Her mouth falls open with a look of incredulity. “I'm not completely innocent, you know. I read books.”

I chuckle. “I've seen some of the books on your nightstand.”

“Don't judge ‘em until you've tried ‘em,” she sasses.

“I'm confident enough in my masculinity to read one of your romance novels. Pass me one of those sports romances, and I'm down,” I accept her challenge.

She chews on the inner corner of her lip. “I'm not sure I want you getting any more ideas.”

I lean forward and nip the side of her neck. “Baby, I don't need any help getting ideas.”

* * *

Bennett Richards lives in a luxury,high-rise in downtown Seattle. It's a beautiful building, but sterile and devoid of personality. Nothing at all like Tessa's mom's house. I can see how the luxury would be appealing, but I know her well enough to know that she would prefer the home over the apartment.

She grew up in an environment with more luxury than comfort, while all she ever craved was stability and family. Her mother's home has both of those, but with her gone, I can see why she would have chosen to stay with Bennett. Tessa does not like to be alone. I will make sure she never will be again.

As for right now, I'm not exactly sure why we are making a stop at the bougie apartment when he called to ask us if we wanted to have dinner.

“Is it going to be the three of us? Won't that be super awkward?” I ask her.

“Tracy and Lydia are coming too,” she replies.

“Then why aren't we meeting them at a restaurant?”

On second thought maybe I don't want to be meeting them somewhere, because I doubt I could afford anywhere he would pick out. Not that I think he would purposefully rub it in my face, although after my stunt earlier, I wouldn't put it past him to choose someplace expensive, and then emasculate me by offering to pick up the whole check. It isn't like I could refuse. Not unless I want to somehow sneak a call to Sin and see if he can float me some money. Either way I'm in for a decent amount of embarrassment.

Tessa looks up at me as if she just realized I was missing an important detail. “Oh, I forgot, you couldn’t possibly know this. Tracy and Lydia don't leave the apartment. Well, Tracy does sometimes. We aren't actually going to a restaurant because he has food brought in. It is restaurant food but it'll be at his house.”

My eyebrows knit together. “You mean like they never leave? How long has this been going on? They just stay in there all the time without ever going out? How do they work or go to school or do anything?”

A look of sadness crosses her face. “It's been a couple of months now, so not too terribly long.”

I don't know if she feels guilty because she is still able to live out in the world or if she feels bad because she had to leave them behind and they are still mentally trapped in that hell. I'm not sure Tessa herself has fully escaped from there. Not yet at least, but with my help she will. I left her behind once I won't leave her behind again. Nor, for that matter, will I leave her to suffer the guilt of feeling like she left Tracy and Lydia behind.

I follow Tessa through the opulent yet empty lobby to Bennett's private elevator. She presses the button and enters a code, and soon after the elevator takes us all the way up to the fortieth floor. We step out into a five thousand square-foot, white marble and glass apartment. The furnishings are sleek and modern and look like they were designed for style more than comfort. Nothing in here tells me that a twenty-two-year-old man lives in this place.

I don't know if the point of bringing us here was to show off and make me feel envious of all of this. I don’t buy for a second the bullshit that we’re only meeting here because it’s easier for Tracy and Lydia. There’s no way he spends all of his time in this apartment to coddle them.

If he thinks this is going to intimidate me, he’s seriously miscalculated what makes me tick. Maybe I have just grown up around too much of this bullshit, but I think I'm immune to all of the posturing and copious displays of wealth. Tessa swears he's a nice guy and I trust her judgment for the most part, but he seems like just another one of the assholes from Ocean Bluff that I grew up around. Another douchebag oblivious to most people outside of his tax bracket. Perhaps I'm wrong and he really is Mother Teresa in Hugo Boss, but I won't be surprised if a lot of his magnanimity is a skillfully crafted image designed to entice Tessa.

Bennett himself comes from a back room to greet us when the elevator doors open to the foyer. I grit my teeth as Tessa runs straight into his outstretched arms. He hugs her tight and spins her around in a circle. He holds her tighter than is acceptable for a friendly hug, but Tessa doesn’t seem to notice. She seems happy to see him, and her body language doesn’t suggest anything more than platonic affection. It isn't the same kind of greeting I get when I see her to be sure, not even when she's pissed off at me. That soothes the raging beast inside of me, but only slightly.

After a couple of moments, he still doesn't put her down, so I clear my throat. “Okay, that's great. How about you give me back my girlfriend.” The words might sound like a question, but there's no inflection at the end because I'm not asking. Even just saying the word “girlfriend” doesn't feel serious enough, but saying something like soulmate would be cheesy as fuck.

Over Tessa's shoulder, I can see him scowl at me, but as I predicted, he is too invested in playing the gentleman to argue with me, and he relents by putting her down. Still, he doesn't let go of her hands, and steps back to get a better look at her. “Wow, Tessie, California has done some good for you,” he praises her.

I hold back the urge to sneer. Tessa must sense the hostility starting to flow from me though, and looks back at me. She winks, trying to calm me down. “Nah, it's not California. Just a certain asshole.”

That's my little ballbuster. “Awe, Vixen, you say the sweetest things. I tease her like she did me earlier.”

Tessa blows me a kiss. Make her come twice and she goes from a tiger to a kitten. Life with her will never be boring. It looks like Bennett is confused, judging by the way his eyes bounce between the two of us. When he finally catches my eyes, I raise an eyebrow and hold his gaze daring him to remember what he heard while he was on the phone with her.

I want the fucker to understand that she is mine completely. He needs to give up any hope he still holds onto that he might get her back. Hell, he needs to give up any notion that he ever had her in the first place. His ring might've been on her finger for a short amount of time, but it was never real. Tessa has always been and will always be mine.

Bennett clears his throat. “Dinner is set up in the formal dining room. I’ll go let Lydia and Tracy know that you are both here.”

“Thanks, Benji,” Tessa says sweetly.