Aubrey

I woke up the next morning in Xavier's room. I looked around confused. He must have moved me back in here. Well, at least I had tried to give him space! I got up and saw that I had an hour until work. I nudged Xavier. He didn't move. I shook him more. Nothing. I shook him harder.

"Do it again and I will kill you myself." His voice made me jump. I wasn't expecting him to wake up.

"Xavier, I have work." He growled.

"I can just go and come right back. It's just the morning shift, I doubt there will be any trouble." He rolled onto his back and ran his hands over his face before getting up like I hadn't said anything. He went to the bathroom and shut the door. I sighed and started getting ready for work. The door opened as I was finishing my makeup, his waist was wrapped in a towel for all of two seconds before he let it fall. I looked away focusing on anything else. I swear he had no shame.

"Are you ready?" His voice was grouchy, shocker there.

"Yeah." I said grabbing a zip up jacket from my bag. He looked over me aggravated again.

"You don't have a thicker jacket?"

"I usually don't ride motorcycles to work, so no." He rolled his eyes and went down stairs without another word. I followed towards the front door but ran right into him when he suddenly stopped. He turned to me.

"What did I tell you about that?" He said down to me and I thought about the first time we met. "Here" He handed me a jacket and I noticed it was his biker jacket.

"Won't you get cold?"

"Put the fucking jacket on." He said before going out the door.

I liked the motorcycle ride more this time. I wasn't as nervous and nowhere near as cold. I noticed that once we got closer to town peoples heads would turn looking towards the sound of the bike. He parked right in front of the shop this time. I jumped off the bike went inside the shop. We hadn't opened quite yet so no one was there but Mr. and Mrs. West.

"Hey, sweetheart we got..." Mrs. West stopped when she noticed Xavier. "A new shipment of books."

"Sweet, I'll put them out" She stayed behind the counter refusing to be any closer to Xavier. I knew she was scared, and I wish she would trust me when I tell her he isn't going to hurt her. I had made him promise. Obviously, his word meant nothing to her. I grabbed the books and moved towards the shelves. Xavier sat at the table closest to where I was working.

"Sorry, you had to get up so early."

"Sorry enough to quit your job until this all blows over." I gave him a look.

"No. Oh speaking of, what do you do?" I never found out yesterday.

"I'm an accountant for big businesses. I just help them get their shit together."

"Wow, a biker accountant." I giggled. "That doesn't sound as scary."

"That's why you aren't telling anyone." He said

sounding more joking then serious.

"Where did you go to college?"

"University of Texas,"

"Cool," I said glancing at the titles of the books to see which I was going to end up buying before I left today.

"Did you not go to college?" He asked after a moment. I laughed a little.

"I guess it does seem that way. I went. I have a degree from Duke for electrical engineering." I glanced over at him he was looking at me like he thought I was joking.

"What?" I laughed at the confusion on his face.

"I was an electrical engineer for only two years, not that impressive, but I...I don't know. One day I just came home and was tired of being in an office with emails and grumpy people. I just had enough, so I packed and moved overnight. I had been working for that company all throughout college, so, I had a good bit saved and I thought what the heck."

"So you took a...what...45,000 dollar pay cut?"

"I know it seems stupid, I just wasn't happy." He shook his head.

"Your life, I guess."

"Why did you choose Texas?" I asked moving to the next shelf.

"My parents." He said after a minute.

"They went there?" He took a deep breath.

"My mom did, my dad met her there, he was always a biker." I looked over at him to see him looking at the table. I moved to sit beside him.

"How old were you when they passed?" I asked softly. His eyes shot up to mine and he glared at me.

"None of your damn business." His voice was almost murderous causing me to jump slightly. I frowned. I hadn't meant to upset him

"I'm sorry." He looked back down and I saw his hand that was on the table squeeze into a fist. I moved my hand to his and his eyes moved back to mine. His hand ever so slightly relaxed before he pulled back. I heard the bell on the door and turned to see people coming in. I looked back at Xavier and smiled slightly before getting up and getting to work.