The Descendent Protectors

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Wow," I whispered in wonder. Every place in this house was breath-taking.

I heard the click of the door closing behind me, and I turned to glance at Xavier. He gave me a small smile and motioned towards the right side of the huge office, where there was a seating area with comfortable-looking couches. We walked up to the area and sat down, Xavier to my right.

I dropped the bag I had in my hand to the floor beside me, and got comfortable on the seat, shifting my body so I was mostly facing Xavier as we sat side-by-side.

His eyes stared into mine expectantly, and my breath got stuck in my throat. I didn't know where to begin.

Xavier sensed my unease, what with my leg bouncing and my hands shaking and my palms sweating. He reached out and grabbed both my hands into his, pulling me forwards and resting our entwined hands on his lap. He drew circles with his thumb on the back of my wrists, his eyes never leaving mine.

That small gesture was enough to again send my emotions into a whirlwind. I felt my eyes watering, and I tried to yank my hands out of his grasp but he held on to them, tightly. He shook his head. "You don't have to hold back."

I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I began to draw blood. I could identify the metallic taste and it only increased my nausea.

"How did you meet your current friends?" Xavier suddenly asked.

I was taken-aback by his question, so it took me a few seconds too long to put together an answer.

"W-we met in college. I was already friends with Ariel since high-school, and then we met the rest at college."

Xavier nodded, a small smile on his lips. "Were they friends then? Or did you meet everyone separately?"

I shook my head. "The guys were all friends, and they were living in the same apartment. We met at a frat party." I began to recall the first night we met, a ghost of a smile on my lips. "Ariel had gotten so drunk that night," I chuckled, "after dancing manically, she ran into Seth and accidentally spilled her drink on the both of them. And Seth being the kind-hearted gentleman that he is, made it his mission to make sure she cleaned up properly and sobered up a little since the house was packed and she was sure to fall prey to at least one guy; even though I told him I could take care of her."

"The next day, we ran into Seth again, and he was with Noah and Elliot. After that night we started hanging out and it wasn't a week later that I met Bella in one of my Photography classes. And of course, when I introduced her to the rest, she fell head over heels for Elliot, it was like love at first sight." I chuckled, my heart fluttering as I remembered what was one of the best times of my life. "It didn't take long before we all became really close friends. Hanging out on every weekend, spending every consecutive holiday together..."

I glanced at Xavier to see him gazing down at me with an unrecognizable emotion in his eyes, and a ghost of a smile on his lips.

"On my second year of college, I made a new friend." My heart suddenly clenched tightly in my chest, and I felt my palms begin to get clammy in Xavier's hands. And I don't know if he noticed or not, but he continued holding onto them while watching me expectantly, urging me to go on. "Elliot wasn't too keen on our friendship, saying he had heard the guy was bad news," I felt Xavier tense, his back straightening a bit. Yet still, he held onto my hands and continued the circular motion of his thumbs on the back of my wrists.

"But he was very charming, and I was very naive." I bit the inside of my cheek as my voice broke. "So many girls had a crush on him, and of course - like the young dumb girl that I was - I'd felt very special when he picked me out of the mass. We hadn't been friends for too long before he asked me out, and I was so blinded by his charming behavior that I immediately said yes." I recalled the memory of the day he took me ice-skating, our first date, and I was smiling and giggling at every word he said, because I was so bewitched by his ice-cold blue eyes.