“You don’t know me well enough to say that.”
“Because you won’t allow me.”
The accusation and disappointment in my tone have him turning and leaning against the door. “I’ve told you I’m not looking for a relationship, Arya.”
“And I want to know why. I know you like me and care about me. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have come tonight. So, give me one good damn reason why you won’t even give us a chance.”
“Because you think I’m some good guy and I am not!” he grits out, his stormy eyes full of anguish. “Why can’t you see I’m trying to save you from heartbreak? Protecting you from destroying your life, from the darkness inside me?”
I flinch, stumbling back a step from the force of his confession.
He shoves away from the door, his features hardening into stone and a cruel smirk twisting his lips. “Don’t tell me Bianca didn’t warn you about me when you met her.”
“I don’t believe her.”
“None of it is a lie. I did set out to ruin my brother’s life by any means necessary and I almost succeeded. And I didn’t even care if I broke Iris’s trust in my need for revenge, when all she had done was be my best friend and love me.”
“Are you still seeking revenge against him?” I demand, even though I already know the answer. “Plotting ways to disrupt his relationship?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Answer me.”
Neither of us backs down until he replies with a sigh, “Not anymore.”
“Then you’re not the same man anymore,” I utter challengingly, bridging the distance between us. “So stop trying to convince me you’re a villain I should hate.”
An internal war happens in his steely gaze while his hands clench into fists by his sides. I place my palm over one and curl it over his, eliciting a shudder from him.
“You were angry at your brother, hurt that he cut you out of his life without a second thought, so you tried to hurt him back and made a mistake. It doesn’t make you a horrible guy, it makes you human. You’re letting guilt and regret make you believe otherwise and push people away from loving you.”
“So what?” he taunts with a humorless laugh. “You think you can fix me?”
“No, I don’t,” I whisper, smiling sadly. “You fix what’s broken. You’re just misunderstood and carrying emotional scars left by the people closest to you.”
At once, all his anger withers away into dust.
The lonely man, who has locked himself behind an invisible fortress, stares back at me. “I’m not worth loving,” he whispers so low that I wouldn’t have heard it if I wasn’t standing a hairbreadth away from him.
“You’re wrong.” I cup the side of his face, baring my soul. “Let me prove it to you.”
A flame of hope flickers to life when he curls his fingers around my wrist.
Only to be doused when he removes it off him and forces me a step back. With one cold word, he shatters my heart into a million pieces. “No.”
“N-no?” I stutter, tasting saltiness on my tongue.
“I can’t.”
“Why are you doing this? Why do you keep shutting me out, Nathan?” I cry out in agony. A devastating realization dawns and I gasp. “Do… do you still have feelings for Iris? Is that it?”
He stops short.
My hand flies to my mouth, and I mumble, “Oh my god, you do.”
“I don’t,” he simply says.
“Why should I believe you?”
