Page 71 of Midnight Danger

My thumb circled over Xavier’s pulse for several seconds. “When we were at university, I was convinced someone was following me. I even went through a period of believing that my family had been deliberately killed. Megan took me to a firing range and I learnt to shoot, but I never mustered the courage to buy a weapon. Also, I didn’t have a valid reason for purchasing one. What was I supposed to say? That I believed my parents had been murdered and their killers were after me? They’d have locked me up.”

“It probably isn’t too far from the truth,” Ash muttered, and Jordan shot him a murderous glare.

Xavier’s fingers tightened around mine and I knew he’d been listening.

“It’s fine,” I replied. “I worked that out myself after the Malcolm incident. Somewhere in the middle of it was probably my father’s business partner, but he just didn’t have the stomach to kill me when he found me that night.”

“Zee’s already looking into it,” Jordan said vaguely, his fingers combing Megan’s hair back from her face. Why did he hide from his feelings when every so often they were clearly on display?

“Zee’s already dealt with it,” Xavier croaked, his hand running through his hair.

I lifted his legs and ran to get him a cool glass of water to sip. Ash helped elevate him into a sitting position, and I popped a straw into his mouth.

“Do you have a nurse’s outfit?” he teased, his voice raspy, the welt on his throat bright red.

“You nearly died,” I whispered, the terror of the night starting to wash over me.

He didn’t speak, just tugged me until my head rested on his chest. His heart beat solidly against my ear, reassuring me that he was alive. It was the same sound that lulled me to sleep every night. His fingers trailed through my hair.

“How’re you feeling?” Ash asked.

“Like shit,” Xavier rasped. “Everything sorted?”

“Jewels are safe,” Jordan replied. “I’ll study them tomorrow to see why everyone’s panties are in a twist. Marco no longer exists, so anything connecting Cas to his death is gone.”

I buried my head into his chest. “I killed him.”

“I know, baby.” Xavier just kept stroking my head, his strength starting to infuse into me. The pressure that had been steadily building in my chest began to subside. “Everything will be okay.”

When he said it, I believed him because no matter what, Xavier never lied. He belonged to a weird underground group who didn’t think twice about killing people. He owned a chain of sex clubs which catered to your every fantasy. He drank too much and drove too fast, but he never once lied to me.

“Will his family not be looking for him?” I asked, peering up at him.

“Marco doesn’t have a family,” Jordan intervened. “He is in a motorcycle club, which is the closest he ever came to a family, and I doubt any of them will mourn his loss. He slit the throat of his second-in-command a few months ago and there’s been unrest ever since. If you hadn’t shot him tonight, I have no doubt his days were numbered anyway.”

I sat back to gawp at Jordan. “Do you ever consider what you’re saying to people?”

“You wanted to know if his family would be looking for him.” He glared at me. “Sorry for answering your question.”

“Asshole,” I muttered darkly, going and getting Xavier another glass of iced water.

“Fuck you,” Jordan retaliated.

“My head is splitting; can you keep it down?” Ash snarked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Xavier swung his legs off the sofa to sit forward with his arms leaning on his knees. “Are we clean?”

“I’d prefer to stay out of our apartments until we’re clean from the CDRs. Everyone’s clothes are in black bags and it shouldn’t be an issue since there is no more body, but we need to be safe.” Jordan leaned back and stared at the painting on the wall.

It hadn’t even occurred to me that we’d been kept out of our apartment to prevent us from contaminating it.

“I’m grabbing the back bedroom to get some sleep. See you all in the morning.” Ash waved as he wandered through the apartment, lifting a bottle of whiskey on the way through.

There were four bedrooms in this apartment, each fully decorated with an en suite. The black training clothes in each were finally making sense.

“That’s a good idea, I’m shattered,” Jordan muttered, carefully manoeuvring a sleeping Megan in his arms. He stopped to look at me. “You did good tonight. It’s not easy to kill a man, but it’s even harder to bury someone you love.”

Xavier never looked weak, but for the first time tonight he looked tired and vulnerable. I moved to the window to watch the city and life continuing around us. His arm snaked around my waist to tug me against him.

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