Page 37 of Rear View

Ryah

I frowned, fighting the tears that seared my eyes. Xavier hadn’t said anything. Hadn’t apologized. Hadn’t tried to defend himself. Nothing. Just placed a call. A freaking call. As if he hadn’t just flayed my heart.

Christian folded his arms over his chest as he snarled at Xavier, “Are you kidding right now?”

X’s fists creaked when he flexed them, his glare spearing his phone’s screen as if he was itching for violence and whoever he’d called was about to feel it.

“Xavier!” Trina’s annoyingly familiar voice answered, her tone bright and eager and entirely too sultry. “I’m so glad to hear from you. Have you seen the article yet?”

“Lookin’ at it now,” he said through his teeth.

“This is perfect. Are you free? We should get together. Go over it and celebrate.”

My throat stung as the bitter tang that flooded my tongue burned there.

“No,” he told her, his tone flat and cold. So damn cold. “Now, pull it.”

My eyes flew wide. Okay. Not what I’d expected.

Christian shook his head and scoffed.

There was a long pause before Trina spoke again. “What?”

“I said pull the article.”

“I can’t just pull it, Xavier.”

“Then get ’em to print a retraction.”

“Don’t buy it, R.J.” Christian hissed. “He’s just backtracking.”

“Wait,” Trina said, scrambling. “What’s going on? You said you were on board with this.”

I flinched like I’d been struck.

X’s arctic glare darkened, turning to ice when it lifted to Christian’s. His fist pounded the counter, punctuating his words when he told her, “ This wasn’t what we talked about, Trina.”

“Yes, well, after the incident with your uncle Saturday, some cleanup was required.”

His stare turned wild. “You said it was handled.”

“And it has been. This article is an attention-getter.”

“I told you I have a girl. You met her, for Christ’s sake. Never mind that Alec’s fuckin’ engaged!”

Christian swallowed hard and paled.

“Alright,” Trina said. “And? I didn’t think that was serious.”

My blood turned to fire. Didn’t think? Or hoped?

Xavier’s eyes slid to mine when he told Trina, in a menacing growl, “You thought wrong.” He raised a palm and thumped his chest. “Our skill’s supposed to be the draw. Not our goddamn relationship status.”

Trina said something as I turned to Christian. “You should go.” I straightened my spine. “And it’s best you don’t come back.”

His eyes creased at the corners, and he scrubbed a hand across the back of his neck. His attention tracked to Xavier, who chucked his chin toward the door, his message clear: “Fly the fuck off.”

Christian hesitated when he glanced toward it. He cursed under his breath, his shoulders dropping before he stalked out and slammed the door behind him.

“Christ, Trina,” Xavier snarled. “This painted us like we’re just some fuckboys.”

“Look, it’s fine, Xavier. The public eats this stuff up. There’s an illusion that comes with the image. Women need to think you’re attainable. That’s not possible if they believe you’re taken.”

No. She. Didn’t! My fingers itched to tear her pretty red hair out. She’d known. She’d known he wasn’t okay with that angle, and she’d run with it anyway.

He ground his jaw so hard, it was a wonder his teeth didn’t shatter. “I am taken.”

She huffed. “It’s just for show, Xavier.”

“For show?” He laughed, dark and heavy. “The shit you just stirred in my personal life feels pretty goddamn real.”

“With that girlfriend? I’d think she’d understand this is about your career—”

“Nah.” He cut his head to the side as he seethed into his phone, “You ain’t spinnin’ this on her. She don’t gotta understand anything. This isn’t what she signed up for. And I won’t treat my girl like some dirty goddamn secret.”

My lungs expanded for the first time since he’d left the night before.

“The WRC expects spokespeople who can grow their audience,” she said.

“I don’t gotta be single for that. You took some liber ties with stuff you had no right to take. Figure out how to fix it. Now!”

“We’re trying to sell you , Xavier. That’s where the big money comes. Going a different direction could be bad for your image.”

“I race, Trina. As long as I put on a show when I beat the clock, my career’ll take care of itself.” The “with or without you” was implied.

“You and Alec need to be featured,” she said, the words rushed. Panicked. As if she’d finally figured out that he held the power between them, and he wasn’t messing around.

“So feature us. Take your pictures, but if you position it like I’m available again…” He let the threat hang in the air. “Now, fix. It.” He hung up. His chest heaved and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the edge of the counter.

My throat was thick, the words lodged deep inside. They refused to come. He hadn’t known. Hadn’t tossed me aside. He’d been blindsided just the same as me.

He’d chosen me.

I stepped closer, my fingers curling tight into his shirt before I tugged, pulling him to face me.

His eyes crashed with mine, then moved between them, the creases there cutting to my soul. “I’d never do that to you, darlin’.”

“I know,” I replied, my voice soft and desperately confident. I set my palms against his chest and skimmed them higher. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“Nah.” He exhaled, slow and ragged, as he gripped my waist. Setting his chin on my hair, he shuddered against me. “You had every reason to.”

“I don’t want to interfere with your career, Xavier.” I burrowed my face against him. “I didn’t realize what all this”—I gestured to the article—“meant.”

“That’s not why I got into it. I drive. That’s what I’m good at. That’s what I love. Trina’s just tryin’ to capitalize.”

“And you don’t want that?”

His arms banded tighter, crushing me to him. “I want everything this path offers, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of us.”

I smiled against him, my heart falling into a steady rhythm.

“Fuckin’ Trina,” he said, his voice a rough gravel that rolled from the depths of his thorax.

I grimaced. “Can’t say I’m a fan.”

A low laugh rumbled through him. “You okay?”

Slowly, I inclined my head, my lips parting as they grazed the hollow of his throat. “Seeing that headline, it just…” I swallowed hard. “It gave the voice in my head life. Made all those fears real.”

His hands flexed against me. “What fears?”

Crap. Why did I say that? “It’s fine. We don’t need to—”

“What fears, darlin’?”

I could tell him everything. Should tell him everything.

Xavier wouldn’t cut and run like Christian had.

Wouldn’t leave me to face him alone. I knew that now, but after what’d happened with his uncle and all the things Trina’d said…

I couldn’t risk the trouble. Couldn’t risk his reaction and his career like that. I wouldn’t.

Still, he wanted an answer. Sighing into him, my body caved. “I don’t want you to think I’m selfish.”

“You can tell me anything, yeah.”

I thunked my forehead to his chest. God, he was going to think I was such an ass.

“I want the best for you, Xavier. I do. You deserve everything.” Taking a deep breath, I unleashed.

“I’m just terrified you’ll find something better and move on and forget about me, and I’ll be alone, and pining over you, and incapable of moving on because I’ll compare every other guy to you, but you’re perfect so they’ll never measure up and then I’ll just die alone. ”

His lip ticked up. “That’s a lot, dream girl.”

My heart sagged.

He laughed, easy and low, then kissed the top of my head. “Guess we’re afraid of the same thing.”

I peeked up through my lashes to better see him. “You’re afraid you’ll move on too?”

A grin split his face before he tucked my hair behind my ear. “No. I’m afraid you will.”

My mouth fell open as I balked. “ You , the sexiest man alive, a literal rising star, are worried I will move on?”

“Well”—he popped a shoulder—“when you put it that way—”

I smacked his arm.

He chuckled and his hold over me locked down, his eyes serious when they met mine. “Yes, darlin’. I’m scared shitless of it.”

My stomach fluttered as my fingers rolled a slow twist through his hair. “That doesn’t make sense, Xavier.”

“I got one thing in life I’m good at. That’s it. But you”—he shook his head—“you’re a goddamn checklist. Smart, beautiful, sweet, funny and sexy as hell.” He cocked a lone brow. “Why d’you think I call you dream girl?”

My face heated. “Why would I ever leave you?” I uttered, my tone soft.

His eyes tracked between mine, his Adam’s apple dipping when he swallowed hard.

I tipped my head back, taking in the sharp cut of his jaw, the broad set of his shoulders. That piercing stare when it looked at me with an eager hunger. He was everything. And he was mine. “Thank you, Xavier.”

“You don’t need to thank me for that.” He hooked a square knuckle under my chin. “I want people to know my name, but you’re the only one I want screamin’ it.”

It was a good thing I held on to him, because my damn knees buckled. Heat flooded my core, and my mouth ran dry. My body screamed for him, and I had every intention to oblige it.

A fiery blush seared my cheeks when I smiled up at him. “Zoya’s gone for the night.”

His stare grew ravenous. “Good to know,” he said, his voice low.

I threaded my fingers with his before I stepped away, then led him down the hall. His stride was steady as I tugged him into my room, guiding him until the back of his legs hit my bed. He sat at the edge of the mattress, his head angled up, those arctic eyes fixed on me.

Retreating a step, I made a show of taking my shirt’s hem. I lifted it, freeing it from my body before I let it slip from my fingers. My black lace bra hugged my chest, pushing up my breasts and leaving very, very little to the imagination.

His cock strained against his jeans. He chucked his chin my way. “Shorts too,” he ordered. “I wanna see all of you.”

A shiver of need chased through me as I hooked my thumbs into the band at my waist and skimmed them down.