“Looks like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. You’re pretty comfortable being second best, too.” I snicker. “Case in point. Charlotte.” I cock the gun. “Nobody’s around. Do you really wanna stick around here to prove that you’re as big of an idiot as I already think you are?”
“You’re going to be sorry, Xander. This isn’t the end.” His lips curl into a smile. “But the end is coming. Oh, yeah. It’s definitely coming.”
Chapter 14
Charlotte
I pace around my room. Over and over. Circling around on the plush white rug at the foot of my bed.
What a fucking asshole.
Pulling my fingers through my hair, I let out a loud grumble.
I can’t believe he had the balls to say that shit to me. I’m allowed to be happy that my mother is actually being motherly. Why can’t he just be happy for me? Why does he have to ruin it like that?
Forcing out a sigh, I grab my worn hardback copy of A Farewell to Arms off of the bookcase.
Sinking down onto the armchair in the corner, I flip to the first page.
Maybe a little Hemingway will calm my nerves. It’s an escape that I have been craving for far too long, and it’s been a while since I let a classic soothe my soul. I used to read every night before bed. It’s a habit that needs to start again.
Right as I am about to finish the last paragraph of the first chapter, a hear a knock on the balcony door. Throwing the book down onto the side table next to me, I roll my eyes. There’s only one person who would scale the trellis and I don’t know if I really want to deal with him right now.
I pull back to the curtain to see Xander standing with his fists clenched and his jaw churning.
“What do you want, Xander?” I whisper-shout through the locked door.
“Just let me in, Char,” he sighs, dropping his head. “Please. I don’t like how we left things.”
“Oh, you mean when you turned into a prick and pissed on my happiness? You didn’t like that ending? You want a do-over?” I snap.
Then he flashes the look, the one I am fairly certain that he knows is my undoing.
Reluctantly, I give in to him.
As usual.
Taking me into his shaking hands, Xander pulls me over to my bed.
“What’s going on,” I ask, sitting a few inches away from him.
His hand slides over his face as he lets out a forced, sharp breath. “Fucking Blaine Montrose.”
“What does Blaine have to do with any of this?” I ask, my tone sharp.
He shows me freshly busted knuckles. “He tried to run me off the road,” Xander growls.
“What the fuck?” I furrow my brow. “Why in the world would Blaine do something like that?”
Xander rakes his fingers through his short hair. “Because he is in love with you, Char. He told me to stay away from you and that you deserve someone more like you, more like him.”
I jump back a little. “No fucking way is that even remotely true.”
Xander growls a little. “Charlotte, you’re just going to have to trust me on this one. He wants to be with you and he’s told me that a few times now. Open your damn eyes.”
“Don’t you dare come into my room and jump down my throat. Once is more than enough for one day. I am sick of this shit. First, you tell me to not trust my own mother and now you’re trying to tell me to believe that Blaine is in love with me? Blaine, whom I’ve known for my entire life? Jesus, he is just a friend, Xander! Stop being so damn suspicious of everyone! One of us needs to get their head out of their ass and it sure as shit is not me.” I get up, walking over to the door that leads to my balcony. “I think it’s time for you to leave and let me get some rest.”
Xander crosses his arms over his chest, rooted to his spot on the bed. “I’m not leaving. Not like this. I am not going to just walk out of here and let you go to bed mad. That is not how it is supposed to work in relationships, Charlotte.”
Popping my hip out, I glare at him. “Relationship? Is that what we’re calling this now?”
Xander shrugs. “Isn’t it?”
I shake my head. “I don’t fucking know. I feel like we have a long way to go.