Husband With Benefits-Chapter 908: A Presentation

"I really, really like you."

Gabe read the words on the screen and raised an eyebrow at his brother. "Really, Seb? You organized an urgent meeting, sent out an SOS, just to show us that girls still confess to you?" His tone was a mix of disbelief and mockery as he leaned back on the couch, his arms crossed as he stared at his brother.

Sebastian didn’t respond, his grim expression unchanging as he stared at the phone in his hand and scrolled to the next message, displaying it on the projector screen.

"From the moment I saw you, I knew I wanted you to be mine. It was a shock, actually, how much I desired you."

Gabe snorted, but before he could say more, Erasmi jumped in. "Woah. Are the person’s eyes rotten or something?" He gestured toward Seb, shaking his head in exaggerated disbelief. "Look at this old man. Why would he be desirable?"

At the comment, the other all chuckled, not failing to put a jab there about how the oldest was talking about the others being old. But Seb wasn’t laughing or even answering. Instead, he scrolled down to the next message.

"Is this some kind of stalker situation? Have you been receiving these kinds of messages regularly?" Erasmi added, his tone now more worried than mocking. Seb had stalkers in the past as well and this could be one of the similar situations..

Seb just shook his head and sighed, ignoring the questions and jabs and the concern. He remained silent, his grip tightening slightly on the phone as he scrolled further, letting the messages move on the screen.

"I know you think I’m going to ask you out on a date."

Lucien leaned forward, squinted at the screen and sighed. "You’re waiting for someone to take you out on a date?" He raised an eyebrow in accusation. "Seb, are you seriously going to risk cheating on Olivia? Have you lost your mind?"

Seb felt his temper flare. "Will you guys please be quiet and just read through the entire thing? Keep your comments to yourselves for now!"

The room went quiet for a moment, but not without Gabe muttering under his breath, "Touchy, aren’t we?"

Seb ignored him and scrolled to the next few messages.

"But I can’t."

"You’re incredible. You have no idea how much I admire you."

"How much I’ve wanted to jump up and ask you out."

As the brothers read the messages, the jokes started to die down. A heavy silence settled in the room. Okay. This was some serious love confession and not one which would have a good ending it seemed.

But it was the next message that caused all other six brothers to sit up straight, their casual demeanor vanishing instantly.

"Innocensa... even your name makes my heart race."

There was a stunned silence, followed by a collective burst of curses from the group.

Sebastian exhaled, feeling validated at last. See? This wasn’t an overreaction on his part. His brothers were reacting exactly the same way he had when he first read the messages. What had started as a somewhat amusing confession, maybe sent to the wrong person had just turned into something far more worrisome.

Lucien was the first to break the silence. He stood abruptly, "This is just not done! Absolutely unacceptable! How could—"

"Exactly!" Sebastian cut in, "This is unacceptable, and that’s exactly why I called this meeting!"

But then Lucien’s sharp gaze turned on him, "Then why did you do something like this, Seb?"

Seb blinked, caught off guard. "What?" he said, his voice dropping in confusion. "What did I do?"

He looked around at the faces of his brothers, feeling their sudden shift in attention toward him. Did he hear correctly? What had he done?

Lucien sighed and pointed at his brother, his expression unimpressed. "Then why did you invade Innocensa’s privacy, read these messages, and even share them with us? That’s not exactly a great look, Seb."

Seb blinked, momentarily at a loss for words.

Frustration bubbled up inside him. They were focusing on the wrong problem entirely.

"Are you serious right now?" he said, exasperation creeping into his voice. "Of course I wouldn’t do something like that! Why would I invade her privacy? I was the one who received these messages."

That got their attention. A collective frown spread across the room as the brothers stared at him, their curiosity piqued.

"What?" Lucien asked, clearly skeptical.

Seb sighed and gestured toward the phone in his hand. "I think Grant was drunk or something and sent the messages to me instead of Innocensa." He paused, giving them a pointed look. "Why would I go digging through her phone or messages? I am over protective but I am not crazy, okay? Innocensa would never talk to me if I did something like that. I cannot afford to anger my princess."

To drive his point home, Seb tapped a few times on his phone before projecting the next set of messages onto the screen. He didn’t even bother holding the phone anymore, tossing it carelessly onto the table before closing his eyes and rubbing his temples.

For a moment, silence reigned in the room as the brothers read the messages. Then, like a dam breaking, everyone burst into laughter. The sound was loud and unrestrained, filling the room with an almost mischievous energy. Even Demon, who had remained stoically quiet until now, couldn’t hold back his amusement.

Seb couldn’t help it either. He chuckled despite himself, shaking his head at the absurdity of the situation. Receiving love-confession messages from a guy who was clearly interested in his daughter was infuriating enough, but knowing the sender had accidentally confessed his feelings to him instead of Innocensa? That was on another level of ridiculous.

"Does he even realize what he’s done?" Demon asked, his grin wide and dangerous. The glint in his eyes made Seb immediately wary. Whatever Demon was plotting in his head, Seb was certain it wouldn’t end well for the poor guy.

"I doubt it," Seb admitted, shrugging as he leaned back in his chair. "I haven’t received any panicky calls from him yet, so he’s either still oblivious or too mortified to say anything."

At that, the brothers exchanged glances, their expressions shifting from amused to downright devious. Slowly but surely, their laughter began to morph into something darker—evil, even. The kind of laughter that meant trouble.

"So," Gabe started, his grin matching Demon’s now. "Grant’s interested in Innocensa, huh? And he even thinks he is not worthy of her? Dam* right, he isn’t!"

Lucien leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table as he smirked. "Does he really think it’s going to be that easy for him? Poor guy doesn’t know what he’s gotten himself into."

Erasmi shook his head, chuckling softly. "I mean, sure, he technically refused her in those messages, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s clearly interested. We can’t just let him off the hook, can we?"

"Absolutely not," Gabe replied, his voice filled with mock outrage.

Ian was the only voice or reason who sighed, "You all do realize we’re grown men, right? Maybe we shouldn’t act like schoolyard bullies?"

Everyone turned to look at Ian who grinned and shrugged," Hey! That comment was necessary.. In case someone asks, we can say we measured the pros and cons."