Page 72 of Little Devil

The cab driver looks at me funny and I force a smile, quickly wiping my cheeks with my sleeves before I take my wallet out to pay him. I’m not sure how much to tip him for a five minute ride, so I give him a hundred dollars and mutter a quiet thank you, jumping out to head down to the small coffee shop on the beach. I buy my own damn iced coffee with extra syrup and sip it while I walk, struggling to think about anything but him and the way he’s made me feel for the last two months.

Like someone finally wanted me for me.

Like I actually meant more to him than this stupid game he plays so well.

So fucking stupid.

My phone continues to ring and I turn it off, looking up when I find a hot guy playing football with a few others on the sand by the water. He’s shirtless and tanned with muscles in all the right places, his dark hair falling over his forehead in a way that reminds me of Xan. He catches me looking and smirks at me, slowly walking over with his ball in his hands and his eyes on my form.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” I say back, purposely giving him the same once over he gave me. “Can I take your picture?”

29

Xander

I slam my car door closed and then punch it for good measure, nervously running my hands through my hair while I walk across the parking lot to meet Travis and Kian. I drove to the city right after she ran away from me and searched the entire fucking beach, thinking that’s where she’d have gone to cool off and take a few strangers’ pictures, but I didn’t think to check the beach two miles from her fucking house.

Fuck me, this girl’s got me in knots.

“Where is she?”

Travis tilts his head towards the party and I follow them, grinding my teeth when I find some black haired asshole talking to my fucking girlfriend on the sand next to the bonfire. She’s been hiding from me all goddamn day, and the relief of finally finding her mixed with the anger of catching her with some random guy she doesn’t know has my head fucking spinning.

I should kick his ass just for looking at her.

Just as I think it, she looks around over her shoulder and her eyes hit mine, her jaw working overtime while she lifts a red solo cup to her mouth. Her feet are bare and she’s wearing my hoodie like an oversized dress, her sleeves bunched up to her elbows and her tanned thighs on full display for all to see. She says something that makes him laugh and I laugh, too, quickly stealing Travis’ drink from his hand to swallow it down.

“Xan..” he warns, somehow knowing I’m about two and a half feet away from losing my shit because if that prick takes one more fucking step..

“The fuck is he doing here?” Noah barks out, his nostrils flaring when I flick the empty cup at his face.

“Hey, Xan,” Sienna says from beside Penelope, biting her lip while she twirls her blonde hair around her finger, but I’m already walking away because fuck her.

“Beat it,” I tell the guy next to my girl, shoving his ass back when he refuses to move.

“Xan,” Jordyn snaps, dropping her jaw while she looks from me to him and back again.

“Dude, what the fu–”

“I said beat it,” I repeat, not even bothering to look his way while I snatch Jordyn’s waist to pull her into me.

She lets out a surprised scream and I lock my arm around her back, ignoring the way she smacks my chest and struggles against my hold because it’s pointless.

“Get off m–”

“Nah, I’m not playing this game with you, baby girl.” I inform her, grabbing her jaw with my free hand to lift her eyes up to mine. “You listen to me and you listen good because I’m only gonna say this once. Whatever you heard today was just some bullshit line I came out with the first time I saw you. I don’t care what that bitch says. He never dared me to fuck you. No one did.”

“That’s not the point, Xan,” she whisper yells, knocking my hand from her face, then gesturing to the large group of people watching our every move. “Everyone thinks the only reason you chased me so hard back then was to win a fucking game. They think it was all fake.”

“Who gives a fuck what they think?”

“That’s easy for you to say when you’re the big man and I’m the dumbass who fell for your shit,” she bites back, loud enough for them to hear it this time.

Several brows jump at her little bad girl outburst and I pinch my lips together, slowly raising my hands up when I catch the scary ass glare on her face.

“Baby.”