Page 21 of Kaine

"Miss. er, Jade. I'll be honest with you. He's not going to come back with you here. He's a very, very private man."

I pull the covers off me, and for a moment, Xavier looks relieved. He obviously doesn’t know me well yet.

"I told you once that I wasn't going to give up finding him, so I can thank him. So, now that I'm standing inside his house, what chance do you think there is that I'm leaving before I get a chance to talk to him. You're a smart man, Xavier. Surely you can figure it out."

I bite back a tremor but refuse to break my gaze. Poor guy, he looks like I just made him choose between eating his pet rabbit and a live cockroach.

Then, without answering, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, pressing “1” on the keypad and holds it out to me.

"You tell him," he says to me as the dial tone starts to ring.

And I wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew.

Before either of us can speak another word, the call is answered.

"Yeah."

It's him.

And something in the bottom of my stomach drops. Drops all the way onto the floor and through to the other side of the earth.

One syllable that's all it takes. Something in his voice that undoes me. It's just cos that's the voice you connect with being saved, an uncertain voice inside my head tries to convince me. But it's not doing a very good job. My hand reaches out to take the phone while my voice simultaneously retracts deep into my throat.

"What is it, Xavier?" The same voice, annoyed, speaks again. I snap my hand back.

Xavier cocks an eyebrow and looks a little too amused.

"I'm here with Jade."

Apparently, he charges K by the word as well.

There's a pause on the other end, a long pause. So long I wonder if he's still there.

Xavier breaks first.

"You’re on speaker."

"And?"

Apparently I’ve found myself in the middle of a skirmish of monosyllabic men.

"She won't leave."

I think I hear a snort, but I can't be sure. It might've been a snicker, or a sigh. All I know is it's a sound. And I want to hear more.

"Make her."

I didn't want to hear that.

Fuck this.

"I'm not going,” I say. My hand is now pressing against my chest to calm the vibrations.

I’m definitely hearing snickering, but it's not coming from the phone. Xavier is biting his lip so hard I think I might have to take him to the ER for stitches. But I'm not focused on him right now; I'm focused on the man on the other side of the phone. This mysterious, intriguing, man who with his seven words has me mesmerized.

And I hang for the eighth.

“Miss Sinclair.”

Oh God, he said my name.

“Go.”

And the phone goes quiet.