Page 10 of Breaking the Rules
“Who said anything about payroll? I volunteered.”
“Good, then you’ll be even easier to get rid of,” she snapped.
“Angel, there’s no shaking me loose this time. I’m going to find out what’s going on, and I’m going to help you out of this mess, even if I have to drag you out by your hair.”
“Hey, Wave, wait’ll you see the dress Mari found y—holy fuck.” The shopping bags Kate held tumbled to the deck as she took in the scene.
“Are your fingers broken?” Mari snipped at her from inside. “Don’t just throw—Aye,mierda.”
“Ladies,” Xavier said, inclining his head to where Kate and Marisol stared open mouthed on the deck.
Waverly took control—and another step away from Xavier. “Kate, Mari, I don’t know if you two remember Xavier Saint. He was with us forsucha short time and left us so suddenly.”
Xavier stepped up to her side. “God, I missed your smart mouth,” he murmured.
“Fuck you, Saint.”
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“What do you mean he’s working for you again?” Kate said several decibels above conversational level.
Waverly pulled the pillow off of her face and glared at Kate from her position on the bed. “My father hired him to guard me after I get out of rehab.”
“So fire his ass and send him packing. What’s the studio going to say when they get wind of this?” Kate demanded from where she lay on the floor next to Waverly’s bed.
“I’ll find a way to get rid of him before that becomes an issue,” Waverly said with more conviction than she felt.
“What are you going to do, kill him?”
“Maybe just maim him,” Waverly decided. “He wouldn’t be able to keep up with me with a leg shot, right?”
“Is it just me, or is he even better looking now than five years ago? I mean, it should be criminal to look that fine,” Kate said wistfully.
“Kate!”
“What? I’m sorry, but he’s like a freaking god or something. How are you going to control yourself with him under the same roof?”
“Kate!” Waverly yelled it this time.
“Sorry.” Kate pulled herself up and put her elbows on the bed. “I’m just… thrown. He is the last person I would have expected to show up here. I would have been less surprised to see some gun-wielding maniac from Tahoe or—”
“For the love of God, Kate, shut your mouth!”
“Sorry. Sorry. I just—Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay! Dante’s missing, the studio isn’t telling me anything, I got shot, and Xavier Saint just waltzed back into my life threatening to blow my cover!”
“Do you want something to eat?”
“No… maybe.”
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Xavier set up his laptop on the eat-at bar in Waverly’s kitchen and ran his WiFi password hacker.
It had gone better than he thought. He’d been braced for bloodshed, deserved it even. Walking out on her hadn’t been easy, and looking back, he knew it hadn’t been right. He deserved worse than what she’d dished out, and that concerned him. Her energy seemed off. Oh, she was mad enough, but it wasn’t sparking out of her like it would have five years ago.
She’d eased into pissed off like someone sinking into a tub of hot water as if she didn’t quite have the energy to roll into a full-blown tirade. That made him wonder. She moved slowly, carefully, almost like a victim of an accident. But there had been no accident. Maybe she’d been sick or gotten hurt? He’d make her see a doctor just to be safe.
