Forever Hers | 18+

C h a p t e r 17

He placed the items down carefully on the table in front of us all, my breath almost hitching as I watched him get onto his knees before me. Right at the bottom of the couch where my legs were crossed, he sat, looking up at me with a relaxed expression of neither dominance nor submission. 

It made me feel like he was simply Xavier and I was simply Madelyn, and that things were going to be okay.

I knew they weren't, though. Not when these pricks had a habit of intervening in things they have no place being in. 

Looking away from him and instead turning on Caleb, the man likely responsible for this, I say, "And why is it that when I tried to go to the gym afterwards, they gave me the same treatment? Wouldn't even let me walk past the second set of doors?" 

I, of course, knew exactly why I wasn't allowed to go anywhere, but I wanted to hear them admit it.

"Darling—" Caleb starts with that low purr of his again, and I knew I had to shut it down instantly as I felt Xavier's dark hair brush against my thigh, even though I refused to look down at him. 

"Don't, darling, me." I growl. "I mean honestly, what the hell is wrong with you? I need a job if I'm going to live here, and—"

"Come back to Rush." Alec cuts me off as he tips my head in his direction, his look telling me he genuinely thought I would be stupid enough to do that. 

My unemployment wasn't what this was about, not truly. No, this was about them mandating what I could and couldn't do again when they had no right to do so. 

"I don't want to work at Rush when it's not my choice to begin with, you dick." I say, only getting more furious when a smirk threatened to appear on his face at my name for him. "You wanted me to come here to talk—to have some genuine conversation. Fine, I'm here. This is me telling you that if you don't back off from my life, you're going to regret it."

Something flashed in Alec's eyes at my last sentence, something like... excitement. 

The sight made me see red, and he sensed it as my hand dropped to my thigh, just to discover my dagger not there. When I couldn't find it by feel, I stiffened as my eyes shot down to the ground, the tip of my blade poised at the bottom of my leg where Xavier was currently holding it. 

He only showed amusement as he slowly dragged it up, up, and then stopped right when he was at my—

"Here you go, little devil." Xavier smirked as the dagger suddenly flicked up in the air with a sharp motion of his wrist. The weapon quickly came back down as it spiralled towards my thigh, the tip of the blade being pinched between his two steady fingers at the very last minute.

My heart was racing from his little stunt as my breaths quickened, snapping out of the daze of his eyes a second too late, revealing he'd caught me off guard. 

I snatched the knife away from him the second his effect wore off on me, sheathing the blade back where it belonged. Then, Xavier moved onto the wine as if nothing had ever happened, twisting off the cork as I remained in a state of stunned silence. 

It was only for a while, but when he eventually extended a glass out to me, I made no move to take it from him. 

"What, is this just another attempt to drug and lock me up again?" I question, allowing some of the viciousness I was feeling to slip back into my tone. "Perhaps a new way to track me?"

Deep down inside, I'm sure it wasn't, but if we had to address something, I suppose it should be that first. I came here to talk, but I never promised to be nice about it.  

I saw the look in Xavier's eyes waver for only a second at my words, shocking me when I saw he made no sly move to recover. 

He genuinely looked like he was sorry before the apology could even slip past his lips, and yet he extended the glass towards Caleb instead as he murmured, "We shouldn't have done that."