Chapter 5
Devon
The only thing that might have actually competed in the lust department with Sebastian’s sweet taste was the graceful way he moved his body.
Because that in itself was making me wonder what he’d look like stretched beneath me, his pale skin glowing with sweat as I drove into him over and over.
I’d never been to the ballet before and had only ever seen bits and pieces of it on television as I was skimming channels, but I’d been enthralled from the moment Sebastian had stepped onto the stage in his skintight black tights and leotard.
I’d also been sporting a serious boner which, fortunately, the table hid.
I’d been right about Sebastian’s body. On the one hand, he had a certain delicacy about him, but on the other, his muscles rippled and bunched with every complex move he performed, so I knew he was incredibly fit… more so than me, probably.
Shortly after we’d arrived at the hotel, Sebastian had excused himself to go backstage to get ready for his performance.
He’d been strangely quiet from the moment I’d kissed him, and I wasn’t sure if he was pissed about that or because I’d announced that I was his boyfriend.
I’d definitely overstepped with that particular lie, but I couldn’t regret it.
Not when I saw Rick basically oozing jealousy.
Even if the fucker knew the whole thing wasn’t true, he still hadn’t liked seeing someone else gladly accepting what he’d so casually thrown away.
Of course, I would have preferred that the asshole and his soft-spoken husband hadn’t interrupted my exploration of Sebastian’s luscious mouth and sinful tongue at all, but if I had my way, Sebastian and I would be picking up where we’d left off as soon as we got home.
After we had a long talk about his apology for kissing me first.
Admittedly, I hadn’t handled that well. I’d honestly just been too startled to even have time to react. If Sebastian hadn’t been so upset by the whole thing, no doubt I would have been all over him and we wouldn’t have made it to the fundraiser at all.
“Such a talented young man,” I heard Darren say softly next to me. I glanced at him to see that he was watching Sebastian with the same level of appreciation as all the other guests.
“He’s not doing any of the impressive shit,” Rick muttered snidely. “These people paid good money for this performance and he’s just taking it easy. He’s making me look like a fool.”
“You?” Darren asked before I could tell the asshole to shut his mouth or I’d shut it for him.
“Me… my company, I mean,” Rick stuttered. I could practically see the shit squirming under his husband’s curious gaze.
Thankfully, both men fell silent and I was able to watch the rest of Sebastian’s performance.
I hadn’t seen him limping since he’d gotten up on the stage, but I doubted he miraculously felt better.
I knew nothing about dancing, but I had hurt my own ACL playing high school football, so I knew how excruciating the injury could be.
Sebastian received a standing ovation when he was done.
He smiled and thanked everyone, but I didn’t miss the pain in his eyes.
As he exited the stage, the lights came back on and people began talking excitedly amongst themselves.
Several of the guests at our table began praising Rick for his ingenuity in getting Sebastian to give a private performance for the benefit.
The asshole preened under the attention.
It took about ten minutes for Sebastian to appear in the main room.
He was once again dressed in his tux. His eyes met mine through the crowd and I swore I saw relief in them when he saw me, but the emotion was shuttered so quickly I started to second-guess myself.
I made small talk with the people at the table we were at for a few minutes before I excused myself to go to the other side of the room where Sebastian was signing autographs.
The first thing I heard when I reached him was a woman telling him what a shame it was that he’d decided to retire from dancing.
The pity in her voice was cloying and I remembered how he’d told me not to feel sorry for him right before I’d kissed him.
Sebastian kept a smile on his face and made some kind of polite comment in response, but I could see in his eyes that he was on edge.
“Excuse me, do you mind if I steal him away for a few minutes?” I said to the lady as I eased between her and a gaggle of people surrounding Sebastian. “I’d like to congratulate my man on his amazing performance,” I added as charmingly as I could.
“Oh yes, of course,” the woman said. “What a handsome pair you two make,” she continued as she patted Sebastian’s arm.
I put my arm around Sebastian, but he remained stiff and that fake smile never left his lips.
It wasn’t until the woman’s husband shooed her off and the other guests gave Sebastian some space that he pulled away from me and turned so his back was to the room.
I saw him pull a prescription bottle from his pocket. He downed one of the pills.
“What are those?” I asked as I motioned to the bottle.
“Nothing,” he responded curtly.
Okay, so he was definitely pissed at me. “Listen, Sebastian, I’m sorry if I overstepped—”
“You didn’t. You were great.”
“Great? Great at what exactly?”
Sebastian turned back around so he was facing the room, then grabbed a champagne glass from a passing waiter. He took several long sips before saying, “Darren totally bought it and Rick is so jealous he looks like he’s going to break his own teeth.”
I followed the direction of Sebastian’s gaze and saw that Rick was watching us from across the room. If looks could kill, I’d be dead and buried for sure. Not that I gave a shit.
“That boyfriend stuff hit the spot and that kiss… genius,” Sebastian murmured. He downed the rest of his champagne and quickly grabbed another one.
“Bastian, if you’re taking something for pain, you shouldn’t be mixing it with alcohol.”
“Nuh-uh-uh,” he said as he started swallowing the champagne like it was water. “You only get to pretend to be all possessive and caring when they can hear you. And cut out the Bastian stuff unless they’re around, ’kay?”
“Sebastian,” I began, but he ignored me and wandered off.
By the time he reached Rick and Darren, he was on his third glass of champagne.
I wanted to grab him and ask if he actually believed everything I’d done had been an act, but I didn’t really have a leg to stand on.
There’d been no reason to introduce myself as his boyfriend.
I’d done it because I had wanted to punish the fucker who’d hurt Sebastian so badly with his selfishness.
Even if I’d liked the way it’d sounded, it hadn’t been right to do that to Sebastian without making sure it was okay with him.
This night was supposed to have been a pretend date and nothing more.
I’d taken it to a whole new level by leading people to believe we were together.
And Sebastian was a celebrity of sorts… what had I been thinking?
I hadn’t been.
That was the problem.
I’d been on a high from kissing Sebastian and I’d wanted to somehow mark him as mine so that asshole would know it.
God, I wasn’t much better than the selfish son of a bitch.
I made my way back to the table and sat down. Sebastian was making small talk with Darren and a few of the other guests at the table. Rick kept sneaking covert looks at Sebastian, but luckily, I didn’t see Sebastian returning any of them. If I had, I probably would have lost my shit altogether.
As dinner was served, Rick suddenly said, “I hope you guys don’t mind Darren and me stealing a bit of Sebastian’s thunder, but we have an announcement we just can’t wait to share.”
“Rick, honey, not here,” Darren said.
“Why not here?” Rick responded, clearly a little tipsy. “We’re all friends, right?” he added. Rick’s hand teetered as he lifted his glass of wine. “Darren and I are pregnant. The baby’s due next fall.”
The announcement received several cheers and comments from the guests sitting at our table.
Sebastian hunched in on himself, then reached for his wine glass.
Like with the champagne, he started guzzling it down.
When he motioned to a waiter for another glass, I discreetly settled my hand on his thigh beneath the table and leaned in so I could whisper words only he would hear.
“Sebastian, baby, let me take you home, okay?”
He shook his head. “I’m fine,” he muttered. “I’m fine.”
The waiter filled the glass and he toasted Darren and Rick. His words were still relatively clear, but within minutes of starting dinner, he started to lean against my side and his eyes looked a bit heavy-lidded.
“You okay?” I asked him.
He nodded, then blurted, “Is headache a code name for sex?”
Every single person at the table froze and looked at Sebastian, but he was looking at me. “Your brother and you were talking ’bout headaches. Does that mean he and his husband wanna f—”
I kissed him to silence him. I’d only meant to derail his line of thinking with a simple kiss while I simultaneously came up with a way to pass the whole thing off as a joke to the guests at our table, but when Sebastian began hungrily kissing me back and searching out my lap beneath the table with a fumbling hand, it was all I could do not to throw him on the table and have him for dinner instead.
“Remember when you couldn’t keep your hands off me like that, Bernie?
” I heard someone at the table say. It was enough to remind me that our little make-out session was turning R-rated pretty quickly, and from the way Sebastian was whimpering low in his throat, I was going to turn it X-rated long before Bernie could even answer his wife.
“Hmpf,” I heard a man, presumably Bernie, dryly respond before calling out to the waiter for another drink.