Chapter Twenty-One - Sebastian
MY BODY ACHES. I don’t want to be here at all. The music is too loud, and Thalia is wearing a dress much too short for my liking.
The only reason I came tonight was to keep an eye on her. I trust her, but I don’t trust other men, especially not when she’s dressed like she is. Penelope gave me a wink earlier when they walked out of her bedroom, and it took everything in me not to protest her outfit.
She walked in on us asleep in Thalia’s room the other day, and thankfully, she found us instead of Owen. We need to be more careful, but I’m over this whole sneaking around thing. Especially when it means other guys get to dance with her.
We won our game today, but their defense was strong. My whole body aches after taking a hit, but that’s what I get for trying to run the ball myself.
I’m sure Owen wanted to say the same thing about Blake’s dress, but he kept quiet too. I’m not quite sure what’s going on with them. He isn’t helping matters by thinking with his dick. I can’t believe he brought Amelia tonight with Blake here. I’ve tried to ignore them while Chris and Eric sit on my other side. Cody is out on the dance floor with the girls. Lucky bastard.
I take another drink of my beer, watching Thalia to ensure she’s safe. I hate being over here. This is fucking stupid, but it’s what she wants to do, so I’m respecting her wishes.
“Dude, if you came out tonight to pick up a girl, you might want to wipe the scowl off your face.” Chris grins, taking a sip of his beer.
“I’m not here to pick up a girl.” I scoff, and now he eyes me suspiciously.
“Then why are you here? You never come out after games.” Chris, for some reason, feels the need to point this out as if I could forget. He’s not wrong; I have a tradition of watching film after games. It’s a rare occaison when I decide to go out after a game. I don’t like all the attention.
“Dude, you’ll scare Bash away,” Eric pipes in, tipping his beer at me. “It might make you feel better if you smile. It takes more energy to frown than to smile.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I grumble, taking my eyes off Thalia for the first time all night.
Chris rolls his eyes at my response. “If you’re this pissy, why don’t you go home?”
I’m mopey, not pissy, because I want to dance with my girlfriend, not watch her dance with others. “I’m fine,” I say, looking back at the dance floor to find Thalia dancing with someone who looks awfully like Landon, but I can’t tell for sure. It’s fine. I need to relax, because everything is going to be fine.“You all never would have let me hear the end of it if I stayed home.” It’s not a lie. They give me shit all the time for never coming out.
“Well, what do you think about the French girl with Thalia? Are you into her? Is that why you’re not here to pick up a girl?” Eric asks, waggling his eyebrows at me. I laugh at the idea because honestly, I’m a little afraid of Penelope.
“Penelope? No, she’s not my type.”
Chris looks confused as he follows my line of sight to the dance floor. “Then why have you been staring at her all night?”
Oh hell.I knew I wasn’t being subtle, but I thought it wasn’t obvious my attention had been focused on them all night. “Because Owen’s too busy sucking face with Amelia to look out for them himself,” I say a little too loudly based on the glare Amelia gives me, finally giving Owen a chance to breathe.
I don’t care what she thinks. I know Owen, and he’s acting like an ass. The only reason he brought her is to try to make Blake jealous. Shit, maybe he wants the familiarity. I don’t understand, but I’ve told him how I feel about Amelia. Owen is the one who will have to deal with the consequences of his own actions, just like I do for going after his sister.
“C’mon, why don’t you go dance with her? For all you know, you could be getting lucky tonight,” Chris pushes, and I roll my eyes.
“I’m going to get another drink,” I say, getting up to go to the bar. Thalia makes eye contact with me and smiles. I can’t help the spike of jealousy that runs through me when I am close enough to see that it is Landon with them. Rationally, I know I’m the one she wants, but no one else does.
I find Vera waiting for a drink when I get to the bar. “Hey, great game today,” she greets, smiling.
“Thanks.” I return the smile politely, remembering the conversation Thalia and I had. It made sense after she explained what happened that first night back, but now I don’t know how to act around Vera. Vera’s been a good friend, but I’m hoping I’m wrong about what might be going on with her and Thalia.
A bartender comes our way with Vera’s drink, and I order a shot of whiskey. “How are you feeling?” Vera asks, leaning against the counter next to me.
“Fine?” I look at her, confused, unsure what she’s getting at.
She puts her hand on my arm, and simultaneously, my brain connects the dots. I was right. “You took a hard hit today. I didn’t know if you wanted any help cleaning up later.” Vera bats her lashes flirtatiously, and I freeze.
“Vera, no,” I say, pulling my arm out of her grasp.
Her almond-shaped eyes widen in surprise, clearly not expecting me to turn her down. “You didn’t say that last time.”
Fuck, I knew that would come back to bite me in the ass. “You’re right. I didn’t, but I should have. Last time was the only time anything will ever happen between us,” I reply, trying to maintain a calm tone. I’ve only ever seen her as a friend. It was a mistake. She caught me on an awful day after visiting Mimi, and I was drinking. We haven’t spoken about it since it happened, and I suppose it was wishful thinking to pretend it never happened.
The bartender sets the shot in front of me as I pass him cash, quickly taking it. The burn feels good.
“It doesn’t have to be,” she says, not letting it go. “Just let me know if you ever change your mind. We had fun.”
My brain turns quickly. What can I say to fix this? “I’m sorry, but no. I won’t change my mind because I’m seeing someone.” I try to let her down gently, but I still feel guilty when her face falls. “We’re friends, Vera, and we have been for a long time. Don’t let one mistake ruin all of that.”
“Right,” Vera says, taking a sip of her drink.
Did I take it too far by calling what happened between us a mistake? That’s what it was, but I’m not trying to hurt her. At the same time, I don’t want to lead Vera on any further than I guess I already have.
Neither of us can speak again before Thalia and Penelope, chattering in what I now recognize as French, interrupts the conversation. I try to hide my smile as Thalia’s arm brushes against my back.
Penelope smiles widely at Vera. “Ravi de te revoir salope.”
Thalia giggles at whatever she said. I’ll have to remember to ask her about it later. “What’s up? You want to do shots?” she asks, smiling playfully.
“I’m not, but Bash is. Watch out, Thalia, he’s not in the best mood,” Vera says bluntly. Yeah, I definitely hurt her feelings. I hope she doesn’t make everything worse by taking this out on Thalia.
“I’m fine. Just tired,” I correct, trying to cut her slack because no one likes being rejected. Vera ignores me and smiles at them, unintentionally poking the bear further.
“Well, have fun with him. Maybe tonight you can try not to piss him off, Thalia. I know you’re good at it, but I think he’s had a rough enough day without you making things worse.” Great, now she’s set the bear on fire! I am so stupid.
“Vera—” I scold her immediately, but what scares me is how Thalia only smiles in response.
“Heard you loud and clear,” Thalia says, refusing to give her a different reaction. It surprises me when Vera walks away, rolling her eyes. “Je ne pense pas qu’il faille me dire de faire attention à mon propre petit-ami.”
“Will you translate that?” I ask Penelope, who only shrugs. I feel like I should be very afraid right now.
“No, if you want to know, learn French.”
All right then.
Thalia’s blonde hair is curled and hanging over her shoulders. I want to tangle my fingers in it and kiss her senselessly. I hate not being able to touch her. This was the stupidest idea ever. It’s not quite as stupid as sleeping with Vera over the summer, but it’s still very stupid. “Are you okay?” She looks me over, concern etched across her face.
“Sore, but I’ll be fine.”
A gleeful smile crosses her face, and I hold my breath, knowing it can’t be anything good. “Does that mean I’ll find you shirtless again in the kitchen, attempting to ice yourself before I offer a massage?”
I lean forward to whisper in her ear. “Depends on what you’re offering to massage.” I would kill to have her hands on me right now. I feel my cock strain against my zipper at the thought.
She laughs and hits my arm. “Bash! What’s wrong with you?”
Penelope wanders back to the makeshift dance floor as Thalia takes a step back from me. It’s probably a good idea; I’m losing my self-restraint. “What’s wrong? I have to watch you dance with Landon and Cody instead of getting you all to myself.”
“One more week,” she reminds me. “You know that you can come dance with me, right? You can tell Owen whatever you want, but I swear I could feel you staring at me all night.”
“That’s because I have been staring at you. Guess I’ll have to wait until later to get my hands on you.”
She walks away, and I can’t tear my eyes away from her. Glimpsing back over her shoulder, Thalia laughs, knowing I’m watching her.I’ve been unable to look away for years.
~
“And we meet again,” Thalia says, slipping quietly into my room.
“We’ve got to stop having these midnight rendezvous,” I reply, sitting up. Thalia comes to sit next to me, kissing me on the cheek.
“Are you really okay?”
“Better now that you’re here.” I smile, despite that being so cheesy I could throw up. What is wrong with me?
“Did you hit your head today when you got tackled?” she asks, laughing softly as she looks at me like I grew two heads. I might have for all I know.
“No, I’m glad I finally get you all to myself,” I say, leaning forward to kiss her, but Thalia pushes me away.
“As much as I enjoy kissing you, that’s not why I came here. Lie back on the bed,” Thalia instructs, and I raise an eyebrow before following her instructions.
“If this is going where I think it is, then we’re going to do a lot more kissing,” I tease, causing her cheeks to flush.
“Bash, I promise you I will walk out of this room if you don’t stop talking about kissing me.” Her threat is enough to wipe the smile off my face. “Shut up and roll over. I promise you’ll like it.”
“What exactly are we doing?” I ask, following her instructions. I’m not quite sure what Lia’s doing, but she seems determined. Is this what being in a relationship is like? Following my girlfriend’s orders, hoping she might let me kiss her when she’s done doing what she wants.
“Do you have any Icy Hot in here?”
“Um, it should be in the bedside table. What do you need that for?”
I was hoping to get a little action tonight after watching her dance all night from the sidelines. Clearly, she learned some moves in France, including on a stripper pole, according to Penelope.I’m sore, but not sore enough to practice celibacy tonight.
Thalia chuckles, looking in the drawer as I remember what else is there. “A little ambitious with the sizing of these condoms, Bash,” she teases. I twist my head to try to look at her, but it pulls at the muscles in my back.
“There’s nothing ambitious about the sizing, and you know it. No glove, no love. Better to be prepared than not,” I retort, resting my head on the pillow.
“At least we can agree on something.”
Thalia straddles the back of my thighs and begins working her thumbs into my lower back. “When I used to joke about how uptight you are, I didn’t consider how true it is. You’ve got a pretty good-sized bruise here, Bash,” Thalia says, gently tracing the part of my upper back that took the brunt of my landing today. Gear or not, it still bruised.
“I’m not uptight,” I grit out through clenched teeth as she finds a knot, spreading more Icy Hot to work the kink out.
My answer must be funny because Thalia laughs. “Sure. Whatever you want to say.” She digs into another particularly sore spot, and I press my face into the pillow, swearing. “No wonder you were upset earlier. I wouldn’t have wanted to be out drinking if I was this tight.”
“That was only part of it. I really did not enjoy watching you dance with Landon.” This is the part where I open my mouth and tell her what happened with Vera tonight. It’ll be so much better than Thalia finding out on her own.
“Who knew you were the jealous type?”
Her hands work the same magic as last time, and I feel myself relaxing. “I didn’t think I was the jealous type either. The last time I had a girlfriend was my first year here when you were still in high school.”
“Who was she?”
I’m hesitant to answer because I can see this conversation going very differently, but Thalia sounds curious. “She was a cheerleader, a year ahead of Owen and I. We only dated for maybe three or four months. Her name was Madison, but it didn’t last because she didn’t like how I put football over her.” I haven’t thought about her in a long time, mainly because she didn’t mean much to me.
“What’d she do? Ask you to pick between her and football?”
“You’re going to wake up Owen if you continue being loud, Lia.” I need to try to be quiet myself. “Close, but not quite. Madison asked what my priorities were, and of course, I said football. As a cheerleader, I thought she’d get it, but when she broke up with me, I figured out that the answer she wanted was that she was my priority.”
It’s embarrassing telling her that story, but she’s known me so long that I don’t have to worry about Thalia getting upset with me like Madison did. As awful as it sounds, Madison was a failed experiment to get Thalia out of my head. Nothing has worked. Lia’s different from anyone I’ve ever known, which is why I can’t stay away.
Dating isn’t just about dating anymore. It’s about finding someone who sees the real you. It’s way too soon to think of anything permanent with Thalia, but I’m excited at the idea of something long term with her. Pending that her brother doesn’t kill me first.
Thalia’s fingers dance on my tattoo as she traces it. My body shivers inadvertently, reacting in a way to Thalia that I never have to anyone else.
“Madison didn’t know who she was dating very well if she didn’t know the answer to that question before asking it.”
Thalia climbs farther up to reach my shoulders, being careful of my bruise.
“When you said you’d climb me like a tree, I didn’t know it’d be in this situation,” I joke lightly, and Thalia giggles.
“See, I told you that you would like this.”
If this didn’t feel so damn good, I’d probably attempt to get her into an even more compromising position. “Please don’t stop, but feel free to climb me in a different way when you’re done. I won’t make you beg either.”
I won’t mind if this is what I get every time I get sacked.
“Do you have to keep bringing that up?”
“Now that you mention it, I do, because it’s quite the ego boost,” I tease, remembering how pissed she was that I actually made Thalia beg before letting her come. “I told you about my last relationship, so I think it’s only fair if you tell me about yours.”
Thalia’s hands falter momentarily before they resume working out the kinks on my shoulder blades. “There was a guy in Paris. It was like two months after I got there, and we dated for a few months. I thought Louis was sweet and a nice guy until I caught him trying to slip drugs into my drink. We were hanging out with his friend who came in from the country at my place. I guess Louis thought he wouldn’t get me to agree to a threesome with him, so they tried to drug me into saying yes. I had a big shoot the next day, so I had stopped drinking, but he pushed a little too hard for me to drink one more.” Her voice is shaking as she explains, and I see red. The idea of someone trying to do that to Thalia is dumbfounding, but precisely what Owen and I are afraid of.Why haven’t I heard about this yet? Owen would never keep this a secret from me.
I attempt to sit up, but she presses against my shoulders, holding me down. “Bash, if you look at me right now, I will start crying. I don’t want to cry in front of you. You warned me a while ago not to accept drinks from anyone, but I already learned that lesson. I think it’s why what Owen said threw me for such a loop.”
“Thalia, I had no idea; I’m sorry. Owen never said anything.” I’m trembling with a quiet rage that I’m barely keeping a grip on. It’s probably a good thing Owen never said anything because I would have probably booked a flight to beat the shit out of this guy, regardless of whatever anger I felt toward Thalia at the time. I can’t believe Owen didn’t do it himself. What kind of guy tries to pull something like that?
“I never told him or my parents. Penelope’s the only one who knows, besides you now.” She presses a short kiss to the center of my bruise. “There. All better.”
She climbs off me, and I pull Thalia into my arms immediately. I don’t let her go either.