Chapter 30
Chapter
Thirty
“Where the hell have you been?” Pia arched an eyebrow at me as I entered the common room. She sat around a table with Delani, playing a game that just looked like an excuse to drink, though there was only one bottle.
I slumped onto the sofa. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve barely seen you in days,” she pointed out, dumping her hand of cards on the table.
“Me either,” Delani added, taking a sip of her drink.
“I’ve been busy.” I shrugged.
After being stopped in the hallway, Sebastian entered the room, his hands in his pockets and a cocky grin that gave away exactly where I’d been the past few days.
“Ohhh,” Delani drawled. “Never mind.”
“I’m assuming by the smug look on that asshole's face that you guys are back together?” Pia raised the question, waving a finger in Sebastian’s general direction.
“I…Um…We—” I stuttered, shooting Sebastian a help me out here, look.
He swiped an empty glass from the bar cart near the fireplace, pouring himself a shot of whiskey. “She has been really busy,” he took a sip, “incredibly busy, actually. Lots of training and stretching. Do you guys have any idea how flexible Maeve is?”
If I had a drink, I would have spit it out in shock.
Delani’s entire face turned sour. “Thanks for that image.”
“Okay, so back together or just screwing each other?” Pia asked for clarification. One of the things I loved about her was her blunt honesty, but seeing as Sawyer walked in the second the question left her lips, I cursed her under my breath.
He sat on the sofa next to me, nudging me with his shoulder.
“Hey.”
I granted him a soft grin. “Hey.”
Sebastian's gaze of jealousy made my blood heat, but I ignored the burn. I knew he trusted me. If he didn’t, I wouldn't have the leftover red mark of his handprint on my ass right now.
“I take it that the fact you two are in the same room without arguing means you're back together?” Sawyer questioned me, quietly so only I could hear.
“Yes, and I’m sorry—”
He pulled me into a one-armed hug. “No need to be sorry. We’re good. He, on the other hand, looks like he's about to kick my ass.”
We looked up at the sound of Sebastian clearing his throat. He pointed at Sawyer with his drink. “You. Me. Hallway. Now.”
Sawyer smiled up at Sebastian, his lips curved into an arrogant expression that wouldn't help his case. “Took you long enough.”
Everyone else in the room fell silent, and I think my heart stopped out of fear for what was about to go down.
“When I thought Maeve actually wanted to be with you, I was going to keep my mouth shut so she could be happy. Now that I know she doesn’t, we need to talk.”
“Alright.” Sawyer rose to his feet, squaring his chest in line with Sebastian’s. “We can talk right here.”
Sebastian raised a threatening eyebrow. “I’m not sure you want to do this here.”
Sawyer shrugged. “Why not? At least if one of us ends up dead, there will be witnesses.”
“If anyone is going to end up dead, it's you.” Sebastian dipped his head back, finishing off his drink. “Why the fuck would you think it was okay to try and get with my woman?”
For the love of the gods, I did not want to sit here and watch two men argue over me.
I stood up, putting myself between the two egotistical assholes. “The hallway sounds like a great idea. Let’s go.” I ushered them out with a hand on each of their backs, pushing them out of the common space and slamming the door to keep Pia and Delani from overhearing whatever was about to go down.
“I don’t want your friendship to be destroyed because of me.” I directed a finger between them. “If either of you is going to be mad at someone, it should be me. Not each other.”
“That’s a sweet gesture, Maevey baby,” Sawyer sang my dreaded nickname just to piss Sebastian off. “But I’m not mad at anyone.”
“How kind of you. I, on the other hand, am fucking pissed,” Sebastian snarled.
This was not going to be good.
“What’s there to be pissed about, Seb? You got the girl. All the credit but none of the work.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Sebastian snapped, taking a half-step towards Sawyer.
Sawyer straightened his posture. “For weeks, while you were busy acting like an ass, I was cleaning up your mess. Talking Maeve off the ledge and being a shoulder for her to cry on while she tried to process all the shit you put her through.”
So not good.
“Guys, let's not—” I tried to step in, but their voices overpowered mine.
“I wouldn't call making a move on my girl being a shoulder for her to cry on.” Sebastian's nostrils flared. “In fact, I would argue that you were taking advantage of a very delicate situation.”
Sawyer scoffed, rolling his eyes to the sky. “I would never use her like that. And screw you for thinking that I would. Maybe I just offer something that you don't.”
“Sawyer…” I warned, but he didn’t hear me. He was in no position to provoke Sebastian, and why he was trying to was beyond my scope of expertise.
“Oh, really? And what’s that? What outstanding character traits do you have to offer, Sawyer?” Sebastian sneered.
Sawyer bit back a smirk as he shrugged. “I’ve seen you naked, Seb. And my dick is wayyy—”
On the gods.
“That’s enough!” I yelled. If there was one thing I knew about men, it was not to insult their size. And if there was one thing I knew about Seb, it was that in regard to size, there was nothing to insult.
“Is this what you two were like as teenagers? Because fuck, I feel bad for your parents.” I stepped between them, waiting until their eyes fell on me instead of each other before speaking again.
I turned to Sebastian. “Sawyer and I agreed that we were fine, and that everything would go back to how it was before.” I turned to Sawyer, my lips falling into a frown. “Didn’t we? Because this isn’t how things were before.”
With a tic of his jaw, Sawyer nodded. “We did.”
“It’s hard to go back to the way things were now that I know his tongue was in your mouth,” Sebastian said under his breath. I knew he wasn't saying it to hurt me, but the sadness in his voice reopened the wound inside of me.
“It sure was. And I just gotta say this once—” Sawyer held his hands up innocently, though his following words were fueled by pure antagonization. “She's a good kisser.”
Sebastian—who was typically the calm, cool, and collected one, out of the two men—snapped.
He lunged at Sawyer with such speed and force that I blinked and nearly missed it.
Sebastian’s fist connected with Sawyer’s jaw, creating a collision so violently loud that Pia and Delani heard it from behind the closed doors. They came bursting through, and Pia slapped a hand to her mouth when she saw the two grown men fighting.
“Is this for real right now?” she asked in shock when I stepped back to stand with her. I would have been a fool to get in the middle of this now.
“Unfortunately.” I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest and kicking a foot back against the wall.
“Two hot men fighting over you? Good for you, Maeve,” Delani marveled as we watched the two grown men throw punch after punch.
“I wouldn't call this good.” I scoffed, shaking my skull in disbelief while I watched the shit show unfold. “Sawyer totally just egged him on, and I don’t know why.”
“Uh. I know why,” Pia drawled. “He likes you.”
I can’t lose you. I wouldn’t survive it.
And then his admission in the arena when I compelled him.
Shit.
“Where’s Kohen?” I glanced up and down the corridor. He was known for settling the arguments between these two.
“I think he was doing some training. I can run and get him if you want,” Pia offered.
I was about to take her up on that when someone’s blood started dripping onto the floor, but Kade beat us to the punch. He came sprinting down the hall, grabbing Sawyer by the shoulders and ripping him away from Sebastian.
“Do I even want to know what this is about?” he snipped, using his hands to keep the two of them away from each other.
Kade’s eyes found mine for a brief moment, and I could see the understanding coat them in real time.
“Oh,” he said simply, then turned back to the two of them. “Seriously?” He dropped his hands. “Grow up and get it together. Archer wants to meet with us.”
My pulse began to race like I had run a marathon. Did he find out what we did to Venay?
I lunged forward. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” Kade answered honestly. “He just said to be in the meeting room in fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll go get Kohen.” Sawyer stormed off down the hall, wiping the blood that dripped from his nose with the back of his hand.
Following closely behind Kade, I began my own journey to the meeting room. Sebastian caught up with me halfway down the hall, matching my pace to walk by my side.
“What the hell was that?” I raised an eyebrow of irritation at him.
“I’ll be honest, that was not how I was planning for the conversation to go.”
“You need to apologize,” I demanded. “And so does he.”
Sebastian opened his mouth to argue, but I stopped him. “He isn’t the only guilty one in this situation. I kissed him, too,” I tried to reason, though the reminder was surely an unwelcome one.
“As I said before, I’m not in love with him,” Sebastian replied as if that truly made all the difference.
“As I said before, yes, but you still love him.”
A low grumble poured from Sebastian's throat.
I pulled open the door to the meeting room to see Archer already sitting at the table, his hands folded on top of it. We waited for Kohen and Sawyer to join, and I elbowed Sebastian in the abs when I saw the way his gaze raked over his friend.
With everyone present, Archer looked up, drawing a shallow breath before getting right to the point of why he called us here. “I was going through Venay’s belongings.”
I forgot how to breathe. Oh gods, he did find out what we had done.
“And it seems I owe you,” Archer's gaze found me, “an apology.”
What?
My head shook in utter confusion. “What are you talking about?”