Maria Blanchard didn't want to cause any trouble.
After moving to the city, Maria was determined to live a boring high school life. If she kept her head down, no drama.
Too bad she didn't realize someone was watching her from afar.
Xavier Monroe w...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It wasn't my business.
None of it involved me.
Stay out of trouble.
I kept repeating those sentences in my brain as we went inside the mansion. If I wasn't so distracted, I would have appreciated the decorations hanging from the ceiling and the colored lights filling the room. Garrett talked about every single detail of this party, but none of it was registering.
"There's a party happening so it will be easy to get in and out...I'll have Damon with me and we have the perfect cover...I'm going to get that intel and then we're going to end this."
I had so many questions that I wanted to ask, but I kept my lips sealed shut.
I don't think I'd been this tempted to say "fuck it" to my new motto of being the more subdued version of myself. I was going to lose it if I didn't get all the pieces to the story.
Are they trying to get gossip about Garrett and his family? What intel? Maybe an embarrassing picture to blackmail people? Is it for a case the MPS is running? Why are they sending in a couple of teenagers?
Maybe there's a drug operation happening at Garrett's party?!
Wait, that didn't make any sense. I think watching all those crime TV shows is finally biting me in the ass.
"Let's get some drinks!" Xavier shouted, grabbing my hand and leading me to the table.
His hands were big compared to mine. I let a part of myself bask in having the cute guy's hand holding mine. The crowd parted for him and Damon, giving us room to walk with no one bumping into us.
I took multiple deep breaths, telling myself to let it go. I was running on assumptions and no facts. I wasn't even a hundred percent sure Xavier and his dad were talking about this party.
I will not create trouble.
And if there was an award for trouble, Xavier wore it like a badge of honor. I can't drag myself into whatever mischief he and Damon may or may not cause tonight. This also wasn't the place to call them out on it. It would bring too much attention and start a gossip chain that would get back to Garrett.
Keep quiet and ignore it.
I quickly chugged down the punch offered by a server.
"You good, Sweets?" Xavier asked with amusement.
"Shut up. You know I hate that name," I responded quickly. "And I'm just getting myself pumped."
"Then you won't mind dancing with me?" Xavier said with a smile.
"You dance?" I asked with disbelief, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
"I have many talents." Xavier said, stepping closer to me.
