Chapter 2

At the far end of the hallway, by the floor-to-ceiling windows, Reese and I both stopped.

"Davis, you okay? You know Molly and I run the law firm together. We see each other a lot. Don't read too much into it."

"Read too much into what? The someone you can't have, or the rose island?" I said flatly.

"Everything Molly said is true." He stepped closer. "You're just a regular employee at the Winchester Group. You don't have access to the upper circles, so you don't understand what a woman like Molly needs."

Reese was smiling, but every word was ice. "She doesn't want some dull, lovesick puppy. She wants a knight, someone romantic and exciting.

"You should work on that. Stop being so rigid. Boring and dull."

As he said all this, there was a knowing look in his eyes.

He always did this, offering advice that sounded genuine on the surface.

He'd told me the color scheme of our new apartment was too dreary and oppressive. By the time I came back from a business trip, all the walls had been repainted in dusty pink.

"Reese did it himself," Molly had said, sharing a smile with Reese.

When we were picking wedding photos, Reese pointed at the worst one and said, "This one turned out okay, but Davis, your bow tie is too narrow. Makes your neck look short. Go wider next time."

"And white is so dull. Try an elegant powder blue instead."

After hearing that, Molly swapped my suit to blue. The white suit that matched the wedding dress became Reese's best man suit.

That was how they always operated. Under the banner of friendship, pushing every boundary there was.

My thoughts snapped back. I looked at Reese.

He was still going. "Davis, you have to admit, she's more relaxed around me. You? You're about as interesting as a rock."

"Compared to you, I definitely am boring."

I let out a quiet scoff. "After all, I have boundaries with my friends. I don't show up outside her hotel in the middle of the night pretending to be drunk. I don't use a breakup as an excuse to take her on some island getaway. And I don't insert myself into someone else's wedding and home.

"Reese, this is my last warning."

I dropped the act and let my expression go cold. "Cut the games!"

Reese's face shifted. He dropped his own act and pointed a finger at me. "Molly told me you're not romantic. She told me you barely talk. She texts me at three in the morning saying she wishes I were the one beside her.

"She even thinks of my face when the two of you are intimate!

"Davis, all Molly feels for you is pity and obligation."

I looked at the smug satisfaction on his face and almost laughed.

"None of that matters anymore." I grabbed my coat and turned to leave.

The moment I walked out of that room, I knew it was over between Molly and me.

So whoever she loved after this, whoever she wanted to marry, none of it deserved a single second of my time.