Next morning
Nikki
Waking up, I feel like a ton of bricks have been dropped on my head, but my body felt like it had been given a thousand fairy kisses. I groan, opening my eyes and taking in my environment. I panic, I'm not in my hotel room, I slowly sit up not wanting to give myself whiplash, I look down into the blankets and I'm naked, that's when it dawned on me.
I slept with Xander, my business partner, my investor. I'm screwed.
Quickly gathering my thoughts, I realise that he's nowhere to be seen. He's gone. Just great.
I look around for my clothes, but I don't see them anywhere. He took my clothes too. The door opens and the smell of bacon and eggs hits my nostrils and I feel bad for judging him so quickly.
"Good morning," he greets with a wide smile.
I haven't seen him smile like that, ever.
"Morning," I greet nervously, "I thought you had ditched me."
He is taken aback by my words, and he frowns, he walks to my side of the bed and places the tray down on the bedside table.
"I wouldn't do that to you Nikki, I swear,"
I nod and smile, "Thank you, I appreciate you saying that."
He places a chaste kiss on my forehead, "Good, now eat. It's the only way to cure that hangover."
He gets up and walks into what looks like a walk-in closet, he comes back out with t-shirt and sweatpants, he puts them in front of me and smiles.
"I am washing your clothes, so you can put these on after you're done eating, you can use the bathroom, Jo-Anne, dropped off, your toiletry bag," he says.
I coo, "Thank you Xander, you're so sweet. You know you're a real gentleman, Aiden wouldn't have done any of that for me."
Girl! You done said too damn much!
"What do you mean?" he asks worriedly, "Does he hurt you? Control you?"
I shake my head, stuffing my face with bacon, "We shouldn't be talking about Aiden right now."
He looks at me with worry in his eyes, but it also looked like something was bothering him,
"What's wrong Xander?"
He sits down in front of me and sighs, "I need to tell you something."
And my gut was telling me that it had everything to do with Aiden.
"What is it?"
He takes in a deep breath and sighs, "Aiden came to me with an offer."
"What offer?"
"He said to me that he thought that you weren't fit to run your company, so he wanted me to help him take the company away from you, but I told him to give me some time and he sent me a copy of a contract that I have to sign," he explains, "I don't know what he was going to do but he had a plan."
He gets up and walks to his desk and opens his briefcase and pulls out an envelope, he walks back to me and hands it to me. I was angry to say the least, betrayed, I trusted that man, I gave chance after chance and he still betraying my trust and this time, I almost fell for his tricks.
"I almost signed my shares to him," I sniff, I wipe the tears away and look at Xander.
"What? How?"
"It was after, you had left, we had dinner and I think he spiked my drink with something, and I almost signed it but then we got into an argument about something and then he left,"
"Oh baby," he says, and he wraps his arms around, "I promise you; I will make sure, he gets what he deserves."
I cry on his shoulder, and I hear the door open.
"Xander wake –
Charles gasps, "You! Wait, why is she crying?"
Charles scurries to our side and shoots Xander a deadly glare before coming to my aid.
"Did this ape hurt you baby?"
I sniff, "No."
And I go on to explain everything that Xander and I were talking about.
"Oh honey, we are going to make him pay," Charles vows.
"How?"
Charles stands up and a smirk form on his face, "I know how,"
Xander looks at his best friend, "Charles, what are you thinking?"
"Just leave it to me, Nikki, you go back home tomorrow, and you'll know as soon as you land,"
"Charles don't do anything stupid," Xander warns.
"My stupidity has saved your ass, a million times, look where it's got you, laid," he says as he walks out of the room, "You should be grateful."
I look at Xander and he looks as red as a tomato, and I can't help but giggle.
"I hope he knows what he's doing," Xander says.
"I trust him,"
He nods, "I mean he's the reason why you and I are here, he pushed me to take your proposal and now I'm no longer a virgin."
He seemed almost choked by his own admission, "And for a virgin, you sure did make me scream for mercy."
His cheeks turn pink, and I just love how quickly he gets flustered.
"Finish your breakfast, I want to spend more time with you before you leave,"
I smile at him, and I begin to eat.
Everything in me trusts Charles, I mean, Xander does, so I think I can too. I just wasn't sure about his plan.
I spent the rest of the day enjoying Xander's company, we had sex a couple of times, okay maybe more and I was shocked at how quickly the guy learnt new skills, you would think that he had done it before. I never wanted to leave his side, I felt safe, cared for, and heard. Xander isn't who people say he is, he is sweet, respectful, funny, and just so loving. He's just misguided about women.
Boarding my plane later that night, it hurt, I cried a little, when I gave him a hug goodbye. Our souls where now tied together but I knew that with him there was loyalty and trust, he was and is willing to do everything and anything for him.
And what I've learnt from him is that loyalty is way better than trust.