Chapter 101 - Impressions Of Madeline

Noticing the expression on Xavier's face, Madeline explained, "She seems like a sweet person." 

By then, she was in Xavier's office, standing across him. 

Xavier looked great, even after the hunt. 

Any normal person would look tired and exhausted. Meanwhile, Xavier looked as radiant as ever, in a white button-down shirt and trousers. And he smelt addictive and mesmerising. Well… His cologne, of course. 

"It's times like these I don't understand the logic you go by," Xavier admitted. 

If he were her, he'd never want to see Indiana's face ever again. Ever. 

And that was easy for him. If he didn't want to see anyone's face again, so be it. They wouldn't dare get in his way unless they were masochistic and wanted to face his fiery wrath. 

Xavier's wrath would send any sane person fearing for their life. 

But, it seemed like Madeline was taking a different approach. One Xavier couldn't comprehend. 

"Why would you invite the enemy to lunch? Is this some strategy of hers?" 

"Oh come on, she was lonely, there was no one else here. And if it helps, Briar was there, so if anything were to happen… Not insinuating that it would, Briar would be there to protect me," Madeline reasoned. 

"And Indiana is great company, actually."

Xavier looked bitter when she said those words. 

So Indiana was called great company, what about him?

Was he mediocre company? 

'Hmph,' he thought to himself. 

Oh sure, he was being a bit salty about this all, he admitted it himself. 

But having Indiana around Madeline didn't sit well with Xavier. His gut feeling told him something would happen that'd end up with Madeline getting hurt again. Even if she played it off like it was nothing, it was definitely not nothing. 

Well, it was Madeline's choice when it came to what she'd do about Indiana. So long as she kept her guard up, she'd be alright… Right?

Xavier hoped for the best, knowing Madeline would be affected if anything else were to happen. 

"I missed you during the hunt," he said, putting it out there. 

Madeline lifted her head, meeting his gaze. 

"You what?" 

Raising his brow, he repeated, "I missed you, that's what."

Recovering quickly from her initial shock, Madeline admitted, "I missed you too." 

"You said you already ate lunch?" 

Madeline gulped, "Yeah." 

Xavier cursed. Had she not have eaten lunch yet, he would've asked her if she wanted to grab lunch with him. 

Why did he want to eat lunch with her?

Because she was great company and eating lunch with her felt different in a strange but enjoyable way. 

'Maybe tomorrow, then,' Xavier reasoned, still not taking into consideration the long hours he needed to work and the whole having to work overtime after freeing up some time to eat lunch with her. 

After all, Xavier was no free person. His work schedule was enough to give headaches to any person, human or werewolf. 

The times Adrian had to take over Xavier - a rare occasion, one must add - he would find himself on the brink of fainting. 

How did Xavier balance his work life with his personal life?

If Xavier was asked this question, instead of answering it, he'd simply scrunch his nose and ask, "What personal life?" 

Madeline had once told him he was a workaholic. That time, she was only stating the obvious. Nothing had changed. 

Then again, it hadn't been long since she said that. 

And by 'it hadn't been long', one meant a couple of days at most. 

"Lunch tomorrow?" Madeline asked.

"Did you read my mind or something?"

"It's a yes then," Madeline nodded, observing Xavier's face.

"Yeah," Xavier agreed, nodding.

He could imagine Adrian's face as he told Adrian this. 

These days, Xavier had been surprising Adrian a lot with him freeing up time to spend with Madeline. 

Adrian suspected there was something more going on, but Xavier would never crack when he tried interrogating him.

Then again, Adrian could only ask him a couple of questions before Xavier would stare at him, causing him to stay silent right afterwards.

Adrian knew work would affect their friendship, but he never expected it to have limited his actions quite a bit. 

"Do you have somewhere to be?" Xavier asked, noticing Madeline's odd behaviour. 

She was acting all nervous and fidgety. Xavier sensed something was up. 

Was she alright? 

Madeline's eyes widened.

"How do you know?"

"You're being nervous," he pointed out.

Madeline chuckled nervously, "Oh."

"Well, I left Briar and Indiana at the dining room but I don't want to end our conversation so fast."

Xavier pursed his lips.

"You can go, I'm not keeping you here."

"Besides, I have work to do," he said casually.

Madeline got the impression that he wouldn't mind her leaving. That stung. 

"Alright then," she said, speaking softer. 

"I'm going to go," she nodded.

Not meeting Xavier's gaze, she left Xavier's office, returning to the dining room where Indiana and Briar were. 

"Where did you go? You were gone for so long." 

Looking at the expression plastered across Madeline's face and the period of time she had spent 'going somewhere', Briar presumed she hadn't gone to the restroom, nor had she left for some fresh air. 

'She went to visit Xavier, didn't she? She wanted to make sure he had returned safely and was alright. That was why she was in such a rush to leave and insisted she had to go somewhere,' Briar realized.

And ding ding ding, she was a hundred percent right. 

Madeline considered keeping her lips sealed before she reasoned, what was the point? Briar probably knew already. She was just waiting for Madeline to say it aloud. 

"I went to see Xavier. There, I said it," Madeline answered, expecting a smug expression to form on Briar's face once those words left her mouth. 

And as she expected, Briar looked as smug as ever. 

In her best impression of Madeline, she said to her, "How sweet, you immediately thought of him."