บททั้งหมดของ I Can’t Resist My Bestfriend’s Dad : บทที่ 21 - บทที่ 30

I sat in the front seat of the car, still shaken by everything that had happened. I had embarrassed myself so much, but one thing refused to leave my mind. What was that kiss about? Honestly, I was going to live for that moment. Was it because I had told him that my father used to kiss my forehead whenever I was scared so that I could calm down? Was that why he had done it? And how had he remembered something I had told him in just one conversation, when I used to remind Henry about my birthday every now and then, yet he still couldn’t remember it even though our birthdays were only days apart? I sighed. Honestly, even when my father used to kiss my forehead, it had never felt this comforting.Marcus came and sat on his side of the car. He rested one hand on the steering wheel before adjusting his glasses. “Ella, are you feeling better now?” he asked gently. I nodded. “Yes, sir, I am. I was just scared of the dark. I’m so…” Before I could apologize again, he cut me off. “It doesn’t ha

When I opened my eyes, I thought for one dizzy second that I’d died. But then I felt it — a heartbeat under my cheek, steady and strong, and arms braced around my shoulders — and I understood I was still very much alive. We were still in the hole. Both of us sitting in the dirt, his back against the earth wall, my head having fallen against his chest at some point without my permission.Jesus Christ, I thought, what did I do.I tried to sit up. He watched me pull away from him, his expression unreadable in the dark.“Are you okay?”I nodded, faint, already bracing for what I knew was coming.“Do you have any idea,” he said, voice low and tight, “how much you scared us? Do you know what you put us through? Bella’s probably still shaking.”“I’m sorry, Marcus,” I said quickly. “I just wanted to get my phone, and I got lost—”“How does a phone compare to your life?” His voice came out harder than before, colder, and I didn’t know whether to feel afraid or something else entirely — because

I don’t remember much of what happened next — only that we were suddenly boarding the bus back to campus, a virus outbreak cutting the trip short. On top of that, exams had been moved up right before the break. Everyone else looked crushed by the news. I mostly felt relief. At least now I wouldn’t have to watch Marcus and that lecturer together anymore.The days that followed blurred into routine. My leg healed steadily, but a new problem replaced it: tutoring sessions with him. Every single time, I had to fight the urge to just say it — to confess whatever this had become — and every time, I held my tongue and tried to focus, which wasn’t easy when he seemed to specialize in words and glances that left me wondering if he felt any of it too.The exam period arrived fast, and I threw myself into it with a kind of focus I’d never had before. If I pass this, I told myself, maybe he’ll finally see me as more than Bella’s friend. It stopped being about the grade entirely. It became about h

For a heartbeat, he froze.Then, with a groan that seemed to come from somewhere deep in his chest, he pulled back. “Emily — please don’t.”I stopped instantly. The name hit me like a physical blow, and I stumbled back a step, the air suddenly charged with something that had nothing to do with attraction anymore. Emily. Bella’s mother. As if the rejection alone wasn’t enough, he’d said his dead wife’s name instead of mine.I couldn’t stand to look at him another second. I turned and ran, straight to my room, closing the door behind me and leaning against it while my heart hammered like something trying to break free of my chest.He hadn’t just turned me away. He’d done it while thinking of someone else entirely.So none of it — the lingering touches, the low voice on the porch, the way he looked at me — had meant what I thought it meant. He still saw a child when he looked at me. His eyes, his heart, all of it belonged to Emily. It struck me then how absurd it had been to even measure

Marcus’s pov“Hope you’re doing fine, Dad?”“Yes, honey, I’m doing well. You don’t need to worry about me.” I kept my voice light. “Besides, you couldn’t come back even if you wanted to — the roads are all blocked.”She sighed on the other end of the line. “Okay, Dad. I love you so much.” She said it brightly, blew a kiss through the phone, and just as I was about to hang up, a knock sounded at my door.I assumed it was Ella. We’d been living under the same roof for over a week now, and somehow she’d managed to say less to me with each passing day. When I sat in the living room, she found reasons to move to another one. Even during tutoring, her silence had started to feel like a sentence I was serving.I opened the door. She gave me the same cold look she’d been giving me for days.“Why aren’t you eating ,” she said. “My boyfriend’s downstairs already.”I’d invited him a week ago — I hadn’t expected him to actually show up today, of all days. “Okay. I’ll be right there.”She left wit