Page 59 of Shared By my Ex's Best Friends
I start pacing.
Back and forth across the living room, arms folded, one hand pressed tight to my mouth to stop whatever’s threatening to claw its way out.
Desire. Confusion. Guilt. Longing.
All of it tangled inside me like a storm I’ve been trying too hard to outrun.
I pause by the window, staring out like the answers might be out there waiting.
“Maya,” Liam says gently. “You don’t have to figure everything out tonight.”
“I do.” My voice cracks. “Liam, I can’t keep doing this.”
He stays silent. Waiting. Letting me get there on my own.
“I’ve been splitting myself into pieces,” I whisper. “Trying to be what everyone needs. What I thought I could manage, but I can’t. I don’t want to lie to myself anymore. Or to any of you.”
I glance over at him. His eyes don’t waver.
“Stay,” I say. “Please.”
“I’m here,” he answers simply.
“I… I want to invite the others,” I confess. “Jake and Ethan.”
He nods. “Do it. I’m not going anywhere.”
I release a long breath, slowly lowering myself onto the armrest of the couch. I pull out my phone, fingers trembling.
First Ethan. The ringing feels endless.
“Maya?”
“Can you come over?” My voice is paper-thin, barely steady.
“Yeah,” he answers without hesitation. “I’m, um, with Jake… do you want him to come, too?”
“Yes, I want both of you. I need you here. Liam’s already with me.”
He’s quiet for half a second, but I hear the shift in his tone when he answers. “We’re on our way.”
I end the call and exhale shakily.
When I look up, Liam is still watching me with that same calm steadiness that’s always been his way. I reach for him withoutthinking, and he comes to me instantly, wrapping me in his arms.
The room is silent.
But inside me, everything’s shifting.
They’re coming, and I’m ready—terrified, yes—but finally ready to speak the truth about what I’m feeling.
***
It’s barely twenty minutes when the doorbell rings. I hurry to answer it and Ethan and Jake are standing on my front step.
“Come in,” I gasp, stepping aside to give them space to move past the threshold.
The door clicks shut behind them, and suddenly the air in my living room feels too thick to breathe.
