He Moved Into Their Mansion, He Chose All Three Brothers novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Into the Woods

Troy lasted about a breath.

"I'm going after him."

Henry caught his arm.

"He said don't follow."

"He's alone in the woods in the dark!"

"He's twenty-one, he has a headlamp and he grew up getting up at five in a bakery." Henry's voice was flat and very controlled. "He's not lost. He's angry."

"At me."

"At all of us. You only said it out loud."

William hadn't moved.

He stood at the edge of the firelight with his hands open at his sides, looking at the place where Noah had vanished.

"He's right," William said.

"About what?" Troy snapped.

"About us. Every time we want him safe, we decide something for him first."

Henry took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Then here is my proposal," he said. "We don't decide. We ask. Fifteen minutes. Then we go together, and if he says leave, we leave."

Troy stared at him.

"Fifteen minutes is forever."

"It's fifteen minutes," said William. "Sit."

Troy sat.

He sat on the log with his elbows on his knees and his big hands knotted between them.

He looked smaller than anyone had ever seen him.

At fourteen minutes, Troy stood up.

"Time," he said.

They found him by the sound of a stream.

It ran through a gully a quarter mile above the camp, a thin cold ribbon over black rocks.

Noah sat on a fallen pine with his headlamp switched off and his hood up.

He didn't turn when they came.

"I said don't."

"You said it forty minutes ago," Henry said. "We waited fifteen."

"That's not what I meant."

"We know." Henry stopped ten feet away. "We came to ask. May we stay?"

Noah said nothing.

Then he pushed his hood back.

His face was wet, and furious, and exhausted.

"I'm not angry because Troy hit a nerve," he said. "I'm angry because it's the same nerve every time."

← Chapter 17 · All chapters · Chapter 19 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend