Xavier: (Indestructible)

by Mortier, D. M.

Three pairs of angry eyes turned on Xavier. “Despite what you just saw, she’s our damn baby sister. So get your fucking eyes off her ass,” Anton growled at him.

  Xavier tucked his gun in the waistband at the back of his jeans, pulled the hoodie over his head, and silently melted into the night. The car license of the Honda Civic had been etched in his memory.

  Chapter Three

  Xavier stood under the hibiscus tree across the street from the basketball court. His obsession over Cassandra Kelly had gone to a whole new level. He had spent the last three weeks basically stalking her every movement. It had started at first with him trying to ensure she was safe from her violent brothers. However, whatever leverage she had over them was solid, and they didn’t dare hurt her. She definitely had them by the short hairs.

  She left the house in Yamacraw every morning around five a.m. for a run to Fox Hill Road and back again. Driving the same Honda Civic, at eight thirty a.m., she left the house again, dressed in colorful sports gear to go to work at the sporting goods store in Harbor Bay. At one p.m., she crossed the parking lot to the food store, purchased a two-liter bottle of Gatorade, two granola bars, and two bananas. She left the sporting goods store at exactly four p.m. and drove to the basketball court at the foot of the Sir Sidney Poitier Bridge. A male coach worked out with her for an hour, and then she met up with her brother Cameron and a few of his friends. They played basketball for hours, pitting their skills against each other in teams and in one-on-one contests. After they were done around seven p.m., she sometimes ran the two bridges, the new bridge going over Paradise Island and the old bridge leaving the island. Exhausted and dripping with sweat, she drove home to Yamacraw.

  Yeah. I noticed all of that about her. I did say that I’m an obsessed mudderfucker!

  Xavier had watched her maintain the same regiment for the last three weeks. He was in awe of her discipline and dedication to her sport. He loved watching her move about the basketball court. It was something he could easily appreciate even when she wasn’t playing basketball. Because of her prowess on the basketball court, it was easy to see why she moved with such innate grace.

  She was also being watched. Someone was sending men to watch her. He had spotted the men the first night he had seen her confrontation with her brothers. It was interesting that the men who watched her had not tried to stop her brothers’ abuse. Xavier stayed well out of their line of sight after that. He watched as they dogged her every step. Fortunately for Cassandra, she was never stationary long enough for them to act upon whatever plan they had for her. However, three days ago, they had made a move to grab her while she jogged. He had revealed himself by pretending to be a normal jogger, forcing them to pull back. The emotion that had engulfed him at the thought of harm coming to her had surprised and alarmed him. Never before had he felt so strongly about a woman. Lust he understood, but this other emotion wrapped in such choking vulnerability paralyzed him. I don’t fucking like it, but it doesn’t look like I have much of a choice. I’m hooked.

  Ever since that day, he had no longer remained invisible to the men following her, letting them know that they would have to go through him to get to her. He couldn’t afford to have them harm her. They continued their watch and so did he.

  Today Xavier pushed off the tree he was leaning against as a new group of young men joined Cassandra’s usual group of opponents. At first the game progressed as usual, with Cassandra and her crew taking on this new group. As point guard, Cassandra was quick, agile, and exceptionally skillful. Her dribbling dexterity in front, on the side, behind the back, and through the legs was completely obliterating their opponents. And, with her usual cocky demeanor, Cassandra taunted and teased her male defensive guard.

  “Come on, Kenny, can’t you stop me?” Cassandra dribbled the ball toward him and then, at the last second, dribbled the ball behind her back out of his reach.

  “I can take you, bitch,” Kenny growled. “I’m just playing with you, little girl. When I’m done with you, you’ll be on your knees, where you belong.”

  “Ah, a misogynist.” Cassandra laughed gleefully, and after a particularly smooth between-the-legs dribble, step fake forward, and a quick side step, she drilled a three-point shot over the head of an astonished Kenny for the fifth time.

  Everyone hooted with laughter. Even Kenny’s teammates appreciated her flawless accuracy. Kenny wasn’t so magnanimous. On the very next possession, with a clothesline move to rival any professional wrestler, Kenny slammed Cassandra to the hard asphalt ground.

  What the fuck? Xavier sprinted across the road, ignoring the forty-mile-per-hour on-coming traffic, weaving between cars to get to the court. His muscles churned, and his head buzzed with angry intent to beat the shit out of the bastard for hurting her. But by the time he reached the perimeter of the court, Cassandra was already on her feet and charging toward Kenny. Cameron quickly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back.

  “I’m going to kick your ass, you big douche,” she yelled.

  “Cass, calm the hell down,” Cameron shouted.

  “Shit,” Cassandra said softly as her knees buckled and she passed out against her brother.

  Xavier roared, no longer rational as he advanced on Kenny. My Cassandra is hurt! With the vision of her fainting helpless against her brother etched in his mind, he went berserk. Kenny’s eyes bugged out as Xavier picked him up with one hand around his throat and lifted him high in the air before bending his knees and slamming Kenny hard into the asphalt. Xavier smashed a massive fist into Kenny’s face, causing blood to gush from his nose.

  “Hey!” men shouted around him.

  Xavier felt male hands pulling on him, trying to restrain him from pounding the bastard into the ground. In cold fury he ignored all of them and lifted his fist to pummel the bloodied face again and again. And then soft feminine hands closed around his bicep.

  “Please stop. As much as I appreciate you defending me, I don’t want you in Fox Hill Prison.” Her warm amber gaze held his captive.

  Xavier rose slowly to his feet, unable to look away from her. If her touch wasn’t paralyzing enough, the sight of her almost sent him on his ass. She was dazzling up close and in daylight. It’s a good thing I rarely speak because I’m sure I would be speechless right now. What the fuck has she done to me?

  “So let me get this straight. I had to get knocked on my ass before you came over to say hi?” Cassandra grinned with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

  God, say something! I feel like a fucking boy confronted by his first crush.

  “Hi, are you going to speak?”

  “Hospital,” Xavier croaked. I should have killed that piece of shit. How could he hurt her? She still looks dazed, despite her smile.

  “What?” She frowned in confusion.

  Xavier cleared his throat, pissed that he was so tongue-tied around her. “You, hospital,” he choked out again.

  Cassandra started shaking her head. “Ah, no, I’m fine.”

  Enough! I’m not a damn punk. She will listen to me. Xavier looked beyond her to Cameron. “Take her to the hospital,” he demanded.

  Cameron opened his eyes wide in astonishment. “Dude?”

  Cameron’s wide-eyed alert was enough to let him know that Kenny had come up behind him. Xavier didn’t need to turn as he drove his foot with a backward kick into Kenny’s stomach. He had never lost his concentration in the middle of a fight, but Cassandra had the ability to distract his senses from everything else around him. He never removed his gaze off her beautiful face. He couldn’t, and he didn’t want to.

  Only by sheer luck did he hear Kenny wheezing in pain behind him when Kenny, yet again, tried attacking him. Xavier turned then, pissed that this idiot was interrupting his visual feast. This time he punched Kenny hard enough to send him crashing to the ground.

  Kenny was now out cold, his face bloodied and almost unrecognizable.

  Cassandra grimaced in pity. “Just goes to show you can’t beat sense into stupid.”


  Xavier felt the slight crack in his face again, and his gaze returned to her in wonder.

  Everyone reassembled, including Cassandra, as if they were about to continue the game.

  Xavier came out of his dazed state in a hurry then and stood in front of Cassandra, blocking her attempt to dribble the ball.

  “Hey, you need to move.” She grinned up at him. “We’re about to smoke these guys.”

  The remembered intoxicating scent of her hit him hard. She smelt of sweat and pure female, uniquely Cassandra. It made him immediately think of them writhing around between the sheets having sweaty marathon sex. He held his breath, afraid to breathe her in. The need to touch her, to taste her, almost made his eyes cross. “Hospital,” Xavier muttered between clenched teeth.

  Cassandra raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down slowly. “You’re panty-droppin’ beautiful and all, but I don’t take orders from any man. Thanks for your concern, hon, but as you can see, I’m fine.”

  Did she just call me beautiful? He mentally shook his head at the absurdity.

  Xavier turned and walked over to where she kept her gym bag. He picked it up from the sidelines and came back toward her.

  She looked up at him in astonishment and backed away as he came closer.

  Cassandra gazed in disbelief into the “I’m taking no shit” dark eyes of her chocolate obsession. She had been thinking about him since he tried to rescue her three weeks ago. Because of the criminal nature of what her brothers did, Cassandra had always taken meticulous notice of everything and everyone around her. Three days ago she had noticed his bulky figure watching their pickup game in the afternoon. Every day after, she noticed him jogging a half-mile behind her and caught glimpses of him sitting in the crowded parking lot outside the store where she worked. Knowing it couldn’t be a matter of courage, she had been hoping he would come over and eventually ask her out. It never occurred to her to be afraid of him or his stalker-like behavior. She was just as fascinated with him as he seemed to be with her. Besides, she knew in her gut that he was law enforcement. She had no idea which branch, but she was absolutely certain he was either an American police officer or a soldier. He reeked of discipline, authority, and danger; she was more than hooked.

  Everything about him had fascinated her three weeks ago, especially his unmistakable masculine strength and his beauty, despite the scars on his face. God, his voice alone, that deep baritone, makes my clit pulse and quiver, sending tingling need flittering in my stomach. Before him, I didn’t even know my clit could do that tip-tap dance.

  A week ago, she had noticed the other men who watched her as well. They were much more menacing in their intent. She knew who’d ordered them to do it and wasn’t at all fascinated by the Chinese boss who controlled them. Whenever he decides to make his move, I’m ready for his ass. Is this why Xavier is watching me? Perhaps he isn’t watching me at all but must be here for those guys. It will only take men like Xavier to bring men like them down.

  She couldn’t believe he was serious about her going to the hospital for that fall on her ass. I’ve fallen harder than that on the basketball court before. Those girls in college don’t play! Granted, I’ve never lost consciousness before, but he doesn’t need to know that. “Look, big guy, I’m fine. I don’t need a doctor,” Cassandra insisted as she continued stepping back away from him.

  She had never seen a guy that big move so fast. Before she could blink, his massive arm circled her waist and pulled her into him.

  “Hey! What the hell, man?” Cameron protested.

  Cassandra didn’t know if it was from the fall or from him, but she suddenly felt lightheaded again. Her body melted into the hard contours of his. His shining onyx gaze drilled into her. He seemed just as dazed as she was. He went perfectly still. It was as if he was the Rock of Gibraltar. He was so solid, immobile, staring at her as though he wanted to devour her instead of taking her to the hospital as he’d been insisting on.

  Cassandra licked her suddenly dry lips. And then she did something that she would swear on any stack of Bibles never happened if anyone asked: she surrendered to him. God, he smells divine. She closed her eyes in bliss. What the hell is wrong with me? I’m going to kill Kenny for making me act like a ninny! I feel weak as a damn kitten. She then committed the ultimate sin of placing her head on his broad shoulder in a helpless swoon.

  “Drive her car and follow us to the hospital.” With an arm under her knees and at her back, her black knight lifted her in his arms.

  Cassandra heard his voice as if it was muffled and came from a long away distance; she was too content to lift her head and investigate what was going on. His chest rumbled beneath her cheek as he gave her brother further instructions. Carrying her as if she weighed nothing, he walked to where he had parked his car across the street. She was only vaguely aware of being hustled into a dark SUV and driven about one mile along Shirley Street to Doctor’s Hospital.

  Once he was physically separated from her, it was as though her senses rebooted and came back on line. Being touched by him was like being zapped by electricity. “This is so unnecessary.” She tried reasoning with him when some of her equilibrium had been restored. “Have you ever been to this hospital? Getting in to see a doctor will take forever, and it’s bloody expensive. Trust me, you’re wasting our time.”

  He grunted.

  “You’re not much of a conversationalist, are you?” Cassandra asked impatiently.

  “Where do you hurt?” he asked her.

  “Damn, he speaks,” she teased. “Look, are you even listening to me? I’m fine. I’ve been hit to the floor numerous times. I ain’t dead yet.”

  “Are you in pain?”

  “No. I’m fine. Can we stop this? You need to take me back to my car.”

  He expertly parked his car in the hospital’s parking lot outside the emergency section. Without uttering a word, he cut the engine and came to collect her by opening the passenger side door. He picked her up and carried her out of the vehicle and started walking toward the hospital building. She didn’t protest. She couldn’t protest because again awareness seared through her like hot lava. By the time she was coherent enough to speak, he had lowered her to her feet and they were standing in front of the emergency room receptionist.

  The receptionist gasped when she raised her head and saw him standing there.

  Cassandra smiled, knowing how devastating he must look to the poor woman. With his velvet chocolate skin and the smoothness of his hair lying close to his scalp adding to his exotic looks, it was obvious he was from a mixed parentage. And seeing that neat goatee, no woman was going to resist him. Sure, he has numerous scars, but I see them as adding character to an otherwise too beautiful face. Yes, he’s big, but I love his massive, hard body and uncompromising masculinity.

  “M-may I h-help you?” the woman stammered.

  “Yes,” her knight said simply. He pulled her in front of him. “Cassandra needs a doctor.”

  “Hey, h…how do you know my name?” It was her turn to stammer.

  Both the receptionist and her knight ignored her. The receptionist waved a nurse over to them, who immediately took them into a small interview room.

  “Look, I can’t keep calling you hey. Since you seem to know who I am, would you kindly tell me your name?” Cassandra muttered as the nurse got comfortable in front of her computer.

  “I need an ID, insurance card, and a credit card,” the nurse said, interrupting Cassandra’s disgruntled speech.

  Her knight opened his palm in front of her. “ID?”

  Cassandra thought for a moment to be defiant but quickly thought better of it when she thought of him rummaging through her gym bag. There were numerous intimate items in the bag no potential love interest should see. She dug out her ID and silently passed it to him. She then had to sit through a set of embarrassing questions the nurse asked. What is your date of birth, what is your weight, when was your last period, are you on birth control? Lord, open
this floor right now and suck me into the abyss!

  Her knight gave the nurse a black credit card and his ID.

  Now the damn nurse knows his name and I don’t. How is that fair?

  Cassandra couldn’t believe how fast she was processed through and immediately saw a doctor on the sight of that black credit card. Two hours later, they were back in the car parking lot, where Cameron sat in her car waiting. It was already dark out, as it was well past eight o’clock in the night.

  Cassandra was tired, hungry, and irritable. She stopped beside the Honda, folded her arms, and looked up at him as he stood in front of her. “I’m not going to thank you for that.”

  “Do as the doctor instructed and take a day off from training tomorrow,” he said.

  “What is your name?”

  “You are very young,” he answered instead.

  “What does that mean? I’m an adult.”

  He reached behind her and opened the passenger side door. After he helped her into her seat, he ran the rough pad of a finger down her cheek. “Be good and rest. You don’t want to jeopardize your last year at UNC.” He looked at Cameron. “Drive carefully and take care of her.” He turned and walked away.

  Cassandra stared after him in disbelief and frustration. So he had me investigated?

  Chapter Four

  Xavier breathed a sigh of relief when it was ten minutes after five a.m. and Cassandra hadn’t come out for her usual morning run. But he wasn’t so happy at four p.m. when she drove to the basketball court. He pulled his SUV right alongside her Honda Civic. They were parked across the street from the still vacant court; not even her coach had arrived yet. As she climbed out of the car, he blocked her from moving farther.

  “Not happening, go home,” he said softly.

  She placed her hand at her waist and glared at him. “Since I have no clue who I’m talking to, anything you have to say is irrelevant.” She moved to get around him.