Chapter Twenty Seven: Good taste
RILEY'S POV
"Nobody has a say in the decisions you make for your family or your son."
Xander's voice came from the kitchen—calm, but cold.
Colder than I'd ever heard it before.
"I've tried to explain to you multiple times already, but you don't want to listen," Mrs. Natalie said, her voice tight… like she was holding something back.
"You went ahead and had another set of twins, in case you've forgotten," Xander replied.
His voice dropped even further.
I froze.
Okay… I definitely wasn't supposed to hear this.
It felt like I was eavesdropping on something personal.
"This is about the room I gave to Riley, isn't it?" Mrs. Natalie said with a sigh, her voice now tired.
Yeah.
Definitely not my business.
I slowly stepped back, planning to return to my room quietly—
—and tripped over my own feet.
I fell.
Hard.
A small yelp escaped me as I landed on the floor, pain shooting through me along with instant embarrassment.
Great.
Just great.
I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing—hoping—that maybe this was a dream.
Or that the floor would just open up and swallow me.
Anything.
When I finally opened my eyes…
Both Mrs. Natalie and Xander were staring at me.
"Are you okay, dear?" Mrs. Natalie asked, quickly coming over to help me up.
"Thank you, ma'am," I said, brushing myself off. "I just came for… um… a glass of water."
I lied.
No way I was admitting I came down to eat.
"No problem, dear," she said gently.
My eyes drifted to Xander.
He was watching us—his gaze moving between Mrs. Natalie and me.
The coldness in his eyes hadn't changed.
"Such a good host you are," he said flatly, walking past us.
Ouch.
Remembering what he'd said the day he drove me home, I forced my curiosity down.
Not my business.
Definitely not my business.
When I got back to the third floor, everything was so quiet it felt almost eerie.
It was early morning when I woke up again.
Bored.
The first thing that came to mind was music.
Only to realize…
I'd forgotten my headphones.
Great.
It would be rude to play it out loud.
Making a mental note to bring them later, I started convincing myself that it wouldn't be that bad.
I mean…
I wasn't right next to his room.
So—
A knock on my door cut me off, I paused the music and sighed, getting up, probably looking like I'd just come back from a fight and lost.
I opened the door.
Xander stood there.
Dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't slept, hair messy—like he'd run his fingers through it one too many times. Strands fell over his forehead, almost covering his eyes.
For a second, I just stared.
I'd always wondered how he managed to look so put together during the day.
Maybe his eyes helped.
Or maybe he was just—
"If you're done staring," he said, his voice snapping me out of my thoughts, "lower your music. It's disturbing me."
"How tall are you?" I asked suddenly.
I tilted my head slightly, studying him.
I'm pretty sure he's at least 175… maybe 176 cm. Considering Mrs. Natalie and Mr. James are both tall, it makes sense.
Also, I'm not short for a sixteen-year-old, but he's still a good distance taller.
He just looked at me like I'd completely lost it.
He didn't answer.
"Just lower it," he said, turning to walk away.
Then he paused.
"And Rachel…" he added without looking back, "you don't have good taste in music."
And just like that, he walked off leaving me with a burning cheeks.