Page 37 of The Bet
Chapter 11
“Xavier?” Savannah’s father looked at him in confusion, before opening the door wider to let him in. “Tobias and Savannah aren’t back for a few weeks.”
“I expect he already knows that, don’t you, dear?” The woman he recognized as Savannah’s mother came to the door and gave him a grandmotherly smile. “Let him in, Dale.”
Her husband gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry, son. I was only following strict orders here.”
“Don’t worry,” Xavier told him. “Tobias can be a real control freak when it comes to these things. I completely understand.”
“He was very explicit in his instructions about Jacob, as you can imagine, and Savannah still worries about Jacob.”
“I didn’t want Jacob to get bored.” He smiled sweetly at the boy’s grandparents. “Not that he’s getting bored with you, that’s not what I meant. I’d like to take him out for the day somewhere. Catch a movie, or something. Do some kids’ stuff.” Only he wasn’t sure, now that he was here, exactly what kids’ stuff a little boy would want to do.
“He’s in the pool, with Izzy.”
“Is he?”
Jackpot. He had to fight hard to hold back the smile. Izzy here already, and in the pool? Hopefully wearing a bikini.
The stars were on his side.
“I’ll go find them.”
Tobias hadn’t cared much for the pool and sauna and the other amenities situated in the basement of his condominium—he’d preferred to run alone, hitting the streets of New York in the silent hours, or spend time venting his frustrations and anger out in the boxing ring. But it didn’t surprise him that Jacob would make good use of it. And he was thankful for that.
“Did you bring your swim trunks, dear?” He heard Savannah’s mother call out after him, just as he closed the door behind him,
~ ~ ~
“Catch me!” Jacob shrieked, and splashed wildly as he tried to get away.
“I’m coming!” Izzy waded after him, but slowly, allowing Jacob plenty of time to get away.
The return to college after Fiji had been hard. It had been crazy of her to think she could slip back into her normal routine, and relatively boring student life after those glorious days of walking on white, powdery sand, in the heavy heat, with the aquamarine sea gently lapping at her feet.
New York in October was cold and miserable, in comparison.
The whole of last week had been like a dream compared to the harsh reality of her world.
Privately, she reveled in the knowledge that she had been to Tobias Stone’s wedding, even though nobody had any idea.
It wasn’t big news among her friends, apart from Cara, and it wasn’t surprising given that Tobias wasn’t a famous celebrity. But she had seen a couple of magazines and newspapers, none with pictures of the wedding, but older pics of Tobias and Savannah and so-called ‘wedding news’. It gave her a chuckle in itself, that she had been there, had seen the wedding, had spent the time there, and was now back in the fold, and nobody but Cara knew.
Savannah had told her that Jacob’s grandparents would be around to make sure Jacob was fine during the weekdays, but that she wanted him to have company during the weekends, and this she had no problem with. It was a nice and easy and fun way of earning extra cash. She had arrived early this morning, to find Jacob up and ready in his swim trunks.
“You can’t catch me!” Jacob squealed.
“Yes I can!” She waded towards him easily, and then touched his shoulder. He shrieked, then waved at someone behind her. She turned around, and her face crumbled when she saw him.
God, no.
What washedoing here?
Xavier stood at the edge of the pool, thankfully still fully clothed. She swept her hair back, standing up in the water, watching, as Jacob swam to the pool edge.
“Hey, dude. How are you doing?”
“Having lots of fun.”
