The Devil In Disguise

CHAPTER 36: Just Kiss Already

The air grew hot and I bit my lip, knowing that Xander and I were alone. Turning from the door, I walked back into the living room, from where Xander hadn't moved an inch. When I entered, his eyes stayed fixed on me, observant, registering my every move.

It was dark outside so the room was dim. I switched a lamp on in the corner and it bathed the room in a yellow-orange glow, adding amber flecks to Xander's forest oases. I tried not to admire it.

I made my way over to the main light switch because it was still quite dim in the room but I stopped still as I heard his silky voice emanate through the room.

"Don't switch on the light. I like it this way."

Dropping the arm that was reaching for the light switch, I turned again, suddenly thankful for the dimness; I could feel heat rising to my face. I walked slowly back to Xander, stopping in front of him, aware that his eyes didn't shift from me even once.

"Your parents are probably waiting for you," I said, my voice soft. I looked up into his eyes and felt something unbearable in my stomach, like an urge to do something, but I shoved it down. My heart beat erratically for some reason as my mahogany-coloured eyes met his leafy ones, and his gaze wandered to my lips.

"My parents don't care about where I am or when I come home," Xander replied quietly, his eyes shifting back to mine with force, darkening at the thought of his parents. He was almost a foot taller than me, I realised.

"They don't sound like good parents," I prompted.

"They're not," Xander laughed humourlessly, a soft, low drumming which slid against my ears. The sound sent chills through me and I looked at him questioningly, wanting him to continue.

He didn't.

"How come?" I asked. Xander's eyes grew dark again and his jaw set icily. He looked away, and murmured,

"They're just... not there for me as parents."

"What do you mean? You go to a good school, you're well off —"

"The only reason I go to a good school is because they're rich and they don't want to ruin their reputation with a dumb child," he cut me off sharply. "Other than that, they don't care what I do, where I am, how I am. They're provide me with resources, but that's all." I could tell this was a sensitive subject, and I respected his boundaries.

"Well, you're more intelligent than most," I said. "Maybe you're adopted. Your IQ seems to be higher than theirs put together."

Xander's mouth suddenly twitched and as he looked at me again, I noticed a change in his demeanour. His emerald eyes glinted with a forbidden kind of light and my breath caught in my throat as he looked at me intensely.

I noticed a sudden protectiveness in his eyes.

"If he comes for you again, I swear to God I'll kill him," Xander growled in a low, deadly voice; but his eyes held something different, something vulnerable for the first time.

"It's not me I'm worried about," I said, sitting down on the sofa. He sat down too, close to me; when I turned to face him, he was less than a foot away from me. Our shoulders touched and every part of my skin that touched him tingled. What was happening to me?

"So noble," Xander commented, an amused smirk playing on his perfect lips. I snapped my gaze away from his mouth but he'd already noticed, and his smirk widened. I bit my lip to stop smiling back and instead narrowed my eyes at him playfully.

"I'm serious. He'll kill anyone who comes in his way," I said sincerely, hoping with all my heart that Xander wouldn't put his life on the line.

"If it stops him from reaching you, I'd do it," Xander replied seriously, his face holding no sarcasm or humour. My heart swelled with gratitude and something else that I couldn't quite place, and without thinking, I leaned forward and wrapped my hands around his neck, hugging him.