Chapter 52 Just date both of us
Veronica's POV:
Sleep wouldn't come.
I'd been lying in bed for hours, staring at the ceiling, replaying everything... the confession, Theo's wounded eyes, the way Max had gone silent.
The guilt was a living thing inside me, twisting and coiling until I couldn't stand it anymore.
Maybe water would help. Or air. Or anything that wasn't this suffocating room.
I slipped out of bed, pulling on a silk robe over my pajamas, and padded down the hallway on bare feet.
The house was dark and quiet, everyone supposedly asleep. But as I approached the kitchen, I heard voices...
They were coming from the dining area.
I froze, my hand hovering over the door frame.
"I'm so tired of this, Max," Theo said, sharp with frustration I'd rarely heard from him.
"Tired of watching you play games with her. Confusing her."
"Games?" Max's tone rose, defensive and raw. "You think this is a game for me?"
"What else would I call it?" Theo shot back. "You always get under her skin, you push boundaries—and for what? Entertainment?"
"I love her, Theo."
I pressed myself against the wall, my pulse hammering in my ears.
I should leave. Go back upstairs. Pretend I never heard this.
But I couldn't move.
"Oh please," Theo said, and the bitterness in his voice made my chest ache. "We both know exactly what you'll do. You'll be all in for three months—maybe four if she's lucky—and then you'll get bored, dump her, and ruin her in the process."
"Why do you keep saying that?" Max's frustration bled through every syllable. "I've told you—Veronica is different. I'll change for her. I'll stop partying, start focusing on something productive for once—"
"'Change' and 'you' don't belong in the same sentence," Theo interrupted coldly. "You've never given up partying for anything or anyone. What makes you think you can start now?"
"Because she's worth it!" Max's voice cracked slightly, and something in my chest twisted painfully. "God, Theo, why can't you believe that maybe—just maybe—I'm capable of being more than the screwup you think I am?"
"Because I've watched you do this before," Theo said quietly, and the pain in his voice was almost worse than the anger. "I've watched your promise change and then fall right back into old patterns. And I'm not going to stand by and watch you break her the way you've broken everyone else who believed in you."
The silence that followed was suffocating to stand on...
I couldn't listen anymore.
"Stop."
Both of them whipped around as I stepped into the dining area, pulling my robe tighter around myself.
Theo was standing rigid near the table, jaw tight with tension, and Max leaning against the wall with his hands shoved deep in his pockets, looking torn between defiance and vulnerability.
"Stop fighting," I said quietly, steadier than I felt. "Please."
"Veronica—" Theo started, his expression softening immediately.
"No," I held up a hand, cutting him off. "It's up to me to decide who's right for me. Not you. Not anyone else. Me."
Max straightened, his blue eyes searching my face with an intensity that made my stomach flip. "Have you made your decision already?"
The question landed on me like a stone in still water.
I opened my mouth. Closed it.
My mind raced through everything—
"Fine," I finally said, my voice barely above a whisper.
I closed my eyes, trying to find that clarity Theo had told me to seek.
That moment of absolute certainty that would make everything simple, clean, easy.
It didn't come.
When I opened my eyes again, I looked between them—Theo with his green eyes full of concern and hurt... Max with his hopeful, pleading expression... more genuine than I'd ever seen him.
"Choosing between you two..." I swallowed hard, the truth tasting bitter on my tongue. "I feel like no matter which one of you I pick, I'll be losing something."
My gaze found Theo's, and something in my chest tightened painfully. "You told me to make a decision with clarity. But I just can't... I can't get it just like that."
Theo went mute... Max stepped forward, and said. "If that's the case... then just date both of us."
I went still went like an ice statue.
"What?" Theo cracked with shock, looking completely shattered.
I stared at Max, stunned into absolute silence. My mouth opened, but no sound came out. My brain couldn't process what he'd just said, couldn't make sense of it.
"Date both of us," Max repeated, pushing off the wall and taking another step closer, his eyes locked on mine. "Until you figure it out. Until you get that clarity you need."
"That's—" Theo's face had gone pale... "That's insane. You can't be serious."
"Why not?" Max challenged... as he glanced between us. "She can't choose right now. Neither of us wants to walk away. So... we don't. Not yet."
My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears, feel it throbbing in my throat.
This was absurd. Impossible.
Completely outside any framework of normal dating I'd ever known or even heard of. Hells, it was scandalous...
And yet...
"Max," I whispered, shaking. "That's not how this works."
"Says who?" He met my eyes, and he looked desperate beneath the boldness of his appearance. "I'm not ready to lose you, Veronica. If this is what it takes—if sharing your time means I still get to be part of your life—then I'm in."
I turned to Theo desperately, looking for him to become the 'moral police. To tell us both, this was ridiculous, impossible, inappropriate.
But he just stood there, staring at Max like he'd grown horns on his head.
We all went into silence... again...
And at that moment, with both of them looking at me—one with reckless hope, the other with wounded disbelief—I realized that somehow... my choice had just become even more complicated than I'd ever imagined.
Because part of me—a small, terrified, confused part—was actually considering it... it was telling me that 'It is what I've always wanted.