Page 91 of Filthy Rich Ex's Brothers

Sid and Grayson are in love, and for some reason, they feel the need to hide it. Even though it’severything,and I could tell. It’s everything, and not what I thought, and it might look different from the pairings I expected, and thatdoesn’t matter.

All that matters is that they’re together. That they make each other happy. That they’ve found someone to spend this life with. All of it, or just a piece.

“Oh my god,” I breathe, closing my eyes, all the grief and denial of the past week slamming into me.

I can’t deny myself the guys any more than I would try to keep Grayson away from Sid. It’s real, and it’s what I want, and I don’t care about what anyone else thinks.

Especially that stupid fucking voice in my head that keeps insisting they’re going to throw my things on the lawn.

Instead of arguing with that voice, telling it that they wouldn’t do that, I feel an entirely new argument enter the ring.

What if they do?

So what if that’s how it ends up? I’m not going to keep avoiding something real just so I don’t get hurt. No more dating the Alexs of the world so the break-ups don’t hurt.

If the guys leave me, it will be the greatest loss of my life.

But at least it will bereal.

“Oh, yeah, she’s definitely having a moment,” Georgia whispers back.

I stand up, breathing hard, looking at my friends wildly. “I need to go. I have to—I have to?—”

Georgia grins, stands, while Lillie grabs her phone and fires off a text. “Your outfit is in the back. Lillie brought your makeup. Let’s get you ready for the gala.”

Chapter 50

Travis

After my father died, I was washed over by a brief, brilliant wave of grief. Almost like I was standing at the edge of the world, watching the flash of an atomic bomb move closer and closer, a wall of light I could not jump over or avoid. Then it went around me, over me, through me, and I felt the pain of his loss for an hour before it subsided, and my brain belonged to me once more.

That is, arguably, the greatest loss I’d had in my life.

Until Serena… losing Serena has been so much worse.

Perhaps it’s the fact that I hated my father, or perhaps it’s the fact that he died, instead of packing his things and walking out the front door. Maybe the truth is that I never loved Stephen Oakley—or was loved by him—in a way that was anything close to what I had with Serena.

Now, I pace back and forth in my room, bowtie undone and hanging around my neck, my entire body feeling like a ticking time bomb. Ryan opens the door, slips inside, and tries to put a hand on my shoulder.

“Hey, man,” he says. His eyes are red and dark from another sleepless night, just like mine. “We could just not go.”

I look up at him quickly. “I’m not going to make Graham do this by himself.”

“Of course not.” Ryan winces and glances toward the door like the mess is just on the other side. In a way, it is.

If Alex is planning to make his “big reveal,” he’ll do it tonight, at Graham’s National Park Gala. There’s some sort of irony in the fact that Alex is choosing toreallyfuck over the brother who cared about him most and was loyal the longest of all of us.

So, as much as I want to crawl back into the hole I came out of, I won’t. I can’t. Graham is my brother, and no matter how tough he acts, he’s not ready to go through this on his own. And I would never let him.

Alex belongs to both of us. A shared responsibility.

“Let’s go.” Ryan claps his hand down on my shoulder once more, squeezes it, then we’re moving together through the hallway, into the elevator, and down to the ballroom of the downtown Onyx Hotel. It’s the same hotel where I first followed Serena, chasing her down the halls like a kid. Now, I hate being here.

On the main level, we turn to the right and head into the ballroom, where chandeliers sparkle merrily. Champagne is already flowing, and the room is full ofeveryone.

Before we knew what Alex was planning, we’d figured this kind of event would be good networking. Several of Onyx’s biggest stakeholders are here. Ryan sent an invite to his show-runners and the publishing house for his cookbooks. And Graham, of course, has invited half of the American government here so they can drink free wine and bubbles and learn more about the park he wants to preserve.

On the far wall, a video plays on loop, showing Graham in the park, climbing up to the grotto. Occasionally, he stops to tell the camera about a rare flower or bird. There are cupcakes with fondant and chocolate toppers shaped like native plants.