35. Scarlett #2
Because if he says Sebastion is no good, while my heart and soul believe otherwise, then this would be bigger than walking away from a man who owns me.
It would be about admitting I truly am broken.
It would mean giving up on love forever, because it’s clear my compass has been blown to hell and back, and my instincts are a danger to myself.
“Scar?”
Gulping, I lick my lips and nod. “Yes. I would listen to you. And I would mourn very, very much. Because I trust you to keep me safe, but I feel inside me, right in my soul, that he’s good and decent.”
He groans. “Dammit, honey. You’re already in too deep.”
“No.” I snap my lips shut and trap inside a sobbing exhale before it comes out and humiliates me. “I’m okay. I’ll listen to you. Whatever you say. However it goes.”
“That easy?” He sighs, shaking his head audibly from side to side. “You’re already half in love, aren’t you?”
“Half?” I swallow an aching cry. “No.”
He coughs out a pained chuckle. “All the way, then?”
“I’ll listen to you,” I sniffle. “I swear I will. If you tell me he’s no good, I’ll accept your word and deal with the devastation on my own. But it’s better to know.” I tip my head back and stare up at the dark ceiling through watery eyes. “It’s always better to know. So please just—”
“I don’t think he’s a junker.”
“Oh, thank God.” I drop my head and weep. I’m such an idiot. Such a hypocrite. Such a friggin’ cautionary tale, just waiting for a tragic ending. “Are you sure? Are you saying that because you consider me fragile and dumb?”
“I have never considered you dumb,” he growls.
Just fragile, then? “Meeting one guy years ago when you were barely out of your teens and still searching for the best in people is not a fuckin’ crime, Scarlett.
And it’s definitely not something you should continue to beat yourself up about.
You should see the statistics, honey. The number of women duped by that exact kind of fucking parasite isn’t rare. That’s not on you. That’s on him.”
“And Sebastion?”
He exhales a wounded groan. “It was easier with the other guys. To look them up, to run their names and figure out their histories. You weren’t emotionally invested yet, and ultimately, I knew they wouldn’t even be a bump in the road of your life.”
“But?”
“But Tank is a seven-foot-tall mountain parked across your road, and right now, he’s got you at a location I don’t even know. Did I think he’d hit on you?” He scoffs. “Absolutely. But did I expect you to be charmed by that shit? No!”
“Do you think I’m an idiot?”
“No. I think I’m an idiot for expecting that motherfucker to remain blind to how truly special you are once he had more than five minutes alone with you.
I know from personal experience that once a man realizes what he’s got, he’ll do whatever it takes to make sure he never loses it again. To make sure he never loses her.”
“Linc—”
“I think he’s a good man,” he sighs. “Underneath the bullshit, and underneath the shield he carries to keep the weak away, I believe he’s spent his entire life protecting a woman very important to him, and I think, if I had to trust my baby sister with anyone, choosing a guy with thirty years of experience and loyalty to protecting women is a good way to go.
I think I’m still gonna shoot him in his fuckin’ face for touching… ”
I choke out a ridiculous, snotty laugh.
“But I had him in my home for months, Scar. I worked out with him. Trained with him. Hunted with him. I watched him watch Nova, and when you arrived, I watched him watch you.” He inhales a shuddering breath.
“If I thought he was a junker, I wouldn’t have left you with him.
No matter how much noise he made, no matter the threats he tossed out.
If he were like Roy, I wouldn’t have driven away and left you with him.
So…” He exhales again. “I dunno. Do with that what you want. Don’t tell me about the touching, don’t get pregnant, and for the love of God, don’t get in a fistfight with his mother. ”
The latter sounds significantly more life-changing than the former.
“Okay.”
“Does he like you back?” I know my brother loathes the idea of discussing this. Of combing through the details, but, “I mean, clearly he thinks you’re pretty. The bastard owns a set of eyes. But is this just fun for him? Or will he still treat you right in the morning, so to speak?”
“Well…” Warmth floods my cheeks and down into my chest. Embarrassed, though I have no reason to be, I turn in my booth, only to startle and freeze. To lock eyes with an entirely too smug Sebastion standing a mere four feet away.
Slowly, arrogantly, he brings a single digit to his lips, demanding I keep our secret. Then he nods. Firmly. Confidently.
“Scar?”
“Y-yeah.” I push straight and gulp the lump of nerves in my throat. “I… yes? I think he likes me back.”
Smirking, Sebastion ambles forward. One step. Two. Three.
Setting his hands on my hips and squeezing hard enough to make my heart tumble, he inches closer and presses a gentle kiss on my cheek, impossibly close to my ear. “Yes,” he breathes almost silently. “I do.”
“Scarlett?”
“You don’t have to hang up if you don’t wanna,” he whispers. Then he expertly slips a hand into my jeans and grins. “But he probably doesn’t wanna hear me express how I feel.”
“Scarlett? You there?”
“Yeah. I’m gonna call you back later, okay?”
“What?”
“Thank you for reminding me I’m not a junker, too.”
“Of course. But you…” Too suspicious, too instinctive, he searches for what changed. “You wanna hit up the Red Sox game when we meet up again?”
“Yep.” I pull the phone from my ear and slam it to the counter in the same instant Sebastion’s fingers slide past my panties and deep into my pussy. “Fuckkkkkk. Sebastion…”
“What was that about the Red Sox?”
“Code.” My word comes out on a whimper, made worse when he lowers to his knees and unsnaps my jeans. “He was basically asking if I was in a dangerous situation where I couldn’t speak.”
Thoughtful, he glances up at me through long lashes. “So you said yes? Am I to expect a war on my front doorstep, Princess?”
“I said yes, I’d catch a game with him, which meant I was free and safe and okay. Saying no would’ve started a war.”
“Oh, well…” Smug, he tugs my jeans down with a fast sweep of his hands, peels my underwear next until everything tangles at my ankles, then he picks me up and flips me over, laying my belly across the booth countertop and opening me up with a hand on each ass cheek.
Already, I feel myself dripping and desperate.
“I never wanna wake up without you in my bed ever again, Princess.” He dives forward and feasts.
My pussy. My asshole. My entire friggin’ soul.
“I’m sick of watching you sneak out and worrying you’re gonna fuck me over.
” He digs his tongue deep inside me and turns my instinctive defensiveness into something else entirely.
“So I’m not gonna worry anymore.” He drags the tips of his fingers from my pussy to my ass.
Taunting. Teasing. Devastating. “I trust you, Princess. With my fucking life.” He abandons his work and leaves me crying for more.
But then I feel him unfasten the button on his pants.
Pull the zipper down. Without so much as talking me through it, he grabs my hips and impales my pussy with a savagery that makes me scream until my throat turns hoarse.
But then he reaches past me and picks up the reassembled Glock.
He presses the heavy weapon into my hand and slams inside me from behind.
“I would let you point that between my eyes, and I would still trust you.” He winds his arm back, then he brings it down again and slaps my ass with a painful, resounding crack.
“Now I want you to come. Loudly. I want you to scream it. Cause no one will hear you down here.”
Desperate, I drop the gun and clutch to the edge of the countertop. Panting, I simply fall into the sensations he buries deep inside my body.
“When we’re done, I’m gonna teach you anything you want.
Any gun. Any distance. Any fucking thing you need to feel safe.
” He pulls out, startling a cry I’m not even sure my consciousness ordered.
But then he flips me to my back, drapes my legs over his shoulders, and buries his face between my legs.
“So fucking tasty.” He peers up at me, his dark eyes pinning mine through the valley of my breasts.
“I’m keeping you, Princess. I’m never gonna get enough. ”