Xavier O’Brien

by Ingro, Jessica

  “She deserved to know him,” I reminded him.

  “Well, it’s too late for that, isn’t it? Because he was a weak bastard who was all too willing to give up on his responsibilities. He left you to me. For me to take care of.”

  “Wait!” My mind went back to his earlier mention of Kevin shooting up before he died. We had never discussed Kevin’s chosen method of getting high. The only way for him to know… I swallowed down the bile creeping up my throat. “You didn’t have anything to do with his death, did you? Please God tell me you didn’t.”

  “He’s the one who stuck that needle in his arm,” he stated plainly, but I chose to read between the lines even though it crushed me to do so.

  “But you were there, weren’t you? You were the reason he had the drugs in the first place,” I deduced.

  The air was thick and heavy between us as I waited for him to answer. I could see him thinking about it. Calculating whether or not he should tell me the truth. A huge part of me thought for sure he would lie. That he would evade the consequences of his actions, believing me to be gullible and naïve. Maybe I had turned a blind eye to his behaviors before, but it was like the wool covering my eyes was obliterated and there was no going back.

  “I was there. He already had the drugs,” he confirmed.

  My knees buckled and I collapsed to the floor. Xavier moved to catch me at the last second but I pushed his hands away. Hot tears poured out of my eyes and down my cheeks.

  This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t really be this much of a monster. To lay beside me night after night knowing he played a hand in Kevin’s death. To be a lying, scheming sociopath and still touch me and tell me he loved me. My God, I was ready to marry the man. How dumb could I possibly be? Didn’t I learn anything after Kevin screwed me over?

  “I need to get out of here.” I wiped my nose on my sleeve and scrambled up to standing. I couldn’t stand to breathe the same air as him for a second longer. I was completely disgusted with both him and myself.

  “You’re not fucking leaving.” His hand gripped my arm and he pulled me back.

  “Watch me,” I said with more bravado than I actually felt. Wrenching my arm from his grasp, I made it three feet before his arms were steel bands around me. Caging me in.

  “I told you to run from me that night. You chose to stay,” he whispered sinisterly into my ear. His breath was a hot caress against my skin that gave me shivers.

  “You can’t keep me here,” I whimpered when his teeth sank into my skin, marking me.

  “Watch me. You and Sophie are mine.” I was a challenge. One he wasn’t going to lose. He made that clear when his mouth moved with intent over my skin—my neck, my ears. His hand kneaded my breast and coaxed my nipples into taut peaks. His other hand cupped me between my legs. My short skirt giving me no protection whatsoever from his probing touches.

  Passion exists in all forms—hate, love and indifference. My mind hated him and detested the very thought of him touching me. My body had other ideas. It was in tune with him. With his desires. With his touches. It was like a switch flipping. And even though I fought it, there was no stopping the passion that resulted when such raw and heightened emotions were at play.

  Sensing my acquiescence, he spun me around and pinned me against the wall of the closet. His mouth pressed firmly against mine in a bruising closed mouth kiss. His hands ripped at my silk shirt, causing it to fall into shreds at my feet. My breasts heaved as I struggled to breathe now that his tongue was plundering my mouth in hungry, desperate thrusts.

  His fingers pulled my skirt up above my hips before his hand dove into my panties. A long deft finger speared me and I cried out in his mouth. The hand he wasn’t pinning to the wall over my head, gripped his forearm as he finger fucked me into oblivion. I was moaning and writhing against him seeking more. Needing more. Too in a frenzy to think about the consequences of being with him again.

  “Fuck, I need to be inside you,” he panted against my lips.

  “Yes,” I whispered. My hand pulled from his grasp and I dove for his belt and zipper at the same time he ripped my thong off me. It settled on the floor at the same time he freed himself.

  Next thing I knew, I was going up, my legs wrapping around his waist at the same time he impaled me on his cock. I cried out when he filled me to bursting. He grunted as he pulled out and then powered in. And then my back was to the wall, the built in shelves practically bruising me with each brutal thrust of his body into mine.

  It was hot. It was sweaty. It was messy and it was wrong on so many levels.

  Embarrassingly quick, my muscles began tightening around him and his hand gripped my chin, forcing me to look at him.

  “You’re mine,” his words were a decree coming from his full sensual mouth. His dirty, filthy, lying mouth.

  “No,” I protested and tried to turn my head to the side.

  “Look at me, damn it,” he gritted out between clenched teeth. I had no choice but to do as he wanted when his hold on my face tightened. “You’re fucking mine. There’s no changing that. Until the day I die, you’ll be mine.”

  I closed my eyes to hide from him. To block the onslaught of shame and heartache that overwhelmed me. He let me have that but only for a minute. Because we were both cresting, our pleasure hitting its peak.

  “Fucking look at me, Aurora. See me,” he pleaded.

  At his tone, I opened my eyes and met his gaze. I saw him then. The good—the man who cherished and protected me and my daughter. The bad—the man who had demons and lived in darkness. And the ugly—the man who made choices for those around him and who killed men whether they deserved it or not.

  And as we climaxed together, I wasn’t so sure I could live with the monster staring me in the face. Telling me he loved me. Telling me I was his. Because never once in that time—not one single time—did he tell me he was sorry for betraying me. For ruining what was left of Kevin’s life and for robbing Sophie of her father.

  His lack of regret and guilt was something I couldn’t look past for it was the devil inside him that would be the end of us.

  * * *

  Xavier

  Xavier O’Brien fell asleep that night with Aurora asleep in his arms and Sophie tucked in her bed down the hall. He had insisted Candy bring her home and that they be a family. Them being together was the best thing given the circumstances of the evening. He knew it would take some convincing to get Aurora past her anger, but knowing her ex could never come between them again was worth it. He squeezed her a little tighter and sighed contentedly, letting sleep take him under, never knowing that Aurora laid awake plotting her escape.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Xavier O’Brien eyed the open wall safe. Behind him Ghost stood awaiting his next orders.

  Just as he suspected, he had a rat. A good one at that because only he, Ghost and Rodriguez knew about those letters.

  When he found the culprit, there would be no mercy shown. Not only was this a blatant attack on him, but it put stress on his and Aurora’s relationship. Stress he didn’t want or need.

  He knew he was going to have to manage the situation with her. Even though they fucked last night and she slept cuddled up to him, he knew he had a long road ahead of him. Knowing her, she was going to be upset for a good long while.

  He still wouldn’t change a thing. Not one single thing. Kevin was out of their lives permanently. Xavier wouldn’t have to stomach watching him kiss up to Aurora when the time came or suffer the blow every time he picked little Sophie up for a visit. Most of all, though, Xavier would never have to worry about the man trying to take what was his.

  Scrubbing his hands down his face, he turned to Ghost. The man’s face was blank, but Xavier could see his mind working behind his eyes.

  “Any idea who this was?” He asked of his right-hand man.

  “No. Tapes are missing from the cameras.”

  That wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

  “Someone knew enough
to break into my fucking office and open my safe with a fucking combination that only I should know. I don’t care what you have to do or who you have to torture. Find whoever this was and bring them to me,” he demanded.

  Ghost nodded his head and started for the door. Halfway there he turned back and assessed him for several seconds before speaking.

  “How’d she take it?”

  They hadn’t discussed Aurora’s reaction to the news or the fact that Ghost had warned him against keeping it from her. Not that Ghost would ever bring that last part up. He knew better. He enjoyed breathing easy and walking among the living.

  “It could’ve been worse,” was all he said. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

  “Right.” Back to business, Ghost pocketed his cell phone and went to leave.

  “Tell Aurora I need to see her,” Xavier called out to his retreating form.

  Aurora had been notably quiet that morning—something he expected—but now was not the time for him to give her distance and let her go inside her head. If he did, she’d find a million reasons to hate him. No, he needed to show her why they worked so well together and that he loved her. Every decision he made was with their future in mind. Eventually, she’d come around and see things his way.

  Ghost stopped in his tracks, his head swung around and his eyebrows rose half way up his forehead. “Aurora’s not here, boss.”

  “What the fuck?” Xavier bit out. When he left her sleepy form in bed that morning, she said she would be in at ten. It was almost one in the afternoon. She should have been there hours ago.

  “She’s not even on the calendar for today,” Ghost added.

  Xavier barely heard him. His phone was already out, the sound of the call to Aurora ringing in his ear.

  “Where are you?” He bit out when it went to voicemail, barely controlling his temper. It could blow up with the best of them. He was Irish after all. “Fucking call me.”

  Disengaging the call before starting another one, he hit fucking voicemail again. Leaving a similarly terse message, he hung up and was about to do it again.

  “Boss,” Ghost interrupted him.

  “What?” He barely spared the man a glance, silencing him with a finger when her voicemail greeting picked up once more.

  “I called up your security cameras on my phone. There’s nothing in the house. No movement. No signs of a break-in. I’ll send Luke over. He’s the closest.”

  “Do that. Tell him I’ll meet him there.” He slipped his phone in his pocket and started for the door. “Talk to that bitch, Candy, and find out what she knows.”

  The drive to his house took half the time it normally did as he weaved in and out of traffic, going well above the speed limit. He never should have left her alone. Too smug for his own good, he had foolishly believed she’d cow to him. He should have known better.

  When he pulled in the driveway and found it absent of her car, he knew deep in his gut she was gone. He just couldn’t bring himself to admit it.

  When he joined Luke in the foyer, the house was eerily quiet. Outside you could hear the water lapping at the shore, the birds chirping in the trees. Inside… nothing. Not even a pin dropping.

  Luke held out a folded up piece of paper. The man tried to keep a mask of indifference when delivering it, but it slipped and for one brief moment Xavier saw pity. He loathed that emotion. Certainly wasn’t used to it being aimed in his direction.

  Snatching the paper from Luke, he stalked off toward his office to find some privacy. Setting the paper on the desk, his hands may have shaken slightly as his fingertip traced his name in Aurora’s elegant handwriting.

  Opening up the offending piece of paper, he sank into his chair as the words repeatedly pierced his heart.

  Xavier,

  You don’t deserve for me to say this to you in a letter, but I think it is best we go our separate ways. If things were different I would be sitting in front of you right now, my hand on your cheek. And while you’d see anger simmering in my eyes, you’d also see the love I still have for you. The only reason that isn’t the case is because in true Xavier O’Brien fashion, you’ve left me no other choice.

  Even when you say you hear me, you really don’t. I can see that now. See that you only hear what you want and you definitely only do the things you want to do. Otherwise, you would have known that Kevin wasn’t a threat. That my love for you could transcend any history I had with him.

  I was yours. Sophie was yours.

  You were my light at the end of a very dark tunnel. One I was slipping and falling through as I tried to find my way. Without you, I never would have found my inner strength. I never would have listened to that voice telling me that I could make it through the storm and stand taller, not be broken by it. Regardless of the lies and manipulation, I wouldn’t be where I am today without all the love and support you gave us. After everything we’ve been through, I want you to know that I still love you.

  The only wish I have is that you realize your worth. That you see how you are so much more than the dark knight you think you are. That you realize that you don’t need to control every situation. Life is messy and it’s beautiful when you just let it happen.

  Please let life happen Xavier.

  Don’t try to find us. We aren’t meant to be found. Just promise you’ll remember me. Remember us. Because we’ll always remember you.

  Love,

  Aurora

  Red hot anger brewed within him, threatening to consume him and everything around him. What the fuck was she thinking with this nonsense? In one breath she told him that she loves him and in the next she said she’s leaving and to not fucking look for them.

  Did she fucking know him at all?

  And why the fuck was she sending mixed fucking messages.

  That’s a lot of fucks, even for you. He could practically hear her reprimanding him in his head, and it served as a swift kick to his gut.

  Digging his phone from his pocket, he hit her speed dial and waited.

  “Remember you?” The words were low and angry. After a pause, he let his wrath fly and roared, “Have you lost your fucking mind? How could I ever forget you?” After another long pause, he ordered, “Get your ass home. Now.”

  Stalking from the room, the letter from Aurora a crumpled mess in his hands, he found Luke standing sentry at the front door. The man was lucky his face was blank, otherwise he might have taken one between the eyes. Xavier was that angry.

  “Boss.” The man braced himself almost as if he knew there was a chance he was about to meet his maker.

  “Fucking find her,” his voice reverberated with tension. “I don’t care what you do or who you kill, you fucking find her.”

  Luke nodded and turned to leave, but then stopped and faced him again. A questioning look on his face.

  “Do you have a death wish?” Xavier seethed. His hand going to the holster on his belt.

  Luke shook his head and spread his hands out in front of him. “Just wondering if you have any clue where she might go. It’ll make it faster that way.”

  Fuck, but he should have thought about that.

  “Check with that Ruth lady and Candy. And fuck…” He tugged on his hair in frustration. “Talk to Marx.”

  The brutal fact that she may have enlisted that prick to help her was a knife through his heart. The sad fact was, he had no one but himself to blame for it.

  “Right,” Luke replied and headed out to his car.

  Picking up a statue on the table in the foyer, Xavier heaved it across the room, watching it crash into the wall and shatter into a million pieces.

  “Fuck,” he roared, his hands once again tugging on the strands of his hair.

  Stomping back to his office, he snatched his phone off the desk and dialed her number again. This time it went straight to voicemail.

  “You’re fucking ignoring me now?” he bellowed into the phone. “I’m going to find you, Aurora. Make no mistake about it. And when I do, I’m going
to get real creative with my punishment.”

  Slamming the phone onto the wood, he took several deep breaths attempting to calm himself. Threatening her was a surefire way to run her off. He needed to be smart and level-headed.

  Once he had his temper under control, he grabbed his phone and keys before stomping out of the house.

  His only mission?

  Find Aurora.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Xavier heard the ping announcing the elevator’s arrival on the penthouse floor.

  It was about fucking time.

  He continued to wait in silence as the sound of keys and the lock disengaging filtered into the room.

  The lights to the apartment turned on and he fought the squint his eyes wanted so desperately to give. Instead, his face was a mask of cold indifference. It wouldn’t do to show any emotion whatsoever right then.

  “Xavier,” Marx commented, showing no surprise whatsoever at finding the man brooding in his apartment, alone in the dark. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me,” he replied in a lethal tone. He wasn’t up for games. Marx knew exactly why he was there.

  Marx came further into the room. He removed his suit coat and draped it over a chair before unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling his sleeves up his arms.

  “For a moment, let’s assume I have no idea why you broke into my home.”

  Blood boiled in Xavier’s veins. Hot like lava, it threatened to consume him until he was a husk of a man set out for vengeance. Any gratitude he had towards Marx for saving Aurora’s life evaporated. He took a deep breath and willed his emotions to bend to his control.