Updated Dec 29, 2025 • ~7 min read
The bass was so loud Tessa could feel it in her chest. Her teeth. Her bones.
Perfect. She needed loud. Needed chaos. Needed anything to stop thinking about Connor’s breakup text from three weeks ago.
“You’re brooding.” Julian appeared beside her, grinning like an idiot. Her twin brother had mastered the art of forced fun. “This is a party, Tess. You’re supposed to have a good time.”
“I’m observing. Anthropological study.” She lifted her Solo cup. “College students in their natural habitat.”
“You’re impossible.” He ruffled her hair like she was five. “I’m finding Madison. Try to have fun, okay? For me?”
Then he was gone, swallowed by the crowd of drunk college kids.
Tessa took a long drink and immediately regretted it. Cheap vodka burned her throat. She grimaced.
“Not a fan of paint thinner disguised as alcohol?”
The voice came from behind her. Low. Amused. Devastatingly familiar.
She turned.
Liam Thorne leaned against the wall six feet away, one eyebrow raised. Julian’s best friend since freshman year. Mr. Perfect with his stupidly attractive face and his put-together life.
Dark hair that always looked artfully messy. Sharp jawline. Eyes so dark they were almost black, watching her with an intensity that made her skin prickle.
“I’ve had better,” Tessa said, lifting her cup in mock salute. “But it’s free.”
“Low standards. I like it.” He pushed off the wall and moved closer.
Too close.
Close enough that she could smell his cologne—something expensive and woodsy that made her want to lean in.
No. Bad idea. This was Julian’s best friend. Completely off limits.
“You look miserable,” Liam said.
“Flattering.”
“I meant you look like you don’t want to be here.” His eyes scanned her face, reading her too easily. “Bad week?”
“Bad month.” The alcohol was loosening her tongue. “But who’s counting?”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not particularly.”
“Want to get some air?”
Yes. God, yes. Anything to escape the noise and the memories of Connor’s pitying face when he’d dumped her.
“Sure.”
The back porch was quieter. String lights cast everything in soft gold, and the cool night air hit her flushed skin like a blessing. Tessa leaned against the railing and breathed.
Liam stood beside her, close but not touching. They’d never been alone like this before. He was always Julian’s friend, part of the package deal, background noise.
But tonight felt different.
“Connor broke up with you.” Not a question.
Tessa’s head whipped toward him. “How did you—”
“Julian mentioned it. Said you’ve been hiding in your studio for weeks.” Liam’s expression was unreadable. “For what it’s worth, he was an idiot.”
“You didn’t even know him.”
“I know he gave up someone extraordinary. That makes him an idiot.”
The compliment landed like a punch. Tessa’s breath caught. She stared at Liam, really looked at him for the first time in years.
When had he gotten so—
No. Stop.
“You don’t know me that well,” she managed.
“I know you better than you think.” His voice dropped lower. “I know you hide in your studio when things get hard. I know you drink terrible coffee at 2 AM. I know you bite your bottom lip when you’re concentrating.”
Tessa’s pulse hammered. “You’re observant.”
“Only about things that matter.”
The air between them crackled.
His hand rested on the railing next to hers. His pinkie brushed against hers—so light it could’ve been an accident.
It wasn’t an accident.
“Liam…” Her voice came out breathless. “We shouldn’t—”
“I know.” But he didn’t move away.
Neither did she.
“This is a terrible idea,” she whispered.
“Probably the worst.”
“Julian would kill us.”
“Absolutely.”
“So we should stop. Right now. Before—”
He turned to face her fully. His hand came up to cup her cheek, thumb brushing her bottom lip. “Tell me to stop, Tessa. Tell me you don’t feel this. Tell me I’m imagining it. Tell me—tell me anything and I’ll walk away.”
She should say it. Should tell him to leave. Should remember that this was her brother’s best friend and crossing this line would ruin everything.
She should.
But she didn’t.
Instead, she closed the distance between them and kissed him.
The kiss was electric. Desperate. Everything she’d been trying not to feel for years exploding to the surface all at once.
Liam made a sound low in his throat and pulled her closer, his hands in her hair, his mouth moving against hers like he’d been waiting for this just as long as she had.
This was wrong. So wrong. Julian would never forgive her. Liam was off limits. This would ruin everything.
But god, it felt right.
“We should go inside,” Liam said against her mouth. “Somewhere private. Unless—unless you want to stop?”
Tessa looked at him. At this man who’d been part of her life for years but somehow felt brand new. At the desire burning in his dark eyes. At the way his hands trembled slightly where they held her.
She should stop. Should walk away. Should pretend this never happened.
She didn’t.
“There’s an empty room upstairs,” she heard herself say. “Second door on the left.”
Liam’s eyes darkened. “You sure?”
No. She wasn’t sure about anything except that she needed this. Needed him. Needed to feel wanted after Connor had made her feel so disposable.
“I’m sure.”
They barely made it to the room. Hands everywhere. Mouths desperate. Clothes disappearing. The party downstairs faded to background noise as they fell onto the bed together.
It was reckless. Stupid. Everything she’d sworn she’d never do.
It was also the best she’d ever felt.
Afterward, they lay tangled in the sheets, breathing hard, reality slowly creeping back in.
“That was—” Liam started.
“A mistake,” Tessa finished, her chest tight. “Julian can never know.”
“Tessa—”
“I’m serious, Liam. This was—it was a one-time thing. We were drunk. It didn’t mean anything. It—it can’t mean anything.”
Hurt flickered across his face. “Didn’t feel like nothing.”
“Well it was.” She sat up, reaching for her clothes. Panic was setting in. What had she done? “We forget this happened. We never speak of it. We—we go back to normal. Okay?”
“Is that what you want?”
No. But it was what had to happen. She couldn’t lose Julian. Couldn’t destroy his friendship with Liam. Couldn’t—couldn’t deal with whatever this was between them.
“Yes,” she lied. “That’s what I want.”
Liam was quiet for a long moment. Then: “Okay. If that’s what you want.”
Relief and disappointment warred in her chest. “It is.”
“Then we never talk about it again.”
“Never.”
Liam nodded, his expression carefully blank. “I should go. Before Julian notices we’re both missing.”
“Yeah. Good idea.”
He dressed quickly, not looking at her. At the door, he paused. “For what it’s worth, Tessa? You’re not a mistake. This—tonight—wasn’t nothing. Not to me.”
Then he was gone.
Tessa sat in the empty room, listening to the party rage on below, and felt tears slide down her cheeks.
What the hell had she just done?
She left an hour later. Slipped out the back door, caught an Uber home, climbed into bed fully clothed.
And tried to convince herself that tomorrow, everything would go back to normal.
That she could pretend tonight never happened.
That one reckless night with Liam Thorne wouldn’t change everything.
She tried.
She failed.
Because six weeks later, sitting on her bathroom floor staring at a positive pregnancy test, Tessa realized that one reckless night had changed everything.
And there was no going back.
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