3. Stevie
CHAPTER THREE
STEVIE
“Absolutely not.”
Lux reaches for another slice of veggie pizza.
“You had four.” I push her hand away playfully. “The last one is mine.”
It’s the night after we had dinner with Dad for our mother’s birthday, and Lux and I are having a wine, pizza, and romance movie night before she and River leave for France.
“You counted?”
“Yeah. There were eight slices. Four for you and four for me.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
I lean over and try to grab the slice from her hand. “Give it to me.”
Lux quickly shoves a bite into her mouth.
“Unbelievable.” I roll my eyes.
She laughs, one hand covering her mouth.
The opening credits of the ’90s classic roll across the screen. I’d love to be one of those girls who enjoys a cheesy, deliciously sweet romantic comedy, but I can’t. I need morally gray decisions, questionable plots, and a story that isn’t perfect, but makes me feel something.
“This movie will never get old.” She snuggles into the corner of the couch.
I pull a soft blanket up to cover my legs and get cozy into the cushions. As with any sibling relationship, Lux and I have our ups and downs, but times like these make me grateful to have her. Time together without talking about her work or mine—just the two of us enjoying girl time.
The doorbell rings.
I straighten. “You expecting someone?”
Lux immediately looks guilty. A terrible sign. “No.”
“Liar.”
She shrugs. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Your face did.”
Lux smiles into her wineglass.
I groan, knowing exactly who is coming to crash our night. Her obsessive boyfriend River. “No.”
“What?” She plays coy.
My eyes narrow. “No.”
The doorbell rings again.
“I know he can break into anywhere. Why is he using the door?” I sneer.
Lux stands.
“Can you just text him and tell him you’ll be home later?” I ask.
“He probably wants to hang out with us.”
“Why?”
“He likes you,” she says, already walking to my front door.
“Lux,” I whine, letting my head fall back.
Lux opens the door, and River steps inside, carrying a massive bouquet of deep red roses. Of course, he’s carrying flowers. Because apparently some women get billionaire vigilantes to bring them enormous bouquets and look at them like they hung the moon.
It’s so over the top, but Lux’s entire face softens, which is disgustingly heartwarming.
“Hi, River.” I wave over my shoulder.
I catch a wide grin on River’s face from the side. “Hello to you, Stevie.”
Then from behind River’s tall frame, another man just as broody, in a leather jacket, steps through the doorway. And just like that, the night is ruined.
“Oh.” I sigh. “You brought Sebastian.”
Sebastian’s eyebrow lifts. “Good evening.”
River glances between us.
“Why are you guys here?” I ask.
Sebastian walks right past my kitchen. “We heard there was pizza and wine.”
Lux sets her bouquet on the table next to an old bouquet of dying white roses I bought for myself over a week ago. Then grabs River’s hand, leading him to the couch she was just sitting on.
“Nice place.” Sebastian looks around my condo and spots the wilted flowers. “Your roses are dying.”
“Thanks for noticing,” I deadpan. Besides the old flowers, I did just clean, thank goodness. I’d hate for them to see my moth or stone-rubbing books scattered all over the floor. “So, why are you guys here?” I repeat.
Sebastian gets comfortable on the opposite side of the couch from me. “We were invited.”
“No, you weren’t.”
“I was.”
“I don’t think so.”
Sebastian crosses his arms over his chest with confidence. “Yes. We were.”
“By who?”
Lux raises her hand bashfully. “Don’t be mad. I just thought it would be nice for us all to hang out.”
I gasped at my sister’s betrayal. “You could have told me.”
I appreciate her trying to get the four of us together—because she wants us all to be this happy family, especially with her and River not going more than a few feet from each other—but I don’t need to be best friends with her boyfriend’s cousin.
She grimaces. “You would have said no.”
“Obviously.”
“And it was last minute,” she adds with her finger in the air.
“That’s how betrayals work.”
River laughs, and then Lux snuggles into him and kisses his cheek.
Sebastian looks amused, which somehow makes everything worse.
The three of them settle into the couch.
Sebastian smirks at me, while Lux stares up at River lovingly, and I wish for a moment that I’d have rethought my plans for the evening.
“They’re always like this,” Sebastian says.
“I bet it’s hard to live with them,” I say.
“Let’s just watch the movie now,” Sebastian tells River and Lux, in hopes they’ll relax on being so lovey-dovey.
The movie lasts approximately eleven minutes before Sebastian talks again. “That would never happen.”
I glance over at him. “What?”
“The airport scene.”
“It’s a movie, Sebastian.” I chuckle at how serious he’s taking it already.
“He wouldn’t make it through security.”
“It’s a movie,” I repeat. “It’s for our enjoyment.”
He sits straighter. “He left his luggage unattended.”
“It’s a movie.”
“He committed three federal violations,” he adds with a smile.
I run a hand through my long curls, while Lux and River watch from the other couch. “It’s. A. Movie.”
Sebastian considers this for a beat. “Still unrealistic.”
I grab the pillow and launch it at his head, but he catches it with one hand. Annoyingly.
“Violence already?”
“You’re ruining a classic.”
“The movie was ruining itself.”
River snorts and Lux laughs. But when my eyes make their way back around to Sebastian, he’s still smiling at me. A wide grin that’s not smug, but a real one. It kind of transforms his entire face. But then I glance away when I realize I’ve been staring at him for a second too long.
A few minutes later, Lux disappears down the hall so she can show him where to grab another blanket from the closet. But then a few minutes pass. And then a couple more, and they’re still not back.
“Where did they go?”
Sebastian glances behind him. “Probably fucking.”
I shoot him a side-eye. “Don’t they have an entire manor to do that in?”
“Yeah.” He smirks. “I’m joking.”
For a moment, my condo feels quieter than before. Not uncomfortable, just different. As I shift on the couch, Sebastian does the same on the opposite end.
The television continues playing the forgotten background noise of the romance movie I wanted to watch. And neither one of us speak for a moment, but then Sebastian’s dark brown eyes capture mine from across the couch.
“How was dinner?”
I blink, not sure I heard him correctly. “What?”
“Your mother’s birthday dinner.”
Not expecting him to know about the dinner, his question caught me off guard. “Oh, yeah. Did Lux tell you or something?”
“She told River, and River told me.”
“Ah,” I say quickly, realizing that because of how close Lux and River are, that means Sebastian will know more about me based on proximity. “Well, we survived.”
He extends his arm across the back of the couch. “High praise.”
“It was fine. Every year comes with mixed emotions, as you can imagine.”
“So,” he starts after a moment of silence, “your sister talks about you.”
I frown, imagining all the things my sister could have said. “Why?”
“Usually to embarrass you.”
“That’s comforting.”
“Apparently, you once got locked in a cemetery after dark.”
My back flexes, and I sit straighter. “That happened one time.”
His eyebrows raise. “One time was enough.”
They were closing early for an event, and I wasn’t aware of the change in hours. Irritation whips at my back. “The gate closed early.”
“You had to climb out.” Sebastian bends one leg over the other, getting more comfortable on the couch.
“I adapted,” I bite back.
“You were arrested.”
“It was a misunderstanding.”
“You were hanging from a fence.”
“The officer was very dramatic. And he ended up knowing my dad, so it all worked out.”
Sebastian laughs. The sound settles somewhere strange inside my chest, but it’s annoying. I don’t want to have this friendly moment with him. He avoided me like I had the plague when I stayed at Thompson Manor only a couple of weeks ago.
Suddenly Lux and River round the corner of the hallway and enter the living room. They’re both holding blankets and sharing a laugh.
“You’re both smiling,” Lux says immediately.
I choke on my spit. “We are not.”
“You are.”
I huff. “We were talking. And where were you two? My condo isn’t that big.”
“I was showing River some of our family photos in your office.” Lux sits beside River, who slides back onto the couch. “He’s seen the ones at my place, but I wanted to show him yours.”
That’s sweet. “Oh. That’s nice.”
“And what were you talking about?” she presses.
“Nothing.”
“Cemeteries,” Sebastian replies. Traitor.
Lux’s face lights up. “Did you tell him about—”
“No.”
She nods her head with excitement. “When you got locked in the cemetery?”
“No, but apparently you did,” I say.
“Oh, did I?”
Sebastian nods. “Yeah, you did.”
“I like that story,” Lux defends herself. “It shows how resilient you are.”
“And adaptable,” Sebastian points out, using my own words.
Growing more irritated with the direction the night is going, I refocus on the television in front of me. “Can we just watch the movie? I have to be at the mortuary early in the morning, and I don’t want to go to bed too late.”
“Fair enough,” Lux responds. “We did choose a good one tonight.”
As I look around the condo at my sister curled against River, at the pizza boxes scattered across the coffee table, and at Sebastian, I try not to smile.
Despite my aggravation with the turn of events, the evening feels warm.
I like seeing my sister happy. I haven’t seen this light, playful side to her with the other people she’s dated.
But nothing about this should feel normal because under the playful, down-to-earth nature they show at the moment, Sebastian and River are dangerous billionaire serial killers.