He shook his head again. He reeked of liquor. Lots of it. He paced my room, clenching his fists. I watched him as he blocked off my only way out of the room.
I took several steps back and held up my hands to avoid riling the beast within him.
“Xander, what are you doing here? How did you know where I was?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.
When he got like this, it was easy for him to lose control. And I definitely didn’t want that to happen. I wondered where Malachi took off to and why he left without saying goodbye. I wished he hadn’t left. I wished he stayed with me and helped me avoid this unnecessary run-in.
But like every other time, I had to rescue myself, and it was starting to zap everything from me. I didn’t think I had the strength to continue fighting him.
That thought reminded me of the reading Maxine had given me and I wasn’t sure how to begin processing that. All I knew was that it was coming true, right before my eyes, and I was powerless to stop it.
“She said you weren’t alone,” he said.
“Who are you talking about?” I asked. “No one else is here with me. You can see that clearly.”
He pointed to the ground. “Maybe not right now, but someone was here.”
I looked at where he pointed and noticed the evidence of my ripped-up clothing still lying in shreds all over the floor. I crossed my arms over my chest. “That is none of your business.”
He was drunk and belligerent and I would be damned if he trapped me in my room on my vacation.
“Go to hell and get the fuck out,” I said and pointed to the door. “Leave me alone.”
“I’m going to make you beg me for forgiveness,” he snapped.
I stammered and my eyes went to the doorway that was no longer empty. Steele stood in the doorway, staring a hole into the back of Xander’s head. I gaped as the fear inside me spiked. He didn’t know it yet, but he just put himself in danger.
Xander wasn’t to be underestimated. He packed a lot more strength in him than he looked like he carried, and he even gave Guy a run for his money. The last thing I needed was Steele being placed on Xander’s radar.
“You filthy whore,” Xander said, pulling my attention back to him. He spat out his next words. “You monster fucker.”
I scoffed. “Jealous?”
I shouldn’t have done that. But I needed to do anything and everything to keep him from turning around and attacking an innocent man. The only problem was, now I really had no way out. And I had just gaslighted an already unreasonable man.
8
STEELE
Every once in a great while, Charlotte’s great and terrible plan hits a snag. The snag being the woman she had chosen to defraud had a boyfriend or husband. Whatever the reason for him not being talked about never really mattered much, but it never took very long for us to figure it out.
Usually because the men would show up and raise hell. Very loudly.
This night was no different.
I had heard the man before I had laid eyes on him. At first, I thought nothing of it. As I had mentioned, belligerent husbands and boyfriends weren’t an uncommon thing when it came to finding out their partners were robbed by men she brought back to her room.
I almost laughed to myself. That was, until I realized the angry voice came from Cassidy’s room. And the door to said room had been left wide open for everyone in the hotel to hear what was being said.
I quickened my pace as I headed down the hallway. And once I reached the door, I calmly poked my head into the room. A man, just a few inches taller than Cassidy, stood between me and her. He had blonde hair, and a fairly decent build. He was probably an all right fighter. But most of all he reeked of alcohol.
Drunk and belligerent weren’t the most fun combination of asshole to run into, but I wasn’t really given much of a choice.
As I observed the interaction, I frowned. A part of me was disappointed. Most of me, really. I had thought Cassidy was better than a woman who would cheat on her boyfriend or husband, or whoever he was. But then I took in the way she stared at him, and I realized there was more to this issue than what met the eye. There was indeed history between them, but the history was full of bad blood.
Intrigued to know more, I crossed my arms and leaned into the doorway, resting my shoulder against the jamb, watching as he berated the woman who had captured my attention so fully and completely. But the longer I stood there, the longer I recognized the way he spoke to her was no way a man should ever speak to a woman, ex-girlfriend or otherwise, and that set my blood on fire.
Whoever this man was, he was wrong to speak to Cassidy in such a heinous way. It was similar to how Charlotte spoke to me and the rest of the shifters under her control whenever one of us did something to piss her off.