Page 88 of Bro Amazing

"Come back to Chicago and be our girlfriend again," whispers Helix, stepping around Ethan and wrapping me in a hug sandwich.

"You going to fire your latest girlfriend and kick her out with only a couple hours' notice, too? Or were you going to schedule out my rehire date to give her some time to pack up, at least?" I snap, pushing both of them off of me. No matter how much I miss being cocooned in their arms, I'm not letting them play games with me like this.

"What girlfriend?" asks Ethan. "You're our only girlfriend."

"Don't be obtuse." I point back to the booth, my finger stabbing through the air as the anger I thought would lose out begins to surface. "Sasha is here with you. After the little show you put on when she tried to kiss you, now you're traveling around to comic cons with her?"

"Sashaishere with us," says Helix, looking confused, "but only to help sell books. She knows more about that sort of thing than we do."

The tears bubble back up, pricking at the backs of my eyes.Great. I'd hoped the rage would take over, but it looks like there's a two-for-one deal on emotions today.Lucky me. "I'mvery aware of Sasha's ability to sell her books. I don't need to be shown. Thanks though."

Ethan and Helix both look at me, their foreheads creased in bewilderment.

"She's not selling her book," says Helix slowly.

"She's selling yours," Ethan adds.

NowI'mconfused. "I saw her up there at the booth with her books."

"No, you saw her up there withyourbooks." Ethan takes a step closer to me, and this time I don't back away, but I don't move toward him, either. "We came here to apologize to you for overreacting. We've wanted to for a while, but didn't know what to do to win you back."

"So when Sasha came by with an idea, we couldn't say no," Helix tells me.

I look from Ethan to Helix, my brain spinning like the loading circle on a slow website. "I don't understand."

"Clarissa, we want you to come back to Chicago with us and be our girlfriend again," repeats Ethan.

"But we're not hiring you this time," says Helix. "We'll still pay for everything because we can afford it, and because we want to take care of you, but we want you there because you want to be there. Not because we're paying you."

"You're … not dating Sasha?" My brain refuses to process everything. There are too many people around and too many new pieces of information, and I'm completely overwhelmed and overloaded.

"We're definitely not dating Sasha," says Helix.

"You're the only woman we want to date," Ethan assures me.

"What do you say?" asks Helix. When I don't immediately respond, he says, "At least take a look at the booth we set up for you."

They each take one of my hands, and I let them tug me back through the crowd to the booth where Sasha is framed on either side by a tower of books, talking to readers. Now that I'm giving the space more than a fleeting glance, I notice that the covers are indeed my own. In fact, as I look around the space, I don't see a single one of her books in sight. Which is crazy, because this is definitely a crowd that would love a good dragon book, and she has a few of them.

"Look who we found, Sasha," says Helix, moving behind me and placing his hands firmly on both of my shoulders, probably so I don't bolt again.

"Just a second," says Sasha to a reader before coming around to this side of the booth. "Clarissa, I'm so sorry!"

Sasha throws her arms around me and pulls me away from Helix, hugging me tight.

"I tried to contact you again, but I think you blocked my number. Not that I blame you," she says, moving back to look me in the eyes. "You were right, that was a shit apology. I'm sorry that I was a terrible friend and let my craze for being the best author possible get in the way of that. There are more than enough readers for everyone and it's not a competition. We can help each other and both be successful." I open my mouth to respond, but she keeps going. "And by help each other, I don't mean share your boyfriends. They've made it very clear that you're the only woman for them. Which I completely respect."

Finally, I wrap my arms around Sasha too to hug her back, and then step away, bumping up against Ethan.

"I forgive you," I tell her. "But it's going to be a while until I can trust you again."

"Of course. I completely understand." Sasha wrings her hands, and she really does look sorry.

"This is a good apology though." I wave to the booth.

"Thanks." Sasha laughs sheepishly. "One of the benefits of being a romance author is that I'm a pro at the grand gesture apology."

"Sasha helped us brainstorm ideas for the best way to win you back," Ethan tells me, his arm snaking tentatively around my waist, "and we found that this town was having a comic con. From there it was easy to reach out and ask if we could partner with them for a live stream."

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