Chapter 24
Beatrix
Standingoutside the door to Xander’s apartment, I’m starting to wonder what I was thinking when I decided to bring Cooper along. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying our fledgling friends-with-benefits situation, and if there is anything that can take a sledgehammer to that, it is my family. Specifically the men in my family who have an overprotective streak a mile wide. Since our cover story is that we’re dating, I don’t have to admit that he’s my bodyguard. I look nervously at Cooper, and he smiles at me and gives me a curious look.
“I’m just wondering if I should have brought you here. If you’ll survive Xander.” I stare nervously ahead at the door.
“I’ve survived him plenty of times on the field. If I can manage that, I can manage this.” Images of Xander slamming Cooper into the turf dance in my head and it doesn’t help settle any of the worries currently fluttering around in my stomach.
“I don’t know. There aren’t any refs in there.” I shake my head with a smile because my brother’s temper is legendary, and if it wasn’t for Xander’s fiancée Harper, I definitely wouldn’t bring Cooper here.
The door swings open a second later, and it’s Xander, freshly showered and back from a day of practice at the field.
“Bea!” he shouts and wraps me up in a bear hug. I squeeze him tight. One of the hardest parts about being on the road the last couple of years has been being away from Xander. He’s one of my best friends. Which is exactly why this next part is going to be a little rough. I see it in his eyes when they turn on Cooper.
“Rawlings.” He says it like he’s just stepped in something disgusting.
“Xavier,” Cooper answers with a broad smile.
Xander’s attention returns to me, an eyebrow quirking upwards.
“Cooper plays for the Chaos,” I say, like that’s supposed to explain everything as I walk in the door and Cooper follows.
“I’m well aware of who he plays for.” My brother’s tone is flat.
“Well, you know I’ve been working there with Madison,” I say lightly.
“I’m aware.” He’s determined to make this uncomfortable, and I’m determined to ignore it.
“Perfect. Is the guest room good to put our stuff in?” Xander’s guest room has pretty much been my home away from home for the last several years when I’ve come to town. It means I can avoid our parents and their relentless onslaught of questions about when I’ll be ready to move back to Seattle. But since Harper’s moved in, I don’t know if it’s still okay for me to sprawl out in there.
“Our stuff?” I swear I see the muscles twitching in Xander’s hand already.
“Cooper’s staying with me.”
“You remember the guest room only has one bed, right?”
“I’m aware.” I echo my brother’s stoic replies.
“Are you going to make me ask, or should I just go ahead and make assumptions here?” Xander finally loses patience with playing along with the slow introductions. I realize at that moment that I can’t lie to Xander, so when Cooper starts to answer, I put my hand on his arm and speak instead.
“He’s here to help fend off the parents. Mom’s already started in with the Craig business again, and I don’t want to deal with it. Cooper volunteered to help, and I took him up on it.”
“Very selfless of you.” Xander gives Cooper a look that’s half curiosity and half warning. “You couldn’t find someone who wasn’t your ex-boyfriend’s brother for the task? You honestly think they’re going to buy that?” Xander follows us as we walk our bags to the guest room and stops in the doorway. I see Cooper’s lips turn up in amusement and he flashes me a clandestine look—one I hope Xander doesn’t notice—before returning his focus to the bags.
“Be nice. And sure… why not?” I push past Xander, and he moves out of the way, following me back to the living room.
Xander looks me over before he smirks and shakes his head. “I guess we’ll see.”
“Can we move on now? I want to know how your trip to the Camino was. How’s wedding planning going? I need all the details.” I plop down on the couch and make room for Cooper, who sits next to me as Xander continues to survey both of us like we’re a sideshow curiosity.
My brother sits down across from us, though, and leans back, starting with a breakdown of their flights overseas and all the gear they had to pack for their walk, and I settle in for the story.
I’mthankful Cooper and my brother even manage to get along for most of the afternoon. Minus Xander coming back from his friend Tobias’s apartment upstairs in a bit of a huff just before the party—a thing I’ll have to investigate later—everything is going more smoothly than I could have ever imagined for a trip home.
At least until Xander accidentally overhears me snarking to Cooper about how I’m safe from my stalker in Seattle but not my family. A comment he refuses to believe is a joke. I have to beg him to come into a side room with me to discuss it before everyone, including our parents, overhears his reaction.
“Please be calm,” I beg as I close the door behind me, hoping we didn’t attract attention when we left the room where everyone is celebrating. It’s kind of hard not to notice when half of the couple of honor and the hostess disappear.
“How could you not tell me this?” Xander’s whisper is more like a soft boom once we step into the guest room to talk.
“I didn’t want it getting back to Mom and Dad.”
“I’m not Mom and Dad.”
“You would have worried the same. You would have sent the concerns up the chain, potentially, and then I’d be stuck dealing with them being unhinged with worry. You know Dad already wants me to come home, and I’m not ready to surrender to the family name yet.”
“And I am?” He sounds exasperated with having to deal with me.
“You made the decisions you had to make. I’m not ready yet. You tell me you need me, I’ll be here. You know that. But as long as I can stay away, enjoy my life as far away from the Xavier political machinations as I can, the happier I am.”
“I’d be happier if you’d fucking told me you have a goddamn stalker after you. And what’s Madison doing? The Chaos? Cooper? Some fucking boyfriend, letting you fucking be exposed to a psycho.”
“First of all, Cooper is not a boyfriend.”
Xander flashes a look of disbelief in my direction. “This apartment isn’t that big, Bea.”
I glower at him.
“We have an understanding, and he’s a friend. He’s here with me to keep me safe.”
“And what’s he going to do? Charm your stalker to death? Tell him a few dad jokes and hope that wards him off? Be serious.”
“I’m being serious. I feel safe with him. He’s been looking out for me. He let me move in with him and his daughter so I didn’t have to be alone at the hotel.”
“Oh, I’m real fucking sure that’s the reason he wanted you in his house. I know you’ve been out of the dating world for a minute, but that’s one of the biggest fuckboy moves I’ve ever heard. Real fucking risky one, but if it pays off…”
“It’s not like that.”
“You sure he didn’t orchestrate it to get you to move in?”
“I’m positive. Why would he keep it up when I’m already living with him?”
“To make sure you stay.”
“You have a devious mind. Also, he could get any woman he wants. He doesn’t have to play games to win one over.”
“I just don’t trust anyone. Let alone someone who claims to be a white knight when their reputation is anything but.”
“Looked in a mirror lately?”
“What Harper and I have is different.”
“Different in that you were lying in wait for her ex-husband to fuck up so you could swoop in and save the day?”
“Don’t be a smartass.”
“Then don’t be an ass—suggesting someone who’s been a good friend to me has some nefarious plot. We’re friends, and we have an understanding. That’s as far as it goes.”
“Then who do you think it is?”
“If I knew, I wouldn’t be worried. I’d be calling the cops.”
“You sure it’s not his brother?”
“It wouldn’t make sense if it was.” Rob moved on easily. He was dating someone new within weeks. He replaced me so fast that I wondered if she was already waiting in the wings or if he was just that good on the open market.
“Wouldn’t it make sense though?” Xander raises a brow at me.
“Rob moved on a long time ago. In record time, really.”
“Until he found out you were with his brother.”
“He doesn’t know.”
Xander lets out a low whistle. “You’re playing with fire.”
“How many ways are there to say ditto?”
“And my situation almost turned out badly too. I’m warning you from experience.”
“Just keep this between us.”
“I’m not making any promises. Frankly, I think the parents deserve to know. Should know, really. You know my feelings about Dad, but in this case, you might need extra security, and if anyone can get it for you, it’s him.”
“I don’t want to have my father running to my rescue like I’m some overgrown daddy’s girl. I especially don’t want the patronizing lecture I’ll get about moving home.” I shake my head firmly.
“It’s not about what you want right now. It’s about what’s going to keep you safe.”
“You can’t be serious!”
“I’m serious as fuck, Bea. This whole situation is fucked up. And you not telling me? You’ve had problems like this before. You know better. Please tell me you’ve told other people you work with. Madison knows? I can’t believe she isn’t intervening on your behalf.”
“Madison has her hands full with Quentin and his career right now. Not to mention, she’s got family drama of her own brewing. I can’t ask her to be carrying water for me, too, right now.”
“You haven’t told your best friend—your business partner—that you have a potential stalker? Bea, this is insane. I can’t believe Rawlings is playing along with this either. Does he have any fucking integrity or give a fuck about you at all?”
“He cares, Xander. He’s doing more than he should already.”
“We’ll see about that.” My brother charges out of the room a moment later, and I chase after him. I love him to the moon and back, but thanks to our father’s frequent absences and the fact that I’ve been the quiet one in the family, he always thinks he has to protect me.
“Xander!” I whisper shout his name, trailing a few steps behind him. “Alexander…” I chase after him to catch up, but he ignores me, his long legs outpacing mine, and I try one last attempt. “Alexander Xavier!”
It’s like I don’t exist. His eyes are scanning the room for Cooper, and when they land on him, he makes a beeline there. I can’t stop him before words are exchanged, and my brother nods for the door to the patio. I hurry after them into the night, thankful that a lot of the guests have already left for the evening otherwise I’m sure they’d have questions about our game of musical rooms.
“I’m going to give you all of about one minute to tell me what you’re doing to keep my sister safe. Because from everything I know now, it sounds like you’re just using her vulnerability as an excuse to take advantage of her.”
Cooper’s face flashes with a look of surprise before he regains control and shakes his head.
“Your sister is in my house so I can keep her safe. I’m as worried about her as you are.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“You shouldn’t. I want her in my house so I know exactly where she is and so I know I’m there if she needs me. I don’t want to pass that responsibility off to anyone else.”
“Part of that responsibility should have been encouraging her to tell the rest of her family and friends so we could all protect her.”
“I have encouraged her to tell you all. But at the end of the day, she’s an adult, and I respect her ability to make decisions for herself. If she didn’t want to tell you, I assume she had her reasons. Some of which are probably this over-the-top reaction you’re having right now. You think this helps her? You yelling at me and threatening me when, at the end of the day, we both just want the same thing?”
“My reaction is because I already know how your family treats her. Where she is as a priority when the list gets made in the Rawlings household.”
“Xander!” I want to throttle him right now, but he doesn’t even bother to look in my direction.
“I’m not my brother. Beatrix and my daughter are my only priorities.”
“Your brother’s ex-girlfriend is your priority. Interesting. Why is that?” Xander presses, and I feel the second embarrassment shooting through my veins.
“I imagine you already know the answer to that given that your best friend’s wife was yours.”
“So we should start planning a second engagement party then?”
I want to die. I can’t even bear to look at Cooper’s face right now.
“Xander!” I shout. “Oh my god. Please stop being ridiculous. You’re embarrassing all of us. Leave Cooper alone. He’s been nothing but gracious to me. The second I got the first inkling of this whole stalker thing, he was begging me to be more cautious and asking how he could help. You’re making an ass out of yourself, yelling at him like this.”
“If he cared about you, you’d have twenty-four seven security. If this were Harper, I’d have someone on her every second of the day I couldn’t be there to do it myself, and backup too. I’d have the police and investigators and anyone else I could get to have eyes on the entire thing. I can’t believe you’re being so casual about this.”
“Nothing has happened. Just a few pictures and some footprints outside a window. The cops would have nothing to go on.” I protest
“Nothing happened with Harper’s ex either, until it did.” Xander’s eyes land heavy on me.
“What’s going on out here? You have guests inside, Xander.” My father’s voice interrupts us, and I recoil, pinching my eyes shut.
When I open them, Xander’s smile tells me he’s about to bring our father into this debate. Like we’re kids again, and I’ve finally done something wrong where he gets to tell on me, instead of the other way around.
“Bea has a stalker. For weeks now. She’s done almost nothing about it, and I’m worried about her safety. I’m asking why more isn’t being done.” Xander’s eyes shift to Cooper, and my father’s follow. They both have a very unique ability to assess people and finding them wanting in rapid order. A thing my father does with remarkable efficiency as he studies Cooper.
“He has a security system. I’ve been careful. We don’t know if it’s his stalker or mine. Just that it started after they saw us together. We’ve been careful. I don’t want an overreaction to this situation. It’s embarrassing. This happens to lots of people in the spotlight. You both know this.” I’m immediately hurrying to shield Cooper from whatever comes next, but I might as well be invisible.
My father nods once, the gray streak in his hair reflecting the moonlight.
“We’re going to talk more about this later. For now, she’s safe. My security is everywhere I am, and tomorrow you’re coming to stay at our house. Before you return to Cincinnati…”—my father pauses to look at me—“we’re going to have this resolved.” He turns to Xander. “Now, please go in there and entertain your guests.”
The finality in his tone is enough even to quell Xander’s anxiety, and he nods, glancing one last time between Cooper and me before he heads back inside. My father silently nods for us to follow him, and we march like dutiful children to his beat.