His Mafia Prince
Chapter 184: Love Yourself

Chapter 184: Love Yourself

(JERICHO)

Arlo studies me like I’m some amoeba on a petri dish. "That’s it, yeah? You’re mad because you slept together and now he left without a word."

Miles finally breaks the silence. "Please tell me you weren’t that foolish, Jericho."

"Whatever happened between me and Wesley is none of your business." I croak out.

"So then that’s a yes?" Miles groans, raking his hand frustratedly through his hair. "Sasha is going to have my balls for this."

I glare at him, feeling resentful. "My sex life isn’t your concern. Neither is it my brother’s."

"Is that what you think?" He says, jabbing a finger on me. "Sasha trusted me to keep you focused with work. You were supposed to learn how to help run the ports and what did you do? You were so busy fucking the manny. What did you think? That this shit wouldn’t have blown back to me? You’re so selfish and naive, Jericho."

"I’m not naive or selfish." I hiss.

"Yes, you are. All you care about is what you want. Nobody matters to you. You’re already old enough but you still pretend like being an Adonis has no bearing to how you live your life."

"Why would I care about that? I’m not the head of the Triple Triads."

His eyes go wide. "There. That exactly is the kind of attitude that I’m talking about. Did you notice that somebody tried to kill you yesterday? And why do you think they did that? It’s because you are an Adonis. You are Sasha’s brother. Stop having your head in the clouds, Jericho. You have responsibilities. Step the fuck up. Sasha had been more than patient with you but it’s time you grew up. You need to start listening to your brother and do what he asks of you."

"Don’t belittle the work that I’ve done here, Miles. I’ve been buried busy busting my ass off learning about the ports. I’m doing exactly what Sasha asked me to do." I growl. "I never leave that study. I’m always busy in there."

Miles shakes his head as though he doesn’t believe me. "Of course, you’ve been working hard, but not hard enough if you had time to stick your dick in the manny."

Heat rushes to my face again. "Fuck you, Miles."

"Yeah?" He snarls. "You think that’s the way you should be talking to me while you’re living in my house?"

"Whose idea was it that I come here? Not mine!"

I hate that I’m fighting him. I don’t want to. Miles has been like a brother to me. He is family and I know deep down that he is just concerned about my safety. But I don’t know how to stop or back down. I’m angry at the world and everyone in it, all because Wesley left.

"And haven’t we welcomed you in our home?" Miles demands. "Nobody is holding you hostage. You can leave if you want to."

"I wish I could. Sasha will be mad at me."

Arlo lets out a desperate sigh. "Calm down, both of you. The last thing that we need right now is you two turning on each other. Fighting won’t help the situation."

Miles grunts and I stay silent.

Arlo rubs the back of the baby’s head lightly. "Instead of yelling and hurling hurtful words at each other, we should at least try to figure out why he left and where he might have gone to."

"Why bother ourselves? I think we should forget about him. He wanted to disappear. So let him disappear."

"No. I’m not okay with that." I face Miles and meet his dark gaze. He looks angry right now, although he is a little less grumpy. I need to know that he is okay. I want to know what spooked him so badly that he felt he had to run away without saying anything."

"That’s a waste of time and effort." Miles says.

"No, it’s not." I grit my teeth.

Miles squints at me. "Since when did you start caring about the omegas you sleep with?"

"That’s not your business."

Miles shakes his head. "Please tell me you used a condom."

Heat rushes to my face. I must have gone red considering how his eyes widen.

"Oh come on, Jericho. You can’t be that careless. Are you serious you fucked him without a condom?"

Arlo grits his teeth, looking uneasy. "Jericho wouldn’t do that." He turns to me. "Right, Jericho?"

Miles facepalms himself and looks at the ceiling when I don’t respond immediately. "Jesus, Jericho! If he is pregnant, Sasha is going to lose his mind."

"He isn’t pregnant." I grate out.

"And how do you know that?" Miles throws his arms in the air frustratedly.

"I just know."

"Is he on the pill?" Arlo asks.

"No." I shake my head.

"What?" Arlo and Miles squawk in unison, eyes bugging.

"He...he uhm." I feel guilty that I’m about to share his secret until I remember how easy it was for him to bail on me then decide otherwise. I don’t really owe him my loyalty. "He can’t have kids."

"What do you mean he can’t have kids?" Miles eyes me curiously.

I sigh tiredly. "Because he was born with some birth defect that prevents him from having kids."

"Really?" Arlo’s brows knit close together.

"Yes." I nod. "That’s what he told me."

"You better hope that is true." Miles’s shoulders slump with relief.

"Why would he lie about something like that?" I grate out.

"That kid was sneaky. Who knows? Maybe he wanted to get pregnant by one of the Adonis’ sons so he can blackmail you to get a huge pay-out of some kind."

"Wesley isn’t like that." I frown. "He would never do that."

Arlo glances at me warily. "Are you sure that you know what he is capable of, Jericho?"

"Yes." I snap.

"And did you ever think that he’d sneak out of the house without saying a word?"

My face warms because he makes a valid point. "No." I force out.

"Then we can’t be sure on what to do." Arlo says with an almost pitiful expression on his face, what only embarrasses me more. Perhaps he thinks that I’m a complete fool.

Maybe I am.

I sigh. "Maybe I didn’t know Wesley as well as I thought I did, but he wasn’t lying about the baby thing. I don’t know why he left, but I don’t think he lied about the birth defect thing...he almost cried telling me about it. He wants kids, but he can’t have them. That’s why he is a manny, so he can stay around kids."

"I see." Arlo says, looking more empathetic than he was before. "I have to agree with you, Jericho. He has some kind of sadness in him. I don’t think that anyone would lie about something like that."

"We don’t know that." Miles says, still looking unconvinced."

I clear my throat. "Why don’t we ask him why he left?"

"Ask him?" Miles frowns.

"Yes. Ask him. Do you guys have his cell number or his home address so I can go talk to him?"

"Why would we need to talk to him?" Miles’s scowl deepens.

I meet his displeased look. "So we can ask him why he left. I mean, even if it was the shooting at the park that spooked him, I personally want to know why he left without a word, and why he thought he had to sneak away."

Miles huffs. "Or maybe you just want to pick off where you left."

I stifle my irritation and say calmly. "No. I want to understand why he left, and I want to make sure that he is okay, just like I said earlier."

"I don’t see any good reason to flee in the night." Miles crossed his arms. "Unless you have done something bad. That much is obvious."

"That’s not true." I frown. "Wesley made it clear that he hated anything to do with mob violence. He might have been scared because of the attack with the Irish, Miles. You don’t know him. So stop pretending you do."

"Apparently you didn’t know him either." Miles grumbles.

I open my mouth to say something but Arlo interjects. "We don’t have his address but we have his cell number."

"Great. Can I have it?" Arlo looks at his alpha. "What do you think?"

Miles bites his jaw stubbornly. "I still think that it is a waste of time calling him. He left because he wanted to disappear. He could have told you goodbye. He could have told you where you could reach him. Don’t you see that he purposely did none of those things? He doesn’t want to be found. And I’m certain that he doesn’t want you to find him. He doesn’t want to be contacted. If he wanted that, he would have given you his number."

I want to challenge him and tell him that he knows nothing of Wesley. But my heart sinks because I know that he is honest. He is telling the truth.

Wesley snuck out purposely. He would have given me a way to reach him. But he did not. I don’t need any other confirmation that he wants nothing to do with me. He was okay cutting things off cold turkey. The fact leaves me in so much pain. It almost feels like literally driving a knife through my heart. But it is the truth, and I have to accept it.

"But I still feel that it is in order to talk to him." I admit quietly. "I just want to make sure that he’s okay."

"I don’t understand why you’re so hell bent on checking up on him. Clearly, he doesn’t care about you half as much as you do him."

"You don’t have to be that harsh, Miles." Arlo says. "I understand why Jericho feels protective of Wesley. He saved his life. He definitely feels like he owes him something."

That isn’t the reason why I want to see or talk to Wesley. But if that’s the excuse that will get Miles off my back, I’ll take it and run. "Yeah, he saved my life.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to know that he is okay too. It’s only natural that I worry about him too."

Miles shakes his head and goes ahead to pull out his phone out of his pocket. "For the record, I think that giving you Wesley’s number is a mistake." My phone vibrates when he forwards Wesley’s contact information. "Call him if you want, but I think that you should love yourself and have more pride."

"Pride shouldn’t be a reason for someone to not care about their friends." Arlo glances at me sympathetically. I don’t want his pity, but maybe, I deserve it. "Thanks, Miles."

Miles merely grunts and Arlo gives me yet another pity glance.

I walk out of the sunroom feeling conflicted with emotions. Whatever I thought I had with Wesley apparently didn’t matter to him as much as it did to me.

Maybe contacting him isn’t a smart thing to do.

Because while I don’t want to let go of Wesley, hasn’t he already let go of me?