Chapter Seven - Thalia
SEBASTIAN’S HAND GRIPS my hip tightly as Stacey hits a pothole. She looks at me mischievously in the rearview mirror. “Sorry, guys. I didn’t see it.” I roll my eyes because I’m sure she did. They’re all probably getting a kick out of this after the way my return party ended.
Owen snickers, too, clearly finding this funny, but I blame him. I could have easily sat on Landon’s lap or Jake’s.
Vera was the only one who protested the sitting situation, but Stacey was impatient to get on the road. There wasn’t time to rearrange how everyone was sitting.
I know I talk a good game, but it didn’t end well the last time Bash and I were in a similar position. Not that any of them would know. I never told anyone besides Penelope. Blake guessed something happened, but I’ve neither confirmed nor denied it. I’m relieved Sebastian hasn’t told anyone either. I’m not sure which one of us is more tense right now: me or him. So much for either one of us being able to relax.
Blake is squashed into the third row with Owen. The second row has me sitting uncomfortably on Sebastian’s lap, Vera’s in the middle, and Jake on the other side. Landon is the lucky son of a bitch sitting up front with Stacey.
I’m doing my best to sit as far forward on his legs as possible, but I forgot what a lousy driver Stacey is. This is going to be a long car ride. There’s still an hour left, but then we’ll be at the beach under the sunshine, and this will all be worth it.
I’m trying not to think about Sebastian’s large hands on me, but my brain has different ideas. I know he’s upset with me. After all, I am the one that convinced him to come.
“How do you all know each other?” Blake asks from the back. I twist to look at her to start explaining, but Vera beats me to it.
“Oh god, I’ve known Owen, Bash, and Thalia since fourth grade. Despite Thalia giving him a lap dance right now, they’re usually at each other’s throats. Landon, Thalia, and I had a class together freshman year, which is how we became friends. He introduced us to the rest of the basketball team. Stacey is another friend from high school.”
My cheeks burn. “I’m not giving him a lap dance,” I defend, turning around to face forward just as the car in front of us suddenly brakes. Stacey brakes in response, and instead of flying forward into the headrest in front of my face, Bash pulls me tight against him, his arm winding around my stomach to hold me.
“What the fuck, Stace?” Owen asks, clearly having hit his head in the sudden braking while I’m trying to steady my breathing. My heart is hammering in my chest loudly.
“Blame the car in front of us, not my driving.”
I thought I was going face-first into the headrest, but I’m glad I didn’t. I attempt to scoot forward while everyone else adjusts due to the cramped seating. Sebastian’s hand wrapped around my midsection holds me flush against him, and his warm breath tickles as he whispers in my ear. “Lia, stop moving. Please.”
The fact he said please catches my attention, and for once, I listen, resting against him. Then I feel exactly why Bash is asking me to stop moving. I guess I was giving him a lap dance with all my twisting and moving around. Oops.
“Sorry,” I mumble, hoping it’s loud enough for him to hear but not loud enough for Vera.I don’t need to hear what she thinks of our current predicament.
I wish I had done what Bash suggested about wearing more clothes because my shorts don’t put much between us. Sebastian’s thumb brushes the band of my top, and I need a distraction right this second. My mind is threatening to wander to forbidden fantasies about the one person I shouldn’t want.
“Vera, can you pass me my bag?” I ask, deciding that music will be a great distraction.
“Only because you could have died when Stacey braked,” she says, handing it to me. I quickly look in the bag for my headphones, making sure not to move the lower half of my body.
Stacey scoffs. “She didn’t die. Bash has her, right?”
“Right,” he confirms, joining the conversation for the first time since we found out our seating arrangements.
This afternoon was supposed to be about clearing my head of Sebastian, and I’m the dumbass that went and practically forced him to come with me. Why couldn’t I leave him alone? I have no one to blame but myself.
Blake and Owen are chatting quietly about a professor in the engineering department in the back, and Vera’s talking to Jake about some party the basketball team has coming up. Stacey’s singing along to the radio, and Landon’s sitting silently like Bash and me.
I look out the window, feeling restless. His problem hasn’t resolved itself yet, and I can feel it clear as day stabbing me. How does he walk and run around with that monster between his legs?
I tap his leg subtly, trying to get only his attention.
“What?” he whispers a moment later.
“Are you, uh…okay?”
He chuckles lowly. “What do you think? What part of this is supposed to make me relax?”
I roll my eyes. It’s not like I planned this. “Obviously I didn’t mean for this to happen. Can’t you make it go away faster?”
“Believe me, I’m trying.”
My neck is aching, but there’s nowhere for me to rest my head that isn’t against some part of Sebastian. Eventually, I have no choice but to rest my head in the crook of his neck to look outside the window.
“I’m sorry. If this is uncomfortable for me, then I’m sure it’s even more uncomfortable for you,” he acknowledges softly, and I let out a sigh. I really don’t want Vera to hear any of this. She’ll never let either of us live it down.
“Trust me; I’m sure it’s more uncomfortable for you,” I mumble because the current position sure doesn’t let me forget it. I put my headphones in, signaling the end of the conversation.
~
The guys are throwing a football around together, and Stacey is reading a book. Blake and Vera went to get ice cream, and were getting along just like I imagined they would.
There’s no way in hell I sat on Sebastian Walker’s boner most of the way here not to get in the actual water. The sand between my toes and the water lapping at my stomach feels so eerily similar to the trips Penelope and I would take.
She’d die of laughter if she knew what happened in the car. When I called her last night after tossing and turning for a few hours, she laughed while telling me how stupid I was. It felt refreshing to speak French with someone who could understand me and talk back. I never knew that was something I’d miss.
~
“Just climb Sebastian like a tree already and get it over with. After that, you guys can be friends, enemies, or whatever you’re trying to be with him,” she says, and my face burns at the thought.
“We’re not friends or enemies. We’re not anything. Bash is my brother’s best friend, whom I happen to dislike. I’m not trying to be anything with him,” I retort quickly.
“But you want to fuck him,” Penelope says bluntly, and I can imagine her smiling. I miss her so much I could cry.
I shake my head and laugh. “Pen, it sounds like you want to.”
With her short dark hair and piercing blue eyes, she’s always had men drawn toward her. “Sure. Send him my way after you have yours with him. I want a better picture to fantasize about, though. See if you can work on that.”
“You wouldn’t have wanted a picture of him tonight. He was exhausted and stressed and hurting…”
Owen said that Sebastian has a lot going on. He’s always been private, so it doesn’t surprise me that he has his secrets.
“And you massaged him to help him relax. How different is that from having sex with the man? You already had your hands all over him. Twice, if I remember correctly. So why not put both of you out of your misery?”
I wish she were here so I could hug her tightly. “I’m not in misery. All he does is yell at me and tell me what a child I am. Then I tell him he’s an asshole.”
“What a modern-day fairy tale. Just fuck him already. You’ll feel better.”
~
I trail my fingers lazily through the water. This is precisely what I needed. It’s a Thursday, and the school year’s just started, so we’re the only ones here. I press my toes farther into the sand, feeling like I could stay here forever. I could be washed out with the tide, and I don’t think I’d care. I could fulfill my childhood dream of becoming a mermaid. I giggle at the thought of just spending my days floating with the fish. I think little Lia had it right. Being a mermaid is much better than being an adult. Ariel doesn’t know how good she has it.
The water is all you can see as far into the horizon, but on the other side of the ocean and a little to the northeast and then inland, I’d find Paris. If I look long enough, I can start to imagine it.
“What are you looking at?” Landon asks, jolting me out of my thoughts.
“Paris.”
He gives me an odd look, probably doubting my sanity. “Lia, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s the ocean.”
I hit his arm lightly. “I know. But on the other side of the ocean, there’s Paris. If I were a mermaid, I think I could get there in, what? Two? Three days?”
“I think you’ve been drinking too much salt water. You’re delusional.” He laughs, and I join with him because he’s right. Then Landon does a very Landon thing, and he picks me up by my waist, hoisting me over his shoulders until I’m left staring at his dark skin instead of the horizon. “You need to sit in the shade with Stacey and cool off.”
“I have legs, Landon,” I protest as he wades through shallower water to return to the beach.
He gasps dramatically. “I had no idea these were legs; I thought I was holding onto a tail.”
Landon’s words are enough to send me into a fit of laughter, loud enough to attract the other guys’ attention from their football game. I’m acutely aware that Sebastian’s staring at me—well, not me. My ass is hanging in the air for all to see because of the way I’m slung over Landon’s shoulder. Maybe this wasn’t the right swimsuit to wear today.
“Can you please put me down?” I ask, tapping his back to get his attention. It’s not exactly the most comfortable position for me to be in.
“No, I think I like carrying you. Don’t you know you can’t put a fish on dry land?”
I pinch him sharply. “Not a fish; I’m a mermaid.”
“Ouch, that hurt,” Landon complains but sets me down on the ground.
I stand up straight, my head a little dizzy from hanging upside down, to find the rest of the group staring at us. “Was she pretending to be a mermaid again?” Owen asks with a smile, and I grin back at him.
“Of course.”
Jake looks at me funny, whereas Stacey laughs, having heard this story before. This is something I did for a long time as a kid. I’m not surprised they didn’t forget. “Wait, are you guys serious?”
I shrug, feeling cold now that I’m out of the water. “Oh yeah. I used to pretend that I was a mermaid when we were younger. I still do sometimes. You should try it. Pretending is a fun game.” I direct the last part at Sebastian, who only smiles at me instead of scowling. I’m instantly suspicious because it doesn’t add up. Sebastian is pissed at me, so why is he smiling? Bash takes a step closer to me, and I can’t believe I forgot because he’s been doing this for years. I take an equal step back and look at Landon pleadingly for help. “Stop him.”
I don’t get to say anymore before I take off running in the opposite direction into the water like it can save me. Sebastian is humoring me, because he should have caught me by now. His arms wrap around my torso, pulling me to a stop as I swing my arms violently until Sebastian’s pinned them against me. “You can’t outrun me. Why even try?” He teases, lifting me as if I were made of nothing.
“You don’t have to do this,” I plead, wiggling in his grip to try to get loose to no avail. “We’re not kids anymore.”
Bash continues walking farther into the water, holding me tight for an entirely different reason than I want. I have no choice but to hold onto him, unless I want him to drop me. I watch his gaze drop to my chest, heaving from the exertion I spent running before his eyes meet mine. Honestly, the amount of times I catch him checking them out, you’d think I wear a DD instead of a B cup. “You’re right. We’re not kids anymore, little Lia,” he says, keeping his face very close to mine. I can almost see the glints of a whiskey color from this angle. They’re oddly captivating, just like his full lips that aren’t flattened into a look of distaste for once.
Why is his face getting closer? I-is he going to kiss me? My breathing hitches because I don’t think I’d hate that. It wouldn’t be wrong to do it again.
Then Sebastian smirks, dropping me into the water as I shriek, getting a mouthful of salt water. I come up, sputtering because a minuscule part of me hoped he would kiss me. I wipe my hands over my face, trying to keep the salt from getting in my eyes when I hear Bash’s roaring laughter.
He’s already walking back to the beach where our friends are, and I feel my anger implode. I literally gave him a fucking massage last night, my apology was ignored, and I rode here the entire way with his boner up my ass. Not literally, but that’s beside the point. He can’t just check me out and act like he might kiss me, only to drop me into the water!
I wade through the water, trying to catch up to him, but his legs are stupidly long. I reach him where the water hits my ankles, pushing him forward. The only reason he budges is because I’ve caught him off guard. “You are single-handedly the most confusing person—no, asshole—that I’ve ever met! Penelope says I should climb you like a tree, but I think if I did that, it wouldn’t be to fuck you. I think it’d be so I could kill you. What do you want from me?” I yell angrily.
Sebastian turns, looking baffled, and I push him again. “You have done nothing but be an asshole to me since I got back. Some of it I probably deserved, but being thrown in the fucking ocean after you stared at my chest was not called for.”
“Really? You’re calling me an asshole again. I thought we’d made so much progress, Thalia.” The sarcasm is dripping from his words, and my temper is burning red hot. That’s all he took from that? Are you kidding me?
Owen is laughing, and I look at him with a murderous look before realizing everything I just said. Oh shit. Even the part about climbing Bash like a tree. What did I just do? He’s going to find out everything. Not that there’s much to tell, but enough Owen will still be mad.
I walk away before saying anything else that could get me or Bash in trouble. Not that I care about getting him in trouble. I care about my brother.
“Whatever you just said, I don’t think I want to know,” Blake says, offering me a towel, which I gladly take. My cheeks are flaming red, and I don’t think I can do anything to stop them. I just said all of that in front of everyone.
“You mean you didn’t hear me—”
“Dude, I don’t speak French. Nobody understood you, unless someone else here speaks French,” she says, and I freeze.
“I said all that in French?” I ask, my heart stopping in my chest. Blake nods, and I grab the water from my bag to rinse the salt from my mouth. “But…”
Curiosity lights up in her amber eyes. “What did you say? I only caught the word asshole, and that’s because you were yelling.”
“You don’t want to know,” I say, glaring at Sebastian, who is laughing with Vera and Owen. When his eyes make contact with mine, I don’t back down by looking away.