Page 17 of Mister Artist

“But is she?”

“…Yeah. She is.”

“Are you worth losing her brother to her?”

My head shook. “I’m sure I’m not, but even if I was, I wouldn’t put her in a position to choose.”

“Then how exactly do you think this is going to work, Neko?”

“I don’t know,” I seethed, quietly but with more aggression in my voice than I wanted to have. “I’m just taking it a day at a time, Mama. I know we have an expiration date. I know we can’t really be together. I just want to enjoy her for as long as I can.”

Mama scooted closer to me and put her hand on my thigh. “You know what you’re doing is wrong, regardless of how right it feels. If you value her, do right by her. Don’t put her in the position to feel as if she has to lose either one of you. I can tell you like her, and I wish you could be with her, but if you can’t, call it off before things get too deep.”

As much as I didn’t want to agree, I did. I knew in my mind the longer Mal and I carried on the harder it would be to let her go, but I was already so far gone that I didn’t want to. My thoughts were holding me hostage so much I didn’t even realize when the doors of the elevator opened. We got out after Malorie gained my attention and I led us to our room.

When I opened the door, I let her go in first. She gasped at how romantic the staff had set the room up. I’d booked the honeymoon package since it came with rose petals and balloons, champagne and chocolate covered fruit, and what they called a play chest, which had unopened sex toys.

“Neko,” she almost sang. “This is so beautiful. I love it.”

Turning her in my arms, I cupped her cheek. I wanted to tell her I loved her, but that didn’t seem fair. Instead, I grazed her nose with mine, then kissed her tenderly.

“As beautiful as you look in this dress, I’ve been wanting to get it off you all night long.”

That was absolutely true, though she laughed. I picked an off white, off the shoulder body con dress for her to wear, and it looked just as good against her curvy, honey brown frame as I thought it would.

“Then what are you waiting for? Take it off…”

13

Malorie

“Then what areyou waiting for? Take it off…”

Neko hesitated, which was a first. He took my hands into his and kissed them both. “I will, but first, we need to talk.”

I nodded, and he led me over to the dining room table by the windows that gave a great view of the beach. We sat down, and he poured us both a glass of champagne.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.

“Sweet girl, I—do you know how I feel about you?”

With a shrug, I released a nervous chuckle. “I know you like me and care about me.”

“I love you. I’ve always loved you. I’m… in love with you.” I took my flute of champagne and chugged it down. “Because I love you, I don’t think it’s fair to put you in this position.”

“What position, babe?”

“Come on, Mal. You know what we’re doing is wro—”

“No.” Lifting my hands, I stood. “You don’t get to take me on this amazing date and break up with me.” Chuckling, I put myhands on my hips. “What am I saying? You can’t break up with me because we aren’t in a relationship.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Malorie.” Neko stood and took my hands into his, stopping my pacing. “You deserve better than this behind closed doors shit. You deserve to be shown off to the world. I can’t give you that, so I shouldn’t have access to you.”

“But I-I love you too.”

His frame went rigid. “If we put ourselves on the scale right fucking now, you weigh more to me than I do to you. You’re most important to me and I’d risk it all for you, but you can’t say the same.” My head shook and I tried to pull my hands out of his, but he held them tighter. “And you shouldn’t have to. But this between us… it has to be over, mama. I can’t lose you because of him. I can’t.”

A bitter chuckle escaped me as my eyes watered. “So what is this? A goodbye date?”

---