Page 51 of Xander
Xander – Sweet dreams, baby.
***
Xander – Morning, baby. Have a good day.
Me – Morning, honey. You too.
***
“Nola, sweetheart, I’m worried about you,” I continued, kneading the dough that I was working on as I listened to my Aunt Tempie, confused about what she was talking about.
“Why are you worried about me?” I asked her with confusion lacing my tone.
“Sweetheart, Xander is, well, you see, honey, he’s dangerous. He’s got a lot of baggage that followed him into the MC. You need to stop spending so much time with him.” Every word that came from her mouth angered me.
“Do you know what kind of baggage he carries? Why do you think he’s so dangerous?” I asked her.
Then she said, “He doesn’t talk a lot. He never lets anyone touch him, those things alone. Those are not normal.”
I never thought I could ever be so ashamed of my aunt any more than I am right now. “So, would you think someone who is mute, someone who can’t talk, is dangerous? Would you think that a child who’s been raped and doesn’t want anyone to touch her is dangerous? And how the hell would you know of the baggage he carries when he rarely speaks?”
“It's all in his eyes, the way he carries himself, the way he metes out justice. It's vicious. All you have to do is look at one dangerous person and you will be able to recognize another, easily.”
With that, I stopped moving my hands, and then I said the words that I never thought I would ever say to my aunt. “I don’t know what's worse. Assuming things about a person or warning someone away when you have no clue what the hell you're talking about.”
I inhaled a breath and said, “How dare you basically condemn him for no reason at all? When I’m with Xander, he gives me everything in thirty seconds that I ever had with my parents. He’ll never know that. I’ll not condemn him for the words coming out of your mouth when you think you know something about him that you have no clue about what you're talking about. I’ve never been ashamed to call you my aunt. But I am right now.”
My chest was huffing, my hands were shaking, and I couldn’t remember ever being this angry with someone.
I stepped to the sink, washed my hands, grabbed a hand towel, dried my hands, then started walking out of the kitchen, only to stop to see Xander standing there at the entryway.
“This is what you need to focus on. If she ever leaves, I’ll turn my kutte in, and I’ll go with her. If that isn’t enough for you then you need to look in the mirror and evaluate your own life.”
‘When the reason you were put on this earth finally becomes clear.’
– Xander’s Secret Thoughts.
Chapter 7
Xander
Once I said that, I felt every pair of eyes on me, but I stood strong, unwavering.
And then Nola made her way to me, anger brimmed in those golden tawny flecked, colored eyes of hers, for me.
And what she did.
What she said...
I moved.
I wrapped my hand around the side of her neck and pulled her to me.
Her body connected with mine, fitting perfectly, almost as if she was made for me, and I kissed her.
Hard. Deep. Long.
Silence surrounded us.
