Princess: Ridgeview Prep Book 2

by Quinn, Londyn

  “What does that mean?” I spit out between sniffles. What does any of it mean? Does he really love me? Is it even possible for an Iazetti to truly love someone? Is he just telling me these things to calm me down?

  No. It can’t be. Xander wouldn’t keep coming back, keep trying to do the right thing, keep trying to do better if he didn’t actually love me.

  The realization of that fact calms me a little as I turn to look at Xander, still waiting for his answer.

  His eyes were fixated on the road as his jaw churned. “It means that I am going to take you home and then I have to take care of something.”

  “No,” I force out of my mouth. “I meant do you actually love me?”

  The words linger around me as Xander’s shoulders soften a little. He shoots a quick glance over to me while sucking in a deep breath.

  “Charlotte, I really do love you, and I always have.”

  Chapter 9

  Xander

  I have to find Lorenzo, and if he doesn’t talk, I’m gonna tear each of his limbs from his body before putting a bullet between his eyes.

  Blood courses through my veins, boiling as it flows. I hold Charlotte tight in my arms as she clutches me.

  Like I’m gonna leave her.

  Again.

  Last time I pushed her away, she got into a car with that asshole Blaine and almost died.

  She needs to know that won’t happen again, but because of my shitty track record, it’s no wonder she doesn’t believe me.

  Hell, I’d think I’m full of crap, too.

  I’d been able to console her long enough to drive her back to her house, and somehow we’d managed to escape the prying eyes of the house staff long enough to sneak up to her bedroom.

  What happened the last time we laid on this bed together is what started the fucking downward spiral in the first place.

  I breathe her in, the sweet smell of coconut wafting under my nose as her breathing finally settles.

  “Xander, what does this mean?” she murmurs with a loud sniffle. “Why did he mention Andrew? How could he have known?”

  I shake my head, my jaw twitching when I think of all the ways I’m gonna make Lorenzo remember once and for all who the fuck owns him. Spoiler…it ain’t Moretti and his asshole crew.

  It’s the Iazettis.

  “I don’t know, babe.” I stroke her hair, smoothing it away from her face. “I mean, it’s public record. If he’s got some beef with your dad, it’s easy enough to dig up information to use that’ll scare you. And him.”

  “Do you really think his issue is with my father?”

  “Why else would he be coming after you?” I ask the question, knowing full well that there’s another glaring reason why and it’s currently stroking her back.

  Fuck.

  “I don’t know. I mean, I was away from here for a long time. It was much easier to get to me in London without my security all over the place. Everyone knew I was away. Why is he doing this now?”

  A loud pinging sound blares out and I grab my phone, trying to come up with a response for her. My eyes narrow at the screen. It’s a message from Dad.

  I need you to get to my office. Now.

  I roll my eyes. My father just got back to town from his business trip and all of a sudden, he needs to see me? Fucking Jase must have alerted him about something I dropped the ball on. He just can’t wait to take every opportunity to tear me down, especially after seeing how Phoenix chose me to help him with—

  Shit. This is about the other night when Phoenix asked me to help him corner Lorenzo after Scarface stalked me and Charlotte at the beach and me casually choosing Charlotte over my family obligations.

  I ignore the text and shift on the bed, wondering what kind of bullshit I can make sound the least bit plausible for her inquiring mind while I figure out how to defend my actions to my father. “Maybe because he proved he can get to you right under your controlling asshole of a father’s nose and that was more of a win for him?” I wait, holding my breath. It sounded pretty convincing, but is it enough for Charlotte?

  “He obviously has no idea that my father doesn’t give a damn about me, whether I’m in London or Ridgeview,” she mutters. “So if he’s trying to use me to scare big bad Charles, he should know that my father already lost the kid he cared about.”

  I squeeze my eyes shut, gritting my teeth. That motherfucker. He’s really the one I want to tear apart limb by limb.

  I’ll have to circle back to him after I figure all of this other shit out.

  Other shit meaning…is it really me who put Char in Scarface’s path?

  Did I almost lose the girl I love for the second time because of my own dumbass decisions?

  My phone pings again with another angry text, and I ignore it for the second time. He is seriously going to kick my ass when he sees me, but I can’t leave her.

  Now or ever.

  She pulls herself up onto her knees so that she can see my face and I sure as hell hope she can’t read my expression right now. I let her down too many times before. I can’t do it again. I won’t. I’ll protect her with everything I have.

  No matter what.

  She places her hands on my shoulders and straddles me, pressing herself against my chest. “You’re the only person I trust, Xan. The only person I wanted to see after the accident, the only one I want to be around, the only one I want to…” Her lips quiver. “The only one I want, period,” she whispers.

  I cup the sides of her face and lean my forehead against hers. “You’re the only one I want,” I say, my voice cracking the slightest bit. “You’ve always been that person, Char.”

  “I want to believe that,” she whispers, tears streaming down her face. “I need to, because there is nothing else in this world that can make me as happy as you do. And for as much as you’ve hurt me, I can’t pull myself away from you. That makes me a real glutton for punishment,” she says with a sniffle-snicker.

  “I was an asshole when you got back.”

  “You were an asshole before I left,” she corrects.

  I smirk. “Okay, fine. I have been an asshole for a long time. And I’m sorry. I made bad choices, and I regret them more than you know. But I’m going to make them all up to you. I know what I want, Char. It’s you. It’s always been you. Even when I hated you, I fucking loved you.”

  “Same,” she says, hugging her arms around my neck.

  When the third ping makes my spine stiffen, Charlotte pulls away slightly. “Who’s so desperate to talk to you? Those schmucks you call friends? Dipshits one and two?”

  I snicker. “Nah. Not after the pickup game we just played.”

  “You beat their perfectly coiffed little asses and now they’re pissed off and want a rematch?”

  “Well, the beating part is true.” I run a hand through my hair. “But that’s not all. Chase was laying into me pretty hard about…stuff.”

  Charlotte cocks an eyebrow. “Care to elaborate?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about. Just things he doesn’t understand. Things that help keep order.” I shrug. “And since I don’t like to be questioned about the way I deal with those things, especially when they are none of anyone’s business, I took off.”

  “That sounds familiar,” she muses, tapping a finger to her cheek, the corners of her lips quirking upward. “Xander hears something he doesn’t like. Xander gets angry. Xander storms away because he bottles shit inside and can’t have a conversation without erupting like a soda can that’s been shaken.”

  “I’m not that way with you anymore.”

  “Hence, the reason why I can joke with you about it.” Her expression sobers. “But you really need to temper that whole thing. It’s not healthy to let things fester. They eat you alive after a while.”

  “That’s a little like the pot calling the kettle black, yeah?” I ask, twisting a strand of her hair around my finger.

  “No, see I wanted to tell you all of those things, but you blocked my numb
er,” she teases. “I was very comfortable with telling you what a complete jackass you were.”

  “Yes, I remember hearing that a few times over the past few weeks.” I drop a kiss onto her nose. “I’m so glad you feel healthier now that you’ve told me what you’ve thought of me over the past couple of years.”

  “I feel like a new woman.” She giggles, the sound dying on her lips a few seconds later. “So if it wasn’t Chase and Asher, who keeps texting you? Your brothers?”

  I shake my head. “My dad.”

  “And you’re avoiding him because…?”

  “Because I don’t want to hear what he has to say.”

  “What if it’s not what you think?”

  I lift an eyebrow. “If it’s not what I think, it can only be worse, and that’s more of a reason to stay away.”

  “I think you need to go to him.”

  “Oh, you do?” I slide a hand up the side of her shirt. “You really want to get rid of me that badly?”

  She swats away my hand. “Never. But I just think, you know, you have a parent who actually wants to talk to you about something. He wants to see you for some reason. How bad could that be? At least you’re not invisible, which is probably the worst fucking feeling in the world.”

  Little does she know I pray for a cloak of invisibility on a nightly basis.

  So far, my efforts have been pretty damn futile.

  “What if I don’t want to leave you? I mean, you just suffered something pretty traumatic. Don’t you want me to hang out here with you so you aren’t alone?”

  Do I trust that she’ll be safe here on her own?

  I sure as hell know she’s safer here by herself than wherever her bastard father is slithering around like the low-life snake that he is. Luckily, that’s away from here, at least for the moment.

  I can always go to my dad’s office and come right back. The security booth is staffed and there are housekeepers floating around as always. I didn’t see Rolland on the way in, but he must be here, too, unless he’s driving the asshole somewhere.

  “Listen, I am rattled as anything, Xan. But I have to stand on my own two feet. I won’t use you as a crutch because I’m scared. Yes, I want to find out who the hell that guy is and what he wants with me, but I seriously doubt he’s going to scale the walls of this place and ring the doorbell looking for me.” She takes a deep breath. “Besides, maybe you’re right. Maybe he said that stuff to scare me, using me to get to my dad. It kind of makes sense, but would work only if he cared about my well-being which…” She rolls her eyes. “We both know he doesn’t.”

  “Char, he’s the last person I’d ever defend but I know when push comes to shove, he knows what’s important in his life.”

  Charlotte slides a hand down the side of my face. “Oh, Xander. Where the hell did that come from? I mean, I know you’re a bullshitter, but that? You deserve an Academy Award for not bursting into laughter when those words came out of your mouth.”

  I let out a snort. “There’s a tiny part of me that wants to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

  “He doesn’t deserve it,” she snips.

  “No, he definitely doesn’t deserve you,” I say in a soft voice, my lips grazing hers. I wrap my arms around her, slipping my tongue into her mouth, drinking her in with a deep, aching need that has commanded me since the second she set foot back into my life.

  “I love you,” I whisper against her mouth.

  “I love you, too.” She pulls away a bit, gripping my t-shirt. “Now go and get back here so you can do that again, do you hear me?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I salute and slide off of her bed.

  “Maybe when you come back you’ll be showered,” she says with a little twinkle in her eye.

  “Maybe when I come back we can shower together,” I say with a shrug. “You know, just a suggestion. To save water and whatnot.”

  * * *

  I pull The Judge into the parking lot at my father’s office building on the other side of Ridgeview about half an hour later. Once I had a taste of Charlotte, I couldn’t let her go right away. There might’ve been some more kissing, some more touching, some more flicking—

  Fuck. I want to be back in Charlotte’s bedroom with my face between her legs right now, not feeling as if I’m on death row being escorted to the electric chair.

  I get out of the car and trudge up to my father’s office on the third floor. I never take the elevator, just the stairs. I have a fear of being in confined spaces, so I’d much prefer to be in control of my surroundings.

  Ironic, considering my surroundings are usually out of my control in most situations.

  I guess that’s why I always take the stairs.

  I’ll always have the stairs.

  I pull at the hem of my t-shirt, trying to smooth out the wrinkles before I see my father, but it doesn’t matter what I look like right now. He didn’t bring me here to judge my outfit. He brought me here to rail on my ass for not upholding my end of the bargain, that bargain being I take care of family responsibilities and he doesn’t have me terminated.

  Maybe that’s a little dramatic, but the long and short of it is that I didn’t do my job and there will be consequences.

  Ha. And I was just talking to Chase and Asher about the dipshits who don’t consider consequences.

  I knock on the closed door, avoiding stares of the others cowering in their little cubicles, researching real estate investment properties or whatever the hell bullshit work he has them doing just to look busy.

  “Come in,” he barks, and I push open the door. He’s all ready for me, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, his spine so straight, it looks like he might actually have a pole shoved up his ass to keep that ridiculous posture.

  “Hey, Dad. When did you get ba—?”

  “Do you think I have time to chase you down, Xander?” he asks. “Do you think I have nothing better to do than send you messages over and over again, waiting for a response that never comes?”

  “Well, I was actually—”

  “Save it, son.” He shakes his head, pressing his fingers against his temple. “I just wanted to confirm something with you before I make a decision.”

  I blink fast, not expecting this turn in the conversation. “Confirm what?”

  “I met with Phoenix earlier to get a status on things, and he mentioned you are planning to go to Chicago. Is that true?”

  That motherfucker! Jesus Christ, I know I’ve always had to battle with Jase, but Phoenix? He’s my only goddamn ally in this business! And he sold me out to Dad! It wasn’t even Jase! My jaw drops and I’m not even sure how to navigate this.

  Dad lifts an eyebrow. “Either you want to go or you don’t.”

  “I, um, yeah, I do want to go, but, ah…” How can I tell him that maybe my feelings have changed? That maybe I want to stay put because being with Charlotte is more important to me than this life? Than my place in it? How do I speak those words, knowing my perceived commitment to the family is already suspect.

  “But what?” Dad asks, folding his arms over his chest.

  “Well, there’s still more to do here. I mean, we have the Moretti shit to deal with, plus Gio Rossi is moving in. He caused Charlotte’s accident,” I blurt without thinking.

  Dad narrows his eyes. “What accident?”

  “Oh, so Phoenix found the time to sell me out but didn’t tell you what’s been going on here?” I roll my eyes. “Rossi is sniffing around. I thought it was because he was looking for me, you know, to get to you for Moretti. But he ramrodded the car Charlotte was in the other day, mentioned something about Andrew, how his death wasn’t an accident.”

  “And you were supposed to look into him a couple of days ago, before that accident happened, yes?”

  I throw my hands into the air. “Fine! Yes! I was supposed to go with Phoenix to figure out what the hell these guys are planning in our territory and I didn’t go! I blew him off to be with Charlotte!”

  Dad nod
s. Of course he already knows, for fuck’s sake. “So you chose not to fulfill your family obligations, the ones that keep all of us, including your mother, safe. Is that right?”

  “Yes, but it was just a few hours. I told Phoenix I was ready to go the next night.”

  “And if they’d made a move while you were with Charlotte, if they’d have taken out your brother because you didn’t have his back, what would have been your rationale?” Dad slams his fist on the desk. “You chose her over family. Again! Do you realize how badly things could have gotten for us if they decided to strike that night? Without you there to help defend everything we’ve worked for?”

  “Well, he had Jase,” I say in a terse voice. “I mean, Jase is your guy, right? He could have handled it. You give him all of the big shit to do anyway! He would have been happy to have something to rub my nose in afterward. Showing me how he saved the family when I couldn’t!”

  “We’ve had this conversation before, Xander. And quite frankly, I’m tired of your pissing matches. Neither one of you seem to get the bigger picture, that we need to show a goddamn united front to our enemies or else we’re fucking dead!” He steps closer toward me, his nostrils flared. “Do you get that, son? Because I don’t believe you understand exactly what we’re up against.”

  “Then maybe you need to talk to me instead of just giving me orders without any context! I try to do what you want me to. I try to figure out the best way to handle things because you never tell me! You just shit all over me when I don’t do it your way!”

  Dad is silent for a minute. Then he finally nods. “You know what? You’re right. This area is too involved, there is too much risk to be overlooked. I can’t have the wrong people doing my work here. I need to make sure that my guys are clear on what to look for and how to approach certain situations.”

  “That’s exactly right,” I say. “You can’t expect us to read your mind, Dad. We need—”

  “What you need is exactly what you requested. A transfer to Chicago where you can work side by side with Phoenix and learn directly from him. And I think the sooner you get that training, the better.” He stares at me, his jaw twitching. “But let’s not wait until graduation. The threats are real and they get closer every day, not only here but in our other territories. I need well-trained guys to handle them.” The corners of his lips curl upward into a knowing smirk. “That’s why I’m sending you to Chicago with Phoenix when he leaves next week.”