He Moved Into Their Mansion, He Chose All Three Brothers novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: Move-In Day
Noah moves into the Bennet mansion and the shared long room, and a hand over his on the bathroom tap leaves William and Henry watching from the doorway.
Noah's mother cut the wedding cake on Saturday, and on Sunday morning Noah carried two boxes up the front steps of the Bennet mansion.
The house had a fountain in the driveway and a door tall enough for a horse.
His new stepfather was waiting on the top step in a travel jacket, with a suitcase at his feet.
"There he is," the man said, and pulled Noah into a hug before he could shift the boxes.
"Good morning, Mr. Bennet."
"George. We've been over this. You're family now."
Noah's mother came out behind him, wearing the cream coat she had bought for the honeymoon.
She fixed his collar, which did not need fixing.
"Eat something real," she said. "Don't live on bread."
"I own a bakery's worth of bread, Mom."
"That's exactly what I mean."
George picked up Noah's heavier box without asking.
"I put you in the long room upstairs," he said. "Four beds, one bathroom, plenty of space. I thought you and the boys should get to know each other properly."
Noah's stomach dropped.
He knew the boys, in the way you know people you watch from three rows back.
William ran the student club council and gave speeches in the quad.
Henry led the student union and wore glasses he took off when he was winning an argument.
Troy captained the swim team, and sat two seats down from Noah in Statistics every Tuesday and Thursday, and had never once known Noah's name.
Noah had wanted all three of them for longer than he could say out loud.
Now he was going to sleep in the same room as them.
"Sounds great," Noah said.
His voice came out almost normal.
A black car pulled up. George kissed Noah's mother on the temple, and the two of them left for the airport, waving out of the back window until the gate closed.
"They're gone," said a voice behind him. "Which means you're stuck with us."
A woman was leaning in the doorway with a mug in her hand.
She had auburn hair and a friendly face, and she set the mug on a hall table and took the second box out of his arms.
"I'm Maya," she said. "Distant cousin. I come for Sunday lunch, which somehow means every day."
"Noah."
"I know. You made the wedding cake. I had two slices and I'm not sorry."
Noah laughed, and some of the tightness in his shoulders let go.
She walked him up a wide staircase and pushed open a double door at the top.
"The long room," she said. "Which one's yours?"
Four beds ran along the wall, each with a trunk at its foot.
The one by the window was bare, with a folded grey blanket on it.
"That one, I guess."
"Window bed. Nice choice."
She took out her phone, typed something with her thumb, and slid it back into her pocket.
Then she patted his arm and went downstairs.
Two of the other beds were occupied.
William sat at a desk by the door with a laptop open and his sleeves rolled to the elbow.
Henry lay on the second bed with a thick paperback open on his chest.
They both looked up at once.
"Noah," William said. He stood. "Welcome. Did my father abandon you already?"
"He just left."
"He does that when he's happy."
Henry put down the book and took off his glasses.
"We cleared you a drawer," he said. "The bottom one. It sticks, so lift as you pull."
"Thanks."
"Is that bread?"
Noah had a loaf in the top of the second box, wrapped in a tea towel.
He had baked it at five that morning, because his hands had needed something to do.
"Sourdough," he said. "It's from last night's batch."
William took it, tore off the end, and ate it standing up.
He closed his eyes for a second.
"Henry. Eat this."
Henry ate it.
"Well," Henry said. "That's it. We're keeping him."
Three phones buzzed at the same moment.
William's on the desk, Henry's on the bed, and a third one, Troy's, from the nightstand by the empty third bed.
William turned his face down on the desk.
Henry slid his under the pillow.
"Nothing," they said together.
Noah looked from one to the other.
"Okay," he said.
Troy came in at six, with wet hair and a gym bag and chlorine coming off him in waves.
"You're in Stats," he said, stopping dead in the doorway. "Back row. You always have a pencil behind your ear."
"I didn't know you noticed."
"I notice stuff."
He grinned.
Noah felt his face go warm and bent over his box so nobody would see it.
After ten, he went into the shared bathroom to brush his teeth.
It was bigger than his mother's kitchen, with a frosted door and a glass shower with two heads.
The lock on the door was a bent piece of brass that turned and did nothing.
He had the water running and his toothbrush in his mouth when the door swung inward.
Troy walked in with a towel over one shoulder and his shirt already off.
"Hot tap sticks," Troy said, reaching past him. "You have to lean on it."
He put his hand over Noah's on the faucet and pushed.
Water ran hot.
Troy did not move his hand.
His palm was warm and rough from the pool, and he stood close enough that Noah could feel him breathe.
Neither of them said anything.
Noah's toothbrush stayed where it was.
The door opened behind them.
William stood in it, and Henry stood at his shoulder, both holding towels.
Nobody stepped back.
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