Page 19 of Take You

“If you lie to me again, I won’t be held responsible for my actions.” I always oscillated wildly between being in awe of Xavier, and wanting to swing my fist into his face. He was brilliant in as many ways he was endlessly frustrating.

“Seriously, did you think that just because I was screwing Rocky at the time, I would have just forgotten you’d asked?” Yep, that was exactly what I’d hoped. “My brain didn’t shoot out of the end of my dick when I came, you fucking dipshit.” Well, that was a nice image.

“I know, and honestly, I was hoping not to have to go into all the details, because it’s... a lot, so I apologize for not being straight with you from the get-go. That’s totally my bad. But while I’m putting my balls on the block, I want to say that this is not a conversation I want to have right now.” I took a breath a moment, and backtracked. “Scratch that. It’s not a conversation I’m going to have now. If that means you want to pummel me, then go ahead.” I spread my arms in a “Here I am, do your worst” gesture, and stared Xavier down.

Everyone else watched him too, ready to intervene, if needed. I noted the tic of Xavier’s jaw and the throb of the vein at his temple. That wasn’t a good sign—at all. Time slipped by so slowly, I could almost hear it ticking. One beat, two, three, four, five. Eventually Xavier rubbed at both temples with one hand in a pincer movement. “Jesus. I must be losing my fucking mind. Tomorrow. Without fail. Or consider yourself canceled.”

As much as I’d struggled to believe it before, the evidence was growing that love had mellowed Xavier. Just a little. It wasn’t like he’d had a total personality transplant, and now skipped through fields of flowers full of the joys of spring, kissing babies and helping grandmas cross the road, but I was beginning to see that Rocky had knocked the rough edges off of his inner psycho, which was a blessing, for sure.

I nodded Xavier’s way, pleased with how I’d handled the situation, and how it had panned out. I hadn’t been about to start groveling and begging for forgiveness, or airing my dirty laundry in front of the whole group, and it turned out that neither thing was needed, anyway.

Just in time to break the awkward silence that had descended, Kane looked at his watch, then looked out of the window of the bar to the pizza joint across the road.

I saw Rose at the same time he did, as she headed into the restaurant.

“There goes my date. Gotta bounce. Maybe catch up with you guys later.”

We all said our goodbyes, and then I watched as he jogged across the road and disappeared into Slice of Life.

Showtime.

Chapter 12

Rose

I felt Kane before I saw him, as the hairs on the back of my neck and arms stood to attention moments before he came into view, quickly followed by a small rash of goosebumps. I wasn’t sure if it was in a good way, or bad, but they were definitely there.

“Hi.” Somehow I still jumped a foot in the air at the sound of his voice, even though I was kind of expecting it. “Oh shit. Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I’d spun around when he’d said hi, not realizing my rookie mistake until it was too late, and I was now standing way closer to him than was polite. Jesus, I was so fucking jumpy, and I hated it. He was going to think I was out of my fucking mind, and he wasn’t far wrong. There was a time in my life I’d been an ice queen in situations like this—or at least acted like one—just like “Mike” on the call had said, but I’d stopped playing that character. That person, and those days were long gone.

“Oh don’t be. It’s my bad.” I took a few steps back, and outstretched my hand. “Hi.”

He looked at it as though he was trying to work out what it was, and why he would want anything to do with it, before ignoring it completely, placing two hands on my shoulders, and pulling me toward him.

His lips were on mine before I had a chance to register what was going on. It was a few more seconds before I decided I was there for it, and kissed him back. The way my stomach flipped confirmed the answer to my question about the hairs on the back of my neck, and the goosebumps on my arms. It was definitely in a good way.

“Hello. Sorry for the PDA, but you turned around, and just looked and smelled so fucking good. I couldn’t...”

“It’s okay. It was nice. Hello.”

“Okay, shall we sit down, before I jump you again, and this time I can’t promise I’ll stop at just a kiss. I have a regular table.”

“Do you now?” I cocked an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Come on, it’s this way.” He didn’t seem to get my implication, or he just didn’t care. I suspected that the latter was true. He had a quiet confidence about him as he strode across the restaurant to his spot.

“So you come here regularly?” I asked as I sat down.

“Yeah, fairly often.” He’d helped me into my seat, and was now sliding into his own. Definitely no hint of any kind of reticence about bringing a date somewhere he’d obviously brought scores of women previously. He handed me a menu, and smiled. “Want me to recommend a few things? I’ve had pretty much everything on the menu at one time or other, so I know what’s good.”

Wow. He literally gave zero fucks about me knowing that I was clearly one in a long line of conquests through the revolving door. And there I’d been thinking he was a nice, sweet guy.

“No thanks. I’m really boring. I always get pretty much the same thing.”

“Which is?”

“Marinara pizza and root beer.”

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