Page 21 of Werewolf Heart

“You think you like me. But you don’t.”

“Sara.”

“We’ve been friends for over a decade, Rob,” she points out, harsh. “I think I would know if you happened to like me or not.”

“You’re wrong.”

“You know what?” And this time she gets closer, voice tight. She’s beyond pissed now. Sara is furious. The bitter smell overflows her. “Maybe you don’t get to say you like me, how about that? You don’t get to confess out of fucking nowhere—after you put a guy in the hospital, by the way—that you like me! Especially after what you’ve been through, because clearly you’re mixing platonic with romantic feelings and I can’t unpack all that shit right now. I just can’t.”

She starts to leave, and he knows he should let her, let her cool off, let her digest what he just confessed. But he just can’t help himself.

“Sara, wait,” he says, catching her hand. “Please, don’t go.”

She’s shaking her head, over and over. “Rob. You don’t get to do this.”

“Do what, Sara?”

“I’ve liked you for years.” And it comes out so easily, he knows it’s the absolute truth from her lips. “I didn’t say anything because it was clear you never saw me as anything but a friend. And I was okay with that. It hurt, yes, a lot, but I got over it. I would rather have you as a friend than nothing at all.”

He can smell the heartbreak. It resembles the fury, bitter and harsh, but underneath the melancholy lingers. Feels like frost on his fingertips.

“Oh, Sara.”

“So, yeah,” she breathes out, voice trembling. “I would know, Rob, if you saw me as anything other than a sister. Because I searched obsessively, for years, for any sign you might have feelings for me. I would mope around in my room, hoping today would be the day you’d finally like me. It never happened. So, I’d know, Rob. I’d know. I’m sorry I’m being a bitch, but I can’t let you give me hope. It would destroy me. You’re not in your right mind right now and I understand, it’s a fucked up thing what happened to you—what’s still happening to you. You’re… confused. I’m sorry. But I can’t, Rob.”

“Sara, please, just—”

She doesn’t stay. She walks into her bedroom and locks the door.

Robert doesn’t push. He sobs into his pillow instead.

Chapter 6

Sara

It wasn’t a hard decision to make.

“I won’t press charges,” she said on the phone. “If you don’t go after Rob.”

“God,” Tom groaned. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

Sara ignored the bait, pressing on. “Do we have a deal?”

He didn’t speak for what felt like an eternity, it was so quiet on the other line she thought he’d actually hung up on her. Then his voice came through, sounding tired and defeated.

“Fine,” he whispered. “I won’t press charges either.”

That interaction had left Sara fatigued and overwhelmed, but it wasn’t a hard decision to make. It’s scary to realise she’d do just about anything to protect Robert. But it is what it is. Tom was dealt with and things could go back to normal.

Sara did not expect their little talk when they got home.

The conversation left her drained, like her muscles were exposed and her heart trashed against her rib cage.

She had dreamed about this moment for so long… And it was all wrong. It wasn’t real. Robert was unstable, he was still adjusting, he was confused. He liked her, but not in that way. Romantic and platonic feelings are not the same. He had all those years, all those opportunities, to say something, and he didn’t. It wasn’t real. Her best friend turned into a werewolf and now his hormones were all over the place. Maybe he wanted to fuck her. But you don’t have to love someone to want them. That’s the thing he was mixing up—it had to be!

Robert couldn’t possibly be in love with Sara.

She couldn’t handle false hopes.

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