"You need to go inside."
"Not until you tell me the truth."
"What truth?"
"That you feel something too."
I could tell her. Could confess that I think about her constantly. That I know she switched her perfume three months ago. That I notice when she gets her hair cut. That I've memorized the sound of her laugh and the way she moves and the exact shade of her eyes in different light.
That I'm obsessed. Sick. Wrong.
Instead, I laugh.
Short. Sharp. Cruel.
"Feel something?" I let my eyes drag over her, slow and deliberate like she's nothing. "You think I have feelings for you, little girl?"
She flinches. Just slightly. But I see it.
Good. This is good. Push her away. Make her hate you.
"I... yes. I thought..."
"You thought what? That I've been pining after you?" Another laugh. "That's cute."
"Don't." Her voice cracks. "Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Talk to me like I'm stupid."
"Then don't act fucking stupid, Isabella." I cross my arms, lean back against the railing. "You're Matteo's little sister. A kid. You really think I look at you and see anything other than that?"
The lie tastes like poison.
"I'm not a kid!”
"You're eighteen."
"So?"
"So, you're a child with a crush. That's all this is. It will pass."
"That's not?—"
"It is." I cut her off, keeping my voice flat and bored. "You've built something up in your head that doesn't exist. Some fantasy where I've been secretly wanting you, where this..." I gesture between us. "... means something."
Her eyes are wet now but she's holding it together, chin up, stubborn as always.
I want to cross this porch and kiss her until she can't breathe. Want to fist my hands in that dress and tear it off her. Want to show her exactly what I feel.
Instead, I destroy her.
"Let me make this clear." My voice comes out cold and empty. "I don't have feelings for you. I don't think about you or want you. That’d be sick. Wrong. You're Matteo's little sister and I see you as a little sister myself, Princess."
She's crying now. Silent tears running down her cheeks.
I'm a monster. The worst kind of man. But I can't stop.
