Page 44 of Own It

I hated that eagerness in her eyes. I never knew jealousy until I met Daylin. Her boyfriend was a bitch, but I also got a bad vibe from the nigga. The mere thought of her giving a fuck about the nigga, even while she was being held in captivity, while he was possibly up to no good irritated the fuck out of me.

“Right. And I told him he couldn’t speak to you.”

“What?” She frowned deeply. “Why would you say that?”

“Because I wanted to.” I sat down in the nearby chair, and she glowered at me.

I wanted to tell her that I liked her and didn’t want her talking to that nigga until I had a chance to romance her, but I kept that shit to myself. Plan was to have Daylin so wrapped up in a nigga that she would willingly drop Shaun once she made it out of this shit. Downside was, I had lost my leverage over her father, unbeknownst to him. I was too enamored with his baby girl to kill her, so I would have to figure some shit out.

Quiet as kept, I was enamored from the first time I saw her and should’ve kidnapped her sister instead to retain my dominance over Dr. Conrad.

“How do you even have any friends when you’re so mean and evil?” She scoffed, shaking her head.

“I don’t. I have my cousin, baby brothers, and then a worker that’s cool.”

“What about your twin?”

“What about that nigga?”

“Is he not on that list of friends?”

“Nah, he and I are just related.” I folded my arms.

“Odd considering you guys are twins. Twins are usually closer than normal.”

“Maybe identical, but Ayan and I are fraternal. We the same as you and yo’ sister, unlike Josias and Zaire who are identical. They share exact DNA.”

She nodded slowly with her mouth slightly ajar like she wasn’t aware of that fact.

“Hm, I didn’t know that. Why aren’t you and Ayan close?”

This woman asked more questions than Diane fucking Sawyer.

Laughing at her inquisitive ass, I replied, “We just don’t gel well with one another. It happens sometimes with siblings. He ain’t the same type of nigga I am, despite us coming from the same parents.”

“I definitely understand. So what did he do to make you distance yourself from him?”

When I shot her a look, she grinned brightly.

“You nosier than a muthafucka.” I took her pretty ass in.

No woman made me talk this much, and I didn’t even know how she did the shit.

“I mean, I don’t have shit else to do, and you’re interesting. You say all this cryptic shit, and I have no other way to find out the meaning unless I ask. Not my fault you don’t like talking.”

“I have never talked as much as I have since you brought yo’ ass around.”

“Brought my ass around?” She hiked a brow. “You brought me around, nigga. Now are you gonna answer or not?”

Only Daylin would be popping off at the mouth to a nigga who kidnapped her. And I liked that shit, sadly.

“Not,” I replied, hating that I was smirking at her because it, in turn, made her smile. I didn’t think I could take too much more of that shit. It was like a dopamine shot, no bullshit.

“Well, I’m not close with my siblings, particularly my older sister, so I understand. And since you and Ayan are fraternal, it’s the same situation as mine,” she explained.

“Why y’all not close?” I wondered aloud, knowing damn well her sister wasn’t on the level of Ayan. Ayan wasn’t even really a brother to me, only in blood and DNA. He felt more like an opp or even a fucking stranger.

I’d seen photos of Daylin and her sister, Serene, cheesing it up in front of Christmas trees on social media, so I knew they weren’t like me and my brother. The day someone was able to convince both Ayan and me to take a photo together, let alone a happy one, hell would freeze the fuck over.