Page 118 of The Bet
“Fun times.”
She smiled, and it was the stupidest smile that stayed on her face the entire time she was on the subway.
She was there before she knew it, smoothing down her hair as she got the elevator to his apartment. She was still messing around with her hair by the time she walked to his door.
“Hey,” he said, standing with the door wide open and wearing a five o’clock shadow as if it was made for him.
“Hey. You look a little rough,” she remarked carefully.Sexy rough.
“It hasn’t been the best of weeks,” he replied, closing the door behind her.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “You know about my math drama, but what’s going on with you?”
“It’s nothing.”
The hell it was nothing. “Tobias?” she asked, hazarding a guess. He shook his head as if not wanting to talk about it. Why would he want to talk to her about matters close to his heart?
She placed her knapsack on the floor and, following his lead, walked over to the couch, sitting at one end, while he sat at the other.
“He’s still pissed with me for taking that contract with Hennessy.”
He was willing to talk about it. She leaned forward, eager to hear. “Because of that guy who used to be his friend?”
“Yes.” Xavier ran his hand across his jaw, over the dusting of dark hairs, as if he wasn’t used to it. “Something’s up with him. Taking your advice, I went to his office and tried to have it out with him.”
As pleased as she was that he’d listened to her, she could sense that the outcome hadn’t been good. “Tried to?” she asked, then looked away when he caught her staring at his stubble, and at the beaded bracelet he wore around his wrist.
“We ended up having more words. I actually managed to say what I needed to.”
“Oh,” she gasped, lightly. “I was hoping you two might get to clear the air.”
“No.”
“Were you two ever close?”
“Honestly?” He shook his head. “I don’t know. Probably not. I liked to think so, but he’s got Savannah and Jacob now, and—”
“And, you think he’s not bothered about you?”
“Tobias is … complicated, and competitive, and he likes to win.”
“Don’t you? Like to win, I mean?” she asked, aware that she was pushing at the edges of an intangible boundary. Probing deeper, and each time she pushed forward, he opened up. He seemed to want someone to talk to, and she wanted to help.
“Not as badly as he does.”
He scratched above his eyebrow and gave her a look that filled her with curiosity. A feeling of empathy flowed into her, making her see, as if the curtain had been lifted, and a spotlight had exposed Xavier's deepest wound.
“At least you tried.”
“Tobias can do what he likes. People always side with him. He’s used to it. Nobody is ever going to correct him, because he is so wealthy and successful. The real rules and laws don’t seem to apply to him.”
She understood exactly. But she didn’t feel that Tobias was in the same camp as those types of people, like Shoemoney, or the businessman who’d trampled on her father’s dreams.
“Tobias doesn’t strike me as someone who is inherently bad. I’ve met those types of people, and your brother isn’t one of them.”
He leaned forward, looking at her as if he still had unanswered questions, but didn’t dare to ask them. “No, he’s not a bad person. Not like that.” His voice, and the way he looked at her reminded her of that night at the fairground, of his arms around her, and his body close to hers. A myriad of scenes, from that night, and others from her subsequent thoughts about that night, flooded her senses, temporarily disarming her.
“Why’s your one test result bothering you?” he asked, completely changing the topic and making her think that he wasn’t interested in whose side she was on. The realization made her scratch her wrist, gave her time to process this disappointment, and to think. Why would she think that being here with Xavier Stone meant anything? The guy could have any woman he liked, and he probably did. Why would he have any interest in a college girl like her?
