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It hurts to even say they should end things.

Knox let out a short, humorless breath. “No, I know why you think it has to end. There’s a…” he let out a small breath. “Fuck…there is a difference.”

Kendra’s throat tightened. She expected anger. She has prepared herself for begging. She did not prepare herself for the way he was looking at her, like the truth had hurt him and he had already decided the pain was acceptable.

“I still want you,” he said firmly. “I still wake up hard because I dreamed about you. I still reach for my phone at three in the morning to tell you something that doesn’t matter. My feelings didn't fade because of a blood test.”

“It should have.” Kendra answered.

“It didn’t.” He reached for her hand. She let him take it for one second, two, then pulled free. The loss of contact made her chest ache.

“I love you,” she admitted . “I still do. That’s the problem. If I didn’t, this would be easy. I could walk away and not look back. But I do, and that doesn’t change what we are. You’re my brother, Knox. My half-brother.” Her face turned a little pale. “I can’t keep pretending the word doesn’t exist.”

His eyes darkened. “Say it again.”

“What?”

“Call me that. Look at me and call me your brother like it’s supposed to make me stop wanting you.” he smirked, his mouth moved.

She stared at him. The demand sat between them, ugly and precise.

“You’re my brother.” she whispered

Knox stepped closer, her heartbeat raced, but she didn’t move. His hand came up and settled at the side of her neck, thumb resting just under her jaw.

Her lips parted slightly, and her fingers shook.

The touch was familiar and it mhat made her pulse jump against his skin.

“I heard you,” he said, his voice deep. “Now tell me you don’t want me to kiss you right now.”

Kendra’s breath caught. She bit her lips, fuck he's not making it easy for her.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered, her lashes shaking.

“You can, you just won’t do that.” His thumb brushed the corner of her mouth. “Because you’re scared. Because you think wanting me makes you a terrible person. It doesn’t. We didn’t know. We didn’t choose this. The only choice we have left is what we do with it, if it's a fucking sin, then let's drown it in and if you don’t wanna drown in .”

“There is no choice.”

“There is always a choice.” His voice dropped. “I’m choosing you. I’ve been choosing you every day since that night. You can keep running from it if you want, but don’t stand here and tell me it’s over when your hands are still shaking and you haven’t stepped out of my reach.”

Kendra turned her face away. Tears filled her eyes. “I have to.”

“Why?”

“Because if I don’t, I’ll hate myself later. Emily keeps saying that. Do the thing you won’t regret. I already regret it so much and I don’t want to add this.”

Knox was quiet for a long moment.

“I was going to marry you.” he smiled bitterly.

The sentence cracked something in her. She closed her eyes.

“I had a ring,” he continued, his eyes filled with emotions as if he was gonna cry. “I was going to take you somewhere quiet after everything was fine and ask you properly. I had already looked at houses. I had already pictured what our mornings would look like. None of that disappeared because your grandmother opened her mouth.”

“Stop.” she objected.

“No.” His forehead rested against hers. “You don’t get to end us and pretend I never planned a life with you. You don’t get to say you love me and then ask me to act like it never mattered.”

Kendra’s hands came up and gripped his shirt. She meant to push him away but she didn’t.

“It mattered. It still matters. That’s why I’m doing this. If I stay, we’ll keep finding reasons to touch. We’ll keep finding excuses. And one day we’ll wake up and realize we became people who couldn’t look at each other without remembering what we ignored. I don’t want that for either of us.”

Knox’s arms slid around her. He held her the way he always had, one hand at the small of her back, the other between her shoulder blades, pulling her in until there was no space left. She let him. For a few seconds she let herself breathe against his chest and pretended the last four weeks were just a minute.

“I don’t care what we become,” he said against her hair. “As long as I’m still allowed to want you.”

“You’re not.” Kendra pulled back. It took more strength than she had. She wiped her face with the heel of her hand and forced herself to meet his eyes.

“I need you to leave,” she said. “Not just this room. I need you to stop calling. Stop showing up. Stop looking at me like you’re waiting for me to change my mind. I’m not going to. The truth doesn’t go away because we want each other. It just sits there and waits for us to slip, I won’t slip.”

Knox studied her. Something in his expression shifted, not acceptance, but recognition. He had heard the difference between pain and resolve.

“You still love me,” he said.

“Yes.”

“And you still want me.”

She didn’t answer.

He nodded once, slow. “All right.”

He didn’t reach for her again. He walked to the door, opened it, and paused.