Fated To Three, And I Broke Them All

Verity:

"Maybe we should actually give her some time," Theodore muttered. "It’s not like we’ve exactly been good to her either."

The moment Jaguar turned toward him, Theodore looked away.

Jaguar gave a humorless smile.

"Maybe you haven’t. I have. I’ve been loyal to her."

That made Theodore finally face him.

"Oh, really? So you didn’t go back to Aster?"

Jaguar’s expression tightened.

"Come on. Let’s cut the crap," Theodore continued. "We’ve both been shitty men in her life. Maybe that’s part of why she couldn’t choose between us."

He glanced at me before looking back at his brother.

"She was already feeling something for both of us, and every time she gave one of us a chance, we screwed it up and made the other one look like the better option."

Well, there it was.

Theodore was practically making my argument for me.

And honestly, I was surprised.

Until now, I had assumed Jaguar would be the one more willing to understand my side.

I hadn’t expected that from Theodore.

Judging by the look on Jaguar’s face, neither had he.

"And it’s not like she didn’t date someone else either." Jaguar commented.

"That’s not the problem," Theodore replied quickly.

"Yeah but–," Then Jaguar’s tone changed.

He fell silent, glanced at the floor, and slowly looked back up at me.

"You didn’t lose your virginity to Theodore, did you?"

My heart nearly stopped.

"No, she didn’t," Theodore cut in sharply.

Then he cleared his throat.

"And it’s not like she initiated everything between us. Whenever we got close, I was usually the one who started it. But I wasn’t forcing myself on her."

As Theodore continued explaining, heat rushed to my cheeks.

Wow.

I had imagined this whole thing being much easier.

In my head, the conversation had never reached this level of awkwardness.

Now both brothers were standing in my room discussing how far each of them had gone with me, and suddenly I wanted the floor to swallow me whole.

"Well, guess what? I’m glad you weren’t the one who took her virginity," Jaguar hissed, squaring his shoulders at his brother.

Theodore scoffed.

"Oh, really? It could have been me. I was just decent enough not to take advantage of how she felt about me."

I stared at both of them for a moment before letting out an irritated groan.

"Get the fuck out of my room."

The second I raised my voice, they both went silent.

"You know what? You’re right. This is too much."

They nodded, but neither of them knew where I was going with this.

"I am not going to stand here while the two of you compare how much you’ve done with me and who did what. Are you seriously planning to discuss the details too?"

The moment I said it aloud, their expressions changed.

Both of them looked horrified by the idea.

"No. That’s not where this was going," Theodore insisted, taking a step toward me.

I raised my hand, stopping him before he could come any closer.

"God, I can’t even look at either of you right now. You’re arguing over how much you’ve done with me as if I’m some object you’re competing over."

That sounded right.

That should do it.

I needed them out of here.

"No, wait. I know it sounded like that, but only because this asshole keeps acting like you belong to him," Jaguar argued, pointing at Theodore.

Theodore gave him an incredulous scoff.

"No, you were the one who—"

I stomped toward the door and pulled it open.

"Get out."

"Come on, we were talking," Jaguar murmured, his voice suddenly much softer.

"No. I’m done. I don’t want to talk about this anymore."

Neither of them moved.

"I’m leaving today. That’s it. The mate ball is over, and I have no reason to stay here. I’m going back home."

I needed distance from both of them.

Until then, I had almost enjoyed watching them become anxious and uncomfortable.

But the moment the conversation shifted to our physical intimacy, something inside me changed.

My body reacted in a way I hated, an aching tension curling through me as though it remembered every touch they were talking about.

That had never been part of the plan.

Even if I had intended to use their feelings against them, I hated that some part of my body still wanted them.

Not them.

Never them.

"No, wait. You took it the wrong way."

The moment they realized I was actually planning to leave, both of their tones changed.

Jaguar approached me first, looking genuinely apologetic.

"Just forget we said anything, okay? Let’s sit down and talk."

I simply pointed toward the open door.

"Verity, you can’t leave," Theodore protested. "It’s taken me so long just to get close to you."

He gestured toward himself, making Jaguar grunt in frustration.

"Please. Are you leaving, or do you want me to leave the room?" I warned them.

Both immediately raised their hands in surrender.

"Okay, we’ll leave," Jaguar relented. "But please don’t make any decisions in haste, all right?"

He slapped Theodore lightly on the arm.

"Let’s go."

Theodore hesitated.

His expression shifted through so many emotions that I couldn’t quite read them all, but one stood out clearly.

Worry.

A lot of it.

He was genuinely afraid that I might leave.

Eventually, the two of them dragged their feet toward the door.

I watched them walk out.

And the moment the door shut behind them, I smiled.

I could tell they had moved away from the door, but I could still hear them.

And, of course, they were still arguing outside my fucking room.

"I can’t believe you drove her away," Jaguar snapped.

"Oh, please. It wasn’t my fault. It was yours." Theodore hissed.

"Could you, for once, act like a fucking adult and not bring up weird things like intimacy?"

That was surprisingly rich coming from Jaguar.

Somehow, he had managed to put all the blame on Theodore.

It wasn’t like I was going to step outside and stop them from fighting.

Instead, I leaned against the door with a smile on my lips.

One part of my plan had already worked.

Now I just had to wait for them to realize I was slipping out of their hands.

Then the begging would start.

Just like my brother had begged.

And just like everyone had laughed at him for it.