Page 32 of Rear View

Xavier

I stretched my neck, pacing the hall where me, Alec and Earl talked outside my hotel room while I tried to burn through the pissed-off fuel coursing in my veins.

Fuckin’ hell. The sight of Derek comin’ at Ryah…

I wanted to kill him. Might’ve too if she hadn’t been there, but she’d looked scared enough.

Last thing I needed was to make it worse.

But fuuuuuuck, it’d been hard to hold back, ’cause that prick’s face would’ve looked good bleeding behind my fist.

“Derek crossed a line. No one messes with the girls,” Alec said, his stare hard, and his voice down so it didn’t carry. He ran a hand over his twists.

I inclined my head, ’cause we were on the same damn page.

“I understand why you were mad, Xavier,” Earl said, then set a palm on my shoulder. “But if Derek decides to push and this goes bad for us…”

It’d go real goddamn bad ’cause if he ever wanted to cause trouble, if my record ever got out, we’d be done. All of us. That morality clause’d get triggered. I’d lose our sponsors, the team, get dumped by the WRC. That’d be it.

I flicked my gaze to the door of my hotel room, where Ryah was getting ready for dinner. There was too much at risk.

Earl’s arm dropped. “If you’ve got a problem with your uncle, we go through the proper channels.”

Proper channels? The cops? Yeah, ’cause they’d done so much before. My fists creaked under my grip, and my jaw ached from how hard I clenched it. “Derek’s here for my old man, he don’t give one shit about rules, Earl.”

He sighed and dipped his chin in a nod.

A light down the hall flickered and the clack of heels approached as Trina closed in, joining us. “We’ve got to be publicly smart about this,” she said. “With the way Xavier left, the media knows there’s trouble.”

Not a shocker seeing as I’d exploded from the table, knocking my chair and half the shit around me over before I exited stage right in the middle of the press conference.

“Are they asking questions?”

“Yes, but thankfully, I’ve deflected so there’s no movement there.

” She smiled, uncomfortably proud as her stare moved from Alec to me.

“We can use the local buzz for next weekend’s race in Edgewater to distract.

Between that, the time trials tomorrow and the interview you boys did with NSM , as long as there’s no more issues, we should be fine. ”

“When’s the article out?” Earl asked.

“In a couple of days.”

His head bobbed. “Good.”

I eyed my room door again. I just wanted to get back to Ryah, ’cause the look on her face before…shit. “We finished here?”

Earl straightened. “We’re done.” He exhaled, good and slow. “Let’s just shake this off. You and Alec enjoy tonight with the crew. Reset for tomorrow.”

I offered a salute. “Can fuckin’ do.”

“I’ll see you both in the morning,” he said, then headed off.

Alec tipped his chin my way. “I’m just gonna grab Sheila. Meet you in the lobby in thirty?”

“Done.”

He left and I aimed for my door.

“Xavier, wait,” Trina called, heels doing a slow click as she stepped closer. “I wondered if you’d like to join me for a drink? Talk about your career some more.”

Hell. No. I wasn’t about to let her, or Ryah, read into that shit. Where I stood was gonna be crystal goddamn clear. “Nah. Wanna get back to my girl.”

“Oh, well.” She reached for my hand. “If you change your—”

“Bye, Trina.” I turned and stalked away. When I set the key card to our door, it flashed green and clicked. I cracked it open and stepped inside.

The bathroom entrance stood wide, steam fillin’ the place. Ryah moved into the room and at the sight of her, I forgot how to damn well breathe.

Her hair was down, rolling in soft waves over her shoulders.

Makeup done to highlight those full lips and pretty copper eyes.

And her dress. Jesus. My cock twitched at the sight of it.

The thing was a light-green flowy number that hugged her breasts and waist before it fell loose at her hips and down to her feet.

She stood a little taller, her heels giving her an extra two inches, but she still barely reached my chin.

“You’re perfect, dream girl.”

She bit her lip, twisting her skirt when she gave me a shy smile that made my chest tighten.

I wanted to grab her, toss her on the bed and spend the night showing her just what I thought. Make her come on my tongue and scream my name and—

Goddammit!

Needing to keep myself busy, I shoved a hand into the pocket of my jeans, latching it around the key chain she’d given me.

No one’d bought me anything since I was little.

Not even Ma. She would’ve, but with dad controlling the cash, it wasn’t in the cards.

And dream girl had no clue how deep that hit, or how much more I wanted her for it.

The gift wasn’t the point. Sure, it was cute as hell, but it was her interest in my life. In me.

“How long until we leave?” she asked.

“Half hour.”

I headed for the couch and Ryah followed. When I lowered myself onto it, the leather creaked as I gave it my weight. Grabbing my girl’s wrist, I tugged her to me. She sank down, legs falling apart to straddle my hips before she wiggled forward to get closer.

Christ. I hadn’t thought this one through. I groaned, gripping her waist to keep her from movin’ against me more, ’cause I was trying real hard to be civilized and if she didn’t stop…

Setting her palms over my chest, she trailed her small hands north, along my shoulders and around the back of my neck. Her fingers twisted in the hair at the base of my skull, slowly, her eyes going soft when she asked, “Why won’t your dad just leave you alone?”

My gut hardened. “’Cause”—I stared past her out the window—“he’s all about control.

” It wasn’t a lie, but it still felt like shit to say.

I needed to tell her about my past, all of it.

And, damn, if the idea didn’t terrify the hell outta me.

I’d never hurt her. Ever. But I could still scare her.

Knowing I’d been to jail, done hard time, that on paper, I was no better than my old man… Fuck!

I liked the way she looked at me. Didn’t wanna lose it. Didn’t change the fact that I owed her that truth.

My thumb tracked a long line over her hip. I looked away as my throat locked up. My body coiled tight. I exhaled, rough and harsh.

Tell her, man. Just tell her.

My phone rang with an incoming call and my grip cinched tighter. I didn’t move.

“You gonna check that?” she asked.

I swallowed around the dumb lump in my throat. “Yeah.” I rolled my shoulders and pulled the thing out. When I eyed the name on the screen, I sat up straight. My attention landed on my girl. “You, uh, said you wanted to meet my ma, yeah?”

Her nod was easy. “Yeah.”

I turned the screen her way. “How you feel about meetin’ her now?”

Eyes widening, she smoothed out the material of her dress, and I couldn’t stop my damn stare from following when she grazed those flawless breasts. She took a steadying breath. “I’d love to.”

Her gaze flicked down to how her body mounted mine. She sucked in a gasp, and scrambled off my lap.

I laughed, then leaned back and draped an arm over the leather sofa behind her, my knee touching her thigh as I lined up the camera, then accepted the video call.

“Hey, Ma!” I said.

She sat at her kitchen table, the sound of the ocean filtering in. Her head cocked, blonde hair down as her gaze tracked from me to Ryah and back. Her brows shot up her forehead and her hands flew to her mouth. “Oh, my goodness. Is this her?”

I tugged Ryah tighter to my side. “Yeah. This is her.”

Ryah’s face turned that pretty shade of pink as she smiled. “Hi there.”

Ma’s eyes watered as she sniffed, then frantically combed her fingers over her hair and scolded, “Xavier Axel Bosch! You could have told me we’d have company on this call.”

I huffed a laugh while, beside me, Ryah ducked her head to hide her own.

Fussing with her clothes a few more seconds, Ma shook her head and swiped at a tear. “She’s gorgeous, sweetheart.” Her attention moved to dream girl. “You should know, you’re special to him, Ryah. My son’s never introduced me to anyone he’s seen before.”

Ryah’s gaze rose to mine, a question in her eyes. “Is that true?”

Seeing my ma was too damn vulnerable, I’d never been comfortable doing it. But with Ryah, it was just…different.

My lip tugged up as I gave her a wink.

She tucked tighter into my side, her small, warm hand landing over my stomach.

“What else is new, dear? Tell me everything!”

I tensed, my visit from Castillo shooting to the front of my mind.

Ryah’s fingers traced a soft line down my abs. A message, letting me know she was there. And fuck if it didn’t help.

I dropped my arm from the back of the couch and locked it around her waist, readying. The time had come. “Hey, Ma.” My stare found hers. “There’s something I need to tell ya.” My hold flexed against Ryah. “It’s about Dad.”