Page 46 of X's and O's

The noise came again.

The balcony door opening.

I hadn’t even heard Toby come back in. “Tobes? You okay? What happened to going to Devin’s place?”

There was no response.

I sat up. “Toby?”

I hadn’t bothered closing my bedroom door since nobody was home.

But the man who came around the corner into the hallway was not my roommate.

“Run, Violet.”

The scream I let out was bloodcurdling. It ripped from deep inside me, from a place of fear I’d only known one other time.

The man stalked me down the hall, a skeleton mask covering his face, a black hoodie over his head, black jeans clinging to his legs.

I scrambled away, something in the back of my mind pitifully reminding me I had no panties on.

Because of course. Only I would find myself in the middle of a home invasion while masturbating. Kill me now.

Or actually, not. I couldn’t see a weapon in the man’s hands, but that didn’t mean anything. I hadn’t noticed one on X either, and he’d still produced one as if out of nowhere and proceeded to gut a man with it.

I really didn’t want to be gutted.

“Run, Violet,” came the man’s deep voice again.

My heart pounded. I couldn’t breathe, my chest was so tight and gripped with fear. I clutched the sheet, trying to cover up while falling over myself to get off the bed. “Take whatever you want. Anything! Just don’t hurt me!”

He was in my room. His big body seemingly taking up all of the space, and there was nowhere for me to go.

I screamed again, blindly groping around on the bedside table for something I could protect myself with.

I picked up the first thing my fingers found and threw it at his head with the yell of a warrior.

He caught my vibrator.

I stared in horror at the purple buzzing device, slick with my arousal, clutched in his fingers.

He glanced down at it, then lifted his head back up, his gaze meeting mine. He pulled off his mask. “Uh, this wasn’t in your book?”

“Oh, sweet baby Jesus,” I uttered, staring at my sex toy in his hands and then up at the stupidly handsome face I’d literally just been masturbating over. “X! Get out!”

He jumped at the shrill tone of my voice, then winced. “Okay, but Genevieve did not yell at Arran when he caught her—”

“Out!” Oh my God, of all the times to have no freaking pants on! I grappled with the sheets, trying to keep them across my naked thighs because I didn’t miss the way X’s gaze dropped to roll over them.

Or the way my body responded, wishing he’d do it some more.

Apparently, I was now so desperate for a man to find me attractive that I was considering dropping the sheet and asking him to finish what I’d started.

He backed up. “Okay, okay. I’m going.”

He disappeared out of sight, and I finally dared to take a breath.

“Violet?” he called from the living room. “Should I just leave your vibrator on the counter or…”