The sex was still great—I suspected it always would be with him, and sometimes it felt like he wasn’t just fucking me; he was making love to me. Slow, sensual love that made my heart flutter and back arch and filled me with even more questions afterwards.

I couldn’t stop thinking; what were we now? Lovers, fuck buddies, or something more? Did this mean we were exclusive? He’d said he had feelings for me. Okay, great. But where did we go from here?

Knox seemed to be alright with our current arrangement, which was even more confusing because I had no idea what we were doing at all. I only knew that I loved him, and wanted to be solely his. But it’d been almost a week and there was still no talk about the future of our relationship.

Whenever I tried to bring it up, he’d quickly change the topic, as if running from it was the solution. The one time I’d set my foot down and demanded we talk, he’d told me in indirect terms that nothing more could happen between us.

“You know how things are, Nina. They’re too complicated.”

I didn’t understand what was so complicated about our situation. He had feelings for me, and I had feelings for him too. Why couldn’t we be together?

I drew myself back to reality when Lindsay stood at her feet and stretched.

“Wow, we've been talking for almost two hours. No surprises there,” she chuckled. “As much as I’ve missed you, Neens, I’ve also missed my brother. I’ll going to go check in his room before I call, just in case.”

I nodded, managing a small smile. “Sure.”

Lindsay swung on her heel and sauntered toward the hallway. She hadn’t taken five steps when a door opened and closed and Knox appeared, wearing completely different clothes from earlier, looking so fucking handsome.

His hair fell down to his shoulders, dark and vibrant. My fingers twitched, remembering how not too long ago they’d been running through those strands. I closed my fists, inhaling. He stopped just at the threshold of the living room, locking gazeswith me for a moment before his eyes landed on his sister, his lips stretching.

Lindsay’s face broke into a wide grin. “Knoxy!” she squeaked, practically jumping on him and attacking him in an even grander koala bear hug than the one she’d given me. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Knox laughed heartily, wrapping his arms around her while her legs wrapped around his waist. “I’ve missed you too, squirt.”

I had no idea I was even smiling at their reunion until I caught myself clearing my throat. It was nice to see Lindsay and Knox displaying their sibling affection. It wasn’t something I was used to seeing. Clearly, they loved each other. It made me wish I had a sibling too.

Knox finally peeled Lindsay off his body. “When was the last time I saw you?” he said.

Lindsay giggled. “You saw me a few months ago, silly.”

“It’s just hard to differentiate this adult you from that scrawny little kid who had posters of One Direction and BTS pasted all over her room.”

Lindsay and I laughed because it was true. She was obsessed with boy bands as a teenager. In fact, I was willing to wager that she still was. But it was also true that she’d grown into a beautiful, independent woman with a good head on her shoulders. I was proud to call her my friend.

There it was again. The guilt.

I pushed it down, trying to keep my attention on the siblings in front of me.

“Yeah, well, people change,” Lindsay retorted, then her eyes found me. “Speaking of change, how has living together been?” Grabbing Knox’s hand, she tugged him in my direction on the couch. “Last I heard, Nina was this close to strangling you in your sleep.”

“Was she?” Knox’s brows arched as he dropped onto the sofa opposite me, while Lindsay slid comfortably beside me.

I bit my lip to hold back a smile at the knowing look in his eyes. “At the beginning, yes. You are quite the asshole, you know.”

Sapphire eyes sparkled. “So I’ve heard.”

Lindsay burst out laughing, but then paused, narrowing her gaze at me. “At the beginning?”

Shit.My smile faltered, my eyes widening as I realized the slip. God, I wanted to tell her so bad. Lindsay and I always told each other about whomever we were currently seeing. This was terrible.

Knox held my gaze and must’ve seen the conflict in them. With a subtle shake of his head, he discouraged me, his throat workingas he silently pleaded. I couldn’t help but wonder why he was so against Lindsay finding out. Was he ashamed of me?

I pressed my tongue to the inside of my cheek and turned back to Lin. “Uh… yeah. Things are smoother now. We don’t really argue as much anymore. Knox is barely home these days, and I’ve been focusing on finishing my painting, just like I told you about.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Lindsay chuckled. “Well, I’m glad things worked out in the end. Nina complained so much that for a second, I contemplated coming home and playing buffer.”

“Hmm,” Knox made a sound at the back of his throat, his gaze flicking to me for a fleeting moment before shifting back. “How’s Boston treating you, Lin? Do you like it up there?”