Chapter 36: vulnerable Xavier I

Chloe and Rachael were eating dinner silently when the door opened. It was Xavier. He looked at them from the door not saying anything. He stared for so long that they both got confused. Slowly, he ambled up the stairs tiredly. Rachael hadn't seen Xavier so down before.

"Excuse me," she said to Chloe who gave her a slight nod.

Rachael stood up from her seat and walked toward Xavier's room. She didn't bother knocking because she was certain he wouldn't be able to give her a response. He looked too devastated.

He grabbed a bottle of liquor from the wine stand and walked back to his bed, totally ignoring her. Rachael closed the door behind her and sauntered into the room fully. "Did something happen?" she asked Xavier who had the bottle of beer in his mouth, gulping the content.

He opened his mouth to speak as soon as the bottle left his lips. "Turns out My father didn't die after all" he spoke staring blankly into space.

"What do you mean?" Rachael asked, settling at his side.

"A doctor called me today and told me my dad woke up from his coma and demands to see me"

"What? He is awake. Are you going to o meet with him?"

Xavier chugged the bottle into his mouth, took a gulp, then spoke. "No," he said plainly.

"Hand it over," she said to Xavier and he surprisingly handed the bottle to her. "Why won't you be seeing your father?"

"Are you asking me that question? He is a monster. The things I told you about him were just a few compared to what he did. He doesn't deserve to live"

"But he's alive and you need to meet with him. How long has he been in that coma"

"A year"

"Maybe this while he was absent changed him" Rachael assumed and it made Xavier scoff.

"His heart is too dark to change. He is a beast and should be dead"

"Don't speak like that"

"He fucking shot my mother" Xavier barked at her angrily, causing her to jolt in fear. She didn't expect such outbursts from him. That just confirmed how outraged he was about the whole scenario.

Rachael didn't say a word until Xavier was calmer and less angry to talk.

"I'll meet with him" he blurted out. "Will you go with me" he added and Rachael was surprised. She didn't expect him to consider her of such great importance to accompany him to his father.

He continued "if you don't come I might just end up losing my mind," he muttered and Rachael took his hands in hers, caressing them softly.

"I'll go with you and you'll be fine" she assured him. Something flashed in his eyes but it was too quick to be deciphered. He cupped her chin, guiding them closer to him. Rachael's heartbeat accelerated in reaction to his touch. He took her lips in his and kissed her passionately. Rachael was stunned but she kissed him back. Maybe she ought to start getting more used to him.


*********
"Here," Xavier said pouring a bottle of vodka into his sister, Phoebe's cup to ease her stress. "Relax and take it"

"We are not going to see him" she spoke as tears welled up in her eyes. It broke Xavier's heart but he said nothing as he walked back to the wine stand to drop the bottle.

"The doctor said he might die after all. He developed heart issues during his coma"

"I don't fucking care. He deserves to die" the tears went down her cheeks as she sobbed.

"You don't want to see him for the last time? Not for anything, but to ask him why" he paused, swallowing hard. "Why he did do it"

"He is a monster that's why"

"I know I Know"

"Then why are you making me see him"

"I'm not making you, I'm asking"

"My answer is no" she yelled in anger as she grabbed the cup of wine, gulping the content. Her face held a scowl as soon as the drink left her lips. That was a reaction to the hotness of the drink as it attacked the back of her throat.

"Easy" Xavier took the drink from her when he noticed her discomfort.

"I'm not going to see him" she stood her ground. "You hate him. Why are you going to see him?"

"Because...... Because I just want to know why. Why he treated us so badly? Why he did all the things he did? Why....." He paused to take a deep breath. "Why he shot mum," he said and Phoebe erupted into tears at the last words. Xavier did nothing to console her because he didn't know how to.

"He can't hurt me again," Chloe said amidst a sob.

"Not while I'm here" Xavier assured her.

"Can I?" she asked Xavier for the drink and he handed it to her. "How's Rachael?" she asked the moment the glass left her lips. "I was at the mansion the other day. I was certain she was the clumsy worker from the other day"

"Magnus is after her" he blurted out

Chloe scrunched her eyebrows in displeasure. "He is?"

"You know she's the one who wrote the article about Jexs and I. Magnus compelled her to do it. I was selfish enough to ask her to write another article against Magnus. Now he's after her"

"He is out of control," Stacey confessed with a scoff. "I bet you should have done more than just put a tattoo on him"

"Yeah, maybe I should have had my name inscribed on his shoulders so he thinks of me every time he sees it" Xavier joked and Phoebe laughed out loud.

When she stopped laughing, she spoke"Will you kill him?"

"Definitely. I failed the first time, I won't the second time. And he reminds me so much of father" Xavier admitted with a look of disdain on his face and Phoebe nodded in satisfaction.