Chapter 12 Sebastian
CHAPTER TWELVE
SEBASTIAN
This guy is an arsehole.
Ifrowned down at the text Lily had sent.
I was surprised it got through, considering I had one bar of signal on my phone.
Courtesy of being deep in the Vaults. The Vaults were hidden beneath Edinburgh’s Old Town and were once slums and criminal dens.
Some of them had been turned into nightclubs and bars.
Whistlebinkies was loud and crowded as people drank and waited for the band to come on.
Harry and Zac were talking to a couple of girls at the end of the long bar near where the band would play, while my gut knotted at the possibilities of why Lily’s date was an arsehole.
When she’d reminded me yesterday she was bringing her date tonight, I’d ignored my irritation. But I was irritated again. And concerned.
Another text came in before I could reply.
Just preparing you so you know he’s a dick.
Will be there in 2 mins.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
My focus remained on the stairwell entrance.
“Bas. Bastian!” Harry nudged me.
I turned to find him gesturing to one of the three girls. “Alana is asking if you’ve seen Vistas live?”
“Yes.” I nodded absentmindedly. We’d caught a gig or two of the local rock band in first year. My attention returned to the stairs.
Harry nudged me again.
“What?”
He widened his eyes as if to say “What the hell?”
“I’m waiting for Lily.”
Zac pushed off the bar. “Lily’s coming?”
I nodded and glanced back as a pair of shapely legs came into view on the stairs.
I was about to turn away when I recognized the long, thick dark hair spilling down the woman’s shoulders.
It was Lily. Alone. I pushed away from the bar and held up an arm so she could see me as she turned.
I saw her expression melt with recognition before she walked around well-guarded tables and the cluster of people at the bar.
Heat licked down my spine at the sight of her.
She wore a tartan pleated miniskirt with an oversized long-sleeved band T-shirt.
The sexy casual look shocked the hell out of me because I’d never seen her bare legs before.
Now I couldn’t understand why. My God. She wore Nike trainers because the woman didn’t need heels to accentuate anything.
I tried not to ogle the sight of her long, olive-toned legs but then got stuck ogling her face instead.
At uni, Lily didn’t wear a ton of makeup, but tonight her eyes were all done up and she looked incredible.
She also looked flustered and annoyed. As she reached me, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and huffed loudly, “He’s outside on a call.”
Settling a hand on her lower back, I drew her into my personal space.
So I could hear her better.
“What happened?”
“Och, what didn’t?” Lily rolled her eyes.
“His name is Kyle. He works in finance. He was twenty minutes late and didn’t apologize.
He didn’t ask me one question the entire drink at the bar or the walk here.
I don’t think he knows my name. But he managed to make a bunch of passive-aggressive comments about me being a student, and he is now talking to his friend on the phone. ”
“What a prick.” I pressed a sympathetic kiss to her temple. She smelled amazing. A different perfume tonight. Something headier. “Let me get you a drink.”
Harry and Zac said hello and introduced Lily to the girls they’d met while we waited for the bartender. I caught the older guy next to us staring down at Lily’s legs and glared at him in warning. He blanched and turned away.
“There you are!”
The booming male voice had us all turning around.
Something sharp and ugly swept through me at the sight of the finance guy named Kyle.
He was very good-looking, and I was very glad Lily thought he was a prick.
Well-mannered, however, Lily introduced us all and asked him what he was drinking.
Once we all had a glass in hand and were huddled in a group, I casually rested my free arm around Lily’s shoulders as we chatted.
Kyle the prick didn’t say much, but I could feel his eyes on me.
Finally, he blurted, “I’m sorry, but I thought you and I were on a date.”
Lily gaped at him. “That was the intention.”
I smirked at her smart response.
“But you’re with this guy?” He pointed to me.
“We’re just friends.” I took a casual sip of my pint, but I couldn’t resist the challenge in my expression. And I didn’t remove my arm.
Kyle the prick shook his head in aggravation. “I knew I shouldn’t have swiped right on a student. Sorry, you’re gorgeous, but this is not my scene, and I can’t deal with the drama.” He slammed his half-drunk pint on the bar and abruptly pushed through the crowds to leave.
“Good riddance.” I raised my glass to his departure.
“Drama?” Lily gestured after him. “He turned up late. He barely talked to me. What an absolute turd!”
“Aw, sorry about the bad date, Lil.” Zac gave her a sympathetic nudge. “Let us buy you another drink to cheer you up.”
“Are you two not dating, then?” the girl Harry had spoken of before—Elaine or Illan or something—asked. Her eyes were fixed on my arm around Lily’s shoulders.
“Sawyer and I are just good friends.” I pulled her closer so her warm, curvy body pressed to mine. “Aren’t we, darling?”
She clinked her pint against mine. “That we are.”
We chatted among ourselves, about classes, music, plans for the future. We laughed and joked and took the piss and Lily seemed to fall in with my friends as easily as she had with me. I could tell Harry and Zac really liked her, which pleased me.
Then the band started to warm up, so we edged closer to the stage.
“Who are these guys again?” Lily asked.
“Local band. I think you’ll like them. Here.” I pushed closer to the stage so we had a good view and positioned Lily in front of me. “Lean on me. Get comfy,” I urged, sliding my arms around her waist to draw her back against my chest.
After a second or two, she relaxed. I gave her a squeeze and leaned down to murmur in her ear, “You’re not upset about that prick earlier?”
She shook her head slightly and I thought I heard her breath hitch.
Awareness flooded through me.
Just friends, I reminded myself.
Just bloody good friends.
I liked this woman too damn much to mess it up with sex.
“He wasn’t my type,” she replied so quietly I almost didn’t hear her.
“Hi, folks.” The lead singer’s voice crackled into the mic, halting my follow-up questions.
“Thanks for coming out tonight. We’re the Steel Pennies.
” They launched immediately into their first track, a fast rock song that had everyone around us bopping their heads and shifting their feet.
The rhythm caught Lily, her body moving to the beat without thought.
Her curvy arse moved against me, and I sucked in a breath, taking a step back with what I hoped was casualness.
I rested my hands loosely on her warm hips instead so I could feel the movements without her undulating against me in a way that made me hard.
Feeling like someone was watching me, I glanced left and found Zac. His frown turned to a knowing smirk.
I ignored him and focused on the band because if I focused on the woman in front of me, I’d be unable to hide the physical representation of my appreciation for her.
“They were fantastic!” Lily cried happily as we all tumbled out of Whistlebinkies and into the much cooler night air. For the bar being deep in the Vaults with its stone walls and floors, it got bloody hot.
I smiled, happy she’d enjoyed herself, and watched as she pulled out her phone. “I’m going to follow them on socials.”
I peered down at her phone as our group walked toward the Royal Mile. Lily quickly tapped on the app, searched the band, and followed them. “Are you following me?”
She looked up at me in surprise. “No. Do you want me to?”
“Of course.” I pulled my mobile out of my pocket. “I’ll follow you. Follow me back.”
“I’m warning you now, my feed isn’t exactly exciting.” She proceeded to give me her handle.
Finding her, I clicked follow and then scrolled through her photos. I paused on one of her with a good-looking blond bloke with whom she appeared very cozy.
“Who’s this?” I asked, as the notification popped up on my screen to tell me she’d followed me back.
“Who?” Lily leaned in to see what I was looking at.
Her face glistened with sweat and her cheeks were flushed from the heat of the bar. I looked away quickly before I let very dirty thoughts take over my mind.
“Oh, that’s my cousin Luke. Well, he’s not technically blood related. But I think of him as my cousin.”
“But you’re not related? You look close.”
Lily laughed. “As close as cousins. Even if we didn’t think of each other like family, Luke would never be attracted to me.”
I scowled at that. “Anyone would be attracted to you.”
She shot me a look of confusion. But it melted away as she grinned cheekily, those adorable dimples tempting me to madness. “Luke prefers men.”
“Ah.” I laughed huskily at my strange possessiveness. I really needed to get over myself if Lily and I were to make a go at this friendship thing.
Lily suddenly frowned as we turned on the Royal Mile heading toward my flat. “Where are we going?”
“Our place.”
“Oh, I should head home.”
“Come back for a bit. Then I’ll walk you home.”
“I can grab a taxi.”
“No, I’ll see you home.” I threw a look at the girls following Harry and Zac back to our place. “If you leave, then I’m left with Illiana.”
“Alana.” Lily’s lips twitched. “She’s very pretty.”
“I’m not interested and not in the mood to reject someone tonight. And I did rescue you from Kyle the prick, so you owe me,” I teased.
“How did you rescue me?” She shoved me playfully. “I think it was pretty clear the evening would end that way from the moment he showed up with his phone glued to his bloody ear.”
“Moron,” I muttered under my breath.
“What?”
“Nothing. Will you come?”
She turned around suddenly, walking backward so she could face me.
The short hem of her little pleated skirt bounced around her thighs, and it took everything within me to keep my eyes on her face.
“Fine. But only because I’m nosy about this flat on the Royal Mile.
” She gestured around her. “Very fancy.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’re not going to think too badly of me when you see it, are you?”
“Why? Do you have a butler called Wakefield who waits on you hand and foot?”
Laughing, I shook my head. “Not quite.”
“Then I’ll only gently mock your fanciness, I promise.”
Lily didn’t mock me at all, but I found myself watching her every reaction as the lads and I led her and their companions into the penthouse. Lily took everything in with a guarded expression and then strode across the living space to the three tall windows overlooking the Royal Mile.
I sidled up beside her. “What are you thinking?”
“It’s so modern. You wouldn’t think it was from the outside.
” Lily smiled at me. “It’s fantastic. What a view.
” She pressed a hand to the glass, her pretty, polished nails making a tapping sound on it.
A sudden flash image of those nails raking down my back had me squeezing my eyes closed.
“I’ve lived here my whole life, and I never tire of the history. ”
I opened my eyes as I watched her lean to look farther up the thoroughfare that led to the castle.
“Do you know the last time the castle was inhabited was 1633?” She looked up at me. “Can you imagine what life was like then?”
“Smelly,” I joked. “I imagine it was very smelly.”
Lily laughed, those dimples deeply indenting her cheeks, and I decided my new mission in life was to make her laugh every time we met. Which would hopefully be often.
“Harry’s asking if you guys want a drink?”
We turned to the voice to find the girl from the bar staring at me. “I’m fine. Lily?”
“I’m good.”
“We’re good, Illiana, thank you.”
The girl’s face fell. “It’s Alana.” She grimaced and strode off toward the kitchen where the others were.
“You do that deliberately, don’t you?”
At Lily’s odd tone, I replied, “Do what?”
“Get their names wrong. When you’re not interested in a woman, you deliberately get her name wrong.”
Christ, she was way too perceptive for my own good. I shrugged guiltily. “It seems like the least shitty way to make it obvious.”
“It’s not.” She gave me a disappointed look.
The thought of Lily finding anything about me disappointing stung. “Then I won’t do it again,” I promised.
She squeezed my arm to let me know she wasn’t mad at me. Then she sighed. “I really should get going.”
“Bloody hell, where have you all been?” a familiar and unexpected voice asked. “I’ve been waiting here for ages.”