Page 55 of Xavier

I scoff to myself. Clearly, I’m bad at picking men. Austin cheated and was a huge disappointment, and Xavier is grumpy, argumentative, and secretive.

A knock sounds on the bedroom door a second before the door cracks open. Xavier pokes his head inside. “Do you want to play cards while dinner is cooking?”

“That’s for kids.” Who plays cards these days unless it’s during a storm and we are without power?

A smile forms on Xavier’s face. It’s a genuine, not forced, smile. “Actually, it’s a good way to pass the time. We played all the time when I was in the military.”

I am shocked. I sit up fast and look at him. “You were in the military?”

He narrows his eyes at me. “Did you not know?”

“No. I mean, I thought about it once or twice when we first met, but after hearing about the bar fight and your vague description of how you and Hudson met, I thought you just got out of jail.”

He stares at me with a blank expression, like he’s in disbelief.

I chuckle and shrug. “Well, with your hair cut short that way and your ripped body, it was an assumption. Guys work out a lot while in prison.”

My cheeks flame as I feel embarrassed. I don’t think I’ve misjudged someone this bad before.

Xavier leans his head back and guffaws, like I just told the funniest joke.

I can’t help but join in.

After several minutes of laughing, Xavier says, “Prison? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

With tears in my eyes from laughing so hard, I roll my eyes and say, “Well, you showed up randomly, got into a bar fight, and then showed up at my Uncle Zach’s restaurant immediately after a shooting.”

If I were the police, I’d investigate him because he’s got horrible timing.

Or the best timing, if he’s in on whatever the hell is going on.

Chapter Fourteen

XAVIER

The light blush on Brianna’s cheeks makes my dick hard, but I shut those feelings down. The last thing I should do is get involved with her in any other way except protect her.

No, I can’t think of it like that. I need to think of it as babysitting. I need to think of it as something I despise, even though I don’t.

When my laughing subsides, my eyes widen slightly when faced with the facts. “Yes, those things did happen, but it was all circumstantial.”

She raises her eyebrow at me as if she thinks I’m lying.

Why would I need to lie about something so trivial?

I figured after talking for hours during the hurricane that she would see that I’m a pretty honest person.

Except for the shit I’m keeping from her, because I don’t want to see her worry more than she already is.

I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh.

“I didn’t show up here randomly. My father died, and I inherited his house. I did start the bar fight, but only because the asshole was disrespecting a woman. I refuse to stand by and watch the abuse happen.”

My tone is blunt and confrontational, and she winces in response.

I intentionally leave out anything concerning the shooting.

She doesn’t need to know I was tracking the men, and she definitely doesn’t need to know that I am almost one hundred percent sure her dad is deeply involved in this despite the stolen box being from her uncle’s restaurant.

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