Page 84 of Bad Boy for Hire
She patted his cheek. “Who could deny this face?”
May, he thought but didn’t say. She’d made a no-hot-men rule, one that had shut him down for years. He’d gained her trust once, now could he win her heart?
There was only one way to find out.
Chapter Twenty-Four
By midweek, Xavier was exhausted, mostly because he was losing hope about everything in his life. Could one thing run smoothly? Was that too much to ask?
He’d received multiple texts from Ant, from Brady, and even from Griffin. The topic du jour? May.
But of course.
Ant was in the know thanks to Lou, and Brady had heard about the breakup via Elliott. Griffin knew because Griffin was nosy and had badgered the other two until they spilled.
And each of them had come to Xavier to ask how he was doing. He’d told them the truth: Shitty.
Need a bro night? came Griffin’s suggestion via text. Followed by, Chicks, man.
It wasn’t any wonder why Griff stuck to the shallows when it came to dating. Who could blame him? Xavier had had his share of single, shared nights with a woman. Or a few shared nights that had ended with them casually, mutually ghosting each other when the arrangement met its predictable demise.
Going back to that didn’t appeal. Not after having May in his life—in his bed. He’d had no idea how good he could have it, and how much it sucked when he’d lost it.
Since deciding to talk to her, he’d been stuck in some bizarre form of suspended animation. Until he knew the next move was the right one, he wasn’t budging a fucking inch. He’d done enough damage already.
So here he was, between wanting to fix things and knowing that was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place.
“Stuck” wasn’t a familiar feeling. Even after the shit that had gone down with Tracie, he didn’t stay still. He’d found a job and moved away within a month. His parents thought he was crazy, absconding to a lakeside town he’d never heard of, but then again, they hadn’t known the truth behind why he’d left.
Griffin had finally taken the hint and had stopped asking how he was and what he was going to do about it. Ant, not so much.
Proof was in his hand—his ringing cell phone with Ant’s name on it and a bear sculpture as his profile picture.
Xavier considered not answering, but then he did anyway. “What’s up?”
“Are you at home? Or are you at Salty?”
Xavier had been at Salty Dog every damn day this week, and he’d planned on going back tomorrow. Today, he’d left the bar at the weirdo hour of three p.m.
“I’m home.” Since he knew he couldn’t avoid Ant much longer, he surrendered without a fight. “Come on over.”
“I assumed. Pulling in now.” The phone went quiet.
He crossed to the front door as Ant’s truck trundled down the long driveway. When his friend stepped inside the house, he offered, “Beer?”
“Definitely. And you might want to get yourself a beer and a shot. You’re gonna need it.”
“Why?” An alarm blared inside Xavier’s head. “Did something happen?”
“Yeah, something happened. You haven’t talked to May in four days. I guess technically, that means nothing happened.”
Ant was right, Xavier needed a beer. He returned with two open bottles.
“What were you thinking, man?” Ant shook his head and then drank.
Xavier took a deep slug from his own beer and reminded himself that his buddy had only heard one side of the story. Lou’s.
“I’m guessing your girl told you a version of how things went down, but she doesn’t know my side.”
