XAVIER’S POV

The ringtone cut through the stillness of my bedroom, loud and insistent. My eyes blinked open reluctantly, the early morning light spilling weakly through the half-closed blinds. I groaned, rolling over to grab my phone from the nightstand. The name on the screen—Marco—made me frown.

Marco wasn’t the type to call me this early unless it was important. Or bad. Mostly bad.

I swiped to answer, my voice still thick with sleep.

“Yeah?”

What hit me wasn’t a casual ...