Chapter 5 Miranda on the Line #2
They must know each other. It’s something I tried not to think about last night. If Sebastien ranks as high as I suspect, my husband and my former lover will have some kind of connection—and Eric threatened to kill any man I fucked while he considers me his.
No wonder I could barely sleep. On the plus side, if I do marry Sebastien, I won’t be Eric’s. Besides, I’m pretty sure he can handle himself, and what Miranda has to tell me only confirms it…
“Sorry. I was still in bed.”
“Alone?”
What? “Yes! Of course I was alone. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because you were asking me about Sebastien Reynolds.”
She says it’s like the most obvious thing in the world. “I don’t understand.”
“Okay. This all comes from Deirdre.” Colt’s older sister. She’s twenty-two and was Claimed her first year. She’s promised to marry a mid-level Owed, but they’re putting it off until he’s closer to thirty for some reason… “But if you actually talked to him, odds are you’ll end up sleeping with him.”
Uh-oh. “Why’s that?”
“Maybe because nearly every woman in the Order has? Well, not me. Not you. Not Deirdre, but that’s because she’s an Offering, too, and if she banged anyone, Henry will break their engagement. But, like, the Used and some of the wives? Yeah. He’s had them all.”
I stay quiet.
Too quiet.
Miranda squeals. “Holy shit. You did fuck him!”
Heat shoots up my neck. “Miranda.”
“Oh my god, you so did.”
I’m going to crawl under my bed and die. “I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t deny it,” she sing-songs.
I press two fingers to my temple. “It doesn’t matter. I need information about him. Good information. Not… whatever this is.”
Hearing the aggravation—and the brewing headache—in my voice, she calms down. “Fine. What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
A soft humming sound comes through the phone. “Okay. So… Sebastien Reynolds. Bas. First of all? He’s the hot mess brother.”
“What does that mean?”
“He has an older brother. Some guy in finance. I don’t know what Bas does, but Deirdre says that he’s some kind of, I don’t know, trouble-maker. But, then again, he’s also, like, sweet.”
I blink. “Sweet?”
“Yeah. Like… really sweet, Annie. He’s reckless, but he treats people well. Especially women.”
My chest tightens unexpectedly. I remember the man at the bar, sitting by himself with his motorcycle helmet and his beer, locking in on how distraught I was even when I told him not to be kind to me.
He was anyway. Sure, his kindness ended with me fucking him in a bathroom stall, but that’s because I needed it.
I needed him.
“So, get this. He hangs out with the Used all the time, but not for the reasons people think,” Miranda continued. “I mean—yes, he sleeps with them. But everyone says, despite his rep, he’s respectful. He listens. He pays tabs. He fixes things. He’s not a dick even if he thinks with his.”
Not a dick… that’s definitely a point in his favor. Sleeping with the Used… I don’t have to like it. It’s how things are done in Harmony Heights, and how can I be that much of a hypocrite? Isn’t that what I am? Eric made me his Used, but while he was good to me for a while, he’s a dick now.
At least I’m not going into this in love with Sebastien. I don’t want love. I want protection.
Besides, I met him at the Court last night. Even more notably, our first meeting ended with me on his lap. So he’s a playboy. I’m not looking for loyalty.
I can handle this.
Miranda drops her voice. “Colton say he’s a good man who doesn’t know he’s allowed to be one.”
I close my eyes, remembering how he held me in that bathroom like I wasn’t broken. Like he didn’t need anything from me except me in his arms for as long as I wanted to be there.
“Look, Annie… he’s trouble, but he’s not scary. And he’s definitely not like Eric. So if, you know, you did bang him… you could’ve picked worse.”
She has no idea how much that helps steel me toward going through with my plan. “Thanks, Randa. You were a big help.”
“I try. Besides, you’d do the same thing for me.”
She’s right about, too. Everything I’m about to do… I’m doing it for my sister.
“Love you.”
“Love you, too, Annie.”
Once Miranda is gone, I return to my contacts. I look at the most recent entry, heart thumping a little bit wilder when I see how Sebastien entered the number in under HUBBY. I know he’s teasing. I know he’s not taking this seriously.
Still, my heart skips a beat as I press down on it.
One ring.
Two ring.
Three—
“Bas here.”
I close my eyes. “Hello? It’s me. It’s Annaliese.”
“Hello, love,” he says, the nickname he gave me that night in the Last Prayer turning my stomach into knots. “I was waiting for your call.”
Oh, God. “Right. Anyway, if you’re still agreeable to my proposal, I’d like to meet with you this evening and talk it over. Would that be all right?”
“Sure. Now that I have your number… it is your number, isn’t it?”
“Um. Yes.”
“Good. I’ll text you the address. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll be here.”
And I think I’m going to hurl from nerves. “Thank you. I… I’ll see you later.”
“I look forward to it… Annaliese.”
As the phone disconnects, I shudder in place. Annaliese… the way he said my name, so warmly, so possessively… oh, this is a bad idea. A really fucking a bad idea.
But you know what? I’m going to do it anyway.
Once I have a draft for our marital agreement ready for him to go over, that is.