Page 62 of His Black Onyx

Chapter 30

Malia

"I don't really have a choice now, do I?" he says, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"I guess neither one of us does."

I wait for him to say more, to tell me more, to enlighten me on the details that Lailah left out for him to fill in for me.

Who is his family? And his half-brother? What kind of business do they operate? What exactly happened with their business and the mafia? Why were they involved with the mafia in the first place?

Why has he always been considered a black sheep? What did he do to deserve this?

There are so many unanswered questions, but it doesn't seem like he wants to let me in on his secrets any time soon.

He sighs, raking his fingers through his hair, his troubled gaze wandering to the window.

"So, you're not telling me any more?" I encourage, unable to hide the impatience in my voice.

"Not right now," he says.

I huff. "Maybe I should just ask Lailah. It's obvious that she knows."

I don't even try to suppress the accusation in my words, but it still satisfies me to see him react to it. He appears startled by my statement when he turns to face me.

"Are you jealous now?" he asks. "Is that it? Because I shared more with her than I'm sharing with you?"

My breath hikes and eyes widen, and it feels as if he caught me doing—or thinking—something inappropriate. Maybe he did.

Jealous? Me? Why would I be jealous? For that to happen, I would have to feel something for him. And that is just absurd. Right?

I let out a helpless chuckle, doing my best to look as if his evaluation of my response is completely off.

"Jealous?" I repeat, shaking my head. "Don't be so full of yourself, Nate. Why would I be jealous? I know she's your ex and there was something between you guys, but... why would I care about that?" I laugh again nervously.

"Who gave you that idea?"

"What idea?"

"That there was ever anything between Lailah and me," he elaborates. "Nothing ever happened between us, and she's certainly not my ex."

"Oh," I respond, puzzled. "I just thought-"

"Don't think," he snaps. "Don't assume."

I frown at him. He waves me off in such a rude way that I can't help but think that I may be correct, and that he is indeed denying the truth to me. Why else would he be so angry and insistent?

"I'll admit there was a time when I wanted... when I wanted more from her," he adds, as is if he could hear my thoughts. "But—luckily, I must say—it never turned into something. It would have been a stupid idea and made things unnecessarily complicated. It's a good thing she was such a promiscuous girl, always too busy flirting and playing with any guy dumb enough to be wrapped around her finger. Thank God I was never one of them, despite a moment of weakness."

He takes in a deep breath, looking almost exhausted just from telling me this. It's obvious that the memory still haunts him, that he's deeply unsettled by the things that happened back then.

The reason, though, is not obvious to me.

Does he still have feelings for Lailah? Or is he regretting his own alleged weakness back then?

"Besides, why would you even care?" he preempts my thoughts with a question I didn't even dare ask myself.

I blush, unsure how to respond, and his dark gaze holds me in place.

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