Page 59 of Destroyed

I smile and look at Sasha. “We had a good time,” I say. “Right?”

“It’s been amazing,” she says. Then she looks at the group seated around us. “How can it always be this good?”

“Well,” Xavier starts, “we’re going to try and make it happen.”

Chapter 43

Xavier

“Let’s go over this one more time,” Jonathan says calmly. “You are going to meet with Lockhart at the coffee shop. You will sit in the back left seat at the sixth table back. He will obviously sit across from you. From that point, we will be able to see everything going on. We will have eyes and ears on you from every direction, okay?”

I’m zoning out and barely register what he is saying. He snaps his fingers in front of my face.

“What?” I say irritated.

“Did you hear a fucking thing I just said?”

“Yeah, yeah I did. Sit at the sixth table, far left, eyes and ears, got it,” I repeat back to him.

He rolls his eyes and puts the car in drive.

“Do you think she’s going to be okay?” I ask him. “Sasha. Do you think she will be okay with Andre?”

Jonathan laughs but stops quickly when he sees me glaring. “You know, I never saw you as this big brother protective type, Xavier, but now that I do, I think it suits you.”

“Thanks, I guess,” I grumble.

Jonathan continues, “But to answer your question, “Yes, I think she will be okay. In fact, I think we might have to worry more about Andre being okay.”

This time, when he laughs, I laugh too. Leave it to Jonathan to always lighten the mood. He parks the car around a corner about a block from the coffee shop to let me out.

“Remember..,” Jonathan starts.

“Six Left, I remember,” I respond before shutting the door and starting my walk. I look around and approach the shop to find a few familiar faces. Jamison stands in the opening of an alley across the street, casually smoking a cigarette, and Sebastian is on a bench a little further down, reading a newspaper. I’m sure there are others I haven't noticed as well. I walk in and sit in my assigned seat, peering out the window. I get nervous after glancing at the open doors for a few minutes. What if this is a setup? What if my uncle doesn’t plan on showing up at all?

“Hello, Xavier,” my uncle says from behind me, making me jump and spin around. He pulls the chair around from the other table and sits down, placing one leg casually over the other and leaning back. I narrow my eyes at him.

“You came in through the back,” I say. He is also sitting in the perfect spot, not visible from any of the angles my friends are watching, but I don’t bother pointing that out.

He grins at me, “Of course I did. Did you think someone of my stature would show up somewhere, even in public, with absolutely no plan of my own? If you did, you clearly didn’t inherit the Lockhart brain.”

“Thank god for that,” I mutter sarcastically.

Now it’s his turn to narrow his eyes at me. “Where is Sasha?”

“My sister is safe, far away from you.”

He laughs, “Do you think I won’t figure out where she is sooner or later? Maybe we can work out a deal if you bring her back to me now.”

“I’m not giving her back to you,” I grit out. “Over my dead body.”

“Someone can have that arranged,” he says, smiling.

I roll my eyes at him, saying quietly, “I have a proposition for you.”

“I’m not interested unless it involves you returning the property you stole from me.”

“I know you want me dead and out of the picture, so I don’t try to take over my father’s portion of your business.”

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