Page 56 of Zero Chance

Xander walked straight into me without a single word and hugged me.I mean, she put her head on my shoulder and squeezed like she meant it, too.

“Uh…” I lifted my hands, not sure what the fuck was happening.“Union?”I asked uneasily, suddenly worried about her.

I was beginning to think someone had hurt her, and I was going to have to be the one who called her cousin and broke the bad news that we had to kill a motherfucker together tonight.But then Xander sighed out a satisfied sound and patted my back.

“Thank you,” she told me.“Thanks for being such a good guy under your slimy surface.”

“Okay,” I answered slowly, not knowing where that had come from.“You’re…welcome?”

When Alec entered the living room and saw us together, I lifted my hands and sent him an I-don’t-know look over Xander’s shoulder.

He narrowed his eyes at me just as Xander pulled away and noticed him.

“And Alec,” she said, going to him next for a hug.“Thank you for being such a good guy.”

I couldn't help but notice she forgot the slimy-surface part with him.

“I… Sure,” he fumbled out, hugging her back and asking me with a look what the fuck was going on.

I shrugged, letting him know I had no clue.

When she pulled away, he smiled at her questioningly.“You okay?”

“Yeah.”She nodded, not really looking all that okay, especially when she wiped both cheeks as if brushing away phantom tears.But she sent us a brave smile and announced, “I’m going up to bed now.Goodnight, guys.”

“’Night,” we told her in unison.

We watched her disappear up the steps before sharing a look.

“Yeah, that was completely normal,” Alec said, his brow furrowing in concern.

“Chicks.”I shrugged.“Who understands them?”Especially when they kneed you in the junk and ran off before you could learn who they were.

“Oh, hey.”Realizing I hadn’t shared my mystery-girl encounter with Younger yet, I widened my eyes and said, “Dude.Do I havethestory for you!”

Grabbing his arm, I hustled him down the stairs to my room, where I shut the door and proceeded to tell him everything.

He’d made himself at home on the end of my bed and was gaping at me by the time I finished.“And you seriously have no idea who she was?”

“Nope.”I shook my head as I plopped onto the corner of my desk.“Not a clue.”

“Holy shit,” he uttered, gazing blindly around my room before coming back to me with concerned eyes.“But what if she has some venereal infection or something, and now you have it in your throat after going down on her?”

With a roll of my eyes, I sighed.“I already planned on getting checked out on Monday.But that’s not what I’m—” Growling at him in disgust, I lifted my hands.“Seriously, man.That’s all you have to say after hearing everything?”

“I mean…” He winced at me and lifted one shoulder before asking, “What was I supposed to say?”

“I don’t know!”I shook my head in disbelief.“I was hoping you had some idea of how I could discover her identity?”

He snorted out an incredulous laugh and shook his head.“Yeah, if Hope and Parker didn’t even know after seeing her face, I think you’re just going to have to chalk this one up to a loss, buddy.”

I sniffed at that.“What the fuck ever.I’m not giving up that easily.”

“So what are you going to do, compile a list of every girl who was at the party and go around checking their wrists for tattoos?”

“For starters, yes.That’s exactly what I’m going to do.And then, if I ask everyone I remember being present to list everyonetheyremember, eventually I’ll have the whole guest list.”

“Wow.”Alec blinked at me as if I’d lost my mind.“You’re really determined to find this girl.”

---