Page 49 of Chasing Xander
Beside her, Xander’s gaze continuously shifted between the white board at the front of the room and his notes, completely engrossed in the lecture.Wow, he’s got really neat handwriting.Yeah, not really what she needed to be focused on right now. But paying attention to his penmanship was better than paying attention to his face. Or his dark, soulful eyes. Or his full, kissable lips. Or the smell of his cologne. She groaned.
“I don’t feel well. I’m leaving,” she whispered to Celeste. Kylie closed her books, tossed them into her backpack, and left the room. In the hall, she leaned against the wall and took several deep breaths to rid her senses of Xander, to clear her nose of his enticing scent.
“Ky? You all right?”
Shit. Why on earth had he followed her out of class? He couldn’t be bothered with her all weekend, and now he suddenly cared? Fuck that. She straightened, adjusted the strap of her backpack, and walked by him.
He chased after her and clutched her arm. “Kylie.” He gently turned her to face him.
She jerked her arm from his grasp. “What?”
“Hey, easy.” He held up his hands in a show of surrender. “You left so fast. I was worried.”
“Well, don’t be. I’m fine.”
He frowned. “No, you’re not fine. You’re pissed.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Wouldn’t you be pissed, too, if I promised to call and hang out and then disappeared off the face of the earth?”
He stared at her, eyes wide, as if he were trying to decide if she was serious. She held his gaze, refusing to back down. She didn’t want to stand there and flip out like some crazy, possessive girlfriend. They weren’t even dating. But she also wasn’t going to let him think that it was okay to break a promise. Her entire childhood had been built on empty promises, and she’d sworn to herself never to put up with that again. “I told you not to make promises you couldn’t keep. I wasn’t joking about that.” She shook her head, refusing to let him know just how sharp and deep the pain of disappointment cut into her. It was like her heart was pumping razor blades through her veins.
After a moment, he broke their silent staring contest. “Shit.” He dragged his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry.”
She closed her eyes and blew out a breath. He sounded sincere, and there was remorse in his expression.
“I’m a dick for not calling you, and I’m sorry. For what it’s worth, I thought about you all weekend.”
“What happened?” She returned her gaze to his.Please let him have a really good reason for blowing me off.
He reached for her hand, but she moved away before he could touch her. His arm fell to his side, and a look of dread filled his expression. “I had something come up.”
“What?” She crossed her arms over her chest. Why was he avoiding giving her an answer? What was he hiding? She narrowed her eyes and studied him. He wasn’t looking away, which was a good thing, she supposed, but he wasn’t answering, either.
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if he’d met someone else, if he’d been with another woman all weekend. Why else wouldn’t he call or text? Surely, whatever had come up hadn’t taken every single second of every day. Right? But deep down, she didn’t want the answer.
“I’ve been dealing with…stuff.” He frowned.
He’s been dealing with stuff? That was his explanation? “You’re not the only one dealing with stuff. I’ve got a lot of shit going on, too, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take a few seconds to text you.”
“You’re right.” He hung his head. “I fucked up.”
Kylie sighed and shifted on her feet. He had fucked up. He’d hurt her, made her question whether she was good enough for him, but in the grand scheme of mistakes he could’ve made, this wasn’t that huge of a deal.
“I’m sorry.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at her. “Can I make it up to you?”
“You can try.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Let me buy you lunch after class.”
Is he serious?“You think lunch is going to make this all better?” She shifted on her feet. “You’re going to have to do a lot better than that.”
He let out a surprised laugh and raised a brow. “All right.”
She didn’t care how sexy he looked right now; she was not going to let him off the hook so easily. “You’ve ditched me twice now, Xander. You can’t give me that look and expect everything to be okay.”
“What look is that, exactly?” He smiled, his dimple making an appearance at the same moment his eyes did that sparkly thing.
Damn him.
