Free Second Nature by Elizabeth Sharp Page A

After
what felt like eternity, he broke eye contact and looked down at
the girl in his arms. She surged up onto her tiptoes and her lips
met his. I felt his shock and a little bit of disgust, which gave
me a sick satisfaction he had to have noticed. His eyes flicked to
my face before he placed a hand to either side of her face,
deepening the kiss until they were all but making out in front of
me. I turned away as my stomach heaved, and I had no idea which of
us the emotion came from. My feet started to move without me
consciously commanding them. Heedless of the people I slammed into
in my haste to get away, I ran as fast as I could. Xander caught my
arm before I made it far, unaware of the show Nate put on for my
benefit.
    “Hey, dude, what’s going on?” he asked.
    I tried to speak but words failed me. A
pained sigh escaped my lips, and I gestured toward where Nate still
attempted to suck the face off the girl in front of the theater.
Xander glanced back then turned back to me with closed eyes. When
he opened them, I could see something I didn’t like.
    “Tell me you didn’t have anything to do with
this!” My voice came out a little high pitched.
    “I swear, I had no idea what he planned to
pull, Lia. He was supposed to go to the movie with me originally,
but he canceled. I figured why not still go?”
    “So he knew you already were coming? All he
had to do was wait until he felt me get close to put on this show?”
The words left me in a huff of breath. I was relieved my brother
hadn’t been part of this, and pissed that Nate set us up. But
something nagged at me, and it took me a minute to figure out what
it was. “Wait, you knew about the brunette, didn’t you?”
    “He’s my friend, Lia. I don’t condone what
he’s doing, but I can’t hold it against him. You, yourself, told
him to get out.”
    I stared at my brother as if he was a
stranger. How could he be okay with this? Nate had set him up and
put on a show for no other reason than to cause me pain. Xander was
somehow okay with that. I shook my head and made a disgusted noise
in my throat before giving him an exasperated look. I took my phone
out of my pocket and shoved it into the hand he threw up
defensively. I turned away from him and ran as fast as I could.
    Xander must have stood staring after me for
a long time before he started running because I made it around the
corner before he ran up behind me. Damn his demonic speed! I tried
to evade him but it only took a moment before he had my arm locked
in a gentle, yet unbreakable, grip.
    “Let me go.” My voice was cold and hard.
    “No!” Xander’s was as hot as mine was
cold.
    “How could you?” I asked, rounding on him.
“Can’t you at least muster up some anger over the fact that he set
me up?”
    “We don’t know that.” Xander’s expression
was grim, but his jaw was set stubbornly.
    “So what’s your theory of tonight’s
events?”
    “Maybe Jackie asked to see a different
movie, so he canceled on me figuring I wouldn’t go at all. As set
ups go, this one would have been a long shot, Amelia.”
    “So it’s okay he made out with her while
making eye contact with me to simply cause pain? That’s okay
too?”
    Flames shot across Xander’s eyes. “You
didn’t mention that part.”
    “I didn’t think I had to. I figured you were
Team Lia. Now I see you’re just Team Xander.”
    “That’s not fair, and you damn well know
it!” Xander bit off every word in a sharp tone he never used with
me. He got in my face, flames making his eyes glow blue in the dim
light. “I think I’ve proven beyond a doubt that I’m on your side,
Lia. But what you and Nate have going on is a mess, a mess I’m
staying out of.” He backed off a bit, his expression softening ever
so slightly. “Is it killing me to see you hurt? Hell yes.
Nevertheless, there are two sides to this story, and I can see
both.” He stabbed a thumb at his chest, hard enough I wouldn’t be
shocked if it bruised.