Page 49 of Shared By my Ex's Best Friends
I glance out the window, where the city lights twinkle like stars turned upside down, and something inside me shifts.
It’s not confusion anymore.
It’sclarity.
A spark of possibility flickers to life in my chest—tentative, a little reckless, but real.
For the first time since this whole thing started, I let myself imagine a future that doesn’t end in heartbreak, but in something entirely new.
Something built not on what I’m supposed to want… but on what I create for myself.
Chapter twenty
LIAM
Idon’t usually initiate these things. But tonight, I can’t sit back.
Something’s shifting between all of us, and if we don’t acknowledge it, I’m afraid an opportunity we never saw coming will slip between our fingers.
And maybe lose them, too.
I text both of them and ask if they want to grab a drink. No preamble. Just:Dive bar by the venue. You in?
Ten minutes later, we’re parked on beat-up stools at a bar that probably hasn’t changed since the ’90s. The wood under my elbow is scarred and sticky.
A neon Miller sign buzzes faintly over the jukebox, which is stuck playing ’80s rock ballads on a loop. The place smells like old beer and too-salty popcorn.
Jake’s the last to sit down. He drops into the stool across from me and raises a brow, all sharp-edged grin and too-aware eyes. “You okay, man? You don’t usually summon the troops like this, especially without Nick.”
Ethan’s already got a whiskey in front of him, fingers curled tight around the glass. He hasn’t said a word, but his eyes are trained on me—steady, assessing.
Like he already knows what I’m about to say and is waiting to see if I’ll actually say it.
I take a breath. Then another. Then I spit it out.
“It’s Maya.”
Jake lets out a dry laugh. “Of course it is.”
Ethan’s jaw ticks, but he still doesn’t speak.
I press on. “I have feelings for her. Not just… attraction. Not just wanting her. It’s more. It’sreal.”
The silence that follows isn’t tense, but it’sheavy—thick with unsaid things and the weight of what we all already know.
Ethan breaks it, voice quiet and calm. “You’re not the only one.”
I turn to him. “What?”
He meets my gaze without flinching. “I have feelings for her too. Have for a while. Since before she and Nick broke up two months ago.”
Jake exhales, long and low. “Well, hell. Guess it’s my turn.”
I blink. “You’re serious.”
Jake nods slowly, folding his arms on the table. “Dead serious. I’ve been trying to play it cool, not push too hard, but… yeah. I care about her. A lot.”
Another second passes.
