ONYX✔️

Chapter 46

Second chapter I've uploaded today so make sure you've read the last one. Decided to upload this one because
1) ONYX and Lethal are now caught up with each other
2) This is my favorite ONYX chapter
3) I can do what I want

For the next few days, I worked alongside Ronin in his garden.

I apologized for the roses I hurled over, but Ronin brushed it off, and said he didn't much care for roses anyways, and I was inclined to agree. He steered me clear of any more red flowers, and we spent the days kneeled over sunflowers, daises, and yellow poppies.

Wiping a bead of sweat off of my forehead, I patted the soil gently around the bright yellow flower, coating the gardening gloves in dirt in the process. My jeans also were stained with dirt on my kneecaps from all of the hours spent kneeling over the plots of plants.

Ronin finished putting his own flower in the ground next to it, spraying it lightly with water. "You're excellent with flowers, Onyx," Ronin praised, inspecting the ones I planted. "It's nice having someone here to help with the gardening."

I shrug. "You seem to have built a fine garden already."

He stands up, taking off his gloves and looking around the vast gardens that surround us. "Didn't have any interest in gardening until I met my mate. You would have loved her," He said wistfully, his eyes glazing over at he looked down at the freshly planted flowers.

He told me a few days ago about his mate, who was murdered years before he met Finn. The story was similar- too similar- to Grey's, and it sent me into hysterics, which freaked Ronin out, who then called Finn, who then also freaked out and panicked. Ronin came to the porch later that night to apologize, and I apologized for being so sensitive. He had said he was the same way once his mate died, and the mere sight of flowers sent him into a rage at first.

I had asked why he chose to garden if the flowers reminded him of her death, and he only corrected my statement by saying: "They stopped reminding me of her death, and started reminding me of her."

His statement perplexed me, as I didn't understand how he could separate his mate and her death. With Greyson, his death was so closely linked to my memories of him, any flashbacks sent me spiraling.

"Sorry," Ronin apologized after noticing me zone out. Finn's friends had begun to notice when I was on the brink of collapse, and often tried to steer away from whatever memories it brought up. I felt guilty, impossibly guilty for the burden I became to them, and felt even more guilty when they treated me with extreme kindness. "I shouldn't have brought her up."

I smile slightly, pushing down my nausea. "It's okay. She sounds lovely."

Ronin's face lights up. "She was. You should have seen the way that she would piss off Dean. She was always the first to call him out on whatever dumb idea he had, or whatever lewd joke he made. I've never seen someone get under Dean's skin like that, until Finn found us and we met Kallista."

Kallista, Finn's spitfire of a sister, always eager to argue or fight with Dean. During their arguments, Ronin always stared at Kallista in admiration, and I suspected he had a thing for her. "Is that why you like Kallista?" I ask softly, curiously.

His eyebrows raise. "You think I love her?" He questions, surprised.

I shrug. "I thought you might have a thing for her."

Ronin sighs, folding the gloves neatly as we walk to the outdoor sink. "I like her a lot, and besides Dean, she's probably the other person closest to me, but not like that. I couldn't... not after April," He said his deceased mate's name with anguish. "You have to understand, Onyx... My other half perished after I had already fallen in love with her. There is no one in the world who could compare to her, who could light up my life like she did. Not Kallista, not anyone."