𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐒𝐲𝐧┃𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐓𝐰𝐨

76. 𝐺𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝐷𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙

Xavier

"Are you ready to talk to everyone?" Cas asked as he rubbed my back.

"Honestly? Not really. I haven't talked to Syn at all," I groaned. Ever since Cas told him about our previous plan to keep Queen a secret, I'd kept my distance. Not because I was afraid, but because I knew he'd be disappointed in me.

"Talk to him then," he said.

"I'll try," I said. But what could I even tell him to justify what I did? I had truly no excuse except being completely selfish.

"I'm going to finish unpacking and you go talk to him. When we're done we can go surprise Cleo at work," he said as he moved to the luggage.

"Okay," I said. I walked out of the room and headed towards Syn's room. When I got there, I knocked but nobody answered. I tried a few more times but when I still got no response, I turned to Queen's room.

She immediately opened the door and smiled at me as she let me in. "Hmm, I didn't know if you'd ever be back."

"Yeah," I said awkwardly as I took a seat on the chair at the table. "I'm sorry for just being gone like that."

She shrugged and I sighed in response. "I know I haven't been a good friend," I said.

"We don't need to have this discussion, Xavier. Save it for Syn, he's your friend," she said.

"You're my friend too," I said. "And the both of you deserve a lot better than the friend I've been."

She sighed as she played with the rips in her jeans and shook her head. She looked back up at me with watery eyes and my heart dropped. "What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Syn changed a lot since he's been back, but I didn't think you would too, Xavier. You before anyone else in the past would put Syn's happiness before yours. I was shocked when I found out that you agreed to Lucifer's plan."

I closed my eyes and she continued. "I mean, I thought the two of you were best friends but you barely talk to him anymore either. What happened?"

"I was just selfish as hell," I said. "I can't stand the thought of losing him again, Queen."

"None of us can."

"It's different, I've lost him twice now," I said. "Ever since we met, Syn has been my best friend. We did everything together, Queen. He always talks about how he saved my life but he saved mine so many times."

"How?"

"When I was younger, my parents were extremely abusive. For no reason, they'd punch me around when they felt like it and they'd lock me in an attic for days at a time. When I met Syn, he would protect me from them whenever he was around.

It lasted for years until we had this one school dance in high school. My parents were letting me go but this one boy from school that had a crush on me showed up at my house. He asked me to the dance in front of my parents and they went crazy. They sent him away and spent hours just—"

A tear rolled down my cheek and I quickly wiped my eyes and took a deep breath. "I almost died. They locked me in the attic again and I was bleeding out for a long time but instead of doing anything, they left to go to dinner.

I would've bled to death that night if Syn didn't come to find me. I remember him being so quiet, he didn't even ask anything. He just healed me, gave me his tuxedo to change into, and called me a taxi to go to the dance. He told me to forget everything that my parents did for the night and I listened to him."