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Always ready for a challenge, Mal inclines his chin. “So ask it.”
God, how I admire his ego, even if I hate it. Squaring my shoulders, I continue to stand by my Jeep so he knows this isn’t a social visit. “Isa said something that got me thinking…” I pause, watching his eyes narrow. The hell with it. “Why did you really walk away that night?”
The walls go up instantly—I fucking watch them.
He says nothing, another kind of defense, just stares at me out of narrowed eyes. But he started this when he came to me asking for forgiveness the other day, and I’m not ready to let it go. “Isa seems to think it was some kind of chivalry—that you did it for me.”
“Isa sure has a lot to say.”
I ignore his comment, because it’s no less than I expected. Mal goes to asshole when he’s on the defensive. I can’t give him enough room to flip the scales and go on offense, though, so I keep pushing. “Answer the question, Malcolm. Why did you saynoto me? Why did you leave me there, and go off with someone else?” My voice hitches and I bear down, clearing it. “Was it because you didn’t want me, or was it something else?” He stays silent, and I crack a little, taking a step forward. “Answer me, dammit! Why did you leave me?”
My heart is pounding, but there are no tears in my eyes. No, right now, it’s anger fueling my veins, and I will not back down. Especially since there’s a flicker, a small one, but a flicker, in Mal’s eyes and I know—I know—Isa’s right.
When he finally speaks, his voice is strong, and carries this air of resignation that only serves to anger me more. “You were too young, Nala, and I wasn’t the right guy—not back then.”
The words…I expected them. And still, they slam into me. “You bastard.”
“You were fifteen,” he grinds out. “I was nearly a legal adult in age—already a legal adult in every other way. What did you expect me to do?”
“To be honest with me!” I shout. “I expected you to be honest with me, to care about me enough to tell me the truth. Goddamn you, Ialwaystold you the truth.”
His eyes blaze and he tries to take a step forward, stumbling at the last minute when he remembers his leg and crutches. He catches himself, swearing with vengeance, but I’m there, taking his arm, until he shrugs away from me. “I’m fine. I’ve got it,” he says.
“Obviously.” My snark hits a bullseye, and I watch Mal’s eyes narrow. I glare right back. “You have no idea what your rejection did to me.”
The words are quiet, but I see them sink home, see the moment they make contact. His narrowed eyes go wide, his mouth a little slack. “You were my best friend, Malcolm. I was already losing Ashton, and then I lost you, and suddenly, I hadno one.”
His breathing is a little jagged, those wide blue eyes liquid instead of fire right now. “Nala.”
I shake my head, stepping back, stepping away. He says it again, reaching for me, but I’m too far away and he’s too clumsy in his cast. “Goddammit,” he rages, but I ignore him.
Turning, I walk down the steps and back to my Jeep, ignoring him even when he calls my name a second and third time.
