Thank you for 2K reads! Abs, for reading this far.

***

XAVIER

"Get off yer ass kid," Kenny snarls, throwing me a pillow that smells of herbs and tar. "Ye been on that couch fer hours. Get up. Train."

"I haven't gone to school for a week, I don't want to go home—"

"Y'ain't got any damn time to sit around like this, Xavier!" he shouts, splitting whatever words I was about to say in two. "I can't have ya here forever. Quit bein' a child and go home."

His statement stuns me. Kenny is an old man, but it's hard to get him angry unless you did something he really didn't like. My only question is: what the hell did I do?

"What is stuck up your ass?" I growl, furrowing my brows at him.

He slaps my arm, waits for me to move over for him, and takes a seat on the couch next to me. "Ya got a fight comin' up this Friday, and ye ain't doin' shit."

He has a point there, but he doesn't get it. I'm not able to fight, mostly because I'm not able to think.

The only thing that my mind can't get off of is Delta, which means my thinking ability has completely malfunctioned. That girl makes me feel... she makes me feel, and now that I fucked everything up, I can't feel a thing.

"The police er looking for ya, kid. I can't have ye here when they find ya."

So Delta was right: my dad is looking for me. I should've just believed her.

"I'm messed up," I say, glaring down at myself.

"Aren't we all?" Kenny adds, giving me a sympathetic pat on the back. He isn't a sentimental man, but he's supportive; the metal beams in any bridge. "Ya gotta face yer fears, boy. That, or try 'n get yer mind off of yer own mistakes."

Kenny gets up from the couch, taking all his comfort with him. "I gotta head out fer the day. Watch the gym for me." He tosses me the keys to his place and I nod my head, trying not to act surprised at the sudden responsibility.

Face my fears... face my father? I wish I could, but I fucking can't. Even if he did care about me, even if he did send out search parties, call the police, all for me... will I be able to see him again?

I punched the guy and ran out of the house. I doubt he'll want to see me after what I'd done.

Reaching for my phone in the pocket of my sweatpants, I turn it on and search through my contacts before calling someone in particular.

"Hey—I know, I know, I'm sorry. For everything. Can we please pick up where we left off? I want to see you again."

I hear a giggle on the other end, and it grips my heart and squeezes. What I am about to do is unforgivable, but Kenny is right. I need to get my mind off everything, even if it's just for one night.

__

"Here?" the girl asks, her red hair gleaming even this dark at night. "This is where you've been hiding for a week?"

I give her a guilty smile, which she returns with a seductive bite on the lip. "I've missed you."

Does she realize that it smells like drugs in this place? Does it even cross her mind that we're going to be hooking in a joint?

"Look, Leslie—"

"It's Lexi," she snaps, her face full of anger. It scares me how fast her emotions change, from mad to flirty in just a few seconds. "But that doesn't matter. You'll know my name later."

She steps inside and out of her shoes, reaching a hand to my shoulder and tracing it down my chest, all the way to my abdomen.

"I knew you wanted me," she growls, clenching her teeth and trying her best at sexiness. "You just needed time to think. I get it."

It feels so unnatural being near this girl. The way her hands explore me, it's less like studying a map and more like she's probing me; like I'm some sort of undiscovered animal.

My body is as still as a statue, but my eyes trail her as she moves around me in a circle, letting her slender hands drag along my collar bone, over my biceps, down my back—Yikes! What was that?

"Did you just slap my ass?" I ask, turning around and staring at her accusingly.

"You loved it."

When are people going to realize that consent is just as important for men as it is for women?

"Maybe we should just go slow--"

"Xavier, I know you don't do slow." Lexi turns to face me, cupping my face so that I'm looking directly in her eyes. "You didn't do me slow."

Anger ignites a fire in me, and I yank her hands away from my face like she's acid.

"I can't fucking do this," I snarl, getting as far away from the girl as I possibly can. "I can't sleep with you again."

"Are you kidding me? You wanted me to come all the way here, and now you're dumping me?"

"We weren't serious!"

She crosses her arms, rocking her body from one side to the other. If I wasn't madly in love with another girl, maybe I would actually feel bad for her.

Scratch that. I do feel bad for her. I feel bad for every lie I've ever told her and every action I did to lead her on. I know I can't undo the damage I'd caused, but she needs to know I don't love her. She's not the one, and she needs to realize that.

"You're too busy with that little whore to even notice me."

I grab the girl by her shirt and shake her. "Don't you ever call her that again, you hear me? She's mine."

I let her go, watching her eyes widen in utter fear. I'd scared her, I didn't mean to scare her, but I'm not going to let her call Delta a whore, not after I'd already hurt her with words as deadly as knives.

"I can't love you," I tell her. "So maybe you should just go."

Lexi storms out of the building, wiping away angry tears before slamming the door after her.

"You're such an idiot!" I scream, fighting the sudden urge to flip a table. I was going to sleep with someone else and ruin everything Delta and I have... if there's very little left. I was going to take whatever bits of stardust were left, and blow it away like ash.

I'm nearly done with myself when I feel my phone buzz in my pocket, vibrating in patterns that tell me someone is trying to call me... at this late at night?

I'm surprised to see Arden's contact pop up on my screen, knowing I hadn't talked to her since she agreed to give me Delta's cell number months ago.

Anger cracks my voice when I answer the call. "Arden? What's with the call?"

"I need your help," she screeches, every one of her words picking up pace. "I didn't know who to call. I just needed to call someone, anyone—"

"Woah, woah. What happened? Is everything okay?"

I hear panicked breaths on the other end before she answers, "It's Delta."

The air is knocked right out of my lungs, the lack of oxygen cutting off blood flow to the rest of my body. I can't breathe, it feels as though fingers of fear are wrapping themselves around my neck and choking me, and it's getting harder and harder to see.

She's my baby. Nothing can happen to my baby.

"What happened? What happened with her?"

"She came to the party with me. Jace O'Connor's party. She... she drank too much, she took her meds, she... she can't walk straight. Please help her, Xavier. I don't know what to do!"

Arden's voice is cracking, sound waves stretching at so many different volumes that it almost hurts to hear her talk.

It hurts more knowing Delta's in trouble, and I'm not even there to keep her safe.

"I'm coming. Just—just watch her until I get there."

I feel bad for hanging up on Arden, but I remind myself that it's only for a couple minutes. I can speed myself there, especially on a motorcycle. Luckily, the keys Kenny gave me include the ignition starter, which means I'm all good to go.

Kenny will kill me when he finds out I drove his bike, but I couldn't care less about that right now. All I care about is getting to Delta first, making sure she's safe, making sure she's okay. All I want is to hold her and talk to her and apologize, for every thing I've ever done to hurt her.

I can't lose her. Not yet, not now. I can't lose my only source of oxygen; my blood bag; my life line. She doesn't realize how sane she's kept me, how much stronger of a person she's made me. It feels like home—real home with her.

She was there to catch me when I fell, now it's my turn to do the same.