Chapter Twenty-Seven - Sebastian
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Sebastian
I DEFINITELY SHOULDN’T be anywhere near Thalia’s house, but staying away after she called me drunk is asking the impossible of me, especially after the day I’ve had.
She swings open the door, her face lighting up immediately at the sight of the flowers in my hands. It makes the pitstop on the way here worth it to see Lia smile like this.
Clearly it was the right move because Penelope even offers me a smile in the background as Thalia jumps into my arms after I step into the house. It’s been years since she threatened to castrate me, but the fear has lingered.
Lia laughs happily as she pulls away to stand on her own feet. “I missed you.” After everything, there’s nowhere I’d rather be than here. I can’t help leaning down and kissing her deeply. This is worth it. I’d walk through fire if it meant having the honor of kissing Thalia Lewis.
“I guess you missed me too,” Thalia says, staring at me starry-eyed.
“You could say that.” I chuckle quietly, brushing her hair out of her face. Thalia holds her flowers, and I can’t look away. I hope she never stops smiling. I’ll buy her flowers every damn day if it makes her beam like this.
She pulls me to the couch, planting herself boldly in my lap, as Penelope starts giving me the rundown of their night. My hand rests on her thigh, tracing circles as I try not to let my brain drift. I want to enjoy this time with Thalia, because I hadn’t planned on seeing her until after training camp. I meant what I said in my press conference earlier; I do want to focus on football.
I’ve been with the Panthers for five seasons now, and aside from my rookie season, we’ve fallen short of making it to the Super Bowl every year. I want this to be the year we go again, especially as I only have one season left in my contract.
“I’m sorry, but I can barely keep my eyes awake. Try not to get into any trouble tonight,” Penelope teases, but I hear the warning in her voice. It’s why I’ve stayed away until now.
I wasn’t surprised when Owen told me people were staking out the gallery to get a picture of Thalia after more photos of our day leaked. Despite nothing happening on the beach, the photos taken out of context are pretty damn incriminating.
“Goodnight, Pen,” Thalia says, laughing off the warning. I make sure to dip my head in acknowledgment, and Penelope retreats up the stairs, leaving us alone.
Lia leans against my chest, exhaling a soft sigh. “Thank you for coming over. I know it wasn’t smart after this morning, but I wanted to see you,” she admits.
“I’m glad I came,” I reassure her, pressing a brief kiss to the top of her head .
“Bash, I wish you wouldn’t let everyone think you’re a bad guy.”
“What Kiera did was wrong, but I’m not going to stoop to her level. She can blame me all she wants for everything that happened, but in the end, I ended up here with you. None of the rest of the stuff matters, love.”
She twists in my arms to look at me, her bright eyes trailing over my face. “You amaze me. How can you sometimes say the exact right thing, and other times have your head stuck so far up your ass?”
A deep laugh escapes me as I shake my head. “I’m sorry in advance for all the times I’ll have my head stuck up my ass in the future. I doubt it’s happened for the last time.”
“I wish I could accept your apology, but without knowing what you’re apologizing for, you’ll have to apologize again whenever it happens,” Thalia says, her lips tilting upward in a smile.
I wish I didn’t have to leave, but I do. “I hope you believe me when I say leaving is the last thing I want to do right now, but I do have to go.”
I hate that her smile fades, but I’m grateful to have been here tonight regardless. “Okay,” she agrees softly.
“I’m sorry; I’ve got an early start tomorrow. I have to meet with my realtor and lawyer to back out of the house Kiera and I were going to move into. I have to get it done before I leave for training camp,” I explain, brushing a lock of hair out of her face.
“But…I thought you weren’t leaving for a few days?”
My agent and I spoke earlier, and we agreed that the best thing for me right now is to get out of town. “I’m leaving tomorrow after meeting with the realtor. I was going to tell you tonight, but then you called me drunk. ”
“Oh.” She swallows, standing up. I feel the loss of Thalia’s touch immediately, and I’m tempted to say fuck it , and haul her back into my lap. But, I don’t.
“I’m sorry,” I apologize again.
She shakes her head, still refusing to look at me. “There’s nothing to apologize for, Sebastian. We’re not together; I don’t need to hear you’re sorry because there’s nothing to be sorry for.”
If that were true, then she wouldn’t be upset that I have to leave. “Lia, this isn’t how I want to leave things. The decision was made after the shit show went down earlier. It’s only eight weeks. Who knows what could change between then and now?” I point out, trying to soothe the situation. Thalia grabs a nearby clip to pull her blonde hair out of her face, finally letting me see what she’s trying to hide.
“Exactly. What if things change?”
Oh shit. Does she really think I’m going to change my mind? I’m not sure how much more clear I could be about where I stand when it comes to my feelings for her, but if she needs to hear me say it again, fine. “My feelings for you aren’t going to change,” I say softly, and she drags her hands over her face.
“Will you stay here tonight? Please? I just…I’m going crazy. I know that’s an impossible ask, but I don’t know if I’m ready to go eight weeks without seeing you,” Thalia says, dropping her hands in front of her. She’s completely sober by this point, and I wish more than anything I could stay.
Instead, I shake my head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. If I’m being honest, I’ve replayed the last time we spent the night together through my head more than I care to admit. I can’t get you out of my head. ”
“Can you at least stay until I fall asleep? Please?” Thalia asks, hope flaring in her eyes. I’m awful at saying no to her.
“Yes. I’ll stay until you fall asleep—but no funny business,” I warn, dreaming for the day that I don’t have to leave when she falls asleep.
Thalia smiles at me. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”
~
Training camp was a much needed break from reality, giving me a chance to get my head right for the coming season. I’d been able to push Kiera out of my head, but as hard as I tried to do the same with Thalia, it didn’t work. She’s the only person who has ever remained on my mind while playing. Everyone else I’ve been able to erase, but I guess it just affirms what I already knew.
There’s never been anyone else for me but Thalia.
We haven’t spoken in almost six weeks, but in that time I’ve written Thalia letters of everything I haven’t been able to tell her. I’m not sure if I’ll give them to her yet or not, but it made me feel closer to her.
Unfortunately, as much as I loved putting all the shit with Kiera in the back of my mind, everything has resumed in full force upon re-entering real life. It’s only been a few hours, and I’m already wishing I could go back into the bubble.
I keep my eyes peeled for any sight of her as my foot taps nervously. I’m doubtful whether she’ll show or not—but I have to try because this shit needs to stop. I never imagined everything would turn out this way.
Kiera walks into my line of sight, and I immediately zero in on her growing stomach. My PR team and I had a meeting earlier today to update me on everything I missed during training camp, and I knew it would get worse before it got better. Her pregnancy started showing a few weeks ago, and since the news broke, I’ve gone from being the guy that supposedly left his fiancée for another woman to the guy that left his pregnant fiancée to be with another woman. I could try to deny it, but it would be seen as an attempt to save face.
My team’s hope with this meeting is that Kiera will come clean to the media, but if she hasn’t by now, I’m not hopeful she will after speaking with me.
Seeing Kiera hurts, but not in the way I expect it to.
She approaches, faltering in front of me, but I refuse to feel guilty as Kiera carefully takes a seat on the bench next to me. She’s had every opportunity to correct the things being said about me in the media.
“Hi, Seb,” Kiera greets cautiously, resting her hand protectively on her stomach. I can’t look at it anymore. Swallowing the lump forming in my throat, I look at my hands, the cars, and people passing by around us—anywhere but the reminder of her betrayal.
“Kiera,” I reply curtly.
“How are you doing? You look good.”
Is she joking? I tilt my head to look at her, seeing Kiera in an entirely new way. “How am I doing? I can tell you I’d be doing a whole lot better if you and Nina stopped talking to the media.”
“It’s only Nina. I haven’t said anything to anyone,” she tries to defend weakly, and I shake my head. That’s a pathetic excuse.
“Maybe I’d believe you if you hadn’t proven previously how good you are at lying to my face. I need you to stop. If you actually cared about me, just please stop. ”
She inhales sharply. “I asked her to stop, but it’s not as if Nina’s lying. You are in love with Thalia. You said so yourself while I was the blabbering idiot who hired her to photograph our wedding.”
“And you cheated. I never did that, nor did I leave you for Thalia like everyone believes.” I do my best to keep my voice even, but it’s so damn hard when I’m being painted as the one in the wrong.
“Seb—”
This time she uses my nickname, I flinch involuntary. I’ve gone almost two months without being called that, and I don’t have it in me to pretend that I like it. “Don’t call me that. I never lied to you, and I’ve kept what happened a secret for you and your child’s sake, but I need the rumors to stop.”
“You might never have lied, Sebastian, but withholding the truth might have been worse. How long did it take for you to run to Thalia after you left?”
“I’m not going to apologize for loving her.” She’s trying to egg me on by asking that question because everyone already knows the answer. My jaw tightens and I stare at her, refusing to give into her attempts to draw me into a fight. That’s why we’re doing this in public. “I won’t do it, Kiera. I’m not perfect, but I loved you the best I could. I left because we weren’t going to be happy together, and in case you’ve forgotten, you’re having another man’s child.”
All the fight sinks out of her with the mention of that detail. “I didn’t come here to fight. You said you wanted to talk.”
“I don’t want to fight either. I don’t want to talk to you, Kiera. I only asked you here because you’re letting everyone believe that I’m abandoning my child, when that’s not the truth.”
“I’ll talk to Nina,” Kiera says, averting her eyes.
“I don’t know if that’s enough,” I continue softly. “This is affecting my career, Kiera. The press won’t leave me alone, and while I’ve been protecting you, I have sponsorships threatening to pull their funding. At some point, I have to protect myself.”
“I hear you,” she says, nodding reluctantly. “I’ll fix it.”
“Thank you.” It’s just words right now, but it gives me hope that she’ll do the right thing.