Chapter 19 #2
"You mean they did kiss? And you didn’t stop him?!" Xavier snapped. “I’m going to kill you!”
"You're out of your mind," Lucius muttered, but before Xavier could say anything else, he grabbed his face and forced him to look toward the restaurant entrance.
"Stop talking and look."
Lucius pulled him farther to the side, guiding him behind one of the parked cars where they could see the entrance without being noticed. Xavier stood there impatiently, his entire body tense as he looked toward the restaurant.
Xavier's eyes immediately shifted.
The doors of the restaurant opened, and Elise stepped outside.
His entire body went still.
For a moment, Xavier forgot how to breathe.
He watched as Logan walked beside her, speaking casually while Elise listened. Then his hand reached for hers, holding it naturally as they walked toward the car.
The sight sent a sharp wave of jealousy through Xavier's chest.
Logan opened the passenger door for her, and Elise got inside without hesitation. Then he closed the door, walked around the vehicle, and settled into the driver's seat.
Every small gesture between Elise and the man beside her only fueled the jealousy that had been burning inside him since the moment he saw their photograph.
His chest tightened painfully, making it difficult to breathe.
Before Lucius could say another word, Xavier shoved past him and strode out from behind the car. His long strides were fast and hard, his jaw locked so tightly that the muscles ticked beneath his skin. He didn't spare Lucius another glance.
The valet had just reached the counter and was about to place Xavier's keys down when Xavier walked straight up to him and snatched them out of his hand without slowing.
The startled attendant barely had time to react before Xavier pressed the unlock button.
The sharp beep echoed through the parking area as the headlights flashed.
Without breaking stride, Xavier yanked open the driver's door, slid behind the wheel, and slammed the door shut with enough force to make the entire car shudder. A second later, the engine roared to life, and he pulled out of the parking lot, following the direction Elise's car had taken.
For the entire drive, his attention remained fixed on Elise's car ahead of him. He kept enough distance so she wouldn't notice, but not enough that he could lose sight of her.
He had spent days trying to stay away from her.
Days convincing himself that giving her space was the right thing to do.
But seeing her with another man had destroyed every bit of control he had forced himself to maintain.
When the car finally stopped in front of a high-rise building, Xavier pulled over a short distance away and remained inside his vehicle.
He watched as Elise stepped out of the car with the man beside her.
His fingers moved automatically toward the cigarette pack resting on the passenger seat. It was nearly empty. He had been smoking constantly since leaving the mansion in the morning, and the smell of smoke had soaked into his clothes, clinging to his skin and filling the car.
It was the only thing keeping him from losing his mind completely.
The man followed Elise toward the entrance of the building, and just before they reached the doors, she turned around.
"Go home now," she said, giving him a gentle push toward his car. "Yesterday you promised you were only staying for one last night. It's already late. Go home."
The man immediately looked unhappy.
"Why? Let me stay a little longer. What difference does it make if I sleep here or go back to my place?"
Elise's expression remained firm. "I told you not to do this again. You promised me that after dinner, you're going home."
"But I want to stay with you," Logan argued, his voice softer now.
"It's been so long since we spent nights together.
Don't you miss those days when we used to watch television and just stay up talking?
You used to let me stay at your place for days.
Sometimes even a week. Now you're suddenly pushing me away. Don't you love me anymore?"
Xavier froze.
The words struck somewhere deep inside him.
His jaw tightened as his entire body went rigid, his eyes burning as he stared at them.
He had asked Elise the same thing only days ago.
He had looked at her and wondered why she didn't seem to love him anymore, why she could look at him with such distance when he couldn't even imagine his life without her.
The cigarette between his fingers continued burning, unnoticed.
The heat finally reached his skin, and only then did he realize he was holding it too tightly. He dropped it immediately, the pain barely registering compared to the ache spreading through his chest.
But even that didn't make him look away.
His hand moved toward the cigarette pack again, pulling out another one with shaking fingers. He lit it and brought it to his lips, inhaling deeply as if the smoke could somehow calm the chaos inside him.
Before Logan could say anything else, Elise reached out and caught him by the shoulder, stopping him before he could take another step toward the apartment building. She gently turned him around to face her before giving him a small push toward his car.
"Go home," she said firmly. "We'll talk later."
Logan immediately frowned, disappointment spreading across his face. He looked at her with undisguised affection, his eyes silently pleading for her to change her mind, but Elise only shook her head and pointed toward his car once more.
"Go home. And don't come back until I tell you it's okay."
His brows knitted together in stubborn refusal.
"No. I'll come back next week."
"Logan," Elise snapped at him as he turned on his heel and started walking away.
He simply lifted a hand in a lazy wave without looking back and continued toward his car as though he hadn't heard a word she said. Reaching it, he opened the driver's door, slid inside, and started the engine. A moment later, the headlights came to life.
Just before pulling away from the curb, he rolled the driver's window down and leaned out with an easy grin.
"I love you! Bye!"
He blew her a kiss before pressing the accelerator, and the car disappeared down the street.
Elise stood where she was, watching him leave, and before she could stop herself, a soft smile tugged at the corner of her lips. It was gentle, warm, and filled with an affection Xavier had rarely ever seen on her face.
The sight shattered what little restraint he had left.
His entire body went rigid. The cigarette between his fingers burned lower and lower, the smoke scraping down his throat, yet he didn't seem to notice. His chest tightened until every breath became a struggle, his heart pounding so violently that it felt as though it would break through his ribs.
From where he sat inside his car, hidden in the darkness, he watched that soft expression appear on her face—the kind of smile filled with warmth and love that he hadn't seen directed at him in what felt like forever.
It felt like someone had driven a blade straight through his chest.
His fingers tightened around the cigarette between them, the burning end forgotten as his eyes remained fixed on her. The smoke curled around his face, filling his lungs, but he barely noticed. All he could see was Elise looking at another man the way she used to look at him.
The ease between them.
The comfort.
The way she had allowed him close enough to make her smile.
Everything he had been desperate to get back from her was being given so effortlessly to someone else.
His chest tightened painfully, anxiety twisting through him until he felt like he couldn't breathe. His body had gone completely still, frozen between anger and fear, while his mind replayed every second of what he had just witnessed.
That man had touched her.
Held her hand.
Made her laugh.
And she hadn't pushed him away.
The cigarette finally burned down close enough to his fingers that the pain broke through his thoughts. Xavier flinched, dropping it onto the pavement as his jaw clenched tightly.
But even the sting wasn't enough to pull his attention away.
Elise gave one last look in the direction Logan had disappeared before turning around and walking toward the apartment building.
The moment she walked away, Xavier lost the last shred of control he had left.
He threw the car door open so hard it nearly bounced back against its hinges and stepped out, his entire body trembling with barely restrained fury.
The cigarette between his fingers was tossed carelessly onto the ground before he crushed it beneath his shoe.
Then he slammed the car door shut with enough force to make the sound echo through the quiet street and stormed toward the apartment building.
He didn't even bother locking the car.
The elevator came to an abrupt stop with a sharp mechanical sound before the doors slid back open.
Elise had just pressed the button for her apartment. As the doors started to close, she had already lowered her gaze, but the sudden halt made her instinctively look up.
The moment her eyes met his, she froze.
Xavier stood in the doorway, his broad shoulders filling the entrance. His hair was disheveled from running his hands through it countless times, and the first few buttons of his shirt hung open as though he hadn't even bothered dressing properly before leaving.
His breathing was uneven, his jaw tight, and his eyes... they were fixed entirely on her.
There was something almost feral in them.
Without taking his eyes off her, Xavier stepped into the elevator.
The confined space suddenly felt impossibly small.
He kept advancing until she instinctively took a step back, her heart beginning to pound as his imposing frame closed the distance between them.
There was something predatory about the way he watched her—like a man who had finally found what he had been hunting—and the elevator doors slid shut behind him, sealing them inside together.