Extras🎬

Where Was Xander?...

A/N - short one with a little treat at the end❤️

This is the explanation on where Xan went when he disappeared in Gracious chap. 44 :)

~~~

Zane

Quiet had been both a good and bad thing throughout my life.

Quiet when I was younger meant Santiago wasn't in the house.

Quiet when I was looking after the boys meant something was usually wrong.

Quiet now that they were all grown up (all over the age of sixteen anyway) meant that I was usually home alone, left to my own devices.

It was taking a lot to adjust to, not having to watch all of them twenty-four-seven.

But I was making the most of it regardless, simply drinking a black coffee while some shitty crime drama played on the tv, I was barely paying any attention to it but it was nice to relax- I deserved it. And despite believing I was the only one home, with Isabella napping upstairs, footsteps that were too heavy to be my sixteen year old sister's trailed into the kitchen behind me.

"Hey", Alexander had his head in the fridge but greeted me either way, then turned around while unscrewing a carton of orange juice, no doubt about to drink it without getting a glass.

"Did you just get in?", I asked him, placing my coffee down and sitting sideways so I could see him better. He nodded with a hum, then proceeded to drink what appeared to be half of the carton- I was living with animals, aside from Isabella.

"I wanna talk to you", he announced, putting the juice away and joining me on the sofa, "you told me to tell you this when I felt comfortable, and I guess I do now". My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to recall when I'd said that to him, not having a clue when it could've been.

I'd assumed I'd said something similar when he was sneaking around a few months ago, but that had all clicked into place when he'd come out to us all a few days ago- I was still immensely proud of him for feeling comfortable enough to do that.

"You're going to have to jog my memory", I told him, a small laugh escaping him as he crossed one leg over the other, nodding to himself briefly before clearing his throat.

"When I went missing", that was all it took for realisation to dawn upon me, my frown disappearing and my confusion being replaced by curiosity, "I'm ready to tell you what happened".

It had been roughly three months since that day, and although the sheer thought of those hours where I thought my brother was dead still made me feel sick, I knew bringing it back up now was important. Not only for me, but for Alexander too.

"Whenever you're ready", I nodded, leaning back slightly and just watching him; he'd matured more than he realised this year, and it was an honour to witness.

"I couldn't tell you before...because I hadn't come out yet", he revealed and I nodded once more, recalling how angry I'd been because I thought he was withholding information from me, "I wanted to tell you, to just say it, but I couldn't- you have to understand that".

"I do", I assured him, "and I'm glad you didn't let my..persistence force you into telling me something when you weren't ready".
"I was so close to", he admitted, "and I thought Xav might have slipped up if you thought I was dead-".

"He wouldn't out you and you know it", I said, a small smile tugging at my lips, "it makes sense now, he was hiding something, I just didn't know what".

"I was with Talon", he said after a few seconds, raking his fingers through his hair, "I didn't want anyone to know- or find me, that's why I removed my license plates".