Claiming Xana (Wildcat Graduates Book 2)

by Xana Jordan

  “But,” she tries to interrupt.

  “No. We’re not debating this, and I’m pretty sure your parents would agree with me. We’ll take one day at a time, and see how things go. There’s no need to get all upset when there’s nothing we can do about it right now.”

  I continue to let him hold me as I think about his words, about what the doctor said, and about how safe he makes me feel when he holds me this way. Like nothing bad will ever get to me unless it goes through him first. I feel protected and secure. I know I shouldn’t be acting like this, because many people have worse issues facing them, but I can’t help it. I just feel like I’ve failed somehow. Letting him continue to soothe and reassure me, I dry my tears and gather my fears to look away from them for now.

  Thoughts collected, I pull away from his chest and press my head to his. “You always know what I need to hear. How’d I get lucky enough to have someone like you put up with all of my baggage?” I close my eyes and feel him shaking his head against mine.

  “You just don’t get it yet. It’s not baggage if you love someone.” He gently kisses my lips and moves us off the couch. “Now, let’s get this birthday party set up, woman,“ he slaps my bottom and pushes me toward the kitchen, holding my waist as he follows along behind me.

  Noel and I have finished prepping the food and the birthday cake is decorated and waiting when the rest of our group returns from the beach. Cade follows Noel onto the deck to get the grill ready while everyone else gets cleaned up and changed from their beachwear. Stacy comes to the kitchen before anyone else is finished, and helps me with a few last minute things for dinner.

  “What’s up with Mallory? She seems distracted,” I ask, handing her the bowl of salad.

  “Beats me. She’s been like that all day, and whenever someone asked, she just brushed it off and said it was the sun making her tired.”

  “Do you buy that?” Stacy takes the silverware from the drawer and sets it on the serving tray.

  “Hell, no. Neither does Cade. She’s been acting weird all week. Well, ever since she’s been with Keaton. Are they fighting?” she asks, hand on her hips.

  “Not that I know of, but who really knows? I can’t figure him out. He’s just so...different. He reminds me of,” I pause, not wanting to finish my comparison.

  “Jeff? Yeah, I thought the same thing,” Stacy agrees and we finish getting the dishes ready to take outside to the deck table in silence. “Too bad Gavin didn’t come with us. I bet he could liven her up.”

  “No kidding.” I smile to myself at the thought of Gavin and Mallory. It’s clear to me they like each other. I looked at Noel the same way she looks at Gavin. One day, they’ll figure it out, I hope.

  Noel, Cade, and Nathan take charge of grilling the burgers and chicken, while the rest of us sit around the table and enjoy the view. We’re all having a good time and getting along really well with Nathan and Natalie. Hearing him tell stories about Keaton as a kid leaves me a little confused. They don’t seem to describe how I’ve seen him act this week. Maybe he’s intimidated by all of us. We can be a lot to handle at times. I’d be a little apprehensive of Stacy, too, if I didn’t already know her.

  Dinner conversation was lively and had Nathan and Stacy locked in a battle of wits, inevitably leaving everyone in tears of laughter.

  “You have to be joking. There is no way Kylo Ren will ever be as great a Jedi as Darth Vader! He’s the whiniest Sith I’ve ever seen!” Stacy throws back at Nathan, seriously shocked at his belief that Kylo Ren will ever be as great as Darth Vader or the Emperor.

  “Darth Vader was whiny, too, when he was younger. Even as a teenager, Anakin liked to complain about everything.

  “Yeah, but Anakin had issues, hatred about things that happened to him. Kylo has nothing like that, just the whispers of someone in his ear trying to turn him bad. He isn’t inherently bad.”

  “Anakin had that, too,” Nathan retorts, completely impressed with his own reasoning.

  “Maybe, but Kylo Ren had a better upbringing than Anakin did. No evil parents, or one sold into slavery and murdered. He’s only trying to prove to others he can be greater than his grandfather, not necessarily because he wants the greatness for himself. Vader did his own things. He just let others persuade him to go about them faster,” I chime in, unable to help myself. Dad loves Star Wars and I’ve absorbed a lot from listening to his excitement over the newest installment, and have become a fan myself, just not as crazy as he is. Don’t judge me.

  “I can’t believe she’s beating you in Star Wars trivia. I thought you were the ‘king’,” Natalie teases him, laughing as she air quotes the word king in his face. “Even Xana is beating you in a lot of the arguments!” Her laughter is contagious, causing Nathan to become even more frustrated with Stacy.

  “Dude, how in the hell do you ever win against her?” he questions Cade, pointing toward Stacy with his thumb. I can’t control my giggling and double over, my head resting on the table.

  “I don’t have to worry about that. I know to only argue when necessary, and then it isn’t a problem.” Cade smiles over at Stacy, who returns his affectionate gaze.

  “You’re so whipped,” Nathan retorts, shaking his head in disgust. All our heads snap over to Stacy and Cade, waiting for all hell to break lose. Holy coconuts, that was a bad move.

  “Whipped?” Cade pauses to laugh hard. “You think I’m whipped? You’re the one who wouldn’t know how to handle her. I handle her just fine, don’t I, baby?” Stacy’s grin grows wider and she turns to gaze at Cade who wiggles his eyebrows at her.

  Leaning over to lick his cheek, she says, “Every time, hot stuff.”

  Nathan’s mouth drops open while Natalie and I laugh even louder. The look on his face is priceless as Stacy and Cade put on a display to rival any R-rated movie. That poor boy, he just doesn’t realize what he brought on himself. If he hadn’t have made such a big deal about him being the trivia master, he could have been safe. His saying that tonight, was like waving a red flag in front of a crazy bull. For Stacy, that only left her to say, “Grab on tight and hold on.” Nathan would never last around us for more than a day.

  When Natalie starts picking tomatoes out of the remaining salad, I excuse myself and head for the kitchen to get Mallory’s surprise cake. We hid it after it was decorated and she has no idea I made her one.

  “Did someone have a birthday today?” I ask, stepping out onto the deck.

  “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MALLORY,” the gang shouts when I set the cake down in front of her on the table.

  “Awww, you guys are the best,” she tells us, her eyes tearing up as she covers her mouth with her hands. I’m not sure the cake is anything to cry over, but I’m glad she likes it.

  “Don’t cry, Mal. Xana’s baking really is good most of the time,” Cade teases me, trying to stop her tears. He really doesn’t handle those too well from anyone other than Stacy.

  “It should be as much as Mom makes me help her. I swear I lived in the kitchen growing up,” I laugh, shaking my head at the thought of actually living in the kitchen. It does have it’s Cinderella similarities.

  “Thank coconuts for that! Why do you think I practically lived at your house? Your mom cooks like a dream,” Stacy tells me, rubbing her stomach in appreciation while Cade and Noel nod in agreement. “She’s always sending stuff back to school with us whenever we go home. She even sends stuff back for Noel.”

  “Yeah, not that I’d ever get to have any,” Cade interrupts, “because he never shares the goods with anyone.” Cade makes a disgusted face at Noel who, in return, only grins wider as he chuckles.

  “You think I’m stupid enough to give that away to strangers? She made it for me, and I’m not going to let her think I didn’t appreciate it by giving it all away.”

  “Don’t start that innocent routine with me, man,” Cade throws back at him. “You know your mom and Grandma do the same thing to you.” He continues to glare at a grinning Noel for several minutes, quick
ly making Nathan and Natalie a little nervous that they may come to blows.

  Things get even more tense, and I can barely keep quiet, when Mallory bursts into laughter, and we fall in right along with her. Nathan and Natalie remain sitting in their chairs, eyes and mouths open wide in surprise. I’m doubled over in my seat again when Mallory finally breaks up our amusement.

  “Holy crap! You guys crack me the hell up! I really need a good laugh like that,” she tells them, wiping tears from her eyes. “That may be the funniest thing I’ve heard all week, even with the Great Star Wars debate.” She continues to laugh until her giggles begin to taper off, and she needs to catch her breath.

  After the cake was cut and completely eaten, we sat around the deck talking and enjoying the sound of the waves crashing ashore in the distance. Although it’s peaceful here, everyone is in agreement to head back to Magnolia in the morning instead of waiting until Sunday. Honestly, I’m ready to get back and finish classes. The faster I get finished with them for the semester, the quicker I can focus on what truly makes me happy, drawing and Noel.

  The week after break has been busy with ball games and practices, and the professors seem to be getting down to the nitty-gritty in their coursework. Fortunately, I am taking mostly the basic requirements so it hasn’t been anything too complicated.

  It’s Friday night and Xana and I are relaxing in her dorm room after dinner when I get a strange text from Gavin. Reading the text a second time doesn’t clarify anything any better. “Isn’t Gavin helping Mallory with some project tonight?” I look at Xana, my confusion clearly evident.

  “Yeah, why?” she asks, leaning over to look at Gavin’s text message.

  KNIGHT: Are you in Xana’s room? I may need an emergency rescue.

  “What does that mean?” she questions me, looking just as confused as I do.

  “Beats me. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” I send him a quick reply and set my phone aside.

  Setting back against the headboard, I pull her to sit between my legs as we watch television. She sighs as I wrap my arms around her, causing a tightening feeling in my chest. Holding her like this feels so comfortable, I close my eyes and lay my chin on top of her head, enjoying the moment.

  After a few minutes of silence, I broach the subject I’ve been putting off all week. “Cade and I have been talking about living off campus next year instead of in the dorms.” I pause to wait for some sort of response from her, but get nothing so I continue, “We enjoy living on campus because it’s convenient, but the guys dorms are just too loud at night during ball season. Sometimes it’s just really hard to get to sleep with everyone else coming and going at all hours, so we figured living off campus would be more beneficial for us. Since Cade and I are staying here this summer to help with high school ball camps and clinics, having our own place makes more sense.”

  “Yeah, that sounds like a great plan for the two of you. What do your parents think about it?” She keeps her face looking at the television and sits a little stiffer than before.

  “Our parents think it’s a good idea. They have decided to come look at a few properties next weekend while they’re here for the tournament. They want to find an inexpensive one to fix up and sell for profit when we graduate.”

  “That’s a very smart idea. They could even earn good money from renting it then, too.”

  “Yeah, they’ve thought about that.” I can’t stand her lack of response about her feelings on the subject so I give in and ask her, “What do you think about us living off campus?”

  There is a long pause before she turns sideways in my lap and puts her legs over one of mine so she can rest her cheek on my chest. Fiddling with the hem of my sleeve she says, “I think it’s a smart idea. Your dorm is crazy half the time, and your ball schedule does get pretty hectic.” She continues to play with my sleeve, and doesn’t say any more like I expected her to.

  Moving my chin from her head, I bend my neck down to get a better look at her face. I’m not quite sure what her expression means, but it almost looks like fear. “But? I know you have more to say about it than that. Tell me,” I demand.

  “It’s really going to be weird not having you around campus all of the time, but it’s really kinda cool that you’ll have your own place without a bunch of irritating guys roaming around, except for Cade.” Xana giggles and looks up at me with raised eyebrows, “But I do have one question, though,” she says, her smile growing wider, and just a little evil at the same time.

  “Oh, really? What might that be?” She’s biting her lip and I can’t resist removing it from her teeth as I take her mouth in a long, deep kiss. Ending the kiss I pull away and look at ther beautiful, flushed face. Her eyes flutter open and I smile at her. “What was your question?” I ask, grinning as her starry-eyed expression transforms into one that’s surprised by my words.

  “You’re so bad,” she pretends to scold me, but can’t stop smiling. She leans forward until our lips touch. “I was going to ask if I could help decorate,” she tells me then returns my kiss, longer and slower. I twist us around so that she is lying on her back as I hover over her and kiss her more forcefully.

  Xana slides her fingers through my hair and holds our mouths together. Sliding my arms under her shoulders and cupping her face in my palms, I take the time to enjoy the taste of her heavenly mouth before biting her bottom lip and pulling away from her lips. “Kiss me like that again, and you can decorate anything you want.”

  She smiles against my lips then brushes her tongue in between my lips again, exploring my mouth with intensity. Our kiss is slow and gentle as we thoroughly taste each other. I shift to lie on my side along hers and pull her chest to mine. Her head is even with mine on her pillow and my hand makes its way beneath her shirt to run along her back in a slow back and forth motion. Damn, her skin feels so smooth and warm under my hands.

  “I could kiss you forever,” she sighs as I leave open mouthed kisses along her jaw and down her neck.

  “So could I, Sweetness. So could I.” I run my nose up her neck to her chin and am just about to unfasten her bra when a text alert dings on my phone.

  She giggles and climbs over me to pick up the phone from her small bedside shelf. She looks at the caller ID and says, “Gav,” while handing the phone to me as I adjust myself inside my pants. Cock-blocked by a text.

  KNIGHT: 911 please

  “He needs us to rescue him from Mallory’s room,” I tell her as she reads the message over my shoulder.

  “Rescue? From Mallory?” Xana asks, completely puzzled.

  “Yeah,” I reply, pulling her up from the bed. “Let’s go see what’s going on.” She straightens her shirt, pulls her hair into a messy bun, and follows me out of the room and down the hall.

  After knocking on Mallory’s door, we’re surprised to see Gavin, along with Keaton, in the room with Mallory. Looking away from Gavin to Xana I see a huge grin on her face. She was right all along. There is something going on between Gavin and Mallory. Well, I’ll be damned.

  “Hey, man. Can you help us move some furniture? Xana’s not supposed to lift anything too heavy and this damn cast limits my lifting, too,” I tell him, looking behind him at Mallory and Keaton, who looks more than pleased Gavin is leaving.

  Looking over his shoulder at her, she nods her permission for him to leave. “I’ll just be down the hall if you need me,” he says, looking towards Keaton before going on, “and this door stays open.” He checks to see she is fine before he lets me and Xana lead him away from her room.

  “What the hell was that all about?” I question him as he walks right past us in the hall and heads for the floor’s common room. I look at Xana and she’s just as concerned as I am, maybe even more judging from the frown on her face.

  We sit down on the couch as Gav paces around the room, clearly angry about something, and it’s suddenly fairly clear what is going on. Xana and I wait for him to gather his thoughts and explain what’s gotten him so upset. After t
aking a deep breath, he spills everything. Keaton’s behavior, the video proof of that, the pictures, his treatment of her the last several months, all of it. He even fills us in on a previous relationship he had with similar results.

  “That’s how I knew what he was doing to her, even though she didn’t think there was anything wrong. She just kept explaining away everything, and for her sake, I hoped I was wrong about what was going on.” Shaking his head, he rests his face in his hands, more pissed than ever.

  “Oh shit,” I mutter and lean back against the cushions. Looking over to a shocked Xana I say, “Well, that explains why they were acting a little strangely in Galveston.”

  “Yeah, I’ve never really seen them together to know exactly how they interacted, but I never would have expected this.” She shakes her head and turns her sad expression to Gavin. He pushes out of the chair and stands.

  Xana looks over at him with a grin that looks like a kid who found out early what her Christmas presents were. “You really like her, don’t you, Gav?” she asks, although she seems to already know it’s true.

  He simply nods at her and walks over to the nearest window.

  “I knew it! And she likes you, too! Ohh, this is so awesome,” she nearly squeals.

  “Don’t jump to conclusions,” I scold her, but she doesn’t hear me. She’s too busy grinning like a cat who caught the mouse.

  Glancing at his watch he asks, “Think it’s safe for me to go back in there?”

  “It’s been thirty minutes,” she says, looking at me, and raises her eyebrows.

  “Only one way to find out,” I reply and we begin our way back to Mallory’s room.

  After our rescue of Gavin and helping get everything settled with Mallory, Xana and I return to her room for what remains of the night before dorm curfew kicks in. We’re sitting on her bed, oblivious to the show playing on the television, when she gets a text from Stacy.