Chapter 15
"You're lyin'."
Nalani's eyes widened, expecting a much more enraged reaction from her ex.
She just told him she cheated on him and he was standing there, his arms folded in front of his chest, looking completely calm, cool and collected! Mark had officially lost his mind, there was no other explanation, and Nalani refused to get into this with him. If he didn't want to believe her, –it was a blatant lie, but Nalani had no choice- then that was his problem as she turned back around to continue doing the dishes.
"You can't even look at me, Nalani, so what makes you think I'm gonna believe that shit ya just spewed at me?" Mark demanded, standing right behind her now, his arms on either side of hers.
He could feel her trembling and frowned, wondering what the hell had driven her away from him three years ago. It went deeper than the twins, deeper than her supposedly cheating on him…something happened and Mark was tired of being kept in the dark. His hands gripped the sink and Mark closed his eyes, knowing he was only torturing himself by doing this, not able to help it. Her scent drove him insane; all Mark wanted to do was spin her around, take her in his arms and kiss the breath right out of her. He loved this woman with everything inside of him and she'd torn his heart out, put it in a blender and served it to him on the rocks.
"I want the truth."
"I gave you the truth." Her voice grew cold and distant, Nalani setting another dish in the strainer. "It's not my fault if you can't face it, Mark."
Mark sighed heavily, his nose mere inches from her soft hair. "Why do ya insist on lyin' to me, Nalani?" His voice had dropped an octave, a huskiness seeping through. "Somethin' is making you do it and you're gonna tell me what it is or I'm not leaving."
Closing her eyes tightly shut, Nalani blocked the tears from filling her eyes, wondering what it was going to take to push Mark away. How could she hurt the man she'd secretly longed to be with again for the past three years? That she'd stayed up night after night apologizing for what she'd done to him, knowing he was in pain. She didn't know if he was the father of the twins and that nearly killed her, but Nalani also had to protect Mark.
If you don't do what I say, I swear to god Nalani, I will kill him.
"You weren't there for me." Nalani had to create space between them and tried moving, but Mark had her literally pinned against the counter. "I went out one night, brought a guy back to the house, and had my wicked way with him in our bed. I fucked him for hours on end and then sent him packing. When I found out I was pregnant, that's when I decided to leave because I didn't want you finding out about my infidelity." The whole time Nalani stared out the kitchen window while she spewed those lies and vicious words to him, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "Now leave."
Mark wasn't buying any of that because one, Nalani had too big of a heart to ever cheat on him and two, he knew this woman better than she thought. She trembled the entire time she talked about it instead of standing there stiff with no feeling. He could feel the fear pouring from her, could hear the shakiness in her voice, and knew she was slowly crumbling under pressure.
"You're lyin' through your damn teeth, woman." He growled, suddenly spinning her around to face her and lifted her up by her waist, setting her on the counter away from the sink. His suspicions were confirmed at the tears he saw glistening in her eyes, his own green orbs narrowing slightly, boxing her in again. "You never were good at lyin', Nalani, not even the night you left me."
"W-What are you talking about?" She swallowed hard at the intense look in his eyes, trying to back away, but her cabinets prevented her from doing so. "Mark…"
Sighing, Mark fought with himself to just shut her up and force the truth out of her with his own wicked ways. Nalani wasn't wicked by any means; she did have a mean streak to her, but also a heart of pure gold. He knew she was lying to him; Mark wasn't a stupid man by any means, especially with opening his own security company. He was highly intelligent and could only stare down at her with those fern green eyes, not saying a single word.
She closed her eyes to try to block out that stare, looking away from him, and a felt a few tears spill from her eyes. He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look back at him as her eyes opened, all the love and pain shining through. Nalani hitched in a breath when the pad of his thumb gently wiped them away before moving to her trembling bottom lip, that intense look increasing on Mark's face. If she didn't do something soon, Nalani was going to end up spilling everything to him and that simply could not happen.
"Don't touch me." She whispered, pushing away from him, the distant once again seeping through. "I've told you the truth and it's not my problem if you don't believe me."
"I still love you, Nalani." Mark stated, not afraid to admit that to the woman sitting before him, his other half. "I'm not givin' you up, I lost you once because of my own stupidity, but I'll be damned if it happens again. I don't care how long it takes; I'll move to Dallas and follow you wherever you go until you finally tell me what the hell is goin' on and why you keep runnin' from me."
"You'll be waiting forever then." Nalani was already planning on moving from Dallas, more tears falling because that meant her children would have to suffer for it.
Why couldn't Mark just stay away? Why did it have to be HIS security company to install new equipment into the hospital? Was it fate's way of kicking her in the ass to tell her that she really did belong with Mark? Maybe she should tell him the truth…
'NO! You can't tell him, remember what Scott said! He'll kill Mark, is that what you want? You'll get the man you love more than anything killed if you don't continue pushing him away, you selfish moron!' Her brain berated her, causing Nalani's head to drop, no longer able to stare in those green eyes. "I don't love you anymore, Mark." Those words nearly crumbled her and, with as much strength as she had left, Nalani managed to push him away from her as she slid from the counter, shaking. "You need to leave now. I'm done talking to you about this."
Scowling, knowing she was going to be stubborn about this, Mark stalked after her. "Who is the father?" He demanded, causing her to freeze in her tracks. "How old are they Nalani? How old are those kids that you claim aren't mine?" His voice had changed to a dark timbre, watching her tense. "Who did you fuck in our bed while I was away?"
"It's none of your business; I'm not answering any of those questions." Nalani knew she was treading on thin ice and started cleaning up the living room, trying to will the tears to stop.
"Then prove to me you're tellin' me the truth." He challenged, watching her freeze once more, a slow smirk full of sadness spreading on his lips. "If you say you cheated on me and those kids aren't mine, then I want proof."
Nalani's stomach twisted violently, her eyes widening to the point where they might've fell out of her head. "W-What are you…what….?" She stumbled over her words, wondering if he was serious.
"What I'm sayin' is that if you want me to truly believe that you cheated on me, fucked someone else in our bed, then you won't mind having the twins take a DNA test." Mark threw down the gauntlet and watched as all the color drained from Nalani's face, wondering if she would actually pass out in front of him.
That was definitely not something Nalani expected to hear from Mark and blinked at him repeatedly, trying to gather her wits. "Y-You want a paternity test?" She whispered, not trusting her voice at the moment.
"Yes, I need to know one way or another if those kids are mine." Mark wasn't backing down, daring her to back down from his challenge. "Prove to me they're not mine; prove to me you're tellin' me the truth."
Nalani felt sick to her stomach, not knowing what to do because there was indeed a fifty perfect chance they were his. Nalani honestly couldn't tell because of their features. Scott had red hair and blue eyes, while Mark had red hair and green eyes, though right now it was raven black. Megan had the red auburn hair with blue eyes while Matthew looked the spitting image of Nalani. She couldn't tell if Mark was the father or not, which tore her apart because Nalani secretly wished he was.
"I won't subject my children to that." She finally said and walked into the living room to continue picking things up. "They're not yours, there's no reason for me to prove anything to you because I know and that's all that matters."
"Really?" Mark raised a slow eyebrow, following her every move. "That just proves to me you are lyin' about what happened. You never cheated on me, Nalani. I would've known it because I've been fucked around on before. You had fear in your eyes when you left that night, woman! So stop lyin' to me and lyin' to yourself, those kids are mine!" Deep in his heart, he knew they were, especially when he tucked the beautiful auburn red headed angel in her bed.
"No they're not." She gritted out, tightening her jaw and suddenly needed a heavy drink. "You need to get it through that stubborn thick head of yours that I'm not as perfect as you think!" Nalani knew raising their voices would only wake the twins up and she didn't want that to happen. "My kids are sleeping and you need to leave, I have work in the morning."
Stalking over, Mark closed the distance between them and grabbed her upper arms, forcing her to struggle against him. "Stop fightin' me!" He whispered harshly, his eyes locking with hers again. "You either agree to a paternity test willingly or I'll force it…" He was dead serious, his eyes shining with hidden anger, though the pressure on her arms wasn't enough to hurt her. "You love me, I can see it, but somethin' is holdin' you back and I want to know what it is. I deserve at least that much after what you put me through for the past three years."
No matter how much she wanted to fight him, Nalani knew Mark was right and felt the tears slide down her cheeks, all the guilt she'd been feeling for the past few years increasing tenfold. "I don't love you." She whispered painfully, swallowing down her sobs. 'I CAN'T love you.' Nalani added mentally and broke free of his grasp, her knees giving out when he simply pulled her back against him, holding her up with ease. "Mark, please, you have to let me go…"
"Why?" He demanded gruffly, lowering himself on the couch and pulled her into his lap, wrapping those strong tattooed sleeved arms around her trembling body. "Why do I have to let you go, Nalani? Tell me what happened." He groaned when she shifted on his lap, trying to get away from him. "Stop." It was a mere whisper in her ear, his arms tightening even more around her.
"NO!" Nalani lashed out and struggled as hard as she possibly could, trying to get away from him. "No! I'm not talking about this, I told you the truth now let me go!" She was panicking and Mark could see it, but he still refused to let her go, clamping a hand over her mouth.
A flashback hit Nalani with Scott's hand covering her mouth while slamming in and out of her body, trying to fight him off as much as she could. "This'll feel good Nally baby, I promise." He kept whispering in her ear, loving to hear her screams of protest against his hand. All she kept screaming for was Mark and wished she hadn't opened the door; wished Mark wouldn't have left her so abruptly for business…
"Mark!" She screamed against his palm, muffling them, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as the flashback overtook her completely, not seeing the look of shock cross Mark's face. Nalani slowly opened her eyes, those bewildered green eyes staring back at her becoming Nalani's undoing. "Mark…" She sobbed violently against him, burying her face in her hands, every part of her body trembling so hard, her teeth chattered. "Y-You have to leave…"
"I'm not going anywhere." Especially after that lash out, Mark flat out refused to leave her alone with the twins, knowing she was emotionally unstable.
"P-Please…" She stammered out through sobs, slumping against him as her head rested on his shoulder, her face completely tear streaked from crying so hard. "It's for your-" His finger pressed against her lips, silencing her, and Nalani didn't have any more fight left in her at that moment.
Mark had no idea what happened to Nalani, wishing she would confide in him with the truth…like she had in telling him she was really a Kensington. He simply held her close, rubbing her back and ran his fingers through her hair, trying to soothe her as she continued crying against him. Her tears broke his heart, but Mark was just glad she was alive and well, that he'd finally found her again.
He still couldn't believe she lived in Dallas, wondering why the private investigator he hired couldn't track her down. Perhaps she hadn't moved to Dallas right away or…hell he didn't know. He didn't care. She was back in his life again and Mark wasn't letting her go this time, not without a fight. She didn't cheat on him; Nalani was in physical and emotional pain, the way she trembled against him dispensing pure fear.
"I love you." He whispered in her ear, pressing a soft kiss to the side of her throat, the feeling of his goatee lightly scratching her skin causing Nalani to do a full body shiver against him. "And I know you love me too. Whatever happened, we can work through it, but you have to be honest with me. You have to tell me what's going on, darlin'."
"I…" Nalani began to say something and trailed off, her eyes suddenly closing as she slumped against him, passing out from exhaustion.
Mark sighed and kissed the top of her head, knowing they would talk more in the morning. He stood up and carried her out of the living room toward what he knew was her bedroom, gently laying her down on it. Mark stared at his beautiful ex-girlfriend and closed his eyes, her scent completely devouring him.
He was ready to leave and walk out the door, but instead, Mark knew he couldn't do it. Instead, he peeled off his shirt and jeans, along with his boots, and slipped into the bed beside her, hearing her even breathing. Pulling her into his strong massive arms, Mark buried his face in her neck, draping a huge thigh over her and smiled when she immediately turned to bury her face in his chest, snuggling.
What she said next would make him fight even harder for her.
"I love you, Mark, please forgive me." She whispered in her sleep, like she did every night, the warmth enveloping her whole.
Closing his eyes, Mark tightened his hold on her, knowing when Nalani woke up in the morning, it was time to stop running and tell him the truth.