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“Don’t bother him,” Xavier said as he pressed a button on his phone and tucked it back inside his back pocket. “I’ve already texted one of my lawyers.” His gaze flashed at my mother, the color of steel knives. “You’ll be receiving the notice within a few days, Ms. Ortiz. I suggest you don’t ignore it.”
He took three strides so that even in her heels, he was towering over Guadalupe Ortiz like a vulture peering over its carrion.
It fit, really. She was dead to me already.
“You’ll stay away from my family,” he said in an eerie half-whisper that somehow could have been heard over the roar of an ocean, much less the occasional car passing down Van Brunt. “You’ll leave Francesca alone. Sofia will never see you again. And if I ever hear awhisperof their names from your mouth in so much as a neighborhood pamphlet, I’ll lock you up in so much litigation, you’ll wish you’d never been born.” He cocked his head. “I let things slide in England, but let me be very clear, madam. You do not want to fuck with me or mine. And your daughterdefinitelyqualifies as mine. Understand?”
Goose bumps had rippled all over my body by the time he was finished. Maybe I should have corrected him right then. I could have mentioned that he did not have the right to be possessive of me anymore. That I did not, in fact, belong to him, nor was I his to protect any longer.
But the simple truth was, Iwantedto hear him say just that. For months, I’d watched his anger rise in defense of his restaurants, his uncle, really everything but his own family, and a piece of me had been dying for him to care about us at least that much.
Part of me wanted the white knight.
Even if he had a black heart.
My mother took an unsteady step down one stair, then another, and the last until she was able to slink around Xavier’s imposing form like a cat escaping down an alley.
“I—okay,” she said softly. “Okay. But Frankie—”
“Don’t,” I said sharply, unable to look at her anymore. “You heard him. Go.”
With another quick glance between us, she finally seemed to take the hint.
“All right,” she said as she moved down the sidewalk. “I’ll go. But Frankie, I do love you. I’m your mother, right? Mothers always love their babies. Please remember that.”
I just shook my head, unable to answer. Inside, a small part of me shattered for good, unable to be swept up at all until the woman was gone.
I took several deep breaths, waiting until I could no longer hear the clip of her heels on the uneven pavement. My eyes squeezed shut while I waited for the twist of my gut to loosen so I could find a way to maneuver myself inside.
But, as it turned out, I didn’t have to. Gently, Xavier took the keys I hadn’t realized I’d been holding, then wrapped a muscled arm around my shoulders and shepherded me up the stairs to the front door, which he quickly unlocked to guide me inside. A few seconds later, the door shut, the lights were turned on, and before I knew it, Xavier had pulled me securely into his big body while I cried, nose tucked into his chest as he gently stroked my hair.
“Fuck,” he whispered. “I’m so fucking sorry, babe. Fuck her. Fuck all of it. I’ve got you.”
My heart ached as tears slid down my cheeks. Only Xavier could make the dirtiest of words sound like endearments. The complete and utter tenderness in his voice broke me.
“She’s—I—Goddammit!” I cried into his soft cotton shirt.
I couldn’t explain this pain completely. How could someone I barely knew have such power to hurt me?
But she did. She really did.
Xavier’s warm, fiery scent engulfed me completely, and despite how angry I still was with him, something in me relaxed. No matter what we’d been through, no matter how he’d hurt me, some part of me still registered him as a safe place.
Safe, yet still painful.
Half agony, half hope indeed.
How messed up was that?
Mine, he’d told her.Your daughter is mine.
God, part of me so deeply wanted to be.
“I’m so fucking sorry, Ces,” he repeated as his large hand continued to pet my hair.
The scrunchie holding it up fell out under his ministrations, and he took advantage of it, weaving his fingers through the unruly waves, giving me more of that sweet comfort I needed.
“I should have paid more attention to what she was doing. I didn’t know.” He sighed. “Maybe I didn’t want to know.”
