His Belated Love for the Abandoned Ex-Wife Chapter 171: Too Close

By the time Julian made his way back from the fire, Iris was already on her feet, tipping the last of her beer back like she needed the burn more than the taste. She crushed the empty can in her hand, set it aside, and gave Mason a quick nod.

"I'm calling it a night."

Mason leaned back in his chair, half-smirking. "Five a.m., don't forget. Sunrise out here is worth it."

"I'll be up."

She didn't look at Julian as she walked off, heading straight for the row of tents, her pace steady, almost too steady.

Julian slowed when he saw her leaving, but he didn't call out. By the time he reached the fire, she was gone, leaving nothing behind but the faint outline of her silhouette fading into the dark.

For a moment, he just stood there, eyes fixed on where she'd disappeared, something unreadable settling deep in his expression.

Mason nudged a fresh beer toward him. "You want one?"

Julian shook his head, dropped into the chair, and pulled out his phone instead.

Iris had barely zipped the tent shut behind her when her phone buzzed. She slipped out of her jacket, sat down on her sleeping bag, and opened WhatsApp.

Julian sent a message, "I meant what I said. We can be friends. But I've got one condition. Don't avoid me anymore."

The tightness that had been sitting in Iris's chest all night finally loosened, as if something tangled deep inside her had quietly come undone.

Iris replied, "Okay."

Julian sent another message, "Any rules for this friendship?"

She stared at her phone for a moment, her fingers pausing over the screen before she typed back.

Iris replied, "No."

Julian sent a message, "Sunrise together tomorrow."

Iris replied, "Okay."

Julian sent another message, "What do you want for breakfast?"

Her fingers hovered again, hesitation flickering through her thoughts before she added one more line.

Iris replied, "Actually... I do have one. Don't be too nice to me."

The reply came almost instantly.

Julian sent a message, "Alright. Whatever you say."

That was enough to lift the weight off her mood. She set her phone aside, switched off the small lantern clipped to the top of the tent, and slid into her sleeping bag, the quiet of the night settling around her.

Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the exhaustion from the day, but sleep came fast.

She didn't know how long she'd been out when a faint sound pulled her halfway back to consciousness, the soft rasp of a zipper moving through the dark.

Her eyes opened slowly, everything around her still pitch black.

"Iris."

Julian's voice came low and careful, like he didn't want to startle her.

She blinked, trying to focus, and made out the vague shape of someone shifting inside the tent.

"Julian...?" Her voice was thick with sleep, soft and unfocused. "What are you doing?"

Instead of answering right away, he settled in beside her, adjusting the spare sleeping bag with quiet efficiency before lying down like this was the most natural thing in the world.

"I can't sleep," he said finally, his tone edged with something that sounded suspiciously like a complaint. "I hate how dark it is out here."

That woke her up a lot faster than she expected.

She turned her head sharply, squinting at him. "You're scared of the dark? Seriously?"

"I'm not joking." He shifted closer, close enough that she could feel the warmth of him through the layers between them. "It's worse out here than in the city."

Iris instinctively tried to scoot away, only to realize the sleeping bag had her pinned in place. "Then go crash with Mason or Daniel. Why are you in my tent?"

Julian let out a quiet breath, closing his eyes like he was already halfway to sleep. "You know I'm picky about stuff like that. I'm not dealing with their snoring, or whatever weird mix of sunscreen and smoke they've got going on."

"That's still not a reason to just show up here," she shot back, her voice dropping lower, a mix of frustration and something a little more self-conscious. "You can't just sleep next to me."

"We're friends now," he murmured, his voice softening, slowing, like it was slipping into sleep. "Friends help each other out."

Iris frowned into the dark. "Julian, don't twist it. You're doing this on purpose."

He didn't answer.

A few seconds later, his breathing evened out completely, steady and quiet, like he'd actually fallen asleep.

She lay there, staring into the darkness, her jaw tightening before she let out a slow breath.

This is exactly what he wanted.

But in the end, she didn't move.

She had been the one to agree to this, to draw that line, to call it friendship.

Six months.

It had been six months since they'd been this close, even if now there were layers of fabric and unspoken boundaries between them. Still, the space felt too small, too aware, filled with the faint, familiar scent of him that she hadn't realized she still remembered so clearly.

Just that alone was enough to make her heartbeat shift, uneven and impossible to ignore.

Get a grip. He's not going to do anything.

She closed her eyes, forcing herself to settle, to breathe past it, reminding herself of exactly who he was.

Julian wasn't careless, and he wasn't the kind of man who crossed lines like that.

Eventually, somewhere between that thought and the quiet rhythm of his breathing beside her, sleep pulled her under again.

Her alarm went off before dawn, sharp and sudden in the stillness.

Julian reached over without even opening his eyes and silenced it.

By the time he sat up, the thin fabric of the tent had already begun to glow faintly with early morning light, the sky outside shifting toward pale gray.

He moved carefully, unzipping the tent and stepping out without making a sound.

The beach was already alive.

Everyone else had gathered near the shoreline, waiting for the sunrise, the horizon just starting to glow.

And then they saw him.

Walking out of Iris's tent.

The reaction was instant, the kind of stunned silence that spreads before anyone even realizes it.

Lily's expression changed first, her eyes sharpening as her hands curled into fists at her sides. "Julian... why were you in Iris's tent?"

He didn't hesitate. "Yeah."

The answer was so casual it almost made it worse.

Lily swallowed hard, her voice tightening as she tried to make sense of it. "She was in your tent, right? You guys just switched, or—"

"I'm right here."

Iris's voice cut in as she stepped out behind him, pushing her hair back into place as she walked up to stand at his side like it wasn't a big deal.

Not even a little.

Mason caught Daniel's eye, both of them pressing their lips together to keep from laughing as they turned and headed toward the water, clearly deciding they wanted front-row seats to whatever this was.

Caleb didn't bother hiding his reaction. His expression darkened, a sharp, humorless smile pulling at his mouth. "You've really got no boundaries, do you?"