Page 55 of Malachai
He was right. I swallowed hard. I had made Malachai think he was forcing me to stay, and I would never tell him, but I decided to stay after he told me about what happened with Dame. I don’t know why, but I could never hate him as much as I wanted to.
A lot of misunderstandings had brought us to where we were, and even after everything—the way we got married, the lies, Sasha, the baby, the stabbing, the blood on the floor, the three years I ran—I had never stopped wanting him. Not really. I wanted the version of us that existed before Sasha walked into our bedroom. I wanted the dangerous calm in his eyes when he watched me dance. I wanted the man who would burn the world down for me.
I would be a fool to leave my husband over my attitude.
If I broke something, he bought another. If I destroyed a room in one of my rages, he simply had it remodeled. I set his car on fire, fucked up his shoes, slapped and bit him, and he let me. When I stabbed him in the chest, he let me. He stood there and took it just so I could feel better. Who the hell does that? Gao, my brother, none of the men I knew had ever shown that restraint for the women they said they loved.
Was it love, or just the thrill of chaos? I don’t know, but it is what it is. On top of that, he had bent himself to apologize to Maya. That went a long way with me.
“You know you can tell me what you need or want,” he said. “And I’ll hand it to you.”
He leaned down slowly, giving me time to pull away if I wanted to. I didn’t.
“I know,” I whispered.
I reached behind me, swiping a finger through the smooth vanilla icing on the cake. I lifted it between us, holding it just in front of his mouth.
His gray eyes darkened.
I pressed my icing-covered finger to his lips. He opened for me without hesitation, sucking the sweet frosting off my skin with deliberate slowness, his tongue warm and rough against my fingertip. The heat in his gaze never left mine.
The second my finger left his mouth, he closed the distance.
The kiss was deep, slow, and hungry. I kissed him back.
Cooly had just offered me a clean exit. A new name. A new life. Freedom that didn’t come with conditions or control.
And I still came back here.
Back to this house.
Back to him. I could bring myself to leave again.
Chapter 28
Indigo
I looked up from the spot I was cleaning just as Cooly walked in, locs tied back, wearing a black designer hoodie and jeans. This was the fourth time in a week. Right behind him was Diamond—the Diamond from New York.
A real smile broke across my face before I could stop it.
“Diamond!” I said, actually excited. I dropped the towel and crossed the studio, pulling her into a tight hug. She smelled like vanilla and expensive perfume, the exact same scent that used to cling to the Velvet Room dressing room. “Girl, what the hell are you doing down here? I didn’t think I’d see your ass again.”
Diamond laughed, squeezing me back just as hard. “Midnight! Look at you, all domesticated and shit. This studio is nice as hell. Smells like money and ambition in here.”
I pulled back, still grinning. “It’s Indigo again. But damn, it’s good to see you.”
“How do you two even know each other?”
Cooly leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching us with that intense stare.
“We met when I was looking for you,” Diamond explained. “She called me to check up, I told her I was down here, she said she wanted to surprise you, so I flew her out.”
Diamond’s eyes swept over the poles and mirrors with appreciation. “Looking at this place got me thinking aboutopening a small studio up north. Had to come see how my favorite Midnight was doing it.”
I set the towel down, warmth still lingering in my chest. It felt good—familiar—seeing a piece of my New York life that wasn’t attached to pain or survival. Diamond had been one of the real ones.
“You could’ve called first,” I said, mostly to Cooly, but my tone was light.
