24. Sebastian
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
SEBASTIAN
The rage I felt when I saw Larry standing so close to Stevie was something I’d never felt before. His disgusting fingers touching her delicate skin was enough to make me want to blow his brains out right there.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t. If I’d given in to my rage, it would’ve fucked up everything for the entire team.
I follow close behind Stevie as I enter the safety of the hotel room. “Are you okay?”
She turns on her heels, her face strained from fatigue and the events of the night. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been distant ever since…” she trails off, but doesn’t need to voice it for me to know she’s referring to me killing Larry. “It was hard for me, too. I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“I know.” I step forward, eating up the distance between us.
I was so consumed with killing that I didn’t stop to think of how she felt.
I know Stevie is no stranger to dead bodies, but watching the life leave another human can be overwhelming, and I should have been more empathetic to that.
“I just didn’t expect the way I felt seeing you try to seduce him. ”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
Her head shakes in disbelief. “How else was I supposed to get him in the hallway?”
“I don’t know. Not like that.”
“Then how, Sebastian?” she bites back. “How else would I get a dirty man like that away from two naked women who are eating each other out?”
My mind draws a blank because I know my jealousy is irrational. “I don’t know.”
“That’s right. Because I didn’t have many options. You should be grateful I could get him out there in the first place.”
I rub the back of my neck, ashamed of telling her how I feel. “I’m sorry I got upset.”
Stevie falls onto the couch, her head in her hands.
“Stevie,” I say, sitting beside her.
She lifts her head. Her eyes are bloodshot, and she looks drained. “I tried my best.”
“I’m sorry for getting upset with you.” I push a curl away from her face, then let my fingers linger as they glide down her cheek. “You did really well. We took out one of them tonight.”
Her eyes close as she leans into my touch. “I was so worried you weren’t going to find us out there.”
When Larry led her outside, it threw a wrench into our plan. Instead of her luring him into the hallway, he—being the controlling psychopath he was—wasn’t going to take direction from anyone.
“I had my eyes on you the entire time,” I say. “There’s no place you could have gone where I wouldn’t have found you.”
Stevie’s large brown eyes open, meeting my gaze. “Sebastian, you killed him with your belt. What if they find marks or worse your DNA?”
“Well, I couldn’t shoot him out there. It was too out in the open and too much risk of someone hearing, even with a silencer.”
But more importantly, I needed him away from Stevie, so I made a split-second decision, born of pure desperation, to pull off my belt and strangle him with it. Throwing him off the ledge was the only way I could think of getting rid of his body without suspicion.
“Now, if they find him, it’ll look like he fell to his death.”
Her throat bobs with a hard swallow. “Are you sure?”
“I promise they won’t trace it back to us.”
“Did I scare you?” I ask, nervous about how she’s going to respond to seeing me take a man’s life.
Stevie is silent for a beat. “No.”
“Good.”
“You killed him with your bare hands, Sebastian,” she whispers. “My father would call that a crime of passion.”
With my heart pounding against my chest, I slide my hands up the side of her face and thread my fingers through her hair to bring my face closer to hers. “I didn’t like him touching you.”
She sucks in a breath, her lips parting slightly. “You didn’t?”
“No.”
Stevie leans in, her forehead touching mine. “Why not?”
“Because when we’re with the Black Veil Society, you are mine.”
“I didn’t know you could be this possessive,” she quips.
She’s playing with me, and it’s driving me wild. Maybe one kiss won’t hurt.
“You have no idea how possessive I can be.” Slowly leaning in, my lips gently touch hers. “Can I kiss you?”
I feel her mouth widen as she smiles. “You already are.”
And with that, I snake my hand around the back of her head, pulling her face to mine, deepening our kiss.
Her soft lips taste like heaven. And I haven’t been able to get them out of my mind since we first kissed that night in the old library.
But this time it isn’t in front of an audience—it’s for us.
Stevie’s hand is in my hair, her fingers gliding through the top as I slide my tongue inside her mouth, tangling around hers and enjoying the wet warmth of it. Her mouth opens wider, her head tilting to one side.
She craves me as much as I crave her.
A lustful haze takes over my thoughts. Without thinking, I slide my hand down her neck, along the dip in her back, to the curves of her waist, before moving it under the hem of her pants.
The smoothness of her skin makes my cock harden painfully.
Stevie arches her hips, allowing my hand to move farther down until my fingertips find the heat of her slit.
I stop.
Not sure what stops me, but it’s probably that I need to keep my head clear.
We killed Larry tonight, and I have plans to take out Pete tomorrow night, and I must focus on that.
I already almost lost my shit on Larry earlier.
Another passion-led crime would be at greater risk of something getting fucked up.
With an ache in the pit of my stomach, I draw my head back. “Stevie?”
“Yeah?” Her hooded eyes capture mine.
Damn, she’s beautiful.
“We can’t do this.”
“What?”
I run a weary hand through my hair. “I don’t know if it’s jealousy fueling me or what, but the stakes are high, and if I let a moment of desire ruin the job we’re here to do, things could get bad quickly.”
Stevie avoids making eye contact with me.
“I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t want to.” I reach out to touch her face, but she moves away. “I have to protect us both. We need to operate with clear heads.”
“Oh, okay,” she says. “Of course. Maybe it was the wine.” She had nothing to drink tonight.
I agree anyway. “Yeah.”
“Well, I guess we should get some sleep.” She rests her hands on her knees, then pauses for a beat before standing. “Um, good night, Sebastian.”
Fuck. What am I doing? She’s upset now, or maybe even embarrassed. I want her so unbelievably badly. The urge to take her into my arms and sink my dick into her is crazy, but the need to protect her is stronger.
“Good night.”
The bedroom door slams shut behind me.
Fuck.
I should apologize again, but if I go into the bedroom, I know I won’t come back out. And there’s no way I could sleep next to her. It’s becoming more difficult not to give in to temptation.
The blankets and pillows lie haphazardly on the couch. With one arm, I scoop them up and place them on the floor in front of Stevie’s bedroom door. If anyone is coming in or out of this room, I’ll know about it.
Making a small bed from the thick blankets, I kick off my shoes and climb in. I can shower in the morning, and hopefully, she’ll be in better spirits by then.
As my body relaxes, my eyelids slowly close and I drift off to sleep. The low hum of the air conditioner rumbles inside the dark room. In what feels like no time, I hear the quiet latch of the door above my head. Lifting my eyes upward, I catch a dark figure standing at my side.
“What are you doing down there?” Stevie asks.
I smile. “Sleeping.”
“I can see that. But why are you on the floor?”
She’s wearing a matching black pajama set and has tied her hair into a loose bun on top of her head. My chest tightens. Stevie is sexy dressed in heels and a form-fitting dress, but the way she looks with no makeup on and her hair up is breathtaking.
“It’s more comfortable than the couch?” I offer unconvincingly.
She cocks her hips to the side. “That can’t be true. Tell me, Sebastian.”
I cross my arms over my chest and stare up at her. “I can’t sleep in that bed with you again because I’m afraid I’ll lose all self-control.”
Stevie’s lungs rise with a sharp breath. “Oh?”
“And the couch is too far away.”
“I can’t let you sleep on the floor,” she says.
“You don’t have a choice.”
Stevie turns and storms back into the bedroom.
When I think she’s given up and gone to bed, she emerges carrying a fluffy white pillow in her arms.
“Then I guess we’re both sleeping on the floor.” She tosses the pillow to the side of mine.
I push myself up onto my elbows to get a closer look at her. “You don’t need to do that. I’m fine, I promise.”
“You have two choices,” she begins. “You either sleep in the bed with me, or I’m staying on the floor with you.”
Irritation whips at my back. “I can’t.”
Stevie rises to her feet. “Come to bed with me,” she demands.
“Stevie,” I say her name with exasperation.
“I need to be next to you. And it looks like you need to be next to me, too.”
I wipe a hand down the front of my face. “Fine.”
Then she walks away, expecting me to follow.
While rising to my feet, I give myself a pep talk on how to keep my hands to myself. I enter the dark room with only the light from a high moon shining through the curtains. It casts a beautiful glow on her face, and I can’t help but smile.
As I approach the opposite side of the bed, she flips back the comforter, gesturing for me to get in. I take one last look at the safety of the living room before sliding into the bed.
Stevie stays on her side until I’m covered, and then she slides over to me. Without a thought, I open my arm for her to tuck herself into. And she does.
I squeeze my eyes shut and think about everything else we have to do, but the smoothness of her skin and the sweetness of her lips.
It’s going to be a long fucking night.