Chapter Thirteen
I should have known that Sebastian was incapable of being cool.
Being cool when it comes to me is absolutely not that man’s strength, especially in an environment where there are a lot of men.
I hadn’t anticipated Brant being here, but I suppose I should have, given that he’s the son of Sara’s best friend.
But I definitely hadn’t anticipated him openly asking me out in front of Sebastian.
Part of me thought he might be testing the situation.
I’m sure by now, Elana has told him about Sebastian and me if he hadn’t already figured it out himself.
So it makes me wonder if he was feeling out our reactions.
I’m standing by myself scrolling mindlessly through Instagram after Wild had to take a call from work when I sense someone next to me and then hear his voice.
“So my father mentioned that you don’t come home much?
” I look up and spot dark eyes, the color of a rich mahogany, staring into mine.
His drink is at a higher level than before, so I assume he’s on his second drink.
Or potentially more. He leans one elbow on the table and smiles at me.
Fuck. Wild is going to hate this.
“I’m just busy with school, that’s all. Business school takes up a lot—”
“But even before then,” he interjects, and I raise an eyebrow at him, which I hope he takes as, did you just interrupt me?
“My dad mentioned you never visited Sara much. As a matter of fact, I believe he went as far as to say you were estranged.” I can’t tell his motive with this line of questioning, but I really have no interest in entertaining it.
“Just how it worked out.” I take a sip of my glass of wine. “We’re fine.” And while that fact may never be true, I’m not going to rehash all of our history with someone I barely know.
He eyes me over his glass and nods slowly. “I’m in New York from time to time. Maybe next time I’m in town, we can get together?”
Oh, great.
I could just agree and then just… not. But I am actually curious as to why he has this interest in me. “Why would we do that? I don’t even know you.” I give him a polite smile that could be misconstrued as interest, but I hope he doesn’t see it as anything more than sugarcoated rejection.
“Well, I was hoping we could change that,” he says, and I realize it’s time to shut all this down before Wild comes back and does it for me.
“I’m not sure what your intentions are, but I have a boyfriend. A very serious boyfriend.” My lips form a straight line, and I tuck some hair behind my ear.
“Is that so? Why isn’t he here, then?” he asks, his voice laced with smug arrogance.
“He couldn’t make it,” I respond without missing a beat.
“Really? Thought maybe you’d be wary about introducing him to your stepbrother.” He leans down on his other elbow and drags his finger along the rim of his glass. “I heard you two were… close,” he stresses, and I understand now what the point of this conversation is.
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
“Oh, come on. We’re family now.” He chuckles, and I find myself looking over my shoulder for an escape route.
Just walk away from him.
“Or…” He snaps his finger. “Do you want to hear my other theory?”
“Not particularly, no,” I say while still looking over my shoulder. Now in search of Wild.
“That you and our stepbro are still… close.”
I turn my attention back to him and give him a saccharine smile. “Well, good thing your ‘theory’ on my relationship is really none of my concern.” I shrug. “Can you excuse me?” I say without another word.
“Of course.” I hear him speak up from behind me, but I don’t stop as I continue through the venue toward the exit to look for Wild.
He’s been gone for about ten minutes, so I hope it’s nothing serious with work.
I make it to the hallway and pan my gaze around, searching the space for Wild, but I only see a few people congregating, one of whom is Sara’s sister, Emily, who has never liked me.
She’s talking to a few other women, so I hope she doesn’t break away to talk to me.
I’ve been actively avoiding her, but as she moves toward me, I realize that I no longer have a choice.
“Halle, it’s good to see you!” She wraps her arms around me, engulfing me in a tight hug and pressing a kiss to my cheek.
It’s been so long since I’ve seen her, probably close to seven years, so her dark hair is now shorter and peppered with strands of silver, and she now wears glasses in front of her powder-blue eyes.
“Hi, Emily. It’s great to see you as well. How are you?”
“Good.” She lets out a sigh before putting her hand under my chin, almost adoringly, which is surprising. “I can’t believe how long it’s been. You should have come home more. Sara has missed you a lot, you know.”
“I know it wasn’t as often as maybe I could have, but I did come home from time to time.”
She twists her mouth before looking toward the venue, and when I follow her gaze, I find Sara and Mike smiling with a group of their friends.
“That’s my baby sister, you know?” When I turn my eyes back to her, she’s still looking at Sara fondly before her smile falls and turns back to me.
“She did her best, Halle.” Ah, here it comes.
This is the Emily I know. I don’t respond because I’m really not interested in arguing with her again.
I spent most of the summer, while Sebastian was staying at her house, arguing with her every time I showed up to see him.
It wasn’t often because Sara didn’t want me driving to visit him, so I was rarely allowed to use my car.
But the few times I was forced to interact with her were not pleasant.
“What you did in response to her just trying to survive a tragedy was cruel.”
My eyebrows pinch, and anxiety blooms in my chest at the impending conversation. “I’m sorry, what exactly did I do?”
“Cutting her off. Never coming home. Alienating Sebastian and making it absolutely impossible for her to be close with her son.” She shakes her head with eyes full of judgment. “You are the reason Sara and Sebastian are not close as well.”
“What? You can’t be serious. Her relationship with Sebastian has nothing to do with me.”
“It has everything to do with you. It has always been about you.” She scoffs. “What she gets for raising you, I guess.”
Anger and guilt and sadness are making a cocktail in the pit of my stomach, and combined with actual alcohol, it’s all making me emotional.
Tears spring to my eyes in response, and I’m about to speak when I sense Wild’s presence next to me.
“What did you just say?” I feel his anger in my bones, and when I turn my head, I see him glaring at her.
“Sebastian.” She smiles curtly, and I’m surprised by this energy. I know she thinks I’m the root of the problems, but I wasn’t expecting her to be angry with Wild too. “Well, you are damn near killing your mother.”
“My mother is fine. She’s happy,” Wild says, anger laced in his tone.
“She misses you. And you have let your obsession with this one,” she says, pointing at me, “destroy your relationship.”
He drops his eyes to the drink in her hand, and the obvious glance makes me realize I may be missing something.
“My mom did say you’ve been drinking more than usual.
She just didn’t mention that you became an angry drunk.
” He shakes his head. “Is that why you and Uncle Cole are having problems? I notice he’s not here,” he says, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Wild…” I don’t want him to go too far, even if she does fucking deserve it.
Pain and horror flash across her face, and then her eyes narrow into angry slits. “You’re still up to this shit, aren’t you?” She grits her teeth before taking a low breath through them. “Well, there goes my theory that you’d eventually grow out of it.”
“Emily…” I start, wanting to tell her for the millionth time that my feelings for Wild were nothing I was going to “grow out of.”
She points her finger at us, waving it back and forth between us. “No one will ever accept this. Haven’t you gotten this through your heads yet? Or are you still just thinking like immature, horny teenagers?” She chuckles before downing the rest of her drink.
“We are done with this conversation,” Wild says, moving me away from her and through the lobby.
There’s no one around or in sight, but I’m still surprised when he presses his lips to mine in a possessive, bruising kiss.
He cups my face gently, but his lips are hard and aggressive, and the complete opposite of how he’s holding me.
His tongue strokes mine slowly at first and then faster while it explores my mouth as his hands move down my body to grip my ass.
I push him off slightly because not only is this not the place for it, but often when he kisses me like this, it’s because something’s wrong or he’s feeling jealous and possessive.
“Hey, hey,” I whisper against his mouth before planting a light, gentle kiss on them, trying my best to calm his nerves or whatever has him on edge. “What’s going on? Talk to me.”
“I’m sorry I was gone so long. I know you’re not exactly comfortable here.” His expression is worried, and I put my hand on his cheek in an attempt to calm him.
“I’m okay. Everything’s fine. Only Emily said something, and I’m not worried about her.
” I look up into his eyes, and it’s incredible how sometimes he still reminds me of that same five-year-old boy.
“This,” I say, pointing back and forth between us and our current state, “isn’t about her, though. Talk to me.”
He exhales slowly as he lets his eyes close. When he opens them, his eyes aren’t on me but trained on a spot on the wall. “The head of my PR team called.” He runs a hand through his hair, pulling it slightly at the root.
“Okay?” I ask, wondering why that would have him so agitated. “Is that bad?”