Chapter 20 IN CALLUM'S OFFICE
NOVA'S POV
I stared at the clock on my computer screen.
6:47 PM.
Thirteen minutes until I was supposed to be in Callum's office. Thirteen minutes until I had to face both brothers and whatever conversation they had decided we needed to have about last night.
My phone buzzed on the desk.
Text from Matthias: Counting down to Thursday. These next two days are going to feel like forever. Can't stop thinking about our coffee date.
I smiled before I could stop myself. Sweet, uncomplicated Matthias, who just wanted coffee and nothing else.
I typed back: Me too. I keep checking the clock.
His reply came fast. I've been thinking about you all day. Keep getting distracted in meetings. My assistant had to call my name three times.
I bit my lip. Sorry for being such a distraction.
Don't be sorry. You're the best one I've had in years.
"Well, well. Someone looks happy for once."
I jumped so hard my chair rolled back. Jasmine stood in the doorway, arms folded, a knowing grin spreading across her face.
"You scared me half to death," I said, pressing a hand to my chest.
"Sorry about that." She walked in and perched on the edge of my desk like she owned it. "What's going on with the brothers?"
"Nothing is going on, Jasmine."
"Right. That's why Callum came here and sent me out earlier." She raised an eyebrow. "And that's why Elias brought you coffee twice today, both cups sitting there getting cold."
I exhaled. "They're just being protective."
"Honey, protective is offering to walk you to your car. What they're doing is something else entirely." Her voice dropped. "I've worked here for three years. I know how the Blackthorns operate. When they want something, they come at it from every angle. And right now, what they want is you."
"I'm not something to be won."
"I know that. The question is whether they do." She checked her watch. "Aren't you supposed to be up there in about ten minutes?"
My stomach dropped. "Unfortunately, yes."
"Both of them at the same time?"
"Apparently."
Jasmine whistled low. "That's either real good or real bad. Never any middle ground with those two." She paused at the door. "Hey, Nova? Go for whoever actually makes you happy. Life is too short to spend it playing it safe."
After she left, I sat there watching the minutes crawl until I had no choice but to stand up.
Through the glass walls of Callum's office, I could already see them waiting. Callum sat behind his desk, perfectly still. Elias leaned against the window, that restless energy rolling off him like heat.
Both looked up the exact second I appeared.
I opened the door and walked in.
"Close it," Callum said.
I did.
"Sit down," Elias added.
"I'd rather stand, thank you."
"Nova." Callum's voice had that edge that cut right through everything. "Sit down."
I sat. I hated that I still responded to that tone the way I did.
"Last night," Callum said, leaning back in his chair. "That's what this is about."
"It was a mistake and I already said that. Can we please just move on?"
"No." His fingers drummed once on the desk. "We need to talk about the fact that you kissed my brother back."
Heat flooded my face so fast it made me dizzy. "I was confused."
"Were you?" Elias pushed off the window and started moving closer, slow and deliberate. "Because you grabbed my shirt, Nova. You pulled me in. The sounds you made nearly drove me out of my mind."
"Stop talking about it like that."
"Like what? Like it actually happened? Like it actually meant something?" He stopped a few feet away, close enough that I had to tilt my head to look at him properly.
"I am not a prize for you two to fight over."
"We know that." Callum rose from his chair and moved around the desk. "This isn't about winning. This is about the truth. You want us. Both of us. And somewhere underneath all that stubbornness, you know it."
"What I want is something normal. Someone who doesn't come loaded with all this baggage."
Callum's jaw tightened. "Like whoever you've been texting all evening?"
I went cold. "I knew you were going to bring that up. But hear me clearly, it is none of your business."
"Everything about you is our business," Elias said quietly. He crouched in front of my chair so we were at eye level. His hand settled on my knee, warm and steady. "Who is the man you're meeting on Thursday?"
"Someone I met. That is all you need to know."
"Cancel it."
"No."
Silence dropped between us like something heavy hitting the floor.
"No?" Callum repeated, like the word didn't make sense to him.
"No." I pushed to my feet, stepping around Elias, needing air and distance between me and both of them. "I don't owe you an explanation. You are not my boyfriend. You are not my family. I have every right to have coffee with whoever I want, whenever I want."
"You're living in our house," Callum said, voice low and dangerous. "You're working for our company. And you kissed my brother last night. So yes, we have something to say about it."
"I don't belong to anyone."
"You felt it last night." Elias stood slowly. "You feel something right now, standing there trying not to look at either of us. You belong with us, Nova."
I grabbed my bag off the chair. "This is exactly why I cannot do this. You are both too controlling, too possessive, and I am done with this conversation. I'm leaving."
"We'll drive you," they said together, like it had been rehearsed.
"I can only go with you both on one condition," I said finally, the word tasting like defeat.
Neither of them spoke. They just waited.
"I need you both to back off." I kept my voice as level as I could manage. "Let me figure out what I want without both of you being in it."
Callum and Elias exchanged a look. One of those long, silent conversations they seemed to have without a single word.
Callum spoke first. "Okay."
I blinked. "Okay?"
"We'll back off," he said quietly.
Elias nodded slowly from across the room without uttering anything too.
I had been prepared for another argument. I had been ready to fight my way out of that office if I had to. I did not know what to do with them actually agreeing.
"Thank you," I said, and it came out quieter than I intended.
We walked to the elevator without another word. The ride down was silent in a way that felt entirely different from before.
In the parking garage, I climbed into the back seat while Callum took the wheel and Elias settled into the passenger seat. The partition between us felt like miles.
I stared out the window as the city moved past.
They had agreed. Just like that, they had said okay and meant it, and somehow that was harder to sit with than the argument had been.
I thought about Matthias. His easy texts and his simple warmth and the way talking to him felt like standing in a room with no sharp edges. That was what I needed. That was what made sense.
So why did sitting in the back of this car, with both of them up front respecting my silence for the first time since I came back, feel like it was costing me something too?
I have one more day until Thursday. One more day until I could sit across from a man who wanted nothing but a date with me.
I just had to keep believing that.