Page 70 of Shared By my Ex's Best Friends
“Whatever those are, we’ll face them together…you’re not alone in this, remember,” he says, and that undoes me more than anything else could.
Before I can answer, someone taps my shoulder gently.
Ethan.
He’s watching me carefully, like he doesn’t want to interrupt but needs to be near me all the same.
“May I cut in?”
Jake lets out a small mock sigh but kisses my temple before stepping aside. “She’s all yours.”
Ethan slides his arm around my waist, holding me differently—firmer, more secure, like he’s not just swaying with me but holding me up.
“You okay?” he asks.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “But I think I’m happy.”
He smiles. “Good.”
We don’t talk much as the song plays. Ethan’s always been the quietest of the three, but his silence never feels empty. It feels full—like there’s a thousand things he could say but trusts me to understand without them.
When the song ends, he lifts my hand to his lips and brushes a soft kiss across my knuckles.
“You make it look easy,” he says.
“What?”
“Balancing all of us.”
I glance up at him, startled, but he’s already turning away, nodding subtly toward the edge of the dance floor.
Liam stands near one of the pillars, half in shadow, nursing a glass of whiskey and watching me like he’s been waiting all night for his turn.
I make my way to him slowly, heart fluttering like a ribbon caught in the breeze.
“You’re the only one who hasn’t danced with me yet,” I say, stepping close.
He sets his glass down without breaking eye contact. “I was waiting for the moment to feel right.”
“And now?”
He offers me his hand. “Now it’s perfect.”
Liam pulls me in close, not tentative, not unsure—justthere.Solid and sure in a way that makes my spine melt and I rest my head rest against his shoulder.
“You’ve been quiet tonight,” I murmur.
He sways us in time with the soft pulse of the music. “Watching you. Trying to commit this to memory.”
I lift my head. “Why?”
His eyes meet mine, and there’s something fierce in them. “Because you’re the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life right now.”
My throat goes dry I have no words for that.
Just a hand on his chest.
A heart pounding in sync with mine.
