Maid For You 4

Chapter 26

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"Jealous?" I asked. The word came out a little more softly than it should have, in light of my frustration.

"You already know that I don't like Prince Nikolas," Coleman finally said, dropping his arms from mine. "And it bothers me that you're spending so much time with him."

I waited several seconds, and when it seemed like he wasn't going to elaborate anymore, I continued. "Why does it bother you?"

"Because I don't like Prince Nikolas."

Circular reasoning. I thought for a moment, trying to think of how to pose my next question. "So is it more about Prince Nikolas, or is more about me?"

He was quiet. "What do you mean?" he asked after a few seconds.

"So are you upset because someone is spending time with Nikolas, or are you upset that I am spending time with him?" I clarified. "Is it more about him, or me?"

"It's both," Coleman admitted.

"Both?" I asked.

"I don't like it because it's you and I don't like it because it's him. And I...I overreacted, Cassie. I'm sorry. I came in here and I said things that I knew would make you look bad, and that has hurt you and for that I am sorry."

I wasn't sure how to respond to Coleman admitting he was jealous, nor even how to respond to his genuine apology.

"I can talk to Nikolas, if you'd like," he said. "I'll tell him how I knew about Esmerelda, about my mother's scheming."

"You'd actually do that?" I asked.

"Yes."

I paused. "Coleman?"

"Yes?"

"What do you want?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"What do you want with me?" I clarified. "When you say you're jealous, what do you mean?"

He was quiet for a moment. "I guess," he started. "I don't really know. I knew you first. You and I were friends first, and yet we weren't. You're out here galivanting with Prince Nikolas—"

"Galivanting?" I cut in.

"What I mean is, you're spending so much time with him. Time that you and I never spent with each other. Because there was always Luke hovering around the corner one way or another, as a third-party presence in my room or as your boyfriend, and as soon as he's gone, you are too. And apparently, Prince Nikolas is your best friend in the whole wide world, and you and I never really got to be that. When I call you, it's weird, and yet, you and him would talk on the phone. So why can't we have that?"

I hadn't really expected that answer. He was jealous of my friendship with Nikolas? Is that what this is? I wondered. I had this gut feeling that there was more to it than the fact that I was better friends with Nikolas than Coleman, but I didn't want to be too presumptuous. I'd respond to the matter at hand.

"Mind if I sit?" I asked, though it wasn't really a question. I sat down on one of the sofas in his room.

"Go ahead," Coleman said. Instead of taking a seat on the couch across from me, like I thought he would, he sat down right next to me—close enough that the fabric of our sleeves brushed against each other.