Tempting My Best Friend's Father のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 51 - チャプター 60

~DAMIEN~Morning doesn’t feel like morning.It feels like exposure.Like the night peeled something open inside me and daylight is here to examine it.I’m already dressed when the sun fully rises. I haven’t slept. Haven’t even tried. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Holly’s face in the car. The way her lips trembled when she tried to hold herself together. The way she nodded like she understood—even when she clearly didn’t.I walk past Ella’s room first.She’s still asleep.Her small wolf body is curled into itself, breathing steady now. Peaceful.She's still exhausted, but very soon she'll shift back to human form and this time around, I'll be there for her.Relief spreads through me—but it doesn’t erase the guilt. It just makes it quieter.Gabriel is in the kitchen when I walk downstairs.He’s leaning against the counter, coffee untouched in front of him. His eyes lift when he hears me.We look at each other.Too many things sit between us.I know he wants

~DAMIEN~I shouldn’t still be here.The moment I sent the message telling her the car was outside, I should have driven away.That was the plan.Drop the car. Send the text. Leave before she ever knew I had been here.Simple, clean and necessary.But somehow… my hands never turned the steering wheel.I had convinced myself that I was just waiting for her reply. But shouldn't I be doing that at home since she's going to reply through texts?Instead, I’m still sitting here, outside her house.The engine is off now, the quiet inside the car thick and suffocating, broken only by the faint ticking sound of cooling metal from under the hood. The windshield is slightly fogged from the cold morning air, a thin layer of mist clinging to the glass, but I can still see her building clearly from where I’m parked farther down the street.Far enough that she wouldn’t notice me.Far enough that I can pretend I’m not the coward sitting here watching her life fall apart.The s

~HOLLY~The cold pavement bites into my skin.But I barely feel it anymore.At some point the crying slows down, the violent sobs fading into quiet, exhausted breaths. My cheeks are sticky with dried tears, my eyes aching and swollen.I don’t know how long I sit there beside the car.Ten minutes?Thirty?Maybe longer.The morning slowly shifts into the afternoon around me—distant traffic humming somewhere far away, a dog barking down the street, the wind rustling faintly through the trees.Life is going on.While mine feels like it just stopped.Eventually the cold starts creeping through the thin fabric of my nightdress, forcing its way into my bones.I sniff quietly and wipe my face with the back of my hand.“Okay… Holly,” I whisper hoarsely to myself.My voice sounds small. Fragile.“Enough.”Because sitting here crying over a man who clearly doesn’t want me anymore won’t fix anything.Slowly, I push myself up from the pavement.My legs protest immediately, s

~HOLLY~The silence Gabriel leaves behind is louder than anything he said.I stand there for a long time.Too long.My hand is still resting on the door handle, like if I turn it fast enough, open it again, he might still be standing there. Like he didn’t just walk away with that look in his eyes… that almost-kiss that never happened.My chest feels… strange, tight, warm and confused.I exhale slowly and lean my forehead against the door.“Get a grip, Holly…” I whisper to myself.But my voice doesn’t sound convincing.Because the truth is… I can still feel him.His arms around me.The way his hand pressed against my back.The way he held me like I was something fragile.Or something important.And that look…That look when his eyes dropped to my lips.My stomach twists.No, I’m overthinking this.Gabriel is my best friend.My best friend!I repeat it in my head like it’s supposed to fix everything.Like it’s supposed to make my heart stop reacting the way it

~HOLLY~The apartment falls into silence again after Gabriel leaves.But this time, it feels suffocating…..too quiet, too empty.I just had a big fight with my best friend, and I have never seen him act this way before.I stand there, frozen.My heart racing, my chest tight.Did I just lose him?Is he gone forever??The thought sends a wave of panic through me.No.No, that can’t be it.He’ll come back.Right?He always comes back.…Right?I wrap my arms around myself, pacing slowly across the room.My fingers tremble as I drag them through my hair, my breathing uneven.“Why did I say that…?” I whisper to myself, my voice barely audible.The argument replays in my head—every word, every expression on his face.The hurt.The anger.The disappointment.“I didn’t mean it like that…” I murmur, shaking my head as if I could undo everything.I glance at my phone on the table.For a moment, I hesitate… then grab it.My thumb hovers over his name.Call him.Apologize.