Page 108 of X's and O's

They both went to argue, but I cut them off.

“You can argue all you want, but I’ve got a hundred letters from her in my room, each of them telling me something new about her or her life or her history. And she has a hundred from me, telling her the same. Neither of you have that.”

“But neither of us broke her like you did either,” Whip said quietly.

Which was a fair point, though I could have argued that her watching X stab a man to death right in front of her might have been somewhat upsetting. But I didn’t. Because at the end of the day, no matter what I felt for the two men standing in front of me, the one thing we did have in common was her.

And for now, at least, maybe we needed to work together. “Let me watch over her today.”

X glanced at me, wariness in his expression. “She’s not going to be happy to see you.”

“I know. And that’s all the more reason why it needs to be me today. You two can hate me all you want, but I know you don’t want her hurting. And she is right now, because she thinks she’s not good enough for me. I’m the only one who can fix that.”

X huffed. “Fine. You get twenty-four hours. But then I’m cutting in.”

I nodded. “Fair enough.”

X’s ADHD kicked back in. He curved his wrist a few times, almost like he was going to throw a dart at a board.

“Your knife pose is really coming along nicely,” I said sarcastically.

He brought his hands together and bowed his head. “Namastab.”

27

VIOLET

Levi was sitting on a motorcycle outside my apartment when I finally made it downstairs in a rush to get to my first job of the day, which I was very definitely going to be late for. But at the sight of him, I stopped dead in front of my building, then spun on my heel, ready to go right back inside so I didn’t have to deal with the man I’d spent the last year fooling myself into thinking I could have a future with.

“Vi.”

I hated that he knew me well enough to shorten my name. Hated his voice was like pure catnip to my system. He was all deep-toned gravel, probably from smoking too much, which would kill him in the long run, but in the short run, it was sexy.

Goddammit.

“What do you want, Levi? I need to get to work.”

“I know. I’ll give you a ride.”

I spun around. “On the back of your bike?”

He nodded, holding out a helmet to me.

I shook my head at it. “I’ve never been on a bike in my life.”

He cocked his head to one side. “You’ve never been on a motorcycle, you mean?”

“No, I mean I’ve literally never been on a bike. Of any sort. Either with or without an engine.” A long-ago memory of Fang trying to teach me to ride a little pink bike flashed through my head, and I adjusted my statement. “At least not one without training wheels.”

He blinked at me. “How is that even possible?”

I glared at him, irritated by his tone, by the fact I was late, by him even being here. “Oh, I don’t know, Levi. Maybe because the last time I had a bike I was four years old, but that was also the same year my parents dumped me in foster care, and my foster parents had no time or inclination to teach me how to ride a bike and certainly no money to buy me one, so I just never learned. So sue me.”

These were all things he knew because I’d poured my stupid, too-trusting heart out to him over the past year, only to have him throw it back in my face.

He caught my arm. “Hey. I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

That was the least of the things he needed to be sorry for. But my pride wouldn’t say that. “I’m late for work. I don’t have time for this.”