Page 117 of All Bets Are Off

“Ryder said?—”

“Ryder says a lot of things,” Rex snapped. “Very few of them come to pass. Just … take a breath.”

I stared at him, annoyance bubbling up. I did what he said, however, and sucked in a calming breath. My entire chest rattled when I exhaled. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” I said in a low voice. “I didn’t think… I didn’t know…”

“That you would fall in love with him?” Rex asked. His eyes were kind now.

I pressed my lips together and shook my head. I didn’t want to start crying again, but it felt like an inevitability.

“I knew,” Rex offered. “I mean… I didn’t know at the start,” he added when I shot him an incredulous look. “I knew fairly quickly, though. I saw the way you guys were acting with one another.”

“We were acting like children.”

“What’s that saying? There’s a thin line between love and hate? You guys were acting like that because you were fighting your feelings. I thought maybe you would get through it, that maybe it was just mutual crushes getting in the way. It was obvious it was way more than that at a certain point, though.”

“It was just supposed to be sex,” I sputtered.

Rex cringed. “Oh, see, I’m not equipped for this part of the conversation. I don’t want to hear that.”

“I didn’t mean to catch feelings,” I continued. “Now I’m going to be crushed for the rest of my life. I’m never going to want to get out of bed again. I’m going to turn into one of those mean spinsters who looks at people in love and spits on them.”

“And there she is.” Rex’s smile was back, and this time it lit up his entire face.

“What?” I swiped at the fresh round of tears cascading down my cheeks.

“You’ve always been dramatic,” Rex supplied. “Like … ridiculously so. Even when you got older, I still saw flashes of it. I’m glad to know you’re still in there.” He tapped the end of my nose, which only served to frustrate me more.

“Now you listen to me.” He adjusted himself so he was leaning in front of me and I had no choice but to look into his eyes. “You’re not getting replaced. I’m not sure what’s going on in Ryder’s office, but I guarantee they’re not talking about replacing you with Lisa Dawber.”

“Ryder said?—”

He brutally cut me off. “From what I understand, Ryder isn’t in a place to say anything right now. Zach promised to fill me in later—once I got his sisters to his father’s office, which happened a lot faster than he was anticipating because you told me to get them there—and I believe right now they’re plotting the best way to deal with the fallout of Ryder being a big, fat embezzler.”

I was thrown. “But … no.” I couldn’t get my hopes up. That would only serve to crush me more. “You should’ve seen the look on Zach’s face. He was worried about hurting me. That means he’s going to go along with his father’s plan.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Rex slid his arm around my shoulders and tugged me in tightly at his side. “I need you to listen to me. Don’t get caught up in the nonsense that’s spinning around in your head right now. Just … listen. Do you think you can do that?”

I didn’t respond. I just stared.

“I’m going to take that as a yes.” He rested his cheek against my temple. “Zach loves you.”

My response was automatic. “No, he doesn’t.”

“I told you to listen.” Rex made a growling noise. “I don’t want to be talking about this because it freaks me out, but I’m a good brother, so I’m going to take one for the team.” He took a deep, cleansing breath. “Zach loves you and he wants to be with you.”

“How can you possibly think that?”

“Because it’s true,” a voice said from the doorway.

I jerked my eyes in that direction and found Zach had somehow entered the penthouse without me hearing him. I’d been so caught up in my own tears, my own terror, that he’d managed to slip under the radar.

He looked tired, I realized. If I didn’t know better, I would think he’d been up for days at this point. A soft smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he regarded me through his weariness. When his gaze strayed to the suitcase, the smile disappeared. “Were you going somewhere?”

“I caught her making a run for it.” Rex dropped a kiss on top of my head and extricated himself from me. “She’s a little worked up.”

“She should join the club.” Zach rolled the suitcase back and forth, then shoved it toward Rex. “Put this back in our bedroom, please.” When his eyes landed on me. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Rex wordlessly took the suitcase away. Zach didn’t say anything while he was gone. He just stared at me, a myriad of emotions flitting through his eyes. When Rex returned, Zach dragged his attention to my brother. “They need you in my father’s office. Some papers are being drawn up, and my father is going to have to sign them. We’re going to need you there to make sure he doesn’t try to back out.”

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