Belonging

Characters/Prologue

Prologue

Xavier dragged his tired ass out of the hospital after an eighteen-hour shift, every muscle screaming for mercy. Sleep sounded amazing, but he knew better — he needed distraction. Not talking. Not connection. Just something to make the day stop existing for a minute.

"Y'all ready to drag your lazy asses out?" Sydney Osei's voice cut through the quiet like she always did. Hands on her hips, mama-bird glare in full effect. "Shoes on, coat off. You're coming. Don't argue. I ain't letting you sit at home all sad like my husband left me or something."

Alexis Romero didn't even wait for an answer. "Move, boy! Hair up! We out! I ain't got all night, and we definitely not watching you sulk in the corner like a sad cucumber!" Her grin was chaos itself, pulling him forward before he could protest.

Xavier sighed. Fuck it. No point arguing. Sydney fussed, Lexi dragged — he was gone either way.

———

The club hit like a wave. Bass rattled the floor. Smoke curled through the lights. Lexi immediately dragged him onto the dance floor, spinning him like he was weightless. Xavier laughed despite himself, trying not to trip over his own two feet. Sydney hovered nearby, hands on hips, muttering about him needing "some grounding" while keeping an eye on the crowd, throwing in the occasional, "Don't embarrass yourself, or I swear to God my husband gonna hear about it tomorrow."

And then he felt it — a presence that made him freeze mid-step.

Tall. Calm. Every movement too deliberate. Xavier didn't even notice him at first — he was busy with Lexi, trying not to embarrass himself — but then their eyes met. That gaze lingered, heavy, deliberate, impossible to shake.

A brush of fingers at the bar. A hand near his arm. Probably "accidental." Maybe. Xavier shrugged it off.

Jayce? He memorized everything. Tilt of Xavier's head. The way he laughed. How Lexi dragged him across the dance floor and how Sydney stayed close, keeping him in check. Months of watching, paying attention, waiting. And tonight? Tonight was his opening.

By the end of it, the music had blurred into haze. Drinks had dulled the edges. Lights flashed and disappeared. Somehow, Xavier was leaving the club, following Jayce without really thinking.

"Yo! Don't get kidnapped, idiot!" Lexi called, her Trinidadian accent rolling over the noise. Sydney simply gave him a stern warning look to reaffirm the other woman's words.

Xavier didn't hear either of them. Too busy feeling that knot in his stomach — the one that whispered: this is different.

———

Morning hit him like a sledgehammer. Head pounding, back aching, blinds cutting lines of harsh light across the room. And someone was already awake.

Jayce lay on his side, propped on one elbow, eyes tracking Xavier like he was studying art. Not smiling. Not teasing. Just... watching.

"Morning," he said. Calm. Too calm.

Xavier froze. Something about him was... off. But he couldn't put his finger on it.

Jayce's gaze drifted over the scars on Xavier's hands, the slight tension still clinging to his muscles, the twitch of fingers unused to trust.

Months of watching. Months of waiting. And now he's here. Patience always pays off.

Xavier didn't yet know the depth of that attention, the obsession quietly simmering long before last night. But a flicker of unease whispered through him — subtle, dismissible, but enough to prick at comfort.