Page 71 of Twisted Mates

TWENTY-TWO

Alexia

After cleaning up our newest inkandthe mess we made between our legs, I went back to the bedroom to take a shower and left Xander to tidy up his in-house tattoo station. But he didn’t let me go easily; he kissed me goodbye at least three times and pulled me back to his lap more than once. Not that I minded. It must be some kind of “new mate connection.” I legitimately do not want to be apart from him for longer than a few minutes.

I’m humming an upbeat tune under my breath, stripping off Xander’s shirt and turning on his shower when my phone rings. “Who the hell is that?” I mutter, but when I look at the screen, I feel silly because I should’ve known.

I slide to answer and before I can get a word in, Carrington screeches in my ear, “Alexia Bernadette Rush! Where are you? Everyone is freaking out!”

My eyes widen at the use of my full name, and I hold the phone away from my ear. “For the goddess’ sake, Carrington. Chill. I’m fine.”

“That’s not an answer. Where are you? You took off and didn’t tell anyone.”

I take a deep breath. As soon as I tell Carrington where I am, everything is going to implode. I start slow. “I’m at the beach.”

I can hear the confusion in her voice. “The beach?”

“Yes.”

“What beach? Who are you w—” She freezes as if she has just figured it out, and she’s putting together the puzzle in her brain.

“Carrington? You there?”

“You’re with?—”

“Yes. I’m with Xander.”

I hear a thud on the other end of the line. I have a feeling it’s her fist pounding onto something solid. “I knew it! You lied to me.”

“I had to, Carrington. Your father was determined to?—”

“To what? Try and help you work it out with yourmate?”

I nearly laugh at the irony, but I hold it in. “No. To make my life miserable and end up killing Xander.”

“You’re so dramatic. Dad would never do that. And stop deflecting. I asked you point blank if you and Xander had something going on and you said no. What the hell is wrong with you?”

I sigh, and a pang of guilt hits my chest. “I’m sorry, Care. I knew you wouldn’t take it well, and you were already so upset about Kai leaving. I just couldn’t upset you?—”

“Well, Kai is on his way home right now. Father is expecting you here when he arrives. That’s why I called. So you and Xander need to put an end to whatever fling you have going on, and we can just pretend this never happened.”

I swallow and press my lips together. “Wait. Y’all found Kai?”

“I told you he’d eventually come back for you, Alexia. And now you’ve run off with ourbrother?That’s kind of screwed up.”

Okay, now she’s starting to piss me off. “I haven’trun offwith anyone. Yourfathercan expect whatever the hell he wants, but I will not be there when Kai gets back. I won’t be there at all.”

The door cracks open and Xander eases into the room. He leans against the wall and crosses his arms over his chest.

“I wonder how your parents will feel about all of this. You claimed Kai as your mate in front of everyone. You’re going to disgrace your family, Lex. That isn’t like you at all,” she says, a hint of disappointment in her tone.

“Kai is not my mate; Xander is.”

Goddess, can I not keep my mouth shut for three seconds? Probably should not have told her that.

“What? That’s impossible. The choice is never wrong, especially after a cleansing.”

Xander closes the distance between us and softly says, “She isn’t going to understand. They’ll need to see us for it to sink in. We should go and put an end to all of this.”

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