Vanessa

Justine’s move out day has arrived.

“I think I’m all set, Nessa.” We’ve just packed a few small things in Justine’s trunk and now she’s fiddling with her car keys, standing beside her car. She’s so torn and I love her for it.

She wants to stay, but she also wants to go. What kind of friend would I be to ask her to stay? There will be plenty of chances for us to hang out. Life has gotten in the way, but she will always be my best friend.

I grab her and reel her in for a tight hug. “Go have fun with your lover man,” I say as I squeeze her tight.

She giggles. “You sure you don’t need me to do anything else?”

“Yeah, I need you to get in your car and hurry over to Preston’s before he starts blowing up your phone and wondering where you are!”

“Okay.” She laughs. “I will call you every day!”

“I’ll be doing the same.” I wink.

“Yes. And remember if you need anything at all, tell me!”

“I will.”

She steps back and opens her door. She jumps inside and I watch her crank it up and then pull out of the driveway. She waves one last time when she’s on the street and then she takes off. I watch her go from where I stand, until I can’t see her taillights anymore.

My eyes swing over to the house across the street. There is a for sale sign in the front lawn now. I saw the Sheriff put it in himself a few days ago.

I feel bad for Axel and about what I said, but he hasn’t contacted me and I refuse to drop my guard and run to him. He took what I said so offensively though and I feel awful.

He’s not a bad guy.

Does he do bad shit? Yes. But he’s not bad.

Not bad in bed and not a bad person either.

We had a lot of fun together.

I walk into the house with a sigh, shutting the door behind me. The house feels so vacant now, even though Justine left the furniture for me to keep. She did take all of her movies though, like I knew she would. That girl loves her movies.

I slouch down on the couch. It’s getting late and I should sleep before my shift at Harlow’s. It will be my first night as assistant manager and I’m excited about it.

There’s a knock on the door as soon as I start to doze off.

I perk up, hoping it’s him. Shooting to a stand, I rush for the door and pull it open, but my smile fades in an instant. It’s not him. It’s the…Sheriff?

“Uh, hi,” I say, folding my arms as he takes his hat off.

“Hello. Vanessa, right?” he asks and I nod.

“Yes. Can I help you?”

“Yeah, you can. I’m looking for my nephew. Haven’t heard from him in a few days and since you live across the street from him, I was just wondering if you’d seen him?”

My breath stalls a bit. “I—I haven’t. Not for a few days.”

“You haven’t seen his car in the neighborhood or anything?”

I shake my head. “No.” Now that I think about it, it’s been at least three days since I’ve seen Axel or his car. “Do you think he’s okay?” I ask quickly.

“Oh, I’m sure that boy is fine,” he sighs, looking at the house he put on the market. “He’s just probably throwing one of his fits. Hiding somewhere and trying to get me to change my mind about selling the house.”

“Yeah,” I force a laugh.

“Well, if you see him at all, will you give me a call?” He digs in his front pocket for a business card, offering it to me.

“Yeah. Sure.” I take it from him and he puts his hat back on, turning and walking away. I shut the door and go to my room, but I can’t help my worry. I feel like his disappearance is somewhat my fault. I hurt his feelings. I cut him deep. I shouldn’t have said what I did.

I know it’s dumb to do, but I grab my phone off the nightstand and text him, asking if he is okay. I don’t get a response, and because I don’t, I can’t sleep. When it’s time for me to get ready for work, I panic a little more, but I get dressed and go because I can’t be late tonight.

God, why does it have to be tonight when my head isn’t clear? Fucking Axel.

* * *

The club isn’t too busy, which is good. I need things to be easy for now so that I can get into the swing of things. It’s going to take a while to get used to walking the whole club, making sure everything and everyone is accounted for, but I’m not complaining. It doesn’t beat making drinks all night, though.

As I check off a few things on the clipboard for supplies, one of the waiters comes to the back. “Hey, Vanessa, there’s some guy asking for you out back.”

I look back at Reba, eyebrows dipping. “Did he say who he was?”

“Nope. Just said to ‘tell the redhead firecracker to come out.’” She laughs at that and I don’t know why, but I instantly fill up with relief.

I nod and place the clipboard down, walking past her. “Yeah, I know exactly who that is.”

I walk to the back and the music fades more and more the closer I get to the door. Pushing it open, I step out but I don’t see anyone at first. Not even his car. But then I smell a cigarette burning and I look to my right.

Sitting on one of the broken stools from the bar is Xander. His hair is a mess, but in a sexy way. He’s wearing all black and the stubble surrounding his mouth is thicker.

I walk his way and he turns his head, but doesn’t meet my eyes.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, doing my best not to sound too thrilled about it.

“Wanted to see you,” he responds.

“Why? Need another quick fuck?” I roll my eyes.

He stands up, tossing the cigarette and stepping on the tip of it. “That would be fucking great, but no. That’s not why I’m here.”

“So…why?”

“I wanted to let you know that I’m moving closer to campus with my cousin. He has an apartment there. Says he’ll only make me pay half.”

I don’t know why my heart sinks hearing this. “Oh.”

He presses his lips. “Just thought I’d let you know.” He looks away. I do too.

We’re quiet for a long time, but my heart is pounding now. “Well, thanks for telling me. I should get back to work,” I finally say, taking a small step back.

He stares at me, but doesn’t say a word, so I keep stepping away. When I realize he isn’t going to stop me, I feel my heart shrivel up in my chest and I turn my back to him, walking to the door.

I grab the handle, but before I go in, I look back, asking, “Why stop by and tell me? Why not just go?”

He thinks it over, rubbing a hand over his scruffy jawline. “Because I like you.” He pauses. “And I wanted to see how you’d react. Wasn’t the way I was expecting though.”

“You like me,” I repeat. I release the door handle, facing him again. “How long have you liked me?”

“Too fucking long,” he mumbles, like he can’t believe it himself.

I step toward him, palms clammy now, my chest so heavy. “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

He gives me a small smirk. “It was just sex, right?”

I swallow hard. “Axel, I…I like you too.”

“Thought you hated me?” He cocks a brow.

“I mean, yeah, I hate you sometimes but…” I let out a deep breath. “I don’t know. Your uncle came by my house today looking for you. And when he told me he hadn’t heard from you and I realized I hadn’t seen you in days, it worried me. Too much. All night I’ve been worried about you and trying to figure out where you could be.”

He fights a smile. “Worried about me, firecracker? That’s a first.”

“I’ve thought about it—a lot. How it wouldn’t be so bad to have you as my roommate. You shouldn’t go. You should stay here. With me. If we end up killing each other, then we’ll just kill each other.”

“You really think that’s a good idea? I’m not the most reliable person, Vanessa.” His face is serious now.

I shrug. “If it doesn’t work out, then you can go stay with your cousin. If it does, well…it just does. But you’ll have to get a real job. No more scamming college students.”

He laughs at that. “Actually, a part of the reason I haven’t been around much is because I have a job now.”

“You do?” I breathe.

“Yep.” He wraps an arm around my waist, reeling me in. “It gets annoying as fuck being the disappointment. After that argument with you it made me realize I do need to get my shit together. I’m getting older, not younger. Plus, I was getting a little tired of the fucking partying too. It was good money, but it’s so fucking lame. Moving to his apartment will kill me. All that kid does is party.”

I giggle. “Yeah, I’m glad you came to that conclusion.” I rub a hand over his chest. “Where did you get a job?”

“Mechanic. Working on cars and shit. I’ve always been good at it.”

I grin. “That’s great, Axel.”

He sighs, looking down at me with hot gray eyes. “You sure about this, firecracker? I don’t want any bullshit. I move in and it’ll be fucking casual. If we want to fuck, we fuck. If we don’t, we don’t.” He shrugs.

“Sure. But there’s one condition.”

“What?”

“No other women. You move in with me, you only get me. You want another woman, you move the fuck out. Got it?”

He chuckles, lowering his head and sweeping his lips across mine. “Oh, yeah. I got it all right.”

He holds me tight in his arms and I throw my arms around his neck to kiss him. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, but I hope it’s not a mistake. Axel and me as roommates? That’s fucking shocking. But we live and we learn right? What’s the worst that could happen?

There will be rules, of course, but the way I see it, it will be a no-pressure thing. I can deal with that. But I’m so serious about not having any other girls around.

I want to be the only one he takes. Me. It may seem selfish, but I don’t care because at the end of the day, I realize that all I want is him.

All I can think about is him.

Having him move in solves all my problems.

It’s only right.