Page 62 of Maybe, Probably
“I know you didn’t mean to, babes. It was scary nonetheless though. I’m just glad you’re still here and not seriously hurt.” She reaches for my hand, grabbing it and squeezing gently.
A moment later, Xavier comes into the room. Winnie quickly jumps off the bed to greet him, nudging his hand for pets. His stride falters slightly when he realizes Evie is in bed with me. He recovers quickly, continuing his long strides over to his side of the bed where he hands over some pain meds and a glass of water.
“You should beresting.” His voice is firm, and I catch his eyes darting over to Evie pointedly before returning to mine.
“Iamresting. Evie just came in to keep me company. We’re going to have a bestie sleepover.” I look up and give him my best puppy dog eyes. He stares at me for a minute before sighing. Xavier types quickly on his phone before putting it on the nightstand and crawling into his side of the bed.
I’m taken by surprise when he grips my hips, dragging my body down until he’s able to lay down between my legs. A content sigh leaves him as he rests his head on my stomach, closing his eyes.
Evie stares at him, then up at me, with a raised eyebrow. I shrug my shoulders, a small smile breaking on my face as I play with his hair. His body relaxes more at my touch.
“I didn’t know you were part of the bestie sleepover,” Evie teases, when she realizes he’s not leaving.
Xavier cracks open one eye. “Just pretend I’m not here.”
Evie just stares at him blankly.
“Sure, it’ll be completely easy to ignore the six foot tall, sexy vet who’s currently wrapped around my best friend.”
A snort leaves me as I witness the interaction. I didn’t even get a chance to tell Evie that we’ve decided to end the fake dating and do this for real. Although, I’m sure that after this, she’ll figure it out and drill me about it when we get a minute alone.Ifwe get a minute alone.
Xavier’s arm leaves me, but only to grab my hand, placing it back on his head before closing his eyes again. “And I plan to stay wrapped around her. But I promise that whatever is said in here, stays in here– because girl code or whatever.”
“Well– okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you…”
That’s the only warning he gets before she proceeds to dive in and proceeds to tell me how hot she thought Josie and Monty were at the Christmas Eve party. Xavier snorts during the story, and it’s probably because Evie still doesn’t know that Josie and Monty might not be opposed to her joining in with them.
“What’s going on with work? Is your temp job done now?”
A huge sigh leaves her as she slumps down in the bed, throwing an arm over her eyes. “Yeah, it’s done. And there isn’t anywhere hiring right now with it just being after Christmas. I’ve got some money saved, so I’m not going to be struggling per say, but it’ll cover me while I try and find something else.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for you and send you anything I might come across.”
“Thanks babes, I appreciate that. I’m not worrying about it just yet.”
We spend the next couple hours talking. I eventually extract myself from Xavier’s hold to lay down myself, but when I lay down Winnie crawls in between us and goes back to sleep with his head resting on my hip. Thank God for this California king bed, because I don’t know how else we’d fit three adults, and a large dog, comfortably. Eventually Evie falls asleep on me, mumbling away about whatever adventure her subconscious is putting her through. I seriously need to behavior start recording our conversations to save. Xavier’s alarm goes off once, and he checks on me to see how I’m feeling. I get out of bed to go to the washroom because all the water Xavier is making sure I drink is makingme have to pee what feels like every ten minutes, I swear. I turn on the light and shut the door, quick to relieve my business and brush my teeth.
Once I return to the bedroom, Xavier is waiting on his side of the bed. He notices me as I start to walk toward him. His eyes don’t stray from my movements. When I’m close enough, he grabs my hand and pulls me to stand in between his thighs and looks up at me.
“Are you sure you’re good? You don’t need anything?”
“I’m fine Xavier, I promise. It’s just a mild concussion, I’ll be back to my normal clumsy self in no time.” My voice is laced with amusement as I gently shove at his shoulders.
His brows furrow, his hands that are placed on my hips tighten. “But it’s not fine. I shouldn’t have let you go on that hill. You would have been fine if we didn’t go down.” There’s a tightness in his voice that brings concern to the surface. He can’t seriously think that what happened is his fault.
“Xavier, this isn’t anyone’s fault. We couldn’t have known a rabbit was going to run out in front of me and cause me to lose my balance.”
Suddenly Xavier is up. He moves me backwards a few steps before he walks away from me, pacing with both hands running up and through his hair in frustration.
“But it is my fault!” He says loudly, before looking over to where Evie is sleeping and takes a breath before continuing. “I should’ve known better. I should’ve been closer behind. When I saw you lose your balance and tumble over, my whole world stopped, Harper. I couldn’t get to you fast enough! And if you weren’t wearing your helmet–” I watch as he spirals.
My heart squeezes as I remember him mentioning his past. Is this why he’s reacting the way he is? Did he have a sibling that got hurt skiing?No, it couldn’t be that. No one has mentioned a sibling that’s no longer here. No, this is something else. I walk toward him with determination. Xavier’s been carrying this weight for a long time.
When I’m close enough, I grab his arm to halt him in his tracks. He eyes zero in on where we connect before his eyes shoot up to mine. It’s there in that moment, I see the despair and guilt written all over his face. He’s beating himself up because of a fluke accident on a hill that I felt confident going down. It wasn’t until that rabbit ran in my path that I had any concern of something going wrong.
“Hey.” I move my hand up his arm slowly. I’m not sure how he is when he’s in this state. Does he need to be touched? Held? Does he need space?
As my hand runs up his arm, I can see him begin to slightly relax. My touch is the confirmation that he needs that I’m alright. I don’t second guess myself as I step into his space and wrap my arms around his neck, bringing him down slightly so I can hug him. He’s still for a moment before his whole body melts into my touch. “What’s going on Xavier? You can talk to me. Remember what I said before? I got you.”
