Virgin Dot Com Novel

[Jasmine's POV] The room shifted. I felt it like a physical thing. The way people looked at me changed. Not completely. Not forgiveness. But something closer to grudging acknowledgment that maybe I actually knew what the fuck I was doing. "How did you even see that?" someone from A&R asked. "I read contracts carefully." Simple answer. True answer. The answer that said I'd earned my place here through work, not through who I was sleeping with. A woman from legal nodded slowly. "That's... that's actually impressive." Not a compliment. Not really. But acknowledgment.

Professional respect that had nothing to do with bedrooms and everything to do with competence. The meeting continued, but the energy had changed. They weren't dismissing me anymore. Weren't treating me like decoration. I'd proven something. Given them evidence that I belonged here regardless of who I fucked after hours. I survived. Barely. But I survived. Instead of going back to Liam's villa, I drove to my old apartment. The one I'd shared with Leo before everything went to hell. My key still worked. The space felt like a museum of a life I didn't live anymore.

I walked to Leo's room and lay down on his bed. It still smelled like him. Like the little brother I'd raised and lost in the same breath. We were eight and eleven in the foster home. The Hendersons. Leo had nightmares every night, crying for parents who were too high to remember they had kids. I'd crawl into his bed and tell him stories until he fell asleep. Promise him I'd never leave. That we'd always have each other. I'd broken that promise. A sound from the living room jolted me back to the present. Movement. Someone was in the apartment.

I stood slowly, heart hammering, and crept toward the noise. Finn stood in my living room, climbing through the window like he had that first night weeks ago. Like breaking and entering was just his preferred method of communication. "Jesus Christ, Finn." My hand pressed against my chest where my heart was trying to escape. "What the hell are you doing here?" He turned, grin in place, but something in his eyes was serious. Concerned. "Checking on you.

You didn't come back to the villa." "So you broke into my apartment?" "Technically, I let myself in through an unlocked window." He moved closer. "You okay?" The question was so simple. So direct. And the answer was so complicated I didn't know where to start. "I don't know," I whispered. Because I didn't. I'd survived my first day back. Proven my worth. But I was standing in an apartment full of ghosts, and the man in front of me was part of the reason those ghosts existed. "Come here," Finn said softly, and when I didn't move, he closed the distance himself.

Pulled me into his arms like he could hold the broken pieces together through sheer will. I let him. Because I was tired of holding myself up. Tired of being strong. Tired of pretending I wasn't falling apart. "You did good today," he murmured against my hair. "Everyone's talking about the contract save. You showed them who you are." "I showed them I'm useful," I corrected. "That's not the same thing." "It's a start." His arms tightened. "And tomorrow will be easier. And the day after that.

Until one day, they forget about the scandal and only remember that you're fucking brilliant." I wanted to believe him. Wanted to believe that I could be more than the girl who slept with her bosses and lost her brother in the process. But standing in Leo's apartment, wrapped in Finn's arms, all I could think was that I'd traded one life for another. And I still wasn't sure if the trade was worth it. Finn sat on my old couch. The same couch where I'd spent countless nights worrying about Leo, planning the next way to save him from his own decisions.

Now Leo was on a farm making choices to build a life without my constant shadow, and I was here, in an apartment that didn't feel like home anymore, with a man who looked at me like I could fill all the empty places inside him. His arm was around my shoulders, and I was pressed against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. The silence between us was comfortable but weighted with things we weren't saying. Physical closeness with Finn was always different. Easier. More playful. But right now there was a heaviness to him. A seriousness I wasn't used to seeing. "I miss him," I said quietly.

"Every day." Finn kissed the top of my head. "I know." "Do you think he's okay? Really okay?" "Martha called yesterday." His hand traced patterns on my shoulder. "Said he's working like he's possessed. Up with the sunrise, working with the animals, helping with repairs." The information should have comforted me. Instead, it twisted the knife. Leo was okay without me. Building a life that didn't need me in it. "She said he's a good kid," Finn continued. "Just trying to figure himself out." Relief mixed with pain in my chest. This was what I wanted. Leo finding himself.

But it hurt that he was doing it so well without me there. "Hey." Finn felt my tension, pulled me closer. "He'll come back. When he's ready." "What if he doesn't?" "Then we'll go to him. Again and again. Until he believes we're not going anywhere." The promise settled something in me. We. Not just me alone anymore, trying to hold everything together with sheer force of will. I remembered suddenly what he'd said at the villa. About understanding what it's like when family splits apart. "You promised to tell me," I said, lifting my head to look at him. "About your family.

About why you understand." Finn went rigid. I felt it through my whole body. His heart rate picked up under my ear. "You sure you want to know?" he asked after a long pause. I shifted so I could see his face properly. "I want to know everything about you." Virgin Dot Com