Page 32 of Little Devil

“For how long?”

“Thirteen years, I think.”

My mouth parts but I close it just as quickly, frowning to myself while I try to sort through what Travis has told me about his family over the years. It’s not much – he never even mentioned Xander to me before he moved here – but I don’t remember him telling me anything about another cousin on his mother’s side.

“Where’s your brother?”

“He was killed in a bar fight when I was fifteen.”

“Oh,” I say sadly, gently sliding my thumb over the water running down his temple. “What was he like?”

His brows jump and I wince, inwardly cursing myself for asking such a stupid question. Most people would say they’re sorry for his loss and move on to something else, which is obviously what I should have done.

“I’m sorry,” I rush to explain. “I didn’t mean t–”

“No, it’s okay,” he cuts in, staring at me for a long minute before he shakes his head to snap himself out of it. “He was.. wild and hilarious and moody and competitive, probably would’ve tried to steal you from me in under five seconds if he were here.”

I raise a brow at that. “I’m not yours to steal from.”

“Yet,” he adds, laughing lightly when I flick a little water at his face.

He flicks some right back and I turn my head away, not considering the consequences of my actions before I lift myself up to dunk his head under the surface. He comes back up to spit the water out of his mouth and I back away from him, raising my hands in mock surrender when I catch the look on his face.

“Xan..”

“Jordyn..”

“Don’t you dar–”

He rushes me and I scream, laughing my ass off when he locks his arms around me to pull me under. I jump back up to wipe the hair from my face and splash him again, running away from him with a squeal when he starts to chase me. We mess around in the water for I don’t know how long, and even though my hair is a mess and my make up is gone, this is the most fun I’ve had in months – probably years, if I’m being real.

I wish I brought my camera with me.

“Princess.”

“What, new boy?”

“Are you done?”

“Yeah,” I rasp, propping my hands on my waist to catch my breath.

He chuckles and follows me out to walk up to the tiny shower at the top of the beach. The water pressure sucks and does nothing to rinse the salt from my hair, but at least I won’t be walking around with dried lumps of sand wedged between my toes.

“Hang on, I think I’ve got a clean towel in my gym bag,” he tells me, quickly heading back to the car to grab it.

He hands it to me and I smile at him, leaning over to the side to dry my hair with it. “What now, Xander Reid?”

He shrugs and looks around, tipping his chin at the lit up nightclub across the street. “You wanna dance?”

h

“Xan, this is a bad idea,” I hiss, awkwardly tugging my dress down over my thighs while he pulls me along by my hand. “I’m telling you they’re not gonna let us in. Look at the state of my hair.”

“It’s sexy.”

“It’s wet.”

He laughs at me and keeps walking, highly amused by me and my mini temper tantrum.

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