Page 69 of Treason's Temptation
And I didn’t. Not even when every part of me wanted to. Minutes passed, and Navie hadn’t uttered a word. If it weren’t for her sliding her feet against the mattress, I would’ve thought she had fallen asleep.
“We promised no secrets, Blue. It doesn’t matter if the shit is ugly. I got you.”
Something in my voice lulled her into a confession.
“It wasn’t a fling or scheme. Lorenzo and I were engaged. Now we’re not,” She spoke in a suffocated whisper. “As usual, Sloane got herself into something only I could get her out of.Marry him. They come from old money. No more hustling, we’llbe set for life. All of us, even Rayven. We’ll get to be a normal family. It’s a sweet deal, Vie,” Navie mocked, lowering her head with a chuckle.
“That’s it?”
“I wish.” Her breath warmed the back of my neck, but her voice stayed calm, steady—too steady. “Lorenzo was sweet at first. The perfect fiancé. Then he became angry, and I was the target. He never saiddon’tout loud. It was in his eyes when anyone praised me. The way he looked at me whenever I laughed too hard. Eventually, I adjusted, thinking that he wouldn’t be so angry all the time if I just stopped being myself, I guess. I learned not to be too much, but that made him angrier because he had nobody to blame.”
I could feel the weight in her words, each one pressed between her chest and my back like bricks she’d carried too long. My muscles burned fighting my instinct to turn around.
“Then he became violent because he wasn’t man enough to stand up to his father. Everything was my fault,” she sniffed softly, then laughed—bitter and broken. “Anyway, after him, I vowed never to trade in parts of myself for anyone or anything. Sometimes it feels like I’m doing it again, now.”
“You sure you want to go there?”
“Forget I said anything,” Navie tried to leave the bed, but this was the most open and vulnerable she’d been. I didn’t know if or when the opportunity would present itself again, so I held on to her arm.
“Don’t run now, stand on it. Tell me how you feel.”
I had to dig my fingers into the sheets, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t tell if I wanted Blue to trust me.
“I don’t know how to do this,” she said finally. “I have to be on all the time. Forced to talk about shit I don’t want to talk about. You’re a politician, Treason. You perform and lie for a living, and you’re fuckin’ good at it. Too good. I don’t knowwhat’s real or what’s not. I don’t trust this feeling or myself, so I don’t know how to trust you.”
“I’m starting to think you might be crazy for real.”
“Don’t make fun of me. I’m trying to be serious.”
“I’m trying for real, Blue, but you gotta meet me halfway. I’m running out of ways to tell you I don’t hit women. As for the rest of it, I’m not a weak ass man that needs to be put on a pedestal for validation. You get me, and when you stop being crazy, I get you, too. That’s all a relationship is. Two people committed to a common goal.”
“What goal arewecommitted to?”
“Navie being happy.”
“That sounds good until I step outside of your little boundary, then you’re back yelling in my damn face.”
“Couples argue and disagree, but you never have to worry about me putting my hands on you. I’m a lot of shit but not that.Neverthat. I don’t know who raised him, but Inez and Evie would put their foot in my ass.”
I knew words wouldn’t heal that wound. Only time, but I needed her to hear it anyway.
“I don’t have a problem letting you in, Blue. I’d give you the world if I thought you’d let me, but I have to be able to trust you, and know you trust me too. I can’t afford to be on that island alone.”
She swallowed hard, scared to respond. I watched the battle between the pain in her heart and the hopeful girl buried beneath it. Anger took over, not at Navie, but at the people who had used her to the point that she doubted my words, even when my actions backed them up.
“This is the part where you nod and sayI trust you, Stink.”
“I trust you, Stink,” she repeated in the sexiest tone I’d ever heard. “How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Be so open and vulnerable. It’s so easy for you.”
“It’s not easy, especially with your mean ass, but I know you’ve been through some shit. I can’t ask you for something I’m not willing to do, too. That’s not how you lead.”
“That sounds like a speech from a rom-com.”
“If this were a rom-com, I wouldn’t be working this hard. You’d be in love with a nigga already.”
