Crossfire (Strangely Comforting #2)

Chapter 19

It seems that y'all had no faith in Xander whatsoever. Since the beginning, I'd been seeing things like, "Ohh, he's bouta cheat," or "I really think they're going to break up," and shit. Like damn. Have some faith in my boyfriend for me.

Anyway, the game continued and Cason took his seat across the circle, obviously bummed out that he didn't get to share his lips with Xander. He should've known not to since he'd just embarrass himself.

At this point, there were clothes strewn across the room from various dares, some people were buzzed from not doing dares, and others watched with wide grins on their faces.

Rocco strode to the center of the circle and bent down, placing his hand on the bottle. He thought for a second before saying, "This next person has to give me a hug."

Laughter sounded around the room.

"Cute," one of the girls spoke up while some crossed their fingers in hope that the bottle would point to them.

Rocco gave a soft spin to the bottle and it rotated a few times before finally stopping on a boy who'd been quiet since arriving at the party.

Xander puffed out a laugh and shoved Hayden's shoulder saying, "Get up, it's your turn."

Hayden sighed and the people in the circle watched with smiles on their faces. I was surprised that nobody made any snide comments and rather expressed happiness at the game. It was a source of entertainment I assumed.

Finally, Hayden stood up and Rocco flashed a small smile and slowly held out his arms after he shrugged his shoulders.

"C'mere, bud," Rocco said as Hayden laughed and reached his arms around Rocco's back. The two embraced for a few seconds before they released each other and Rocco took a seat in the circle again.

After a few more rounds, the game came to and end and some visitors began to leave. I yawned and stretched my arms above my head as I was increasingly growing tired. Xander leaned into me, slinging an arm around my waist and I wrapped my arm around him.

"Tired?" he asked me.

I told him I was and he nodded his head before heading over to Rocco. Xander thanked him for having us over and told him we were taking our leave.

We were about to step out of the door until I heard a voice that made me roll my eyes in annoyance. Of course, it belonged to an idiot named Cason.

"Hold up," Cason said as Xander and I turned around to face him.

"Yeah?" Xander asked, his arm still strung around my waist.

Cason's eyes fell to my waist for a brief second before he returned them to meet Xander's gaze as he quickly forced a smile.

"You're leaving early," Cason said. "You should come back after you drop him off."

Xander's hand squeezed my side. "I'm not dropping him off."

"You're not?" I asked, turning my head so that our faces were an inch apart.

Xander grinned widely and glanced down at my lips as he's been doing lately. "You're coming home with me."

I raised an eyebrow and smirked back at Xander while I heard Cason sigh.

"You've got no time for your friends now, huh?" Cason asked. "Now that you've got yourself a boyfriend."

"I just made time for you guys," Xander said and frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Cason breathed out again, trying to formulate what he wanted to say. "It's just..." he said as his voice trailed off.

"You want to spend time with Xander, right?" I asked.

Cason's eyes widened and I knew I had guessed right.

"We'll catch up another day, Cason," Xander said. "But really, we're both tired and it's about time we head home."

Cason looked down at the ground. "Whatever."

Xander removed his arm from my waist and his fingers snaked into my hand. We turned away and he led me out to his car.

As soon as I sat down in the passenger seat, Xander reached over and placed his hand onto my thigh. I glanced down at it and felt his skin burn through my pants. Then he leaned closer and placed his lips against mine as I immediately melted into him. He began working his mouth faster and I began to breath heavily as I gripped his shirt in my hand.

"Jesus," I said against his lips. "We haven't even left yet."

Xander's lips spread out in a smile against my mouth and he pulled away.

"I can't wait," he said and began the drive back home. He had only taken a sip of his drink when he didn't complete Cason's dare so he was okay to drive.

However, I soon realized that I hadn't said goodbye to Hayden.

"Shit," I cursed as Xander looked over for a second.

"What?" he asked.

"I didn't tell Hayden we were leaving," I told him.

"Ah," he said. "That's right."

Of course, I hadn't known that Hayden didn't even care that we had left.

Because meanwhile, back at Rocco's home, Hayden was busy helping the fellow clean up the mess everyone left behind.

"Thanks, man," Rocco said as he bent down to pick up a can of beer. "You really don't have to do this."

"Nah," Hayden dismissed him. "It's fine. I can't imagine having to clean this up yourself."

Rocco laughed. "It's not anything I'm not used to."

"Why?" Hayden asked. "Nobody ever stays to help?"

"You're the first one," Rocco said and smiled. "It means a lot."

"Wow," Hayden said as he placed a can into a plastic bag. "That's surprising."

"Well," Rocco said. "Not as many people are as kind as you, haha."

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