Page 92 of Deviant Obsession

I step back automatically, giving her space to slip past me into the apartment. The scent of her shampoo floods my senses as she moves by, making my head spin. Or maybe that's just the shock of seeing her after convincing myself I never would again.

A floorboard creaks behind us, and I turn to see Ethan frozen in his bedroom doorway. His eyes dart between Rhea and me like he's also trying to figure out if this is real or if we're both hallucinating.

The tension feels thick enough to choke on as we all stand there staring at each other. No one seems to know what to say first. I grip the edge of the door until my knuckles turn white, fighting the urge to run cross the room and crush her against my chest. To beg her never to leave again. To promise her anything she wants if she'll just stay.

Her lower lip quivers a little as she draws in a shaky breath, clearly deciding she’ll have to be the brave one and speak first. "I'm so sorry—” she starts, but I can't let her take all the blame for this mess.

"No." I step forward before I can stop myself, needing to be closer to her. "We're the ones who should apologize."

Ethan moves from his own doorway, drifting toward us like he's being pulled by the same invisible force. His face might look calm to anyone else, but I catch the slight softening around his eyes that tells me he's just as desperate to fix this as I am.

"We pushed too hard. We were selfish. Greedy. It’s no surprise you went looking for relief elsewhere." My hands clench at my sides as I think about the way we fought over her time like entitled brats who'd never learned to share their toys. If it’s anyone’s fault Rhea was drawn to Dad’s stricter kind of control, it’s ours.

"You deserved better than that." Ethan's quiet agreement carries more weight than my fumbling confession. He's always been better with words, even if he uses them sparingly.

A single tear slips down Rhea's cheek, and my jaw clenches at the sight. But before I can spiral into panic that we've somehow made things worse, I notice the way her shoulders drop, her fingers finally halting their wringing in her sleeves.

More silent tears follow the first, but her lips curve into a weak smile. She looks between us like she can't quite believe what she's hearing. Like she expected anger or accusations, not this stumbling attempt at an apology.

"We were idiots," I add, because apparently, I can't stop the confessions now that I've started. "Total fucking morons who didn't deserve a second of your time."

A shy laugh escapes her at that.Fuck, I've missed her laugh. I’ve missed everything about her.

I reach for her hand without thinking, half-expecting her to pull away when my brain catches up with my body’s craving to be near her. But her fingers slide between mine like they belong there, like they never left.

"I know we screwed with your trust, and that will take time to rebuild. But you were never just a toy to us. Never just some game or conquest or whatever bullshit you might have been thinking when you were scared you were in too deep."

Ethan nods, and I catch that telltale muscle jumping in his jaw—the one that means he's fighting to keep his emotions locked down. "We care about you so much.”

Rhea's fingers tighten around mine, her palm warm and soft against my calloused skin. "I care about you both too," she whispers, and for a second my heart soars.

But there's something else I have to know. A wound we have to lance before it festers between us. "And Dad?"

Rhea tenses immediately, her grip on my hand going slack like she expects me to snatch it away. A war rages in her expression, guilt and fear battling with something that looks dangerously like longing. "I can't deny my feelings for him either."

Part of me still wants to rage against the truth, to demand she choose, to claim her for myself like I should have done from the start. But the memory of her running from me that day oncampus still burns too fresh. The thought of watching her flee again is something I can’t bear to consider.

And if I'm being honest—really fucking honest with myself for once—maybe I've known all along that this was bigger than just me and her. Maybe that's why I let Ethan in, why I didn't fight harder when Dad suggested his solution. Because some small part of me recognized that Rhea's heart was too big for any one of us alone.

I watch her face carefully as she explains everything she’s discussed with Dad about creating structure where there's only been chaos. Her hands flutter nervously as she talks, like birds trying to take flight. She's clearly rehearsed this speech, but uncertainty bleeds through every word.

When she finally runs out of steam, I exchange a look with Ethan. His slight nod confirms what I already know. We're both in too deep to turn back now.

"We’ve discussed it. And we want whatever you want. Whatever will make you happy.”

"You'd...you'd really consider that?" The tentative hope in her voice makes me mentally kick myself all over again. It’s like she expected us to laugh in her face or throw her out for even suggesting we find a dynamic that actually prioritizes her.

I drag a hand through my hair, buying time to organize my thoughts. "Look, I'm not gonna pretend I don't get jealous. When I think about not having you all to myself, it drives me fucking crazy sometimes." My throat tries to close around the next words, but I push through. "But losing you completely would be worse, babygirl. Way worse. I can’t do it."

The idea of sharing her still burns, still makes something primitive in my chest want to snarl and stake my claim. But when I look at her face, at the way she's practically vibrating with nervous energy, waiting for our final verdict...I know I'll agree to anything that keeps her in my life.

Besides, maybe Dad's right. Maybe putting everything out in the open, creating actual guidelines instead of this constant push-pull we've been doing, is exactly what we need. Ethan and I couldn’t stick to our agreed boundaries for more than five minutes. I’m not too proud to admit we deserved most of the lecturing we got.

It can’t be more than a few seconds after my stilted confession that I decide I can’t take the distance anymore. I eat up those final few steps, pulling Rhea tight against my chest once she’s finally within arm’s reach. She fits there perfectly, like she always has, her warmth seeping through my T-shirt like a soothing balm.

"I love you," I sigh into her hair, those three words I've been choking on for weeks finally breaking free. My heart hammers so hard I'm sure she must feel it where we're pressed together. I feel fresh tears soaking through the thin fabric, but for once I'm not panicking about making her cry.

Ethan is beside us before I even hear him move. "Dean’s the emotional one but, uh, I love you too, little one. We both have for longer than we could admit."

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