Max Luckey: The Undisputed Student Billionaire

Chapter 169

“Yes,” he said, and when the liquid hissed into the cup, he recognized the exact sound from a heartbeat ahead. He coughed the way he’d just heard himself cough. The world folded, unfolded.

“Max,” Trisha said, steady. “Look at me.”

He did.

“If something changed, we deal with it,” she said. “Together.”

“Something changed,” he said.

“How far ahead?” she asked, like she was asking how far a cut went.

“Usually a breath,” he said. “Sometimes… farther.”

“How far is ‘farther’?”

“Yesterday I saw you with a bowl in the doorway before you arrived,” he said. “That was… a minute? Two? The doors—maybe more.”

She nodded once, then set the tea aside. “We need Evelyn.”

He caught her wrist, not hard. “A minute,” he said. “Just—sit with me. Before we make it real.”

She sank onto the arm of the chair, careful of his side. Their knees touched. Her hand stayed in his. “One minute.”

“I thought I hated peaches,” he said, eyes on her mouth, the curve of it when she almost smiled.

“You do,” she said, reaching