hes not fucking with her emotions, hes being completely honest with her. if she cant be honest in return then thats on her...is what im saying
If he knows she's wanting more, and he kows that by being around he's keeping that hope alive, then yes, he's fucking with her emotions. The woman is desperate. Praying on that, no matter how "honest" he is, is jackassery. I would never allow someone to string themselves along like that for me. If I know someone has a hope of something more happening, and I know it's not going to happen, I cut them loose so that they have an actual chance of moving on with their lives.
In fact, I had a thread here a couple of years ago on that very subject. One of my ex's wanted to be friends, I had made it bluntly clear that friends was as far as it would ever go, but then he let some things slip that made me realize he still had feelings. All but maybe one or two people here told me I needed to go cold turkey and anything else would have been unfair to him because just by being his friend, I'd be keeping that false hope alive.