He frowned. “So why does it sound like you want to tell me something else instead?”
There was a strange sound from the other line for a second, followed by the sound of Nuri protesting in the background a moment before Silver’s voice came through strong and clear.
“Because your older brother likes to be held down and fucked while he pretends he doesn’t want it,” Silver explained, as if that was the most normal detail for someone to be sharing. “And from the sounds of it, that runs in the family.”
“Silver!” Nuri scolded. “Do not tell him stuff like that!”
“Why not?” Silver asked. “He already knows his brother married a psychopath.”
That was true. He’d always had a feeling, but that detail had been confirmed the day before the wedding. Nuri had wanted both he and Neve to understand that their relationship dynamics were different and had attempted to get them to understand why he was marrying the guy who’d all but controlled his life up until that point. That had also been an odd conversation. He hadn’t labeled him outright, but they’d gotten the gist.
“Yes, but you are a very specific type of person, and I do not want you promoting or romanticizing abuse to my siblings,” Nuri declared. “Regular people don’t—"
“Here’s the thing,” Nate interrupted—for the millionth time, “He’s not exactly your average guy.” He took a deep breath and bit the bullet. “He’s got psychopathic tendencies, too.” He’dleave out the rest for now. This was already more than he’d been planning to share with Nuri, literally ever.
“He what?” Nuri gasped. “Is this my fault? I’m a terrible influence. I made it seem okay, and now my little brother is dating someone who—”
“I’m twenty- three,” he reminded.
Silver snorted. “Yet you still can’t figure out what you like and don’t like? Pathetic.”
“Do not speak to him that way,” Nuri said.
“He needs to learn how to stand up for himself and not worry so much about what other people think,” Silver disagreed. “Who cares if I think he’s pathetic or if you know he likes to be tied up?”
“How did you…?” Too late, Nate realized it’d been meant more as a blanket statement.
Silver laughed. “Really? My, my. Good for you. The crux of it is then, if you like it, what’s the problem?”
“I didn’t like it last night,” he stated.
“No?”
“No!”
“What part?”
“The part where he wouldn’t listen to me and ignored everything I was trying to tell him!” Sort like how Nate had ignored everything Kaz had been trying to say…But that was different in the sense that Nate didn’t make things physical. “Assault is never okay.”
“That’s fair,” Silver agreed. “But it seems like you’re regretting your decision to end things.”
“I don’t know.”
“At the time, you ended it for your own sake, correct?”
“Yes.” Nate stiffened, hoping he wasn’t about to out his secret to Nuri. He’d promised not to speak about his people-pleasing issue so long as Nate sought help, and he’d been doing that.
Sort of.
“What’s the reason you won’t get back together?” Silver asked. “Is that also for your sake, or because you’re worried it wouldn’t be the right thing in society’s eyes?”
“What are you talking about?” Nuri was clearly lost.
Nate needed to end this conversation. He needed—
To run away, like he did every single time something got complicated or too hard for him to handle. That was his thing. He’d subtly or not so subtly shut down a discussion and claim he’d return to it later, only for that to never happen. It was one thing to need space and time to digest something, but another if that meant hurting someone you cared about in the process.
“Holy shit,” he exclaimed, “I’m a coward.”
