Chapter 85 Obsessed with her
Author's POV.
Nicholas showed up at Xavier's penthouse at eleven PM with a bottle of expensive whiskey and a determined expression.
"Get your coat," he said immediately Xavier opened the door. "We're going out."
"I'm not in the mood."
"I don't care. You stormed out of a business dinner, threatened Richard Patterson in front of half the city's elite, and from what I heard, you looked ready to commit murder. So yeah, we're going out."
Xavier leaned against the doorframe. "How do you already know about that?"
"Patterson's wife called my assistant to complain. Apparently you made quite the scene." Nicholas pushed past him into the apartment, he dropped the whiskey on a nearby table. "You can enjoy this later. Now get dressed. We're going to The Den."
Xavier wanted to refuse. He had planned to work from home, to bury himself in contracts and spreadsheets until he stopped seeing Lilian's face.
But Nicholas was already dragging him along heading for the door, clearly not taking no for an answer.
Twenty minutes later, they were seated in a corner booth at The Den, a place that smelled like cigarettes and whiskey. Nicholas ordered two glasses and poured generous amounts of whiskey into each.
"Alright," Nicholas said, sliding one across. "Talk."
"There's nothing to talk about."
"You threatened to destroy Richard Patterson's entire financial existence because he touched your assistant's knee. That's not nothing."
Xavier drank his whiskey in one shot, welcoming the burn. "He had no right to touch her."
"Agreed. He's a pig and someone should have called him out years ago." Nicholas refilled Xavier's glass. "But your reaction was extreme even for you. So what's really going on?"
Xavier sighed in frustration, "Uhh Nick, I don't know what you mean. Can't you just leave me alone."
"Xavier. I've known you for ten years. I've known you to be someone who wouldn't lose his perfectly calm demeanor no matter the situation. But according to what I was told you looked ready to set that entire hotel on fire over a woman you claim to hate."
"I don't hate her."
Nicholas scoffed, "you could have fooled me. Dude You've been torturing her for weeks."
Xavier stared into his glass. "She deserves it."
"For what? Having a one night stand with you?" Nicholas leaned back. "Newsflash, buddy. That's not a crime. People do it all the time."
"She left."
"So? You've left plenty of women."
"This was different."
"How? Make me understand Xav."
Xavier drank again, slower this time. The alcohol was starting to loosen something in his chest, something he'd kept locked down tight.
"Everyone throws themselves at me," he said quietly. "My money, my name, my connections. That's what they want. They know who I am before I even open my mouth."
"So?"
"Lilian didn't know, She had no idea." Xavier laughed bitterly. "She walked into that hotel room drunk and thought I was nobody. Just some guy who happened to be there. And she still wanted me."
Nicholas went very still. "Oh."
"She touched me like I was the only person in the world. Looked at me like I mattered, not my bank account or my last name." Xavier's grip on his glass tightened. "And then I woke up and she was gone."
"So you're punishing her for leaving?"
"I'm punishing her for making me feel something I'd never felt before and then disappearing like it meant nothing." Xavier's voice rose.
"And I tried to find her. I had investigators searching for weeks. And when I finally found her, when I saw her with Dandelion wearing that bracelet, I was so angry I could barely think straight."
Nicholas poured them both more whiskey. "Are you angry because she left or angry because you wanted her to stay?"
Xavier didn't answer.
"Man, you're a mess," Nicholas said shaking his head, "You know that, right?"
Xavier exhaled.
"I'm aware."
"So what's your plan? Torture her until she quits? Make her life miserable until she apologizes for having the audacity to sleep with you?"
"I... I don't have a plan."
"Clearly." Nicholas drank. "Do you even remember that night? Like actually remember it?"
Of course he remembered everything. Every touch, every sound, the way she'd laughed when he'd fumbled with her dress zipper. The way she had moaned like it they were having something precious even though she didn't know who he was.
"It was the best sex I've ever had," he admitted, the alcohol making him honest. "And I've had a lot of sex, Nick. A lot. But nothing comes close to that night."
"That's because she wanted you."Nick confirmed.
"Yes because she just wanted me." Xavier rubbed his face. "Everyone else, they're performing. Trying to be what they think I want. But Lilian, she was just herself. Wild and real and completely different."
Nicholas squinted, "And you can't handle that she doesn't remember."
"How can she not remember?" Xavier's voice rose slightly. "How can something that life changing for me be so forgettable for her?"
"She was drunk, Xavier. Really drunk from what you described. People black out. It happens."
"But it shouldn't have happened. Not with us."
Nicholas studied him for a long moment. "You're in love with her."
Xavier raised a brow totally disagreeing, "I'm not in love with her. I barely know her."
"Then you're obsessed with her then. Which is basically the same thing for someone like you."
Xavier wanted to argue, but the words died in his throat. Was he obsessed? Yes. Absolutely. He thought about Lilian constantly. The way she'd glared at him during coffee runs. The fierce look in her eyes when she'd defended Dandelion. The curve of her neck when she'd worn his jacket after he spilled coffee on her shirt. Infact everything reminded him of her and it made him crave her.
"So you punish her by making her your secretary?" Nicholas shook his head. "Bro, you're insane. Just tell her you want her."
"I can't."
"Why not?" Nicholas asked with creased brows.
"Because it's too late anyways." Xavier drank again, the alcohol burning less now. "She despises me, Nick. You should see the way she looks at me. Like I'm the worst person she's ever met."