door, and I throw a good-bye to Aunt Dee over my shoulder.
We load the stuff into her trunk while she prattles on about Larry’s. “Things are so much better since Alice’s bitchy ass has been fired. Andy promoted me to shift supervisor. Can you believe that? He says he knows he can count on me.”
“Congratulations! That’s awesome news.”
“Thanks. The extra money has really come at a good time. Paying for a wedding is expensive.”
We hop in the car and the mention of the cost of what it takes to get married causes the corners of my mouth to pull down. Father sank a pretty penny into the wedding he and Mother were planning for Jorge and me, and that makes me feel guilty because my family doesn’t exactly have a lot of money to spare.
She fires up the car. “Uh-oh. What’s wrong, Anna?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” I forgot how well she could read me.
“I call bullshit on that one,” she throws back at me as she pulls out onto the road. “I know that look. That beautiful face of yours is incapable of disguising sadness, especially those green eyes. They are, as people say, the windows to your soul.”
I turn to stare out the window in an attempt to hide my emotions from her, but the moment I do, something catches my eye and causes my jaw to drop open.
“Xavier?” I whisper his name.
“He’s the problem?”
“No . . . yes . . .” I tumble over my own words, not realizing I said it out loud. “I mean, I see him.”
“Where?” She gasps when I’m sure she spots the same scene I’m witnessing in front of my very eyes. “Oh, hell no.”
She jerks her car over to the side of the street where Xavier is standing, bumping her tire on the curb in the process.
Quinn turns to me. “Are you going to kill him, or do I get the pleasure? Don’t let him get away with that shit, Anna, or so help me, I will revoke your lady nuggets.”
“Oh, I’ve got this one.” I fling open the car door. “Keep the motor running.”
“Will do,” Quinn says.
I hop out and march in Xavier’s direction. My heart thunders in my chest as adrenaline flows through my veins. A million things I want to scream at him pop into my mind as I head right for him. I take in a shaky breath when I pass the girl who just kissed my man hops into a white Mercedes.
Who in the hell is she?
Xavier immediately holds up his hands in surrender, and I can tell by the shock on his face that he didn’t expect to see me here. “Anna . . . it’s not what it looks like.”
“Save it. I know what I saw. You kissed her!” Tears burn my eyes as betrayal rocks through me.
Flashbacks of the night when Deena was strutting around Xavier’s hotel room in nothing but some lingerie flip through my head. He hurt me once. What’s stopping him from going behind my back again to sleep with someone else?
I swat the tears away as my stare bores into him, waiting on his explanation for allowing another woman to kiss him. Xavier reaches for me, but I smack his hands away.
“No. Don’t touch me. Explain yourself.”
His crystal-blue eyes soften. “Anna, please, calm down.”
“Oh my God. This is her? How do you even put up with it?”
I whip around to find the source of the female voice bashing me, and my eyes land on the gorgeous Latina woman who I saw with him moments ago.
She is standing between the open driver’s door and the car as she focuses her gaze in our direction. “Seriously, X, what do you see in her?”
Pain from the truth of her words slices through me. Many times, I’ve questioned what he sees in me when he can obviously have any woman he wants.
“Get back in the car, Angie,” Xavier orders. When she doesn’t move to follow his order, he adds, “Now.”
Angie shrugs. “I think I would rather stay here and watch you talk your way out of our kiss to your little girlfriend.”
“We didn’t fucking kiss,” he fires back at her. “You kissed me. It’s not the same thing.”
A wicked smile crosses her face. “You didn’t exactly tell me no either. If this girl is going to be with you, she should learn that you’re not exactly a one-woman kind of guy.”
“Shut up, Angie. This doesn’t fucking concern you.”