Entrapped

Chapter 34.

Xavier kicked the door open of his office startling the two men that seemed to talk about something important in a hushed tone while the bottle of scotch and whisky were placed on the table before them as they sat comfortably on the luxurious sofa with thighs spread a little.

Xavier let out an annoying growl as soon as his deadly gaze fell upon his two friends, he was in no mood to quench the curiosity their eyes held due to his sudden arrival but also knew that they were persistent freaks and would not let him at peace until he answered all the question that had already started to erupt in both of them.

He knew it, he could see it on their face that held nothing but surprise and let out another growl of irritation as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He wanted to be alone but had landed himself in a rather tight situation.

“what are you doing here, Xavier?” Luca tried to ask that question casually but Xavier sensed the hidden interest in his tone.

He chose to ignore his friend and pursed his lips together though all he wanted was to kick them out of here so he could have some time for himself to sort out his thoughts. He walked closer to them and eyed his chair behind his mahogany table but chose to sit with his friends across them and leaned his head back as he let out a sigh of exhaustion.

Xavier had this habit that he only sat on that chair of his office in his warehouse when he had to work and announce something. That seat meant that he was the boss, their leader and came with great power and responsibility and only a strong and powerful man deserved to sit in that position but right now he was weak and confused and felt that he would disgrace that seat if he sat on it right now.

“what the f**k is wrong with you?” Noah muttered loudly, his eyes fixed on the glass of whisky he was swirling before gulping it down in one go, “and what’s with that long face?”

“don’t tell me your father stopped your eager ass to go home to your wife and asked you to work?” Luca laughed at his own remark which was followed by a throaty laugh that belonged to Noah.

Xavier shot them a deadly glare but that only made his friends laugh even more, “shut up both of you before I cut off your precious balls!” he growled and the sound of it seemed to vibrate within his throat.

His friends were shameless and did the exact opposite of what he had asked them to do, completely unfazed by his threat and Xavier just felt like snapping their head off in that instant but just clenched his teeth together and tried his best to ignore their laughter.

It took a whole agonizing minute for them to control their laugh and get over his friend’s state that they found funny and amusing at the same time. For them, Xavier was a love sick puppy when it comes to Tiara and they never let a chance slip to tease him for that.

“okay but on a serious note, what’s the matter?” Noah poured some whisky in a glass and pushed the glass in his direction as he retained his serious voice.

Xavier remained silent and took the drink that Noah had offered and let the burning liquid slide through his throat and slammed the empty glass back on the table making a loud noise and gestured to his friend for a refill.

Xavier chugged down his whisky without even flinching as if he was drinking water instead. He had started drinking at an early age which was quite common in his line of work and thus had developed a great tolerance against the alcohol.

“you can take your sulky ass home, we will take care of the work.” Noah offered hoping that to lighten up his mood, “there is not much to do anyway.”

“and don’t worry we won’t let your father know that his grown up son was sulking like a little kid.” Luca agreed with Noah but adding a humourful remark was something he could not help himself with.

“you guys are quick to jump to conclusions, aren't you?” Xavier put his glass back on the table and sent a glare to both of his friends who seemed to be in a good mood today unlike him.

“I went home early to surprise Tiara and wanted to spend some time with her but something happened,” Xavier trailed off, “she said something that made me upset.” He finally confessed as he let out a depressed sigh.

His friends who were in a playful mood seconds ago turned serious, regaining their dark composure as soon as they heard him, he sounded distressed and they got worried for him. They knew any matter related to Tiara was as crucial to him as shooting an enemy between his eyes before he shot you.

“what did she say?” Luca asked as he cautiously looked at Noah and then at Xavier, his tone was serious and all the playfulness vanished in thin air.

Xavier closed his eyes and focused on her words that were constantly ringing in his ears and the scene from earlier was projected on the screen of his brain and he felt like it was playing on loop, again and again and then again to piss him off even more.

“she said nothing,” Xavier answered after a brief moment as he brought his right hand up to his temples and massaged them with his forefinger and thumb, “she said nothing that should hurt. She said nothing to me.” He was not sure if he sounded rational or if his words were making sense.

Both of his friends looked at each other asking each other through eyes if any one of them had understood what he had meant but both were clueless.

“Xavier, tell us in detail.” Noah asked him to elaborate because they wanted to help him and in order to do that, they needed to know what the problem was.

“I don’t know, I just feel like I am overreacting but I am not, I-“ Xavier stopped as he found no words to justify what he was feeling, “I just feel upset and regardless of the fact that I should not yet I feel that way.” His words were confusing even to himself. He fumbled around words while searching for the right words to put his emotions onto but was failing miserably.

His friends remained silent, not knowing what to say or how to comprehend his words.

“what did she say exactly?”

“she did not say anything,” Xavier confessed sadly, “it was just her actions that hurt me.” It was not her words but her monotonous voice that she used with him or around with him. her eyes that seemed empty to him for no reason bothered him.

“okay, so what did she do to hurt you?” Luca asked, raising his brow.

“I-I just,” Xavier was at a loss of words, he had nothing to say, nothing to utter that could explain what he was feeling and felt vulnerability swept through his entire being. He did not like this sudden uneasiness that he started to feel in his heart out of nowhere.

A heavy silence surrounded them as no one had anything to say and all o them find it comforting for different reasons, Xavier found it relaxing as he needed to search through his heart to fathom what he was really feeling while his friends needed time to come up with something that could put him at ease but that was harder considering the fact that they had no idea about what was actually bothering Xavier.

Xavier had thought that he was upset, he wanted to say that he was upset but in that moment of silence when he desperately searched through his heart for an answer, he realized he was confused and a little mad.

Everything he felt now started to make sense, the uneasy and strange feeling he was feeling that he thought was nameless suddenly started to make its existence known.

Fear, it was fear. The strange feeling that had been troubling him lately, the one he had tried to shrug off often fought for its dominance and in the end finally won against his confidence and the more he snooped the more he realized that his insecurities were catching up to him.

“I feel like Tiara is trying so hard,” he muttered loudly, breaking the thick wall of silence and looking straight at his friends, “she is trying so hard to be a good wife to me.”

“and it is hurting you?” Noah could not help but dip his question with uncertainty. In response, Xavier nodded his head and Noah found that utterly ridiculous.

“Xavier?” he looked at Luca who had called his name and furrowed his brow at him, “have you perhaps gotten bored with Tiara now that you have her?” his question was answered when Xavier slammed his hands on the coffee table furiously as he looked at him with murderous gaze.

“how could you even ask that!” Luca flinched slightly when he yelled at him, “out of all the people in the world I expected you two to be the last person to think of me like that.” Hurt was clearly visible in his eyes though his voice held absolute anger but his friend could read his eyes.

“Xavier relax, he did not mean it.” Noah intertwined as he glared at Luca and gestured to him to shut his mouth from speaking nonsense, “you know half the time he does not even know what he is saying.” He tried to calm his raging friend down and held his shoulder in a comforting manner.

“yes, same. I did not mean it, that stupid question just came out of my mouth with even knowing.” Luca explained as he found himself agreeing with whatever Noah had said in his defence. He was just trying to be funny and had thought that his humour could lighten up the tense air around him, but when Xavier was offended, he knew he had gone too far.

Xavier groaned, suppressing his anger and relaxed a bit, “I just feel like she was trying too hard to fit in that image of a perfect wife she had in her mind, she is burdening herself with expectation to be perfect.” He let out the unsaid words he had intended to say before getting interrupted and found his friends listening attentively.

“I am afraid that she would lose herself if she focuses on being a good wife to me.” He confessed his biggest fear, a fear that his Tiara might get lost in between the new bond they shared. He was afraid that one day even she would realize that and would demand to be free from the matrimony that was swallowing her real self bit by bit.