Page 163 of The Young & the Sinner

Olivia

A weekafter my first time with Mason, he officially moved into the house next door, and I was still plagued with indecisiveness.

I had already told Max I wanted to move out to an apartment on my own, and he had already begun looking.

And I was… excited over the prospect of living on my own for the first time, even if it was because of Max’s help.

I wasn’t naïve. I knew I would never be able to afford an apartment on my own, especially not in Chicago, and I knew I was lucky. More importantly, I was getting well accustomed to having Max’s support in all aspect of my life: emotionally, physically, and financially.

And I was also beginning to realize that it was okay.

But Mason had bought the house for us.

I knew that. I knew he wanted to keep me close, and a huge part of me wanted to say fuck the consequences and move in with him right away. I would get to be close to Max and live with Mason. The idea felt so grown-up.

But Max still didn’t know about Mason and me, and it had been almost two months since we got together. I wanted to tell Max before I moved out, but now I had to decide where I wanted to move.

Mason said the house would still be there whenever I was ready to take the next step with him. He wouldn’t rush me, and he seemed content with the fact that Max was already looking for an apartment for me to move into.

I didn’t know how I felt about that.

Max had been quiet since Mason told him he bought the house next door. A paranoid part of me thought it was because Max suspected something was going on between Mason and me, but we had never given him any indication to that.

A part of me wished he did know, though. It would save me the trouble of telling him. I didn’t even know how to begin.

By the time Mason settled into his new home, it was nighttime, and I couldn’t think of any good reason to stay there with him, not when Max had insisted that we go home before it got too late.

The front door closed behind us gently, and my stomach felt like it was weighed down by lead as we made the short walk home.

Max was unusually quiet.

I grabbed hold of his arms right before we walked onto the porch. Even though it was below twenty degrees outside, I wasn’t in any rush to get inside.

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I am. Why would you ask?”

I opened my mouth to say… I didn’t know what. What could I say? He’d been acting strange, and I didn’t know if it was because he suspected something between Mason and me, or whether it was something else.

I shook my head. “You haven’t been acting like yourself, is all.”

A cold gush of wind came then, and I shivered a little, despite the large coat I had on.

Max directed me inside. “Come on, we can talk in the house where it’s warm.”

I nodded and followed him in. Max closed the door behind us, locking it. I took off my coat and Max took it from me to hang in the coat closet. When he came back, I was still standing by the door.

He took me in with inquisitive eyes. After a beat of silence, he said, “You know I love you, don’t you?”

I relaxed my shoulders a little, a soft smile playing around my lips. “Of course, I know that. I love you, too.”

One corner of his lips curved upward in a half a smile. Mason had the exact same smile. Sometimes, I forgot that before Max was mine and before Mason was mine, they belonged to each other first.

“You also know you can tell me anything, don’t you? Anything at all.”

He moved in closer as he said this, his tone of voice giving me a pause. Did Max know something? But if he did, wouldn’t he have said something by now?

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