Fake Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,68
he wanted to smile. “Are you sleeping in it, Winter? Maybe nothing but the hoodie, right?”
I sighed. “So there it is. The big and scary looking Xavier shows that he’s as stupid as every other guy here.”
“How?”
“You’re thinking about me naked. Just like the others.”
“Wow, that’s some confidence you have, Winter,” he said. “You just think every guy here is picturing you naked, dreaming of fucking you?”
“I didn’t say that. I go by what I see and what I’m told.”
Xavier nodded. “Of course. That makes perfect sense.”
I touched Xavier’s hand and we both stopped walking.
He turned to face me.
I stepped back and hit a wall.
My back stiffened.
“I’m just telling the truth,” I said. “What Noah’s said and done. Then Easton tried to convince me that he and I had fooled around together. But we didn’t.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“How?” I asked.
“Yeah. How? You have no memory, Winter.”
“I know,” I said. “I remember that I don’t remember. How fucked up is that?”
“Oh, there’s a lot of fucked up stuff happening right now.”
Shit… does he know? Does he suspect anything?
“I’m not going to argue with you, Xavier,” I said. “It really doesn’t matter. I don’t remember what happened or who it happened with. So whatever. I was just asking a question about your hoodie. You kind of threw it at me the night you showed up to the beach house. And then that was it.”
“No,” he said. “You’re wrong. I told you what I’m going to do. When I want the fucking thing back, I’m come get it. Simple as that. Maybe that’ll be tonight. Maybe it’ll be tomorrow night. Or maybe it’ll be a week… month… a year from now…”
Xavier kept getting closer to me.
I had chills racing through me as far as this warming sensation that left me more confused than I cared to admit to myself.
Wires in my brain were getting crossed.
The notion that Xavier was so tall, strong… big and bad… he gave off that impression of protection. Maybe not the good kind, but it was a step up from being so close to a Troc like Talon, right?
“So you just want an excuse to come back to my house?” I asked. “No offense, Xavier, but I thought you were better than that.”
Xavier gently put his pointer and middle fingers of his right hand to the temple of my head.
“You don’t know anything about me, Winter,” he said. “That poor head of yours is all fucked up.”
“And you care about that?” I asked. “You, Easton, and Noah? You three actually care about me?”
“What if I said we did? What would that matter to you? Or are you just assuming from what you’ve heard?”
“I’ve seen things too, Xavier.”
“You’re still talking about the Reid situation?”
“Maybe,” I said.
I swallowed hard.
Xavier got even closer to me.
I hated how hot the moment felt.
My brain screamed that Xavier was probably the one who did something to Tank.
He was the one with the shop. He was the one with the experience about vehicles.
Maybe Noah and Easton were in on it too. Wanting to hurt me. Wanting to kill me.
But Xavier had to have been the one who actually did something…
“You need to learn something again, Winter,” Xavier whispered.
“Meaning what?” I asked.
“Sometimes things are just bad,” he said. “Mean. Evil. Unfair. Sometimes you don’t need a reason. Not everything is like you were told in fairy tales as a kid. Sometimes the good guy knight on his horse falls off. And he doesn’t make it. Sometimes the bad guy knight gets the castle. Gets the princess…”
That’s when Xavier flickered a quick smile.
My blood changed from ice cold to red hot, back to ice cold again…
He slid his fingers down my face to my chin.
I lifted my left hand and grabbed his wrist.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.
I moved away from Xavier and took a few deep breaths with my back to his.
The notion of thinking and feeling made no sense.
There were a few seconds where I actually thought I was going to lose my memory.
It would just be Xavier’s words playing through my head on a loop.
But I wasn’t going to allow that to happen.
I looked back to see what Xavier was doing.
He was staring right at me.
It bothered me in many ways.
He was either staring because he suspected I was lying…
… or because he wanted me.
There was still no sign of Gia.
I stood on the second step of the deck and held my phone up like I needed better cell service.
I didn’t.
My phone was working