Chapter 368/Nothing More Than a Sister
Chapter 368
Stella’s point of view
His cold blue eyes dropped to my hand resting on his thigh. His muscles instantly locked up in visible irritation. He casually but firmly brushed my hand away, his tone dripping with a formal, condescending chill. "Thanks, Stella. I missed you too."
I stubbornly pushed my body even closer to his, a desperate, burning hunger tearing through my insides. "I was literally counting down the days and months, waiting with absolute madness for the moment you’d finally come back."
"Well, I’m back now," he replied, his rock-hard detachment completely crushing my emotions. "And I’m standing right in front of you."
I dug my fingers right back into his thigh, squeezing with force as a hidden threat sharpened my voice. "I don’t ever want you to disappear on me again, Jake. Do you hear me?"
"I won’t," he delivered with finality.
I moved my face closer with absolute, blind audacity until my frame was completely pressed against his broad shoulder, absorbing his warmth. I whispered, my breath rattling unevenly right against his mouth and his fresh wound, "I’m crazy about you, Jake. I want you right now..."
The exact second I shifted my lips, lunging forward in a frantic attempt to force a kiss on him, he completely shattered my composure. He bolted to his feet with lightning velocity, his violent movement tearing him away from me and leaving a humiliating, gaping distance between us. His features distorted into a harsh, raging scowl. "Stella! I have already talked to you about this explicitly before, and I made my position crystal goddamn clear! Enough!"
I surged up right behind him, an explosive wave of emotion crashing through me as my eyes ignited with hot tears and a pitch-black resentment. "Why the hell do you reject me and push me away with this level of cruelty, coldness, and absolute humiliation every single time, for God’s sake?!"
He dragged his massive palm over the back of his neck, his chest heaving with deep annoyance and exhausted patience. "Because you are quite simply my best friend Mike’s little sister," he snapped back harshly. "Nothing and I mean absolutely no relationship of any kindوis ever going to happen between us under any circumstances. Respect that."
That same cursed, idiotic, and completely pathetic excuse again! Every single time I try to crawl closer to him, he throws that recycled garbage straight into my face to kick me out. Yet, just minutes ago, I saw him with my own two eyes kissing Julie with absolute madness, filth, and raw passion. Isn’t Julie the sister of Steve his other best friend?! Why the hell does the forbidden suddenly become completely fair game when it comes to her?!
I ground my teeth in pure hatred, a thick bitterness and mockery overflowing in my tone. "I swear to God I don’t understand you, Jake. Your mind completely boggles me. What the hell does my brother Mike have to do with this if I am the one who wants you with my own entire free will?!"
"Because it is completely wrong and disgraceful according to my principles," he answered with a freezing, infuriating calm. "And I am not changing that for you."
*Wrong?!* But it looks completely right, profoundly enjoyable, and totally permitted with Julie! With her, your brain completely throws out every single rule of friendship, loyalty, and morality, turning you into a raging animal under her lips!
Driven by blind impulse, I pushed further. "My brother Mike wouldn’t object to our relationship or get angry for a single second if he knew I was happy with you and that we loved each other!"
"Stella," he cut me down with an irreversible, crushing weight, his downward look completely killing my spirit. "There can never be anything between us beyond basic friendship. I have told you this before and I will repeat it for the thousandth time: I see you as nothing more than a little sister. Nothing more, nothing less."
A bitter, hysterical laugh ripped from my throat, shattering the silence of the room as I screamed to break his rigid shield. "A sister?! Am I your goddamn sister now?! I am not your sister, Jake, and you know that perfectly well!"
He blew out a harsh, hot breath from his chest, his tolerance completely worn to a thread. "Stella, please, don’t make a scene. I truly thought you had completely forgotten all of this nonsense, these delusions, and these fairy tales. I thought you had moved past it after all these years and my long absence."
"You were the very first person I ever fell for in this world, Jake!" I cried out, a burning lump tightening in my throat as I choked back a sob. "You were the only one, the perfect man in my eyes ever since our school days, and I have never seen another man besides you."
"And I figured it was just a childish, passing teenage crush that would inevitably die out with time," he stated, his dry tone turning my confession to ash.
"But I didn’t forget, and I didn’t move past it!" I screamed, my voice shaking the very walls of the living room in pure, unadulterated agony. "And you lied to my face in cold blood for years!"
He knitted his dark brows tightly, a hostile disapproval hardening his face at my accusation. "What the hell did I lie to you about? I don’t lie. Speak up!"
"When I came to confess my feelings to you in the past," I shouted, my eyes swimming with trapped, tortured tears, "you looked at me and told me with your own mouth that I was a beautiful, incredibly attractive, and sexy girl, but that you couldn’t be with me because you valued your friendship with my brother and feared hurting his feelings!"
"Yeah," he shot back, his rock-solid stance unchanging as he stared down at me. "And that is the absolute truth and the exact reason. I didn’t lie."
"That was never the real reason or a barrier at all, Jake!" I screamed, total madness completely distorting my features. "Deep down inside, you never saw me as beautiful for a single day of your life! You never wanted me in the first place, even if Mike wasn’t my brother in this life! You’re just using his name to run away from me!"
He clamped his hands over his head in deep exhaustion and fatigue, his voice dropping to a low mutter. "Stella... please stop this nonsense and the drama right now. Drop this entire topic for good."
"I am not dropping it!" I hissed, a black venom completely blinding my heart. "Because you left me all these long years living on a fake, hollow hope that one day you would overcome the hurdle of my brother Mike inside your head, love me, and finally take me into your arms!"
In that heavily charged, lethal second of tension, the distinct click of the inner door handle turning echoed through the silence. Our voices abruptly cut off, the air completely leaving the room. Julie appeared, her features perfectly composed as a faint, questioning smile touched her lips. "Stella? Welcome."