I shouldn't have gone there.
I told myself I was just checking in. That I was curious about her work. That Elijah mentioned her designs and I wanted to see for myself. But none of that was the truth. Not really.
The truth is—I missed her.
Four days of silence. Four days of pretending that walking away was the right choice. Four days of convincing myself that I did the honorable thing.
And yet here I am, gripping the steering wheel like it's the only thing keeping me from turning back around and going straight back to her.
Because one look at her—just one—and I knew I hadn't let her go at all.
She looked different today. Grounded. Focused. She wasn't playing dress-up in someone else's house. She was standing in her space, in her skin, in her silence. She was breathtaking in the kind of way that didn't ask for permission.
And she hated me.
I could see it in her eyes.
The same eyes that looked up at me like she would've let me have her that night. The same lips that whispered my name like a secret she wasn't supposed to keep. Now they looked at me like I was the villain in a story I didn't mean to write.
And maybe I am.
Because I wanted her the second I walked in that room.
Not like before.
Not just to touch.
Not just to taste.
But to know her. Everything. What keeps her up. What drives her. What makes her draw those soft, broken dresses that look like heartbreak you can wear.
I wanted to grab her and say all the things I wasn't supposed to say. I wanted to tell her I'm not done. That I think about her more than I should. That I hear her voice when I fall asleep.
But I didn't.
I left again.
Because Elijah texted. Because reality always has a way of barging in at the worst moment.
Because I'm a coward.
Because I still don't know if wanting her is enough to justify destroying the one friendship that kept me from becoming completely hollow.
She's not a fling. She's not a mistake. She's Elijah's sister.
And that's the problem.
Because I don't want her like a secret. I want her like a life.
And I have no idea what that says about the kind of man I am anymore.