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Chapter Thirty five
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2026-09-05 20:27:44Max hadn't expected to like Eli.
That was the first problem.
The second was that Eli liked him.
Their date had been easy.
There was no pressure, no awkward silence, and no expectation that Max needed to become someone else to impress him. Eli was funny, confident, and surprisingly thoughtful. He listened when Max spoke, remembered little details, and made him laugh.
Max enjoyed himself.
But attraction?
T
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Somewhere in the silence Chapter Fourty five
For several minutes after their kiss, neither Nate nor Max moved.They remained close on the edge of the bed, their foreheads touching, their hands still intertwined.The room was quiet except for the faint sound of music coming from somewhere downstairs.Nate could hear his own heartbeat.He had kissed Max.Not because Max had cornered him.Not because he was confused.Not because he was lonely.He had chosen to do it.And somehow that made everything feel more frightening—and more real.Max studied his face.“You okay?”Nate nodded.“Yeah.”“You're thinking too much.”Nate laughed quietly.“I always think too much.”“I know.”Max brushed his thumb gently over Nate's hand.“We don't have to do
Somewhere in the silence Chapter Fourty four
Nate stood outside Max's bedroom for almost a full minute.His hand hovered near the door.He could hear music playing quietly inside.Normally, Nate would have knocked and waited for permission.Tonight, he didn’t.Nate opened the door.Max was sitting on the edge of his bed, scrolling through his phone. He looked up immediately.His expression changed when he saw Nate.“Hey.”“Hey.”Max put his phone down.Something about Nate's face made him sit straighter.“Is everything okay?”“Yes.”Nate stepped inside.Then he closed the door behind him.Max watched him carefully.“You look nervous.”“I am.”Max smiled faintly.“That makes two of us.”Nate walked f
Somewhere in the silence Chapter Fourty three
Sarah had noticed.She had noticed long before Nate realized she had.She had noticed the way he looked for Max whenever they were in the same room.She had noticed how often Nate found himself sitting beside him.The way his voice softened whenever he spoke to Max.The way he remembered small things Max mentioned in passing.The way his breathe caught every time Max smiled.The way he checked whether Max had eaten when he came home late.The way Max, who had once spent all his time avoiding Nate whenever possible, now seemed to instinctively gravitate toward him.The way Max lit up every time Nate walked into a room.Sarah had watched all of it.Quietly.She hadn't interfered.Not because she hadn't been concerned.Because she knew that some things needed time.And whatever was happening between Nate and Ma
Somewhere in the silence Chapter Fourty two
For the first time in the weeks since retuning home, Nate woke up without a heavy heart.It wasn't that everything had suddenly become easy.It hadn't.Max was still Max—the boy he'd watched grow up, the younger brother of the person Nate had trusted most in the world, the person who had somehow become something Nate hadn't known how to name.But something inside Nate had shifted.Maybe it was because he'd finally said the words aloud.I'm attracted to you. More than I should be.Maybe it was because Max hadn't taken advantage of that confession.He hadn't celebrated.He hadn't pushed.He hadn't demanded that Nate kiss him or say he loved him.He had simply listened.And somehow that had made Nate realize how exhausted he was.Exhausted from denying himself.Exhausted from pretending every look meant nothing.Exhausted from turning every moment of warmth into something he had to explain away.So when Nate came downstairs the next morning and found Max sitting alone at the kitchen tabl
Somewhere in the silence Chapter Fourty one
For several seconds after Nate spoke, neither of them moved.“Because I don't want someone else to have you.”The words hung between them.Nate wished he could pull them back.He wished he could laugh and pretend he hadn't meant them. He wished he could turn them into something harmless—something a friend might say, something that didn't expose the ugly, frightened truth he'd been trying so hard to bury.But Max was looking at him.Really looking at him.And Nate knew there was no hiding now.Max's expression had changed.The teasing confidence he'd carried into the kitchen was gone. So was the smug little smile he'd worn whenever he managed to make Nate blush.There was only quiet understanding.“Okay,” Max said softly.Nate swallowed.“Okay?”Max nodded.“Oka
Somewhere in the silence Chapter Fourty
Nate had always believed jealousy was something he could control.At least, that was what he told himself.He had spent months watching Max grow more confident, more independent, more comfortable with himself. He had watched him make friends, go on dates, laugh with people Nate didn't know, and build a life that existed beyond the walls of their home.And Nate had told himself that was exactly what he wanted.He wanted Max to live.To experience things.To meet people.To fall in love with someone his own age.Someone uncomplicated.Someone who could give him the kind of future Nate had no idea whether he was capable of giving him.So when Max mentioned Eli again, Nate told himself it didn't matter.It was just Eli.A friend.At least, that's what Max knew him as.But Nate didn't know that.And Max wasn't pa
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