louder this time.

I can’t take this anymore. This bickering, this hostility. It’s not what I agreed to. In fact, it’s the exact opposite of what I agreed to when the three of us decided to do this together.

I sit on the edge of the bed, my shoulders slumping.

“Can someone please just explain to me what’s happening? I just don’t understand. Last night was amazing, wasn’t it? For all of us?”

Ethan and Ryan nod.

“Okay, so what’s with the sudden mood change? I thought we all wanted this.”

“Not all of us,” Logan mumbles.

My jaw drops. My chest starts to ache, and tears spring to my eyes. Was last night all just fake then?

“What do you mean, Logan? You don’t want this?” I ask.

He looks away from me, refusing to make eye contact. I look at Ryan and Ethan, who just shrug. I feel sick.

“Logan, please talk. You agreed to do this like the rest of us, did you not?”

“Maybe I didn’t fully understand exactly what I was agreeing to.”

This time, it’s my turn to look away. I try my best to keep my emotions in check. It seems I’m going to have to be the one to fix this.

“Listen, I know that it must be hard. This whole thing is new to all of us, and it’s not like there’s a rule book anywhere. There’s going to be a lot of trial and error at first, but if we all just try, then I think we can make it work. We just need to communicate, okay? Last night was only our first time doing this as a group. It was bound to be a little difficult.”

“You don’t get it,” Logan says, still refusing to look at me.

“Then explain it to me. I want to be there for you. I want to help in any way I can.”

Logan just shakes his head. All I want is for this man to let me in, and he won’t even look at me.

“Logan, please. We can talk about this.”

“Talking won’t help. I’m sick of talking.”

“So you’re just going to give up as soon as things start to get even a little hard? You just expect everything to be easy? If that’s the case, then maybe you should just walk out now. Nothing is ever easy, and especially not the things we want the most.”

“Logan, come on, man. Just talk to her. You don’t have to talk to us, but at least let Jade in,” Ethan says.

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