Xavier O’Brien
Jessica Ingro
Copyright © 2018 by Jessica Ingro
Cover photo and design © Sara Eirew / Sara Eirew Photographer
Models: David Santa Lucia and Rachel Baltes
Edited by Jennifer Montalbano
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
For every single person who patiently waited for the ending to Aurora and Xavier’s story… thank you and I love you.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Epilogue
Epilogue II
Epilogue III
Note From the Author
Marx
About the Author
Also by Jessica Ingro
Prologue
The needle broke through skin, liquid plunging into his veins. The instant rush from head to toe had his eyes rolling in the back of his head as he slumped against the concrete wall.
He knew this was wrong. He shouldn’t be there. The floor where he sat was filthy and rats scurried around looking for food.
He couldn’t care about any of that as euphoria took hold, though. It was the only thing that mattered right then. That is, until the vision of a beautiful woman with haunting green eyes appeared behind his lids. It was then he finally wondered what he had just allowed to happen.
Love.
He had had love with her.
Why had he accepted his fate?
Why hadn’t he fought harder for her?
What would become of her and the little girl?
* * *
In a dark corner, the monster waited with a sick satisfaction as the piece of shit man’s heart slowed. Knowing the deed was done; he rose and left the room far happier than he had been when he arrived.
Chapter One
Aurora
An ear-piercing scream filled the night air, jolting me awake and causing my body to abruptly sit up from its prone position. My heart thumped wildly against my chest while my hand flew of its own accord to my throat as I struggled to breathe. It was then I realized that the scream had come from my own mouth.
Apparently, I was learning the hard way that bruises on the outside faded a hell of a lot quicker than the ones on the inside.
Glancing to my left, I saw what my heart already knew—the bed was empty. Xavier hadn’t come home. Again.
Picking up my phone with unsteady hands, I dialed his number, holding my breath until the familiar voicemail greeting picked up. After the subsequent beep telling me to leave a message, I took in a deep breath and did just that.
“It’s me.” Dead air filled the night as my chin quivered with impending tears of both frustration and sorrow. “Are you coming home tonight?”
I hated how small my voice sounded. I couldn’t help it, though. There was no sleeping without Xavier next to me, and these days that was happening more and more frequently. Occasionally, the scent of his skin would linger on the sheets letting me know he had been there, but for the most part I was always alone.
Disconnecting the call, I stood and slid on my silk robe. I padded down the hall toward the kitchen, careful not to wake Sophie. By the light of the refrigerator, I poured myself a glass of water. Sipping the cool liquid in the dark, I allowed my brain to drift over everything that had happened during the last two weeks.
After Spencer kidnapped me, Xavier had insisted that Sophie and I move in with him. I wasn’t so sure that it was a great idea given the newness of our relationship, but after my big speech about him protecting us and not leaving us, there was no way I could argue without being a hypocrite.
Deep down, I wanted to be with Xavier in every way possible. There was no doubt in my mind that he and I were meant to be together. I’d even venture so far as to say we were soul mates, put on this earth in order to make each other whole. My reservations about cohabitating stemmed from the fact that living with someone changed everything and not always in a good way.
Had Xavier actually been spending any real time in his home with us, I might not have felt as poorly about my decision as I did right then. As it stood though, each day I found myself regretting my decision more and more. Isolation weighed on me and the nights seemed to torment me. I found myself wanting or maybe even needing an escape.
It didn’t really matter though, because I had already agreed to stay within the confines of these walls. And I was determined to try and make this work.
Once the problem of our living situation was resolved, I finally found the courage to have Xavier take me to pick up my daughter at my friend and neighbor, Ruth’s apartment. I knew Ruth wouldn’t be pleased with the state of play, but there was nothing that could prepare me for the strength of her reaction.
One look at my face and Ruth lost her mind. I was so caught off guard that I sat dumbfounded while she wailed on Xavier with her fists, cursing him to hell. When Sophie and Mikey started crying, I finally shook myself from my stupor and pulled Ruth off him. It was a true testament to the man’s self-control that he didn’t stop her himself. I have no doubt that other people would not have walked away from that situation unscathed—man or woman alike.
With Ruth subdued enough to wait for an explanation, I picked Sophie up and calmed her with the promise of frozen goodness. Thankfully, all the world’s problems could be solved with ice cream when you were a child. With a bowl of chocolate goodness with hot fudge topping, I left her and Mikey sitting on Ruth’s bed watching cartoons.
That was when the hard part came.
Enlightening Ruth on the real nature of my business with The Den didn’t go at all like I had originally hoped it would—back when I decided to keep the truth from her. Although, it probably would have been easier if my face wasn’t so busted up and my wrists didn’t bear the marks of handcuffs. There was no way I could speak to any of the merits of my profession when the evidence of its detriment were staring her in the face.
It would be an understatement to say Ruth did not take the truth well. She rocked back and forth disbelievingly as I laid out everything that had happened with Spencer and the little I knew of his connection to Xavier’s enemy. When she recovered from her disbelief, she went up one side of me and down the other about lying to her and putting myself in danger.
Sitting on Ruth’s couch, I had initially been annoyed that Xavier wasn’t offering any further information for either of us about what prompted my attack. He had been relatively tight-lipped after the revelations he laid on me regarding his mother and sister dying thanks to the same man who ordered my kidnapping. I wanted answers as much as Ruth did, but I couldn’t really hold a grudge against him when his hand ran soothingly up and down
my back as I recounted the night’s events to Ruth. His silent support was all that had held me together.
With a lecture or two about God thrown in there, we left it with her needing some time to wrap her head around things. I could give her that play. I had no choice. For the sake of our relationship it was paramount that I give her time. That didn’t mean I didn’t miss the hell out of her, though. Since that day, every time Sophie asked when we were going to see Ruth it made my heart ache. I hoped like hell she would come around soon. I refused to face the alternative of not having her in my life.
Other than the drama of that night, life had been quiet since. Xavier was off chasing the bad guys—or at least that was what I assumed he was doing—and I was stuck hiding in his massive house by the lake. I hadn’t wanted to hide, you see, but Xavier insisted it was the best thing for us. That, of course, had led to a bit of a tiff about my not working.
In the end, I had no choice but to cave—just refer back to my earlier comments about convincing Xavier to keep us safe. He couldn’t do that if I was constantly going up against him, challenging his decisions on how to do just that. Of course, one might argue it was his state-of-the-art security system protecting us, rather than him.
Shaking my head, I set my glass in the sink and walked back down the hall to join Sophie in her bed. At least with my girl, I wouldn’t be alone. That was the one thing I knew in my heart would always be true.
Sophie’s body was tucked into a tight ball under the plush linens when I climbed in behind her. I wrapped my arms tightly around her, breathed in her little girl scent and forced my muscles to relax.
Eventually, I found peace.
* * *
I awoke the next morning to a tiny finger poking my nose. Cracking my right eyelid open, I took in the sight of a giggling, bouncing girl with riotous curls sticking out in every direction. Even though my head protested from lack of sleep, I couldn’t help but smile at her.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” I croaked out.
“Morning Mommy!” Sophie bounced again, rattling the bed.
“What do you want for breakfast?” I asked amidst a full-body stretch.
“Fruity pepples!”
I reached my arm out and pinned her down on the bed, tickling her beneath me.
“It’s pebbles,” I corrected her. She scrunched her nose up and shook her head at me, but began laughing again when my fingers hit the ticklish spot just under her armpit.
“Come on.” I snatched her up in my arms and dangled her upside down as I made my way down the hall toward the kitchen, ignoring her protests to be put down.
Settling her on a stool at the island, I took out bowls, spoons, milk and cereal. Sophie was munching away on her breakfast, milk leaking out the sides of her mouth, when the doorbell rang.
I pressed a button on the tablet that controlled the alarm system and saw on the video feed that it was Candy standing at the door. Judging by the time, her daughter must have just gone to school, making me wonder why she was visiting me rather than going home and going back to bed for a few hours. It wasn’t as if we didn’t have a play date scheduled for the next day.
“Hey,” I greeted her when I opened the door, standing to the side so she could come in.
“Hey.” Her voice was timid and her eyes filled with guilt when she looked up as she passed by me. It made my stomach tighten with unease.
“Want a cup of coffee?”
“Sure.” Candy followed me into the kitchen where Sophie was finishing up making a mess and her little legs were swinging back and forth, as she sang the theme song from her favorite cartoon.
“Sophie, honey. If you’re done, why don’t you go watch your shows while Candy and I talk?”
“Okay,” she chirped before bounding off the stool and out of the room.
“Spill,” I told Candy the second we were alone.
“What do you mean?” She asked innocently enough, but her cagey eyes couldn’t hide the fact she was holding something back from me.
I leaned my forearms on the counter and raised my eyebrow in accusation. “You think I can’t tell that you’re here to tell me something? It’s written all over your face. So, do us both a favor and rip the Band-Aid off. Just tell me.”
She swallowed hard and gave me a wan smile. “Okay, but don’t shoot the messenger.”
“Of course not,” I assured her even though a knot began forming in my stomach.
“Well, last night there was a party of sorts at The Den. Marx showed up demanding to see you. Ghost called X and when he showed up things got pretty ugly. He and Marx were shouting at each other. I didn’t really hear what was said because the music was going and I was a little… uh… preoccupied.” She broke off, taking a sip of her coffee and leaving me hanging.
“Come on,” I prodded her when she was taking too long to continue. “What happened?”
“Well after Marx left, X hit the bottle pretty hard. And… well…” She trailed off, her lips twisting into a strained expression.
“Well, what?” I asked louder this time, but even then, my voice sounded distant as my heart pounded so loudly that the blood rushing through my ears was all I could hear.
“X left with a blonde twit that had come in with one of the regulars. I’ve never seen her before and I don’t know who she was but they most definitely left together.” Her words came out in a rush. Her shoulders drooped when she finished and she gave me a look full of pity.
My heart immediately plummeted from its place in my chest straight into my stomach. Resting my hands on the counter for support, I let my head fall in between my shoulders as my eyes closed and I tried—and failed—to block out the sight of the man I loved with another woman.
“You going to be okay?” Candy’s voice sounded as if it were coming through a tin can. I felt my throat closing up and tears pricking the back of my eyes. My head swam with images I didn’t want of this unknown beauty doing all the things to Xavier that I wanted to do. Things only I had a right to do.
Part of me couldn’t—wouldn’t—believe that Xavier would cheat on me. He wasn’t the type of man to play a woman for a fool. He either wanted you or he didn’t. And if he didn’t, then he set you aside and found someone else.
The other part of me knew that we hadn’t been intimate since before my attack. Xavier had needs. He was voracious in bed—his appetite strong and his stamina high. You couldn’t contain that kind of beast forever.
What if he doesn’t want me anymore? My brain screamed causing a few stray tears to leak from the corner of my eyes.
“When you finally admitted that you were seeing him, I warned you not to get too attached,” Candy said gently, trying to soften the blow of her words. “Maybe you should reach out to Marx. He seemed really adamant about seeing you last night. He looked worried sick.”
I allowed myself a tiny sniffle before I dashed my stray tears away. Squaring my shoulders, I shook off the dread and hurt that her story caused and faced her head on with determination.
“Xavier wouldn’t do that to me.” My voice sounded more convinced than my head was, but I needed her to know I believed in him. That I believed in us.
Until Xavier told me otherwise, I had to trust that he remained faithful to me and that this was all a misunderstanding. I needed to for my own sanity. I loved him so damn much, I would go crazy if he took that love for granted, throwing it away on nameless pussy.
“I saw…” she began, but I cut her off.
“I know what you saw, and I’m telling you there’s an explanation,” I argued.
“And if there’s not?”
Bile rose up my throat at the thought that his explanation might not be good enough. “Then I’ll figure it out.”
“Are you going to call Marx?” She sipped her coffee, her big eyes communicating her desire for me to do just that.
I shook my head in answer. Taking a mug from the cupboard, I poured my own cup of coffee, needing a distraction from my own thoughts.
&n
bsp; “Why not?” She demanded to know.
“Because it’s something I should talk to Xavier about first. Maybe there is a reason he doesn’t want Marx near me. After the scene with Spencer, I’m taking my lead from Xavier on this one,” I explained. Candy still didn’t know how I ditched Marx on our first date and hooked up with Xavier. It wasn’t something I wanted to readily share with anyone. That fact alone meant Marx, while unlikely, could have been behind what happened to me.
“Well if X was actually here you could talk to him about it.” Her blow landed in just the right place and I winced. “Sorry,” she quickly added, but I didn’t reply because Sophie began frantically calling me from the living room.
I was a few feet away from Sophie, mouth opened to ask her what the problem was, when the doorbell rang. A scowl graced my face when, for the second time that morning, someone whom I wasn’t expecting was at my door.
Figuring I was closer to the door than I was to the kitchen where I could look at video to see who was there, I opted to take my chances with the glass door.
“Who’s at the door?” Candy called out from the kitchen.
When I rounded the corner into the foyer, I was shocked at who stood on the other side of the threshold. He was the last person I expected to see, especially at Xavier’s house. It was almost as if we had conjured him up.
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