Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

XANDER

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 5 P.M.

Has Paxton completely lost his mind? "A ghost." I cross my arms and stare at the man who's made my life hell and enjoyed it. "Is this a joke?"

"What? No." But then he laughs and shakes his head.

"What the hell, Paxton?" Dom plops down on one of the soft chairs.

"I'm sorry." He clears his throat. "Sorry," he says again but then giggles. Actually giggles. I share a look with Dom. Is he on something? "I'm fine. More than fine. I'm just…happy. Everything's working out."

"Everything?" I'm shouting, but I can't help it. My life has imploded. "We lost the competition. I accused my brother of betraying me." I gesture at Dom. "And someone now has Mom's secret recipe that we swore we'd guard with our life. And…" Erik. The man hates me, but I'm not telling them that. Because for the first time in my life, losing a connection with someone hurts more than anything else. Is this love? If so, it sucks.

I just want to go home so I can hide in my room and not think about Erik. And the way it felt when he touched me. Kissed me.

"And what?" Paxton asks, a grin still on his face.

"Nothing. I'm going to finish packing." I'm almost to my room when Paxton says, "I never thought I'd see the day when Xander Cage Marchetti gave up."

I stop but don't turn around. Don't let him get to you.

"I mean, I tried to get you to give up. How many times did I try, Xander?"

I spin around to glare at him. "A lot. You never liked me."

Paxton jumps up from the couch and walks over to me. "Not true. I thought you were a hothead and shouldn't take over for your mom. Doesn't mean I didn't like you."

"Right."

"You're missing the point. You did it. Even with everything going on. The craziness. The…" He waves his hand at Dom. "The stuff between the rounds. The distractions." He grins. "Distractions. Perfect word. Even then, you guys won."

"We were disqualified," Dom says more patiently than I could have.

"That was weird but also telling."

"You're not making any sense, Paxton."

He sighs. "What happened when Dom knocked into you, and you dropped the dough?"

"Hey," Dom says, but Paxton ignores him.

"I made another batch."

"And in the final round, when Dom was daydreaming and almost added the cumin instead of the cinnamon?"

"Hey," Dom says again, this time louder.

Paxton waves him off. "Xander?"

"Nothing. He caught his error, and we moved on."

"Exactly." And then he adds, maybe because my hands are balled into fists, "You kept it together. No yelling. No ranting."

"He's my brother."

"Take the compliment, Xander. This competition has been incredibly stressful for both of you. But you never wavered. You kept it together. That's all your mother wants. She doesn't care if you're the Dunklin County Bake-Off champions."

Paxton makes sense, which bothers me. I don't like agreeing with the man.

"There's more to it than that." Dom stares at Paxton. "What aren't you telling us?"

He looks Dom up and down like he's studying him. "What happened to your quest, Dom? Don't you want to know why things are so weird?"

"Do you know?"

"I have a theory." He takes Dom's hand and turns it around. "No nail polish today?"

Dom jerks his hand back. "Why does everyone keep asking me that? Have I ever worn nail polish?"

I start to say yes, but something in my brother's eyes stops me. He believes what he's saying, yet we all saw him with purple nails. And he was flirting with Paxton. Something he is definitely not doing now. What is going on?

Paxton grins again. "Don't you guys want to find out who stole your mother's recipe?"

It was Erik. Nothing else makes sense. "I already know," I say, ready to be done with this conversation.

"I highly doubt it." Paxton heads for the door but then turns and motions for us to follow. "Come on. Let's go find out."