He Loves Me...He Loves You Not

“I do. Leave. Now.” I stand. “How did you get in here?” I follow his gaze to the open window. Wind blows in and circulates through my curtains. I mentally huff a string of curse words for not remembering to lock it.

Henry rocks back and forth on his feet and nervously shoves his hands into his pockets. This is the first time I’ve ever seen him this way. Uncertain. Lost. He’s usually so sure of himself. He locks eyes with me. A solemn expression takes over his face. “Can we talk?”

His gaze is magnetic. He’s trying to pull me in, like a black widow on a web, lurking, waiting for her prey to get caught.

I’m fighting it—the power he has over me. The spell he’s cast. Because every part of me wants to be enveloped in his arms. I want his fingers in my hair. I want him kissing me. As long as I stay where I am. As long as I don’t look at him or move, I’ll be fine. He won’t over-power me. His charm won’t manipulate my judgment.

He doesn’t deserve my time. I’ve sacrificed plenty of precious minutes for him. I threw away a whole summer for him. But I’m tired. I’m in pieces, and I’m furious. The sooner I let him speak, the sooner he’ll leave and I get back to sleeping my life away. “You’ve got five minutes.”

Relief washes over his features and he sits down on the edge of my bed. “Will you come sit by me?” His lips curl into a half-smile. A seductive, come-hither smile.

I pick up a foot lurching forward and stop myself. No. I can’t. I have to be strong. Instead, I tap my bare foot against the wooden floor and twitch my hips. “No.”

Soft laughter escapes his throat. “So stubborn.”

So what if I was being stubborn or difficult or whatever, it’s my own prerogative. My eyes roll to my right and I check the time on my alarm clock. “Your five minutes are ticking by. Now you have four. I’d hurry if I were you.”

“I don’t understand why you’re acting like this?”

“Were you listening to anything I said earlier?”

“Yes. But you knew what you were getting into with this from the very beginning and you were okay with it. Now all of a sudden you’ve had this miraculous epiphany and you’re willing to throw everything we have away because you’re jealous.”

My mouth drops open and I gasp. “Are you kidding me? Is this conversation some kind of joke?”

A serious expression crosses over his face. He’s not joking. “Why don’t you tell me what you want from me, Riley?”

“I want you to stop what you’re doing?”

“And what exactly am I doing?”

“I want this whole you, me, and her threesome to stop.” What I really want to tell him or what I really want him to say is what he said to me in the hall. It’s over between me and Callie. She’s yesterday’s news. I love you. I want you. I choose you. You are my one and only.

All I get out of him is, “Uh huh.”

“Do you say the same things to both of us? Is that it? Do you enjoy the thrill of a double life? One for keeps. One on the sly sort of thing?”

He glares at me incredulously. “When I say it to you, I mean it.”

“And her?”

“I don’t.”

“Then why are you with her?”

“It’s complicated.”

He’s being vague and the uncertainty tone in his voice annoys me.

I pace across the length of my bedroom. “This conversation is over, Henry. Get out.” My voice is hard and brutal.

He doesn’t move.

“I said get out!”

He glances at his hand and examines his fingers. “I think I’ll stay right here.”

I’m unsure of what to do. All I know is that I don’t want to stay in here with him.