Chapter 21 Sebastian
Sebastian
After spending all day in bed with Lydia, and all night, I was dragging ass at work on Monday. Lydia’s story was at the forefront of my mind. I had never felt the level of rage that pulsed through me as she was describing the incidents, the abuse she’d dealt with at the hands of her ex.
But at least the rage made sense. It was the other emotions that she stirred up that had me baffled.
I was into Lydia. I had been when I was twenty, and then again every time I ran into her on one of her rare trips home. But it wasn’t just attraction or lust that settled in my chest. I was falling for her. Wholly and deeply.
I wanted to take things slow, which was damn near impossible, considering we were already living together.
But I didn’t want my feelings for her to pressure her into thinking she needed to feel the same.
I also didn’t want anything to come between us or my friendship with Luke.
It wasn’t necessarily his business, but I had this urge to confess to him, like if I said it out loud that would make it real.
I didn’t stop to think through my reasons, just shooting a text off to him instead.
Me: If you have time today, stop by the shop. I want to talk to you.
Luke responded a minute later that he could come by after work, which wouldn’t be until about 5:00 p.m.
All day, my moods alternated between jittery, pissed, and bliss like the worst game of emotional tug-of-war.
Lydia strolled in around 4:00 p.m., her pearl-like hair twisted into a knot on her head, her roots recently re-dyed to match the rest of her silvery locks.
Black leggings molded to her delicate legs, and the crop top she wore showed off her toned torso and feminine curves.
The memory of the taste of her skin raced through my mind, and straight to my dick.
“What are you doing here?” I smiled. My next client was sitting in my tattoo chair while I worked on adjusting her design, changing the text into a different script. I put my pen down and greeted her with a kiss.
Damn, that felt good. I should have started kissing Lydia months ago, not that she would have let me. Not that she should have. I needed to earn that right after what she had been through. Bliss changed to pissed in an instant.
“You alright?” she asked. “You look mad.”
I fixed my face, trying to clear my mind of my swirling thoughts.
I had Lydia with me right now. I couldn’t change the past. Stop her from ever meeting that asshole.
I could only show her that that wasn’t what love looked like.
I wasn’t stupid enough to say those words yet—slow, remember—but I could show her.
With two fingers under her jaw, I tipped her chin up, and I kissed her again. She tried to take the kiss dirty, and it took all of my control to pull back.
“Not mad,” I whispered against her lips. “But I do have to get back to work.” I gestured my head to my tattoo station, where a woman sat scrolling through her phone.
“I just came by to show you the newest analytics for your accounts. They look really good.” She beamed.
“I don’t doubt it. Business hasn’t been this good for long time. I might need to hire someone to help out during the summer if it stays like this.”
“Wow. Have things really been that good?”
“Better than good. I might even be able to give you a raise soon,” I smirked.
“Maybe I’ll give you a raise soon,” she said, looking pointedly at my crotch with a devious heat in her eye. I was already starting to rise down there when she looked at me like that.
“Later,” I promised.
Lydia hung around during the entire ninety-minute session, taking pictures and chatting with my client, Caitlyn. Every time I heard the tinkling of her laugh or caught her amused green gaze, I could feel myself falling further and further for her.
I wrapped Caitlyn’s new ink and went over the aftercare instructions before collecting the payment. Luke walked in just as she was leaving, still in his police uniform from work.
“Hey, Lyds.” He grinned, plopping his arm over her shoulder and dragging her to his side.
“Ugh, get off me,” she complained, pushing at him to no avail. “What are you even doing here?”
“Seb asked me to come by,” he said.
“He did?” Lydia wasn’t looking at her brother but rather at me.
Maybe I should have checked with Lydia first. That was probably the right thing to do, but I was just thinking about my own relationship with Luke when I asked him to come by.
I shot her a questioning look as Luke said something that neither of us was paying attention to.
“Well, I’ll let you boys chat, I guess.” She slipped out of Luke’s hold and shoulder-checked him, or shoulder-checked his sternum.
He shoved her back playfully. My entire body tensed in a protective instinct.
If it wasn’t for the fact that they were both smiling, I would have warned him away from putting his hands on her.
Like they didn’t grow up with living room wrestling matches and sibling roughhousing.
“I’ll see you at home?” I asked.
Lydia took a step toward me but decided against it, turning for the door instead. “Yup, you guys have fun.”
The door closed behind her, and I had to drag my eyes away from tracking her to her car.
Luke laughed. “That sounded so domestic, like something Letty and I would say.”
“Yeah, we’ve gotten pretty close since she’s been staying with me.” I thought I’d ease into it a bit, get Luke warmed up so that when I told him that I was dating his sister, it would seem like it was inevitable, since that’s how it felt.
“I’ve said it before, but thanks again for taking her in and looking out for her. I know she’s a grown adult, but I don’t think she was in a good place when she came home. She needed some time to get her bearings, but she seems like she’s doing a lot better now.”
“She is. Yeah.” I rubbed my hands on my jeans. “Listen, I want to talk to you about something.”
“If you want to know when she’ll be out of your hair so you can get back out there, I talked to Wyatt earlier today.
Whit was able to fix the leak in the basement yesterday, and Reid was going to finish up the construction work today.
Wyatt wants to do a walk-through and clean some stuff out, but Lydia should be able to get back in there by the end of the week.
So don’t worry about it. It’s almost done, man, I promise.
Even if Wyatt’s place isn’t ready, Letty and I are closing on the house in eight days, and she can take our room at Reid and Claire’s house. ”
“She isn’t going anywhere.” My words came out harsher than I expected. I had to talk myself down before I tried again. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” My lungs filled on a deep inhale. “Lydia and I… have gotten close these past few months together.”
Luke’s face paled, the barely contained fire in his eyes trying to set me alight.
“Don’t do it, Seb. Don’t go there,” he warned.
I rubbed my hands down my face, dragging them through my hair. I didn’t have a chance to say anything before he jumped to conclusions. Accurate conclusions, but still, I would have liked the chance to tell him how I felt.
“Are you fucking my sister?” he asked, a mixture of bewilderment and venom in his voice. I wasn’t sure what the bewilderment was for. Sure, she was his sister, and siblings didn’t exactly look at each other that way, but he had eyes. He had to know she was stunning.
Luke took a step toward me, and I raised my hands in front of me, fending him off. “It isn’t like that.” I’d fucked a lot of women. With Lydia, it was different. So much more. So much better.
“So, you’re not fucking my sister, but you want to?” he baited.
“I never said that either.”
“Then what the fuck are you saying, Seb? I trusted you with my baby sister. I asked you to look out for her. I told her she was safe with you, because I thought she was. You would never go there with Lydia. That would be ridiculous.”
“Why? Why would it be ridiculous that Lydia and I got together?”
His eyes flashed. “That or if?” He took another step toward me, and this time, I didn’t try to de-escalate.
No, I was ready to escalate this to whatever he wanted it to be.
My hands fisted by my side, ready to take a swing at my best friend if he didn’t watch his fucking mouth.
“Tell the truth. Did you sleep with Lydia?”
“That’s none of your business,” I gritted out. “Lydia is a grown woman. You said so yourself, she can make her own choices. And right now, that choice is me.”
“You strike out at the bar a couple of times, so you pounce on the easy target under your roof. Is that what this is?”
“I didn’t pounce on anyone.” My blood was starting to boil, my muscles coiling like a snake ready to attack. “Lydia and I have having been spending a lot of time together and…”
“So, this is my fault for asking you to take her on at the shop? For thinking that you would be respectful enough to her, given our history, that she could trust you?”
The door opened, reminding me that I was still open for business and had another appointment scheduled.
“Get fucked,” I told him before stomping my way over to the small podium desk I used to check clients in.
“Fuck you. Stay away from Lydia,” Luke shot back as he stormed out the door.
I asked the guy to wait for a second so I could go to the bathroom and try to calm myself down.
Every cell in my body was flooding me with adrenaline. Blood rushed through my veins, filling my ears. My vision dimmed at the sides as I struggled to pull back on my fury.
Fuck Luke. Fuck him for not even hearing me out. We’d spent the last twenty-odd years as friends, and he still didn’t think I could be good enough for his sister. Not even a chance to prove myself. No benefit of doubt. Nothing but immediate contempt for me as her boyfriend.
Goes to show what he really thinks of me as a man.
I chugged down a bottle of water and waited until my hands were steady again. The last thing I needed was to fuck up a new client’s tattoo because of personal shit I had going on in my head.
My shit mood didn’t get any better throughout the night, although the continuous buzzing of the tattoo machine helped to keep me focused. The ink came out great, but I wouldn’t be getting any five-star reviews for my attitude.
Evenings were always the busiest time for me. The steady stream of clients through the door would fill me with pride most nights, but tonight, all it was doing was delaying me getting home to Lydia. I hadn’t even had a chance to call her after the assface left.
I walked into a dark house a few hours later. No television playing quietly in the background. No Lydia waiting up for me on the couch.
What if Luke called her after he left? What if he convinced her that she was too good for the struggling artist who could barely keep his business afloat?
Things were better, but two months in the black wasn’t enough to get me out of the hole I was in financially.
It was a start though. Things were looking up for me, and that was all thanks to Lydia.
Quiet permeated the space. The only sounds were the patter of my feet as I stalked to my open bedroom door, fear and dread rushing through me. She wouldn’t leave with talking to me. Even if Luke could convince her that she deserved better than me, she wouldn’t just leave, I told myself.
I turned into the bedroom, reaching for the light, when my hand stilled.
Curled up on the bed, her hands folded beneath her rosy cheek like an angel, lay my Lydia.
I let out a long breath, leaving the lights off, and shucked off my clothes.
Her warm body melded to mine, and I tugged her close, holding her tighter than I probably should.
I placed a light kiss to her bare shoulder, eliciting a soft hum from her.
“Shh. Go back to sleep. I’ve got you,” I whispered.
She shifted a little bit, sandwiching my arm between the soft curve of her waist and her own arm on top, holding on to me.
I’m not going anywhere, Lydia. Hold on as tight as you want.
I didn’t want to have to pick between my friend and the woman I loved, but if forced to, it was no contest. Sorry, Luke. You don’t stand a shot in hell. I would easily blow up a twenty-year friendship for this woman. Hell, I’d blow up the world for her.