Wanted Always (Xander Barns) (21 page)

“Oh, really? I’m being a disloyal prick
right now? Were you here just a second ago? Do you think I forgot how the
golden boy just grabbed you and whispered things into your ear right in front
of me? How come it’s okay for him to do it?” Xander asks furiously.

Shit!
I have nothing…silence it is.

“That’s what I thought,” Xander snaps
quietly. “Come on; let’s find our seats and get this thing over with.”

He grabs my arm delicately and leads me to
our table. Before sitting himself, he pulls out my chair. Which is odd, considering
he is a natural-born princess boy. This guy, he doesn’t make sense: one
minute—one thing, the next—another…usually something fucked-up. I can’t keep
up.

 “Why’d you bring me here? You’ve got
all these girls, probably on speed dial, that would have come with you and
conceded to your ever demand,” I ask, confused and slightly deflated as he
takes the seat beside me.

Xander doesn’t look at me. Instead, he
grabs a crystal glass filled with ice water and brings it to his lips. “I have
my reasons,” he says after drinking his water.

“Yeah, you always do.” I look away,
placing my clutch onto the table.

None of this makes sense. Why am I here?
He could have brought with him a hundred other girls he knows, who are probably
waiting beside their phones for his fake ass.

Whatever! I’m not asking any more
questions. I don’t fucking care.

My stomach gurgles loud enough for me to
hear. I turn to him, “Will there be food at this thing?”

“Yes,” Xander responds curtly.

“Well, where is it?” I reply, irritated.
“I’m starving.”

“A late lunch will be served shortly,”
Xander explains, not bothering to look at me.

“I’m hungry now!” I whine loudly, not
caring if I make a spectacle of myself.

I don’t fucking care anymore! I’m sick of
it, sick of him…of everything, and if I’m not given some food, there will be
hell to pay. If he thinks I was bad before, he’s seen nothing yet.

I’m famous for being bad at parties, after
all.

His nostrils flare; his eyes widen at my
tone and volume.

Yeah, I do that too, bitch!
I silently tell him with my eyes, which I
hope are also reading ‘crazy ass bitch’.

“I’m hungry! I need food right now. I need
to be fed. You dragged me out for this whole adventure without even feeding
me!” I snap quietly.

I mean business. I’m sure he’s regretting
bringing me here now.

I smile a little inside.

Xander leans closer, “Well, if I knew you
were hungry before, I would have fed you.” He leans back, smiling to himself as
he looks away at the crowds surrounding us.

What is that smile for? I don’t have the
energy to decode his shit right now,
I think, narrowing my eyes at him as he avoids my gaze.

“You’re a shit date, you know that?” I
groan, finally looking away. Xander’s phone rings, interrupting the tension
between us. He takes it out of his jacket pocket and quickly gets up.

“I have to take this privately; I’ll be
back shortly,” he says as he quickly leaves.

“Wait – what?” I spit out, taken off
guard. “You can’t leave me!”

“I’ll be back soon,” he says, then
scurries off into the crowd, leaving me alone.

That mother fucker! I shoot daggers at his
backside as he circles around the crowd with his phone to his ear, chuckling
happily.

Hmmmm…what is he up to now?

****

Fifteen minutes later, there is still no
sign of the asshole. The pervert has completely disappeared from the party.

I’m starving, especially with how little I
ate yesterday, then eating nothing today. If I don’t get some food inside me
soon, I’m going to lose it.

Or pass out. Which would be bad,
considering I’m at a lavish party and in a dress I could never afford on my
hourly wage back at 4Scoops.

Don’t think about work,
I order myself. Thinking about returning
to my dead-end job will only fuel the depression I can already feel sneaking
in.

I hate my job,
I think as I stare at the rich crowd around me. I
don’t belong here as a guest; if they all knew who I really am, I’d be stripped
of this fab dress, ordered into a uniform, and handed a serving tray.

Ehhhh…I need a self-help book right now!
My shoulders slump; God, I feel pathetic. The sound of a mic turning on
interrupts my pity session.

“Hello, testing. One, two,” a hushed but
amplified voice echoes out all of a sudden.

Where did that come from?
I ponder, gazing around the party area
for speakers. They are apparently hidden.

Classy! They even have hidden speakers
here!

“Thank you all for coming today. Will you
all please help yourselves to the hors d’oeuvres table prepared by the one and
only Chef...”

What? Did I hear food, available now?
I don’t even hear the rest of the speech
as I scour the area like a hawk for any signs of food. Then, from the corner of
my eye, ten servers walk out of the house holding large covered trays.

“Yes,” I hiss to myself.

Fuck Xander; I am not waiting for his
horny-ass to return. I’m gonna go get me some food. I gracefully get up,
smoothing the to-die-for
dress in the process, and head toward the
crowded table underneath the veranda.

I’m going to eat…I’m going to eat!
I sing to myself, walking around people I
don’t know. Half the party crowds themselves around the appetizer table. I
squeeze through two older men and grab a plate.

Now what do we have here? I gaze at the
selection of colorful items. I grab the first thing I recognized: pink
macaroons. I take three.

 “Treat me like that again and I’ll
sue!”

A familiar voice hisses behind me, causing
me to still as I chew on my first macaroon.

Where have I heard that before?
I swallow the sweet bite. I turn around,
catching sight of an older woman with wild, curly brown hair. She’s stalking
away with a glass of rose champagne from a red–faced, female server whose hands
grasp the edges of her empty tray tightly. She stares at the woman for a few
seconds before walking away.

Why is my heart beating so fast?
I think as I return to gazing at the
woman. She wears a side–strap, violet dress that clings to her knees; it’s
decorated with small roses along the hem. Something about her wild, brown,
curly hair stirs something within my memory, something that doesn’t feel right,
but nothing comes to mind.

“What’s on your mind?” A deep voice
murmurs into my ear, causing me to jump. Before I twist my neck to see who it
is, a hand caresses my arm. My head turns and in an instant, my eyes become
mesmerized by a pair of deep-blue ones that turn my stomach into a butterfly
sanctuary.

It’s that damn Nancy Adams again…her
‘Love’ song plays in my head as I lower my gaze to his lush, plump lips. The
small tip of his tongue makes an appearance as he wets them. I can feel my jaw
drop a little at the drool-worthy sight of him.

Why does he have to be so gorgeous? And
the fact that he’s normal makes it worse.

How am I going to get through this now
that I feel the way I feel? Flushed, hot, dizzy, hot guy-struck. I’m not going
to make it; it’s as simple as that! Maybe I should hold on to his hard, muscled
arm for support, just in case I pass out.

Which would be bad…very bad.

Snap out of it! He’s Xander’s brother,
nothing more! And close your fucking mouth; you’re worse than a dog panting for
a bone.

His bone?

Stop it!

Deep breath!
The slight drop in my mouth shuts as I inhale
much-needed oxygen through my nostrils; subtly, of course. I don’t want him to
know that he affects me.

 “Well, are you going to answer me or
not?” he whispers, leaning in closer, with his hand now firmly grasping around
my arm. I’m not looking though; my eyes are busy somewhere else. Like for
instance, they’re taking into account his deep blue eyes going hard as they
scan me once.

I put my plate of appetizers down on the
buffet table.

“I was thinking,” I say as I turn around
to face him, giving him a knowing smile in the process, “where the fuck did my
date run off to?”

“Must you use that language at my mother’s
home?” Liam sighs; his eyes twinkle with amusement.

“Spoken from the man who screamed
everything but the phone book last night. And let us not forget that little
display of affection you shared with Xander earlier.”

Grinning widely now, I lean in and
continue in a whisper, “I didn’t forget; but maybe you did, old man.”

His nostrils flare as I lean back. “Last
night, we weren’t at a civilized party; there’s a time and a place to act
certain ways.”

“Are you sure about that? Because I’m sure
there was a ‘fucking’ party going on last night too, and you were clearly
interrupting,” I inform him, and then try to yank my arm out of his warm grasp.

He’s too strong and unwilling.

“Oh, really? So you lied about your
involvement then,” Liam states smugly.

“What? No!” My eyes bulge. “I was there to
a pay a debt.”

“And you paid it? How? By lying on your
back?”

“No!”

“Stop lying!”

“I’m not. I had nothing to do with his
‘party’!”

“Sure you didn’t,” Liam assumes.

“You know what,” I begin, exasperated out
of my mind.

Liam interrupts, getting right in my face,
“What?”

Why does he need to know what exactly
happened last night? Why does he care so much?

“Nothing. I’m at a party. It’s not
appropriate at a civilized party like this.”

“What? You were going to call
me
something bad?” Liam sneers.

“No, I was going to skull-fuck you in
front of everyone. So yeah, inappropriate!” I say quietly, glancing at the
party. Surprisingly, we aren’t causing a spectacle of ourselves. The music is
too loud for anyone to notice anyways. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a
pervert to go find.”

Liam doesn’t move, so I walk around him;
my shoulder brushes against his arm, instantly growing goose bumps.

Deal with that!

I make it three steps before a firm hand
grasps my arm again, pulling me to a stop.

“Don’t run away from me; I won’t bite,”
Liam whispers into my ear.

“What do you want from me, Liam? I told
you the truth; what else is there?” I stress to him.

He lets go of my arm, but glides his
fingertips upwards, stopping at my jaw to caress it. “Why are you here, Marisa?
I told you last night, you should stay away from the likes of Xander.”

“It’s not that complicated, Liam. Xander
asked me for a favor and I said yes,” I explain.

“He’s trouble, Marisa; I thought you
realized that by now,” he whispers worriedly.

“I know, but we’re sort of friends now,” I
tell him. We’re friends now? I can’t believe I just said that.

“Friends?” Liam laughs in disbelief.

“Yeah, friends,” I retort.

“Xander doesn’t
do
friends; I doubt
he knows the definition of loyalty,” Liam says, shaking his head, looking at me
like I’m a stupid idiot. “Your friendship is fictional; it doesn’t exist.”

I yank my jaw out of his reach, “Well, it
seems like he’s trying. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find my date!”

I swirl around quickly, leaving Liam’s
space.

Don’t look at me like I’m stupid!
I want to scream at the top of my lungs.
I’m sick of people looking at me like I’m a fool! I’m not!

On my way back to my table, I look over my
shoulder to see if he’s still looking; not paying attention to what’s in front
of me. Liam is gone; disappointed, I turn back facing forward, but not in time
as someone bumps into me, hard.

“Oww!” I grunt as I try to catch myself
from falling, not even seeing who it is that bumped into me.

“If my dress is ruined, I’ll sue!” My
assailant screeches; from the corner of my eye I see a pink and white frilly
dress with a mess of wild brown curls cascading around the shoulders.

Deja vu?
Then like a wave of lava, it hits me, as my eyes
connect with her blue ones.

“Oh, Xander darling, Mrs. Williams and her
daughter are here.”

“Yes, be on the lookout. I hear her
daughter is quite smitten with you. What was her name again?”
Mrs. Barns had asked
.

“I’m not sure; but I’m sure it’ll come to
me when I see her,”
Xander
had said
.