Xavier: (Indestructible)

by Mortier, D. M.

  “How long have you worked out with this coach?” Xavier suddenly asked as he pulled up next to the basketball court and saw her coach was already there doing stretches. “He looks very young.”

  Cassandra couldn’t help smiling. That was the most words he had ever spoken to her at once.

  “Why use him as a coach?” Xavier persisted.

  “Coach Bain?” Cassandra was confused by his interest. “I thought you would know all there was to know about my coach by now.”

  “Yes, that’s why I’m asking. Why are you allowing him to coach you? He’s only twenty-four years old.” He had the cool, unreadable stare again.

  Cassandra was learning very fast that the calmer he appeared, the more seriously intent he was. She wanted to smile at his obvious displeasure at her association with the younger man, but she didn’t dare.

  “He was an incredible collegiate athlete and graduated two years ago. He can still remember the skill and the edge I will need to compete, so his age is a bonus.”

  “He likes you,” Xavier stated as she started to climb out of the vehicle.

  “Well, damn, I certainly hope so. I like him too. I wouldn’t want someone working with me who couldn’t stand my guts,” she teased. She jumped to the ground and grabbed her gym bag.

  Xavier came to stand in front of her. “You need to tell him.”

  “You know, X, having a conversation with you is damn difficult. What in the world do I need to tell Keith?”

  “Tell him that he has no chance with you.”

  Cassandra laughed. “Two jokes in one day, X. I’m beginning to think you’re a closet comedian. Why exactly would he have no chance with me?”

  Xavier grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him. With an arm anchored around her waist, he hugged her tight against him. “He has no chance because you’re mine.”

  She wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled closer. She laughed huskily. “When did this miracle happen? Must I remind you that we haven’t gone on a date yet?”

  He held her gaze steadily, his body still and no humor in his expression. “You sealed your fate this morning when you made me laugh.”

  Cassandra grinned up at him. “It was my fetish for dark chocolate, right?”

  Something flared in his dark eyes, but he didn’t return her smile. “There is that.” He bent his head and kissed her on the corner of her lips. “Go practice. I will be here.”

  “But of course, where else would you be?” she teased.

  “There are penalties for a sassy mouth.”

  “Oh God, I certainly hope so. It’s now officially twenty-four hours since I had a taste of my chocolate candy; can’t wait for your kisses.”

  “Go, Cassandra.” He pushed her toward the basketball court with a spank on her butt.

  Cassandra giggled as she crossed the street to the court, her long ponytail hanging down her back swinging furiously as she jogged across. As soon as she finished her initial warm-up runs, rotation on the skipping rope, and stretches, Keith started interrogating her.

  “Who is that dude you came here with?”

  She looked at him in surprise. Even though Xavier had told her that Keith was interested in her, up until now, she had seen no evidence of it. She couldn’t say that now though. The angry glare he was throwing her way now was filled with male aggression.

  “He’s a friend,” she said simply.

  “He looks like a criminal,” Keith snarled and looked across the street to where Xavier was leaning against his car with dark shades over his eyes.

  Cassandra looked over at him as well and helplessly wet her lips. “Trust me, I don’t see criminal when I look at him.” She grinned mischievously. “All I see is a tall glass of deliciousness.”

  “You’re a typical dumb female, falling for that bad-boy image and a muscular body,” Keith spat. He didn’t even bother to hide his anger and disgust with her.

  “Actually, Keith, I’m worst than a typical dumb female.” Cassandra walked closer to him and poked him in the chest with a finger. “I not only fell for that beautiful face and fine-as-hell body I also fell for his strength of character and his unwavering desire to protect me.”

  “Is there a problem here?” Xavier’s deep voice interrupted her.

  Damn, he got here fast. “How much of that did you hear, X?” she asked softly.

  “You were shouting, Cassandra. I think anyone in a two-mile radius heard you.” Xavier gave one of his rare smirks.

  “Damn, that’s three jokes in one day. I know I’m rubbing off on you!”

  “You called me beautiful.” Xavier frowned at her.

  “Yeah, I guess I have no secrets left.” She grinned up at him. “Well, since you’re here, I’d better introduce you. This is Keith, my coach, and, Keith, this is X, my…” She angled her head while gazing at Xavier. “What exactly are you again?” It was a deliberate challenge.

  Xavier took his shades off and looked Keith directly in the eye. “She’s mine.” The chilling authority in his voice and his menacing stillness made Keith back up a few steps in apprehension.

  “Don’t you just love it when a bad boy stamps his name on your ass?” Cassandra mused out loud and sighed.

  “Are you going to finish your training today, or are we going to have to find another coach?” Xavier asked her.

  She almost melted when he said we. He’s acting like we’re already a couple and making decisions together. Well, I could live with that.

  However, it was Keith who answered before Cassandra could say anything. “Everything is fine.” His voice was comically thin and hesitant. “We will have practice as usual.”

  “There’s just too many damn we’s around here,” Cassandra grumbled, annoyed that Keith had unknowing diminished the weight she had wanted to put on the word.

  Xavier gave him a long stare. “Fine, go practice.” He approached Cassandra and kissed her hard on her lips. “I will be waiting over there for you.”

  Cassandra and Keith watched him as he strode nonchalantly to his vehicle.

  “Damn, I’m officially stupid!” Cassandra said breathlessly.

  Keith glared at her.

  She grinned.

  Chapter Six

  Hours later when she was finished for the night, Cassandra ran over to where Xavier stood waiting by his car. She spread a towel on the passenger seat of the SUV and climbed in.

  “Hi,” Xavier greeted her.

  “Cameron didn’t show up today,” Cassandra said worriedly.

  “Will you have dinner with me?” he asked, deliberately not commenting on her missing brother.

  “It’s about seven thirty. Let me take a shower at the house, and I can come with you after.”

  “You can shower at my place. I’ll have some food delivered.”

  “As tempting as that sounds, I don’t have a change of clothes with me, and I want to check on Cameron. Only God knows what those bastards have him doing,” Cassandra muttered.

  “Cameron is eighteen years old. You’re going to have to let him make his decisions,” Xavier said calmly.

  “I’m sure many people made that mistake with teenage boys. Some of them take longer to see what’s best for them. I’m sure Cameron looks at what I do and thinks it’s too much effort, and then he looks at what our brothers do and sees how easy it is. He thinks that’s a far better life. I get it. But drugs destroy, not just the people who consume them but society suffers as well.”

  “Look, you don’t have to convince me of the dangers of drugs. But if you don’t stop intervening for him, he’ll never learn what you already know. You have shown him by your action, honey. And have shown him what he has to do. Trust that he will make the right decision.” Xavier parked outside her house and jumped out of the vehicle. He came around to the passenger side and opened her door. “You have twenty minutes.”

  “Thanks for the talk.” Cassandra grinned. “I have hope. Your speeches are getting longer and longer.”

  He grunted
.

  She laughed as she ran inside the house.

  Ten minutes later, Cassandra had taken a shower and washed her hair. She had yet to see Cameron or any of her brothers. As she walked into her bedroom from the en suite bathroom, she met her sister, Keisha, sitting on her bed, obviously waiting for her.

  “Hey, girl, we hardly get to see you anymore. How’s the training going?” Her sister grinned at her affectionately.

  “Hey, hon!” Cassandra walked over and kissed Keisha on her cheek. “How are my nieces and nephews?”

  “They would be a whole lot better if you would stay your ass still and play with them sometimes,” Keisha scolded.

  “What are you talking about? I took all of them over the age of four to the basketball court on the weekend.”

  Keisha laughed. “They want to spend time with you, their aunt, not their basketball coach.”

  “Yeah, well, athletic skill is a gift that keeps on giving. They can spend as much time with Auntie Cassandra when they’re in the NBA. It would kill me if they start to think this way of life is a good thing.”

  “Girl, jump off that soap box sometimes. You’re the only one in this family who’s a bleeding heart. No one holds a gun to those addicts’ heads and makes them take our product. We are business people, and when there’s a demand, we ensure the supply.” Keisha laughed. “We’re no different from the cigarette and alcohol companies. Are you telling me that our product kills people any more than cigarettes or alcohol?”

  “We’re not going to have this debate now, hon. I have a date,” Cassandra told her.

  “What? With who?”

  “No one you know.”

  “What about Jordan?”

  “Jordan, the numbers guy?”

  “Yeah, girl, since the government legalized gambling houses dey raking in the money. Jordan is a millionaire now and will soon be a billionaire because he has invested wisely.”

  Cassandra dropped her towel and quickly shimmied into her G-sting panties and bra. Having to get dressed in numerous locker rooms over the years, she unconsciously dressed in front of her sister with no inhabitations about her nudity. “You know damn well if I’m so opposed to drug dealing, I would be just as adamantly against gambling houses. Like drugs, they destroy society.” She angrily pulled on her jeans and mid-riff T-shirt. “I’m surprised that you and Monique haven’t gone after Jordan. He’s right up y’alls’ alley.”

  “Girl, you know we already tried to hit that. Jordan has always had a thing for you and won’t give us the time of day. Just so you know, Duane thinks an alliance between our families would be a good thing,” Keisha warned.

  “Thanks for the heads-up. But I couldn’t care less what Duane or Jordan wants. They are both criminals and should be in jail.” Cassandra grabbed her handbag and turned toward the door of her bedroom. “Do you know where Cameron is?”

  Keisha gazed at her with tired and defeated eyes. “Look, girl, not all of us are meant for all that hard work. Doing what you do at such an elite level ain’t easy. Cameron is still feeling his way. Let him choose, Cass. It has to be something he wants to do.”

  Cassandra sighed. “Someone very wise just told me the same thing.”

  “Yeah, well, there ya go. You need to listen.”

  She crossed over to Keisha and kissed her again. “Thanks, sis. I love you.”

  “Yeah, yeah, you say that now, but I know you be cussing me every time I take a package overseas.”

  “That’s because I don’t want to see you end up in prison. You will get caught, Keisha. Don’t think they’re not watching all over us. I have no idea why they have let y’all continue as long as you have, but I know it’s only a matter of time before they end this. For the sake of your children, Keisha, please don’t go on anymore runs for Duane. You’re taking all the risk while he gets to sit his punk ass home in safety.”

  Keisha laughed sadly. “I’m not like you, sweetheart. I have bills, and my children have to eat.”

  “If I get a good contract out of school in the WNBA, will you let me take you out of this?”

  Keisha looked at her thoughtfully. “Cass, this is the life I want; the house, the cars, and the unlimited supply of designer clothes, shoes, handbags, and jewelry. I don’t care how many contracts you get. You will never be able to afford to turns us legit. This is the life for us.” Keisha stood and hugged her. “I’m so proud of you. Go out there and make a better life for you. We’re just fine, baby girl.”

  Cassandra hugged her sister back.

  “Cass, can you be home tomorrow night for dinner? I want us to have one night when we can be together as a family,” Keisha asked.

  Cassandra smiled. “Just make sure those idiots don’t bring their hoochie girlfriends around to get in my face.”

  “Girl, you know those fools don’t go anywhere without them.” Keisha laughed.

  Cassandra gazed at her sister’s carefree attitude and wondered again if this was the last time she would see her beautiful sister’s smile. Keisha has no idea what she’s up against. With men like X on her trail, none of them stand a chance.

  “Would it have killed you to put on some makeup for this date? You’re such a jock!”

  “This is me ninety-nine point nine percent of the time. If he wants to be a part of my life he has to get used to it.” Cassandra laughed as she breezed from her bedroom.

  ***

  “Hi, sorry I’m late.” Cassandra climbed in the SUV, fastened her seatbelt, and glanced over at a silent Xavier. His gaze was warm on her exposed mid-riff.

  Xavier turned the ignition and backed out of the driveway. “You made it within thirty minutes. Was there a problem with your brothers?”

  Cassandra breathed out loud sigh. “None of them were home, including Cameron.”

  “Are you okay?”

  She took her time answering him, trying to mask the fact that she was close to tears at the hopelessness of her family’s choices. She swallowed the lump in her throat and said softly, “Yes, I’m fine.”

  “You’re a poor liar,” Xavier muttered.

  “What do you expect? I know that eventually you guys will take them down and they will be in prison. As much as I hate some of my siblings, there are many innocent children who will be affected by that. My sisters have eight children between them, and the brothers have another ten or so with various girlfriends.”

  “This is not my case, honey.”

  “Why don’t they just legalize this stuff so there can be some regulations?” Cassandra ignored his calm statement and glanced out of the window as the vehicle ate up the miles to Paradise Island. “They freakin’ legalized alcohol, cigarettes, and gambling, why not this?”

  “Do you mind eating at my place?” Xavier asked.

  “What happened to ‘you’re too young for me’?” Cassandra teased. She again looked into the rearview mirror, trying to see if the men who had been watching her for weeks had caught up with them yet. She didn’t want them knowing how to locate X. She was still puzzled by their boss’ interest in her. He wasn’t the type of guy to date girls like her. The possibility that his interest was connected with her brothers’ business did occur to her, but he was a much bigger fish than her brothers would ever be. She was just glad that tonight, just as they arrived at the bridge, a car came out of nowhere and rear ended the car that had been quietly following Xavier’s SUV. One tall black man jumped out of the car that had rammed into their stalkers. He didn’t look in the least intimated when the Chinese men came out of their vehicle yelling obscenities at him.

  Xavier paid the toll after crossing the bridge and took the right turn from the traffic light. “I’ve invited you to my place to feed you, nothing else.”

  “So you’re not going to kiss me?”

  “I didn’t say that.” He wore his usual unreadable expression as he glanced into the rearview mirror as well.

  Chapter Seven

  Xavier watched Cassandra as she paced in agitation on his balcony. They
had finished their dinner of grilled red snapper and vegetables when she’d insisted on calling to check on Cameron. She hadn’t any sort of privacy for the call, as they had been sitting on the balcony enjoying an after-dinner glass of wine. However, he stood and reentered the condo as soon as she started a conversation with one of her brothers. He knew something must have happened when she started gripping her hair and yelling into the phone.

  She finally stabbed a finger on the disconnect button and marched into the condo. “Can you take me back to the house please?” Her eyes glistened with anger.

  “What’s going on?”

  “That bastard Duane answered Cameron’s phone and says that they got into a fight with a gang in the inner city. Somehow Cameron got caught in the middle of it, and the gang drove off with Cameron in their car. Those assholes let them take him because they were outnumbered!”

  “What are you planning?”

  “Who says I’m planning anything? Didn’t you hear me? My worthless, dumbass brothers left him!”

  Xavier stared at her and waited for her to continue.

  “I have to go.”

  “I repeat, what are you planning?”

  She glared at him. “I’m going to get my mom’s car and go look for him.”

  “Is that smart?”

  “What else am I supposed to do? Wait for them to send him back to us in pieces?”

  Xavier sighed. “Have they called the police?”

  She gave him a scornful stare. “Who the hell do you think heads most of the gangs around here?” Cassandra grabbed her handbag and marched to the front door.

  Xavier calmly went into his bedroom. He strapped on his shoulder holster, grabbed his guns, which were already checked and loaded, and holstered two on either side of him, one in the waistband of his jeans at the back, and another holstered at his ankle. He pulled on a black lightweight jacket, which held his knives. He exited the bedroom and briefly held Cassandra’s angry gaze. “Let’s go.”