Xavier

 

Xavier sat at his desk, going over some paperwork. It was fortunate they had been able to get away with the drug shipment, because some of that money would be needed for the funerals of the lost members. He sighed heavily, wishing it hadn’t come to that. Still, any man who joined the Reaper’s Hearts knew what the risks were. Some of them just got luckier than others.

 

A knock sounded at the door, pulling him away from his figures. He hadn’t been expecting anyone. Taking the same precautions he always did, he tucked his pistol into his belt and cracked the curtain. A nice sedan sat at the curb. It didn’t look like anyone was waiting inside; whoever was on his doorstep had come alone. It was probably a salesman. Xavier crept on silent feet to the door and looked through the peephole, just in case.

 

The hair of the woman on his doorstep covered half her face as she looked down at her feet, but he instantly recognized Kenzie. Xavier backed away from the door for a moment to think. It had been a few days since they’d slept together. Although he’d thought about her a lot, he’d made no effort to contact her. It was just his policy. It didn’t matter how tempting it was to see if she wanted to hook up again, because repeated contact might imply a relationship. But he’d made the mistake of bringing her back to his place instead of getting a hotel room. The poor girl had probably decided she was in love with him, and now she had tracked him down to tell him so.

 

He yanked open the door but made sure to stand on the threshold. He didn’t want to give her the impression that she was invited in, not unless she was looking for another romp in the hay. He might agree to that, policy be damned. “Hey, Kenzie,” he said casually, trying to keep the surprise out of his voice. “What are you doing here?”

 

“I need to talk to you.” Her words were short, like she had bitten them off, and she kept her gaze on the concrete of the patio.

 

“That’s cool, but I don’t really have a lot of time. I’ve got a busy day ahead of me. I’m sure you understand.” He started to close the door.

 

Kenzie’s hand reached out and blocked it, and she shoved her way past him. “No, I need to talk. And we’re going to talk. Now.”

 

Xavier’s shoulders sagged as she marched into the middle of his living room floor. He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, trying to find the nicest way to make sure she understood that he didn’t want this. “Look, this happens a lot. I probably should have told you up front, but I’m really not interested in a relationship right now …” He brought his eyes back down to see her reaction, expecting her to cry or scream, but instead saw the massive contusion that took up a third of her face. She had tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing purple blotches that completely surrounded her right eye. She hadn’t put any makeup on, which only contributed to her miserable look.

 

“What the hell happened to you?” His shoulder tensed, and he wished that whoever had hit her was right there with them. He would bury his fist in their face.

 

“You did,” she snapped.

 

“What the fuck? No way.” Her statement caught him completely off-guard. He’d had a few beers that night, but he hadn’t been so drunk that he’d forgotten what happened. If she’d been injured like that, especially at his hands, he would have remembered. He used women, but he didn’t abuse them. “Why would you say something like that?”

 

Kenzie’s eyes were obsidian as she glared at him. They held his gaze so deeply that it took him a moment to register the pistol she had just pulled out of her jacket pocket. “Sit down, shut up, and listen. I want to get this over with.”

 

He held up his hands and took a step back. “I’m not into that dominatrix stuff.” He’d never had any girl show up on his doorstep so desperate that she would use a weapon. He must have been a better lay than he thought.

 

“I said, sit down, motherfucker!” She gestured toward the couch with her gun.

 

Xavier knew he could take her. She was strong, but she was small, and he knew how to subdue someone with a weapon. He could even have drawn his own weapon and created one hell of a standoff, but he was curious to hear what she had to say. He sighed and did what he was told, but he kept his fingers close to his weapon. Kenzie hadn’t made an effort to disarm him, so either she hadn’t noticed the gun at his waist or she was on a suicide mission. “All right. I’m listening. What do you want?”

 

Without taking her eyes off him or setting down the gun, she pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and tossed it in his lap. “This details the amount of money, weapons, and other items you’re to turn over to the Labriolas by the end of the day. If you don’t, you’ll have to face the consequences.”

 

He skimmed the list and gave a low whistle. “That’s a lot of stuff. Now tell me why the hell I would do such a stupid thing, and then tell me who dotted your ‘’'.” None of this was making any sense. Maybe she’d been hit harder than he thought.

 

She ignored the last request. “Because if you don’t, I’ll go to the police and tell them you raped me. I have a copy of the affidavit right here.” She tossed another paper into his lap. “I’m sure you can imagine there are plenty of pictures of me after our little tryst.” Kenzie pointed with her free hand at her face.

 

Xavier watched her carefully. She didn’t have the sexy makeup on that she’d worn at the bar, and the purple bruising on her face certainly changed her look. But now he understood why she looked a little familiar when he’d first seen her: she was Matteo Labriola’s daughter, and he had let her play him like a fine fiddle. “Tell me, Kenzie, did you have this planned out before or after we slept together?”

 

She waved the gun, getting really pissed now. “Does it matter?”

 

“It does to me.” He started to stand up, but she shot forward and shoved him back down on the couch. Her athletic legs straddled his lap in a manner that would have been incredibly sexy if she hadn’t been pointing a gun at his face. Well, it was still a little bit sexy. “There’s an address at the bottom of the list. You’ll meet my father’s men at that address tomorrow morning with every bit of what he’s asked for. If you don’t, he’ll release all the information to the police and you’ll find yourself in jail before you know it.”

 

Xavier was careful to keep his face calm. He couldn’t let her know the fires of rage that were burning inside him. How dare she use him just for her father’s business purposes? How dare Matteo use her to get him back for the markets the MC had stolen from the family? The whole thing was ridiculous, and he wasn’t about to play their game. “You can leave now,” he said quietly.

 

“Does that mean I can count on you to be there?” She lifted the muzzle of the pistol just a fraction of an inch, indicating she was just as done with this as he was.

 

“No. It means you can stop bothering with threatening me. It’s not going to work.” Xavier kept his eyes focused on hers, careful not to cringe at that wound. Jesus, it was bad.

 

Her lips twitched for a moment as she thought about what to say. Xavier had kissed those lips, thoroughly, but he had never expected to hear such bullshit come out of them. “You’re an even bigger idiot than I thought you were if you don’t pay up,” she hissed. “He’ll kill you. You know that, right?”

 

“I’m not afraid of Matteo Labriola. I’m not afraid of anybody, and I’m not going to let someone blackmail me just because they think it’s a quick way to make a buck. Leave. Go home to your father, and tell him that I’m not paying him.”

 

Her jaw tightened and her eyes narrowed, but her finger moved off the trigger as she tucked her gun back into her jacket pocket. “Trust me, he already knows.” She stormed out the front door, slamming it on her way out.

 

Xavier stood at the window and watched as she pulled away, her driving erratic. She would go straight back to her father’s arms and tell him what happened. Who knew what he would do to her then? With a bellow of fury, he turned and buried his fist in the wall.