Ruthless

Chapter 18

Xander's POV:

Of course I was livid that I couldn't do a single damn thing about what happened to her. As much as I wanted to, she was right about it not being the right time. Plus I had to let her do it, I couldn't take that chance away from her. That doesn't mean I won't torture the mother fucker before, though.

Tonight I ran a few shipments, and am now sitting on my bed staring at the pile of other tapes I had. I knew I needed to watch them, for information purposes only, like them accidentally saying something they shouldn't have or maybe a guard showing his face. We could scan anyone who appears in these into our system and track them down. But I knew she wouldn't want me watching them, which is what I am debating right now.

All of the sudden, a scream rings out from down the hall. Luckily, this wing of the house is pretty isolated to Audenzia and I so nobody else could hear.

I shot up from my bed and practically sprinted to her room and swing the door open to see her thrashing and crying in her sleep. "Get off!" She screams. I run over to her, "P-p-please"

"Audenzia" I whisper, crouching next to her bed and shaking her awake. She wakes up but starts panicking in my arms, still crying and screaming. I use just enough strength to hold her down without hurting her, "Shhhhhh" I wipe her tears away as she calms down but is still breathing hard. "It was just a nightmare."

She closes her eyes, trying to calm herself down. "Do you want anything like water or—

She starts to nod, opening her eyes again and pushing herself up so her back is on the headboard.

I run to the bathroom and quickly fill up a glass of water before running it back over to her. I can see her fishing pills from her little bottle discreetly, and I know she doesn't want me to know she is taking anything. I pretend not to see her because I'm glad she has stuff to help her, so I linger back for a second until she puts the bottle up.

Once I hand the water to her! She sips it then places it on her nightstand. "I'm sorry" she almost whispers. How could she apologize right now? I'm so worried about her and she thinks she needs to apologize?

"You didn't do anything wrong"  I say.

I stand up and bring my hands to the collar of my shirt, throwing it over my head and on the floor. I see her eyes widen, luckily not with any fear. "What are you—

"You think I'm leaving after that? I want to make sure you get sleep." I say, flicking off the lamp and crawling into the bed next to her. I feel her body tense, and can already tell her face is bright red.

"Thank you..." she whispers, turning towards me so we are facing each other. I nod and give her a small smile. I reach around her and pull her towards me so her head is on my chest and one of her legs is thrown across my body. I feel her instantly relax, melting into me and nuzzling her head. I lean my own head against her, softly kissing her forehead.

When did I get so damn soft?

Soon I hear her breathing fall into a steady pattern indicating she fell asleep. I look down her, feeling a responsibility for her safety. The fact that she trusted me enough to fall asleep in my arms means so much to me. "Nobody will ever hurt you again." I whispered, drifting off to sleep.

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"Sweetheart breakfast is ready!" A familiar voice hums, swinging the bedroom door open. I jolt up at the same time as Audenzia, face to face with her mom. She gasps and puts her hands over her eyes, probably because she sees me shirtless.

"Mom we are dressed" Audenzia says in an annoyed tone. Mrs. Lucesi sighs with relief and walks over, picking up my shirt from the floor and throwing it at me. "You two are lucky my husband didn't walk in."

I look to the bedside table and read 9:03 on the clock in big blue LED numbers. "I want an explanation later, for now just get downstairs for breakfast." She says, closing the door. I look at my position pleased to see I am still tangled with Audenzia.

She tries to get up but I hold her waist, pulling her on top of me so she is straddling me. Her face turns red, making me let out a laugh. "You are so easy to mess with."

She raises her eyebrows before rocking forward slowly on my dick, making me groan and to my dismay, feel myself get hard. "You were saying?" She says, smiling coyly and rolling off of me. "Not cool." I mumble, jumping off the bed and throwing my shirt on.

I wrap my hand around her waist, pulling her towards me and leaning in for a kiss, but to my dismay she pushed away. "I'm not doing that again." She says, crossing her arms.

I deserved that.

"How do I make it up to you?" I say, pulling her close again. She looks up at me and pretends to think really hard, "That's for you to find out." She says, pulling away from me for good and heading out into the hall and downstairs.

Feeling rejected, I sigh and follow her downstairs.

Everyone is eating pancakes, except for Mrs. Lucesi who is admiring everyone eating her pancakes. When I enter the room, she glares at me. Shit.

Audenzia must have notices because she breaks the tension, "Mom why don't you get Xander some pancakes." She says, and thankfully her mom agrees. Hopefully she doesn't poison them or something.

I sit down between Isaac and Gray and across from Rian and Cole. The dads are sitting together at the kitchen island and talking.

"Are you excited?" Gray asks me, "For what?"

They all exchange looks like they are surprised I don't know about something. "You haven't heard?" Rian says, shocked.

I can hear Audenzia come up behind her brother' chair and lean against it, listening in. Cole is the one who speaks up and tells me.

"The Cobra's invited us to a ball"

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I love you guys so much!

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