“It’sI couldn’t care less.”
“Fuck off.”
“Charming.”
“Just tell me what you want.” I opened my own water and took a long drink, wishing it had some kind of alcohol content.
“I want you to break up with my brother. Both of them, and my cousin.”
I laughed. When I realized he was serious, I glared at him. “No.”
“I’ll give you however much you want.”
“I don’t want your money,” I snapped at him angrily. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“You.” Onyx regarded me coolly and then smiled. “You cause disharmony with them. They are my family. One is in love with you, one has always been in love with you, and the other loves you more than his own family sometimes.” Onyx leaned forward as if we were having a casual conversation. “You will break them. You have broken them, and you will only continue to keep breaking them.”
I stared at him wordlessly. “Ash doesn’t love me, not like that. Graydoes. Jett and I have always been family. You can’t twist this into something horrible and sordid. Gray is who I am supposed to be with.”
“You will destroy him.”
“No,” I pushed away from the counter, “I won’t.”
“You’re so sure,” Onyx scoffed.
I nodded as I took a few steps back and turned away from him. Taking a deep breath, I turned back to him. “I am one hundred percent positive.”
“So fucking confident.”
“I am.”
“How can you be so sure?” Onyx asked me with an arched brow.
“Because I lost my baby,hisbaby, and he didn’t walk away. He didn’t run. He fought his own hell while I fought mine, and it made us stronger. I am stronger with Gray in my life, and he is stronger because of me. He loves me, Onyx. He loves me more than you know.”
“Which is why you must go.”
I blinked rapidly as I shook my head in denial. “Why? Why do you hate me so much?”
“Because when I look at you, I see Sable.”
“Your mom?”
“My dad was never injured, not to the extent he says he was. He was drafted, but he walked away. For her. Because she asked him to. She asked him not to chase his dream and be with her instead, and you’re just like her. Needy, desperate and afraid.”
“Oh my God, that’s yourmom,” I said to him in disbelief. “She loves you and does not deserve this disrespect.”
“Her love for me doesn’t change the facts: she made my dad walk away, and Gray will do the same if you ask him.”
“I would never ask him!” I cried in exasperation. “The NFL is all he wants, I know this. It’s all he’s ever wanted.”
“I have scouts interested in Gray. They would have taken him this year, but he got injured. Because of you.”
“He’s a sophomore.”
“I’m aware. It’s not unheard of, for them to take them so young, and Gray is exceptional. He can practically write his ticket now, and you’re already fucking up his future.”
“I didn’t ask him to try to kill himself!” I shouted angrily. Scouts wanted Gray already? He wasn’t even twenty. Sure, teams looked at guys in their third year of college sometimes, but in their second? No. His hand being injured ruined that chance? I ruined that chance?
