Chapter 265 Close Enough to Touch

Chapter 265: Chapter 265 Close Enough to Touch

Lily’s POV

The voice cut straight through the wine-soaked fog in my head, and my stomach dropped clean through the floor.

I snapped my eyes open. Across the table, Scott Hanson was sitting bolt upright, sober as a judge, watching me with an expression I couldn’t begin to read.

Goddess help me. He’d heard every word.

Panic surged up my throat. I grabbed my glass and threw back everything left in it, praying the burn would give me somewhere to hide.

"I’m drunk," I blurted out. "Completely wasted. So whatever I just said, do us both a favor and forget it."

Scott’s eyes searched mine, something complicated flickering behind them. He was quiet for a long moment, then let out a slow breath.

"I’m sorry, Lily. I had no idea you felt that way. And here I’ve been, dumping all my Emilia problems on you for months." He dragged a hand down his face. "If I hurt you, I’m truly sorry."

"It’s fine. Like I said, I’m drunk. Talking nonsense. Just ignore it." I waved a hand a little too casually.

"You seem remarkably sober to me."

He called my bluff without even blinking, and heat flooded my cheeks. I fumbled for something, anything. "That’s because I just said something I really shouldn’t have, so I sort of, you know, sobered up on the spot."

"People get drunk. Their tears don’t lie." His voice dropped lower. "If this is all just the wine talking, then why were you crying like your heart was breaking?"

I had nothing. Not one word.

I could keep playing the fool, but Scott clearly wasn’t buying it, and I was fresh out of dignity to spend.

The silence stretched thin between us. Finally, he broke it, and I knew what was coming before he opened his mouth.

"Lily, even though I understand now, I need you to forgive me, because I can’t—"

"I know."

I cut him off fast. I didn’t need to hear him spell out that his heart already belonged to someone else. I dipped my head, blinking hard against the sting building behind my eyes.

"You’ve known from day one the person I want is Emilia. You’re a great woman, Lily. You’ll find someone who deserves you. Someone way better than me."

"I’ll work on it." I nodded, keeping my face carefully blank.

And still, this was the worst pain I’d ever felt. Not because I’d expected him to say yes. Because he’d just taken the one little fantasy I’d let myself keep and crushed it flat.

"Eat something," he said, gentler now. "You’ve done nothing but drink all night. I ordered half the menu and you haven’t touched a thing."

"I’m good. It’s late. I should head out."

I stood, snatched up my bag, mumbled a goodbye, and got out of that room as fast as my legs would carry me.

The cold night air hit my face the second I stepped outside, and that was all it took. The tears I’d been strangling all night finally spilled over. The city lights blurred into smears of neon gold across my vision. I clapped a hand over my mouth to keep the sob from tearing loose and just kept walking.

He’d killed the last little dream I had. No more pretending. No more building castles out of nothing. Time to face the plain truth: the man I loved was never going to love me back.

By the time I reached the footbridge, I was a mess. I dropped into a crouch right there in the middle of it, sobbing my heart out over the rush of traffic below. Then I lifted my head and yelled at the cars streaming past.

"Lily Adams, it is NOT your fault he didn’t want you! It’s HIS fault for having garbage taste!"

Scott’s POV

I stayed in that private room long after she’d gone, my head a complete wreck.

Lily’s confession sat heavy in my gut. Me, her, Emilia. It was a mess with too many moving parts, and every single one of them ended with someone getting hurt.

My gaze drifted to the rolled canvas I’d tossed aside earlier without a second glance. I reached over and picked it up, unfurling it slowly.

It was a painting of a man in a suit, standing at a window with the whole city spread out behind him. And it was me. Unmistakably me. Every line careful, every detail deliberate, like she’d studied my face longer than I’d ever noticed.

I’d almost forgotten. Before she transferred into my office as my executive assistant, Lily used to paint. Emilia had mentioned it once, said her friend had real talent, could’ve gone professional if she’d wanted. I hadn’t thought much of it at the time.

Sitting there now, the memories started surfacing whether I wanted them to or not.

The countless mornings I’d shown up to a black coffee already waiting on my desk, exactly the way I took it, before I’d even asked. The nights I’d worked past midnight and looked up to find she’d quietly left a plate of food outside my door because she knew I forgot to eat when a deal went sideways. The way she always seemed to catch my mood the second I walked in, steering the difficult clients away before they could set me off, smoothing everything over so I never had to raise my voice.

I’d chalked it all up to her just being good at the job.

Turns out she’d been loving me the whole time, quietly, from close enough to touch.

And I’d been too busy chasing Emilia to see any of it.

My wolf stirred, low and tired at the back of my mind. "She cared for you long before you noticed she existed."

"I know, "I answered. "Believe me, I know."

What a mess of a life. I couldn’t have the one woman I wanted, and the one who wanted me was someone I’d never learned to look at that way. And Goddess, I couldn’t even tell her the cold truth outright, couldn’t say it plain and cruel, because I knew that particular pain better than anyone.

I knew exactly what it felt like to lay your whole heart at someone’s feet and watch them step right over it.