She beamed a bright smile back at him.
He took her into a different room instead of his usual chair, and I started to follow them to capture the procedure from beginning to end, maybe do some videos this time.
“No. This is a private session,” he said, shaking his head.
“Oh, is she supposed to be here too?” Darlene asked, concern lacing her eyes.
“I’m his photographer,” I answered, hoping that cleared things up.
“If that’s how this thing is supposed to work, you don’t need to make any concession for me,” she said.
“No concessions made, honey. She doesn’t need to be here.” He directed his last part at me before pulling his phone from his back pocket.
Get lost. Yup. Heard you loud and clear.
My phone buzzed with a text notification just as Seb was putting his phone away.
“Just sent you my Facebook and Instagram logins,” he said.
I gritted my teeth at his dismissal but kept my mouth shut out of respect for the sweet-looking Darlene.
“Right. Well, I’ll get to posting, then.” I infused as much ominous tone into my words as possible before walking away. I wouldn’t actually post anything malicious on his business socials, but I liked the idea of him sweating at least for a little while. Prick.
An hour later, Seb walked her to the front door, explaining the aftercare instructions.
“Some scabbing is normal. Don’t pick at it. Just continue to use the moisturizer, okay?”
“Thank you so much, Sebastian. It’s absolutely beautiful. Ican’t even believe it,” Darlene gushed with tears in her eyes.
“It isn’t nearly as beautiful as you, but I did my best,” he joked as he saw her out.
Seb opened his cashbox, counting out the bills before adding them to the drawer.
“That’s what Bryce gave you,” I said, noting the amount he was adding in.
“Yup.”
“Where’s Darlene’s?”
“She didn’t pay.”
Surprise and confusion made my eyes go comically round. “She didn’t pay you? And you just let her leave?”
“Yup,” he said again.
I threw my hands wide. “Jesus, Seb. Do you have no business sense? You already have barely any customers, and you let half of them go without paying? That’s ridiculous.”
He kept his head down, making a note in his ledger. “My business, my rules.”
“You are never going to see that money, you know that, right?” I knew how people worked. Sure, Calla Bay was a small town, and maybe there were still some decent people here. But for the most part, people only cared about themselves. No one was going to look out for Seb if he didn’t do it himself. Just like no one was looking out for me.
He shot me a look out of the side of his eye. “You worried about me, little wild?”
“Not worried about you. Just think you’re an idiot, that’s all,” I said.
“Yeah, I got that.”
Apparently, Sebastian Devereux wasn’t justmyenemy. He was his own worst enemy too.
