Us.How is this even happening? My heart rate picks up, and my palms start to sweat. I want to believe every word he’s saying, but how do I do that when my head is screaming for me to be careful. I wet my lips, trying to understand. “Why’s she so important to you?”
“I could tell you what everyone else probably would…”
“And what’s that?” I already know what Max and Daphne have told me, and I’m sure he’s aware they would have been throwing up all the warning signs for me.
He shrugs as if it’s nothing, but I can tell it’s not. There’s definitely something here he doesn’t want to tell me. “We’ve been friends for a long time. I told you, our parents saw us getting married someday.” He clears his throat. “There’s more to it, though. Without breaking her trust, I’ll just say I’m like her security blanket, and she thinks you’re going to pull me away from her.” A touch of anguish slides over his face, and I frown at the pain radiating off of him.Yep, definitely something here.
I take a deep breath. “Sounds personal. It’s okay. I appreciate the fact that you wouldn’t just blab her secrets everywhere.”
“There will be times when she’ll call and I’ll have to go. I can’t tell you any more than that.” He looks at me from under his lashes.
“Okay. Understood.”
A teeny, tiny part of me feels for whatever Aria is going through. Istillthink she owes me an apology, no matter what. I guess there might be something to that wholehurtpeople hurt peopleidea, though.
Just as I’m about to ask him about what he meant by “the idea of us,” the bell rings, summoning us back to class.Because I need to know … he thinks there’s an “us”?My brain feels heavy with confusion.
I’m torn, one part of me wondering if Xander is showing me his true self now, no more secrets between us. The other part of me is just hanging out on a cloud of lust, wanting him, not even caring what his motives are as long as he’ll touch me again.
He leans forward, dropping a kiss to my lips. It’s so sweet it makes my heart sigh.
How’d we get here? And is it real?
* * *
Those same questions are exactly what my aunt and uncle want to know the answers to as we sit down to dinner.
Aunt Liz goes right for the jugular the second my butt hits the seat for dinner. “So, let me get this straight. I know you told us that your phone took a dip in a hot tub by accident at that party the other night, but Xander replaced it for you?”
My gaze flicks back and forth between my aunt and uncle. “Um, yeah.” I go back to spearing green beans and shove a forkful into my mouth.
Uncle David snorts. “Well, it’s not like he can’t afford it.”
Aunt Liz shoots him a look. “That’s not the point, babe.”
I swallow my food, twisting my lips for a second, trying to figure out how to make this okay for them. “He felt badly for me because of how it happened, okay?”
“And howdidit happen?”
I groan. “I jumped into the hot tub in my clothes.”
“Is that why there’s a pair of men’s athletic pants and a Rosehaven Football T-shirt in your laundry?”
I cringe. I’d meant to do my own laundry so she wouldn’t see that. “Uh, yeah. Those are Beau’s. He loaned them to me.”
Now I’ve got Uncle David’s attention. “So, you jumped in a hot tub fully clothed because why? Didn’t you have a swimsuit on?”
“I did.” I look up to the ceiling. “I don’t want you to freak out.”
“About what, hon? You can tell us anything.”
I bite my lip.Can I?I really can’t. “There’s this girl at school. I guess she doesn’t like that Xander is interested in me.” Heat washes over my cheeks at my admission. “Long story short, she took the charm bracelet Mom gave me, and it ended up at the bottom of the hot tub. I was afraid it would get caught in a jet or a vent or something, so I jumped in after it.”
Both my aunt and uncle share twin looks of shock. Aunt Liz is the first to speak. “Who?” When I don’t respond, she slaps the table.“Who,Scarlett?”
I bite the skin inside my cheek. “Aria Warrington.”
“Well, if she’s anything like her mother or her aunt, sweetie, you’ve picked the wrong girl to provoke.” Aunt Liz’s face has gone pale.