Chapter 83: Another Type of Beast

Owen was desperate to shut Xander up but even more desperate to keep his mouth shut. He was sure that the moment they got home, Xander would become a tattletale and tell Eleanor both what happened and even things that didn’t. Owen was surprised that he had lost his cool and gone too far. He had planned to get information from the boy to find out if Eleanor was still seeing Levi or having another man over. He was sure his intentions toward Eleanor were clearly enough expressed for even a child to understand, but Owen still felt like she was brushing him off most of the time or just saw him as a friend. He hated being in the friend zone, and he’d been there far too long—since their college days, and it was infuriating. Sighing, he patted the boy on the back. “Can you stop crying, Xander?” “Leave me alone!” the boy shouted, shoving his hand away and wiping his face with the backs of his hands. “I want to go home. Take me home!” “We’ll go home later, Xander,” he said, trying to sound c