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Giselle ran toward the door, glad that Abbott was finally home. She decided how upset she was going to be. She'd scold him for scaring her like that. She'd call him out for acting like a child. She'd apologize for her behavior and make everything right again.
She couldn't help smiling as she reached the door. She opened it and let out a breath she'd held, her smile faltering.
The man before her had blood splattered on his gray shirt. He stared at her with his swollen eyes, no traces of happiness in his demeanor. He let out a shuddering breath, his shoulders slumped.
Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach.
"Xavier...?"
Chapter 15
"Is everything okay?" asked Giselle.
Xavier looked down and walked past her into the house without saying a word. He sat on the staircase. She closed the door, walked toward him, and stood, her heart thumping against her chest. Any minute now, Abbott was going to enter, and every attempt she'd planned to make to set things right was going to fail at the sight of them together.
She stared at him, listening to nothing but the distant chirps of crickets and loud ticks of the clock heading toward ten. Xavier didn't meet her eyes. He inhaled sharply, paused, and exhaled long and slow, as if he had all the time in the world, as if he couldn't find the words to say what he wanted.
She whispered, "What have you done?"
His eyes snapped up to meet hers. His brown eyes were swollen and red as if he'd been crying for hours.
He opened his mouth once again, but no words came. He exhaled, then gulped. Giselle waited, shifting from one foot to another, her mouth dry.
"Giselle," said Xavier, his voice hoarse.
"Yeah..."Had he been screaming?Giselle thought.Crying?
Xavier cleared his throat, eyes burning holes in the floor, and said, "Giselle, it's done." His voice shook toward the end. "I left the gang."
With a sigh of relief, she moved forward and knelt before him on the floor. She looked up into his eyes, but his focus stayed on the ground beside her.
"What's with the blood, Xavier?" she asked.Why do you look so broken?
"B-blood?" His startled eyes met hers again. "What blood?"
"The blood on your shirt, Xav..." she said with a soft voice, afraid she'd break him if she spoke too loud.
"Sh-shirt?" His lower lip quivered, and he looked down. "Oh! This? This blood... This is not his..."
"Whose?"
"Mine. It's not mine."
She gulped. "Whose blood is it?"
"J-Jake. Not mine." He shook his head, almost pleading.
"Why his?" she whispered.
"They tried to stop me. I had to kill him. I had to..." He paused, looking straight into her eyes, and his own filled up with tears. "Please, don't hate me."
Her heart hammered at the thought of Xavier having to kill someone. She wondered what it did to his soul. She wondered if the man he'd killed had a family left behind to mourn him.
Giselle brushed it off, moved forward, and cupped his left cheek in her hand. "Why would I hate you?"
He held her hand over his cheek and pressed it against his face. He let out a shaky breath as he closed his eyes and rubbed his skin on her hand, his stubble scratching her palm.
"Don't leave me," he said.
