Page 84 of Pervade London
“And he wants you?” My voice trembled as I watched his expression, watched him fail to deny it. “Did you…”Have an affair with him?
A kind smile reached his eyes. “I need you to understand—”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “When we met, I warned you that my life is complicated. Told you not to ask about my past—”
“I didn’t expect your past to include…him.”
“You once told me that seeing two men together was hot.”
I ignored that. “Your past has caught up to you, Xavier.” Rage spiked my adrenaline.
He rounded the counter and came over to embrace me.
My hands pressed his chest to prevent him from pulling me close. “I can’t think straight.”
“I tried to avoid this.”
I peered into his eyes. “Why did you leave him?”
A chill washed over me as my gut told me I was close to the truth.
“I wanted…more.” His fingers touched his mouth as though remembering a kiss—not mine. “I told him I would only come back if…”
My lips trembled. “You’re lovers again?”
“I met you, Em. I wasn’t expecting to fall in love. You came into my life and I fell hard for you.” Xavier shook his head adamantly. “Things have changed out there in the world since I’ve been gone. They need me back. This is not about a relationship. It’s about doing the right thing.”
“Why won’t you tell me what it is you do? It would make all of this easier to understand.”
“I’ll talk to James.”
“Wait. Do you set fires with your mind?”
He burst into laughter. “You’re the only person I know who’d say that. No, no fire starting. Nothing like that.” He was grinning now.
“I want you back.”
“I don’t get to decide that, Em.”
“Ballad does?”
“Let’s eat.”
“I’m not hungry.” I caressed my aching stomach. “How does he have so much power over you?”
“I have power, too. I’m not without my influence.”
“Like how?”
“I’m the one they need.”
“But Ballad has the ultimate power?”
“He knows if anything happened to you, he would lose me.”
Thoughts of them together swept across my vision and played out in real time. I tried to grasp this heartbreaking truth that Xavier belonged to James…like that.I was in a fight of my life for the one I loved.
