Dusk & Dawn

Part VI

"Wait so you mean to tell me that your dad actually cried?" Kira asked, laughing. Xavier nodded, smiling. At this point she was leaning back on the couch, heartily laughing with her head thrown back.

"Don't laugh, that entire experience was traumatic." Xavier said, leaning his head against the couch armrest, chuckling. He still was sitting on floor while Kira had folded her legs under herself on the couch. She still wore her heels, however, Xavier had taken his shoes off.

Xavier was telling Kira of the time he thought it was a bright idea to spike his spice intolerant dad's food with chillies. The situation had escalated further than it needed to because his dad was super hungry, which meant he had gobbled down five mouthfuls before noticing something was wrong.

At the time it was only the father and son in the woods bordering the next town over, and Xavier had just learnt how to transform. His dad was teaching him how to trace scents and how to focus€x in one scent at a time. They didn't even have a vehicle, let alone milk.

The story he'd told Kira, however, was that they were at his office on a holiday, so no one else was in the building with them when he pulled that stunt. His dad's lunch was packed by his sister that morning, and he'd sabotaged it before they left. After his dad had eaten it, he'd noticed Xavier barely holding it together watching him. His father frowned at him, and told him he was going to be punished when they got back home, but he still kept his stone persona. Five minutes later, he was sweating. Ten minutes later, his stomach was cramping. This was where Xavier became concerned and called his mom. Fifteen minutes later, he was dry heaving, tears rimming his eyes and mucus coming out of his nose. Twenty minutes later, he broke out in a sob. That was the first time Xavier saw his dad cry.

"How old even were you?" Kira said, wiping the tears off her face, catching her breath.

"I was fourteen at the time." He replied, looking at her with a smile. "I'd never thought he'd actually cry. My dad is one of the most non-reactive people I know and I thought I just about killed him." Kira was hit with another wave of laughter, but she covered her mouth to hold it in. "By the time mom got there, he'd been in tears for ten minutes and I had been trying to comfort him."

"Did you even apologise?" She asked through giggles.

"I tried to, but he'd told me to shut up before he beat me." He said and Kira burst out laughing again. "He made me read a book and report lessons I learned from it to him, and stopped me from seeing my friends for the next three months." The book was the book of pack core principles. Xavier was already familiar with the book prior, but his dad thought he clearly hadn't internalised it enough. He held back from beating him physically because he knew Xavier wasn't actually trying to hurt him, but he was being stupid.

"Gosh. That must've been hell for you." She said and he nodded.

"Mom at least thought it was funny so that's great."

At this point, they'd been talking for almost two hours, asking each other random and non-invasive questions, and sharing life experiences that were true but altered or lacked a lot of context and nuance. Xavier downright lied and said he was an heir, and Kira mentioned her parents but ensured that the experiences she told Xavier never centered them. Their conversation was light-hearted and fun. Kira hadn't even noticed that they were talking for more than thirty minutes.

"Is the sister you mentioned the only sibling you have?" Kira asked and Xavier nodded.

"Mikaela. She's about two years younger than I am."

"And how old are you?"

"Twenty-five." Kira nodded in response and looked off to the side of the room, going silent for a moment before Xavier brought her back to reality. The exhaustion from the night was starting to get to her and the adrenaline from the music barely got to her in this room since it was muffled. Her body was starting to adjust to the mate connection as well, allowing her to feel safe and comfortable, even though she barely knew him. Xavier on the other end, was working out how to ask her out.

"So... Diamond... Do you go out on dates?" He asked and Kira snorted.

"I barely have time to." She said, turning her head back to him, smiling once she saw his frowning face. In her head, there was no way a person like Xavier wanted to actually ask her out, that's why she unintentionally shut him down. Xavier was fighting off the guilt he felt. From their conversation he could work out she didn't have it easy.

"How far do your... services... extend?" Xavier asked after pondering a while, and she sat up straighter, her smile dropping. His eyes widened. "I'm sorry, I don-"

"I'm not an escort. I only strip." He was losing points with her.

"I hear you, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to pay you for sex." He said and her eyes squinted in question. "I just wanted to see if I could pay to have you around for the next two weeks."

"Pay to have me around?"

"Yeah, sort of like an escort but no sex obligation." He said, looking straight into her eyes and Kira pursed her lips. She'd been around enough to know not to trust anyone, even though everything inside was screaming for her to agree. "I'll pay double whatever they pay you at the club daily, just please, can I have your evenings for the next two weeks?" He pleaded, pulling at Kira's heartstrings. Three loud knocks hit the door and Kira's eyes flew to the door. Their time together was up. Xavier waited with bated breath for her response.

"I-" She started after looking back at him. Three more knocks hit the door.

"Diamond?" Dave called from outside the door. She reluctantly broke eye contact again. If she didn't respond, he was going to open the door.

"I heard you! I'm coming!" She called back to Dave before looking back to Xavier again. "I don't know. I'm not sure how I feel about this."

"Okay. How about I give you my phone number and you can call me if you're up for it. Offer stands until the day I leave town." Xavier said, looking at her with hopeful eyes. She couldn't resist that look in his eyes, so she found herself agreeing without thinking about it. Xavier beamed.

"Don't you need a pen and paper to write it down?" He asked after he saw her not moving from her spot. She smiled.

"I have a really good memory retention when it comes to numbers."