His words were quiet but firm, carrying the weight of genuine disapproval. Whatever loyalty he felt toward his friend clearly had limits, and Nicholas had just crossed them.
“But I was only speaking up for you!”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
“How can you just allow her to parade around town with her string of new boyfriends?” Nicholas stared at his friend in disbelief. “Aren’t you mad?”
Calden said nothing. Of course he was mad. The sight of Zarelle with Daniel, the casual intimacy between them, the way Daniel’s arm had snaked around her waist—it all burned in his chest like acid. But to admit that would be equivalent to admitting he was jealous, which was an ugly emotion, in his view.
The silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken truths and suppressed emotions. Calden’
