My Dad's Bestfriend



Evelyn

Chase dropped me off with a quick goodbye hug, and I stepped into the house, instantly engulfed by its familiar darkness. As expected, all the lights were off. That was Dad and Clara's nightly ritual, plunging the house into shadow as if setting the stage for a horror movie. When I'd teased them about it, they only laughed, claiming it was perfectly normal to have a vampiric darkness in your house at night.

But it never felt normal to me. Lately, though, I hadn't bothered to complain. The darkness had become my refuge, a place where I could vanish, and disappear from the weight of the world. It was easier to exist in shadows when you didn't want to be seen.

I kicked off my shoes and started toward the stairs, already feeling the exhaustion seeping into my bones. But then, out of nowhere, the thought popped into my mind: wine.

It had always helped. Especially on nights like this, when my mind was spinning with questions, doubts, and that gnawing anxiety that had been haunting me since Cameron's words. His voice echoed in my head, making me rethink everything.

Fear takes away the most precious things in life.

Was I afraid? Had I become that person-the one too scared to love, to take risks? It didn't feel like me. I was never the one to back down. Then how had fear found its way in?

Love didn't make people scared. At least, it wasn't supposed to.

But heartbreaks... heartbreaks did.

"Turns out it's not that easy to figure out the root of fear," I muttered bitterly, heading straight for the kitchen. Wine was my only plan for the night- enough to numb my thoughts, maybe even enough to pass out.

But the moment I reached the threshold of the kitchen, everything came to a screeching halt. My heart skipped a beat, my thoughts scattering like broken glass.

The kitchen wasn't as dark as I'd expected. The open window let in a flood of moonlight, casting a silver glow across the countertops. But that wasn't what stopped me in my tracks. What froze me was the sight of Jacob Adriano leaning casually against the counter, shirtless as always. His bare skin gleamed under the moonlight, every line of his muscles highlighted in the soft glow. A glass of wine hung lazily from his fingers, and next to him, was the bottle I'd been planning to raid.

Of course, he'd beaten me to it.

But did he already finish it?

I blinked, trying to process the scene. Jacob wasn't a heavy drinker. Not like me, not on nights like this when I just wanted to shut my brain off. He was calm, and steady, even when I was falling apart.

Or had he been drinking more than usual lately? The truth was, I hadn't been paying close attention. Ever since Jacob had come back to America, all I'd done was avoid him like the plague. I thought I'd been successful-until last night. Turns out, I'd been lying to myself, clinging to the delusion that I was in control, that I'd pushed him out of my thoughts. But the brutal truth? He hadn't left my mind for a single damn second.noveldrama

"Wine?" His deep voice echoed through the kitchen, pulling me out of my trance. That's when it hit me I'd been standing there, staring at him like some kind of idiot.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I cleared my throat, trying to hide the fact that he'd caught me gawking at him. "I need that bottle. All of it." My voice wavered slightly as our eyes locked. The heat of his gaze was unmistakable, and I knew he'd seen me looking. Shit.

"I've had some," Jacob replied, his tone calm, almost too composed. It wasn't his usual playful or amused self. "But there's still enough left for you. How about sharing a glass with me before you head upstairs?"

Say no, Evelyn. Just say no.

"Uhm, sure."

Damn it.

I moved into the kitchen, standing beside him but making sure to keep a sliver of distance between us. Close enough to feel the pull of his presence, but not close enough to touch. Not after last night-not after how it had left me unraveling.

Jacob grabbed another glass from the cab, pouring wine into it, but didn't refill his own. When he handed it to me, our fingers brushed. That brief contact sent a shiver racing up my arm, an electrifying spark that made my breath catch in my throat.

Holy shit...

His eyes flickered down to where our hands met, and I could feel the tension crackling between us, thick and impossible to ignore. He must've felt it too-there was no way he couldn't. But instead of pulling away, he held my gaze, steady and intense.

"Here," he said softly, the weight of the moment stretching out as if daring me to acknowledge what was happening.

I took the glass, gripping it a little too

tightly, as if the stem could anchor

et

me to reality. My mind raced, flooded with the memory of how things had spiraled last night. How I'd promised myself I wouldn't let it happen again. But Jacob was standing there, shirtless, inches away, and all I could think about was how badly I wanted him.

"Thanks," I muttered, taking a sip of the wine. The taste was sharp on my tongue, but it did nothing to drown the fire burning inside me.

He leaned back against the counter, his eyes never leaving mine. "How was your day?" he asked, his voice low, almost conversational, but there was an undercurrent there something darker, something that made my pulse quicken.

I swallowed hard before taking another sip, trying to focus on anything other than the heat radiating off him. "You could say it was nice." I didn't even know how I would have survived if wine didn't exist.

He nodded, his gaze still locked on me, as if he were waiting for me to say something more. But what was there to say? That I couldn't stop thinking about him? That last night had torn open wounds I wasn't ready to deal with. That I was scared-terrified, even-of what would happen if I let this go any further?

Instead, I forced a chuckle, trying to shake off the tension. "Just one of those nights, you know?"

Jacob's lips curled into a faint smile, but his eyes darkened, as if he could see right through my attempt to brush it off. "Yeah," he said quietly, "I know."

He slowly turned his head away, his gaze shifting to the moon, while I couldn't take my eyes off him. Jacob. My moon. A constellation of mistakes and scars that marred his beauty, yet, to me, he would always remain as breathtaking as before. No matter how many cracks ran through him, he was still the man who held my heart.

The silence between us felt oddly comforting, like we had momentarily escaped from the weight of the world. But then, as if determined to shatter that peace, Jacob spoke his voice steady, almost detached.

"I'll leave for Italy tomorrow, Evelyn."

His words crashed into me like a cold wave, and I froze, every muscle in my body tensing as if bracing for impact. My heart pounded against my chest, my grip on the wine glass tightening until I thought it might shatter.

Italy? I almost couldn't believe what I'd just heard. His tone had been so casual, like it was nothing more than a passing remark. He didn't even turn to face me, his focus still fixed on the moonlit view outside. How could he say something like that with such ease?

"Sorry," I stammered, my voice strained with disbelief. "I didn't catch that. Could you... repeat it?"

Jacob let out a sigh, and I could feel

the calm slipping away from him, like the truth of what he'd just said was finally sinking in. Maybe he had heard the tremble in my voice, the way I was struggling to hold myself together. This time, he turned to face me, his eyes locking onto mine, piercing straight through the facade I was trying so hard to maintain.

"I'm leaving for Italy tomorrow," he repeated, more softly now, but with the same finality. He set his wine glass down on the counter, the sound of it hitting the surface somehow deafening in the stillness of the kitchen. "I already booked the ticket. I told Samuel and Clara, and I didn't want you to hear it from them. That's why I waited for you here-because I knew you'd need the company of wine tonight."

His words knocked the air out of my lungs.

If you knew me so well, then why didn't you believe me when I told you about Tyler? Why didn't you trust me when I said I was trying to save you from his sick games? Why didn't you even bother to listen?

But those questions never made it past my lips. They died in my throat, suffocated by the weight of everything that had been left unsaid between us. Instead, all I could muster was something cold, detached—a defense mechanism kicking in before I completely unraveled in front of him.

"Why the sudden decision?" I asked, raising my brows, trying to play it off like his leaving didn't bother me. But he could see through me he always could. His eyes told me he knew exactly what kind of storm he'd just unleashed inside me. Yet, despite that, he pressed on.

"Because..." he paused, his gaze softening for the briefest of moments before he looked away again, as if what he was about to say was too heavy to hold between us.

The seconds stretched painfully, my heart pounding in my chest as I waited for him to finish the sentence that might break me. There was so much more he wasn't saying, so much hidden in the spaces between his words. But I knew-those unspoken words-was about us-about everything we'd become, and everything we hadn't.