“Bubba said he’d never hurt you – that he’d always look out for you, no matter what, and now he’s dating your mother. How do you think that’ll end? He put his own selfishness above your best interest. Sooner or later, all things come to an end. He will hurt you. You both know that.”
Stepping away from Nick, she bit her lip seductively. “When this affair with your mother implodes… and it will… you won’t ever speak to him again. Because it’ll be too painful for your mother for you to have a relationship with him. So the only real father you’ve ever known will be ripped out of your life. Bubba knows that. You know that. Maybe it’s what he really wanted. Maybe he wanted you gone and just didn’t want to come out and say it.”
Those words slammed into Nick. Could there be any truth to that? Could Bubba truly want him out of his life?
Was it possible that he was nothing but a nuisance to the big guy?
“And what about Mark?” she asked. “Do you really think he enjoys playing babysitter to you all the time? They’re grown men, Nick. You’re just an annoying little kid. And you’re not even theirs. You’re nothing to them. Just a cling-on they can’t get rid of.”
He ground his teeth as those words stung him hard. She was right. He’d had those fears in the past, but hadn’t wanted to believe them.
Now…
“Then there’s your boss, Kyrian. The two-thousand-year-old Greek general who hid that truth from you of what he really was. Servant to the goddess Artemis. And don’t get me started on the secrets Acheron keeps. He’s not just a Dark-Hunter, Nick. Nor an Atlantean. He’s an ancient god. Yet he would die before he ever allowed you to know that about himself. And when the day comes and you find out the truth, you will become his worst enemy. He will condemn you to death for your knowledge. And that curse is what will set you down the path you can’t divert. That very path you’re trying so hard to run from.”
A shiver rolled down his spine as she confirmed something about the ancient Atlantean he’d long suspected. Something that Acheron had deflected with great skill anytime Nick had tried to ask about it.
“As I said, you are surrounded by liars you can’t trust. People who constantly lie to your face. They all keep massive secrets. Why? Because they’re not your friends, in spite of what you think. They don’t care about you, Nick. Not really. If they did, they’d tell you everything and keep nothing from you. But they don’t want you to be close to them. They don’t want you to know them or the truth, because you mean nothing where they’re concerned. You are nothing.”
The truth of those words bit him deep inside his heart. But he refused to let her know she’d hit her mark with them. He wasn’t the kind of guy to ever give that power to another person. He kept his hurt to himself. Only Kody and his mother were allowed to see his pain. “I need to check on Zavid.”
“Someone else who speaks one truth to your face and another behind your back.”
“What?” he gasped before he could stop himself. “What does he say?”
“He doesn’t trust you, either. He thinks you’re weak. A mama’s boy who can’t tie his shoes without her help. He pities you.”
Offended, Nick glared at Livia. So much for keeping his emotions in. But this… this had blindsided him.
He’d had no idea that Zavid had felt that way, especially since Nick had saved his life.
“I’m not the one who said it.” She blinked at him innocently. “I’m just telling you this for your own good. You should know how they really feel. What they say when you’re not around. I would never treat you that way. I think too much of you to do that.”
Biting her lip, she stepped closer to him. “I know what it’s like to be alone and to have no one to trust. To have nowhere to turn.” She stood on her toes to kiss him.
Nick stepped back before their lips met. While Livia was a very attractive female, she wasn’t the kind of girl he was interested in and he’d never hurt Kody like that. He wasn’t that kind of guy and he had no intention of ever being that type of slime ball. Hearts were sacred things and when someone entrusted theirs to you, it was your duty to keep faith. Nick had no intention of breaking his honor for anything. “I need to find out why Zavid left Caleb alone.”
“Malachai!”
He ignored her call and kept going. Every molecule of his body told him to put as much distance as he could between them, as quickly as possible.
For once he listened. He had to think through this without hearing her voice in his head, alongside the ones that told him how worthless he was.
Nick ran the rest of the way down the stairs and out the door, looking for Zavid. The moment his feet hit the street outside the protected barrier, the Memitim attacked like screaming, love-sick fangirls all over their latest fixation.
Cursing, he threw his hand up and zapped them away from him. “Demons, please! I ain’t your hell-monkey. Really don’t have time for this!”