Page 57 of Malachai
Out of my periphery, I could see Diamond smiling like she’d just won something. “See what I mean? Y’all cute as shit,” she whispered low enough for only me to hear.
I swallowed and wiped my mouth, trying to ignore the sudden heat crawling up my neck. The alcohol was making me reckless.
“So… when are you going back to New York?”
Cooly’s eyebrows lifted slightly, a slow smile tugging at his lips. “Why? Trying to get rid of me already?”
I let out a tipsy laugh. “Yes, actually. Because you’re trying to get me in trouble.”
He leaned in closer, his voice low and smooth, his eyes entirely locked on mine. “But I’m good trouble, Midnight. Really fucking good.”
I shook my head. “Trouble that ends in death can’t be good. And that’s exactly what’s going to happen if you keep this up.”
The smile on his face didn’t fade. If anything, it got wider. He genuinely thought this was a game.
I knew it wasn’t.
So why was I still playing with him?
Diamond watched us like she was enjoying a private show, saying absolutely nothing.
“Some things are worth dying for,” he said quietly. “You’re one of them.”
The waves crashed loudly behind us, but the air between us felt suddenly heavier than the humid Florida night. I took another long drink from the bottle, hoping the burn would drown out the thrill his words sent through me. I realized was digging myself deep as fuck into a hole by not setting boundaries for Cooly, but something in me just didn’t want to.
Chapter 30
Malachai
I discreetly watched from the black SUV parked across the street as Indigo walked out of the studio with company. Cooly and Diamond. Indigo had told me about her, and I’d already had her investigated. She was a stripper, no criminal record, a few years of college—infinitely less harmful than Maya. I was okay with them being friends.
But Cooly, not so much. I had explicitly told her to stay away from him.
Now he had his hand resting on her lower back. I knew she wouldn’t listen; I’d followed her for a few days waiting for him to show up. I knew he would. I had seen the way he looked at her that night at the rooftop venue. He wanted her. My grip tightened on the steering wheel until the leather creaked beneath my knuckles.
Diamond was laughing, pulling Indigo into the passenger side of a rented convertible. The three of them looked… comfortable. Like old friends. New York had followed her home.
The old Malachai would’ve already been out of the car, putting a bullet in Cooly’s skull and dragging Indigo home by her throat. But I was trying. For her. I was fucking trying.
I followed them, keeping a safe distance as they headed down Gulf to Bay.
Cooly pulled into a small boutique shop right on the beachfront strip—one of those overpriced places that sold tiny bikinis and sunscreen that cost fifty dollars a bottle. I parked farther down and watched through the boutique windows as the three of them went inside.
Diamond dragged Indigo toward the clothing racks, holding up scraps of fabric that barely deserved to be called clothing. She picked out two bathing suits and showed them to her. Indigo laughed, and they disappeared into a dressing room. When she finally came out in a black string bikini that left almost nothing to the imagination, Cooly’s eyes completely devoured her. He said something that made her smile and spin for him.
My jaw clenched so hard I tasted copper in the back of my throat.
She’s mine. That body is mine.
They bought the suits. Cooly paid.
By the time they made it to Clearwater Beach, the sun was high and vicious.
I left the SUV and walked out onto the concrete pier like a normal man enjoying the view. I stayed far enough back to remain invisible, but close enough to see everything. I leaned against the railing, my eyes locked on them through the distance.
Indigo looked like pure sin in that new black bikini. The saltwater and sunlight made her dark skin glow. Diamond was splashing her, both of them laughing like idiots in the surf. Cooly stayed close—entirely too close. He handed her drinks, grabbed her by her waist when she stumbled in the breaking waves, and whispered shit in her ear that made her throw her head back and laugh again.
But other than that, they looked like friends. Just friends.
