He was trying to slide his hand down to the side of the seat to find the button to slide the seat back, but couldn’t find it. After a few seconds, he got frustrated and opened the door to give him more room.
“I’m not a giant, smartass. I just need more room than this. Where’s the damn button to push the seat back?”
I let him look for a few beats before telling him. “There isn’t one. I can’t afford all that fancy stuff. If you want the seat back, the bar is under the seat.”
Sebastian lifted his head up from searching the side of the seat, and a subtle blush slid up his cheeks. Awww, he was embarrassed. It was sort of cute.
He reached under the seat and pulled the bar while pushing the seat back. He was practically sitting in the back seat now that it was so far back.
“You could have mentioned it before I wasted all this time.”
“Maybe you want me to just take the seat out and let you sit in the back. Would that be better, your highness?”
“If you want to treat me like royalty and kiss my ass, I’m all for it, Josiah. Especially the kissing my ass part.”
“I’m not kissing your ass, Sebastian.”
“Don’t knock it till you try it. You didn’t seem to mind it when Sampson was kissing yours the other night.”
Oh, my God, I couldn’t believe he went there! We’d only been in the car for two minutes.
“I’m not talking about that night with you.”
“Why not? We had fun, Josiah. It was incredible.”
“Maybe, but that was a one-time thing.”
“It doesn’t have to be just one time, does it?”
I thought I heard a little sadness in his voice, but I ignored it. I thought I’d been ready to try something more, but that old fear was still playing in the back of my mind. I wasn’t prepared to do this.
“Yeah, it does. It was amazing, but I’m not going there again.”
Sebastian went quiet, so I started the car and got on the road. After an hour of no conversation from either one of us, I turned up my road trip playlist and settled in for the drive. After a while, I noticed Sebastian had fallen asleep in his seat. Of all the thoughts I’d had for this trip, me playing chauffeur while Sebastian slept was not one of them.
I’d been on the highway for over four hours when I finally stopped for breakfast. The weather was looking cloudier, and I knew there was a storm heading this way. We’d have about four more hours to get there if the weather held and traffic through Atlanta wasn’t a clusterfuck, but traffic in Atlanta usually was a cluster, so we’d have to make the stop quick. Even still, I wasn’t going to mess with my road trip tradition, so I pulled off at the next exit and parked in front of the Waffle House. When the car stopped, Sebastian was still softly snoring. I’d have to wake him up. Oh, joy.
“Hey, wake up.” I tapped him on the shoulder, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Sebastian, wake up.” I shoved him this time, maybe a little too hard since his head hit the door a little. Oops.
“What the hell!”
“Uh, sorry. You fell asleep, and we’re stopping for breakfast.”
“Well, you didn’t have to hit me.”
“I didn’t hit you. I shoved you.”
“Same difference, mate.”
“Not really, but I’m not gonna argue. I’m hungry; let’s go eat.”
“Fine, I gotta take a piss anyway.”
“Lovely. Your manners are exemplary. Your mother must be so proud.”
Sebastian stiffened noticeably in his seat, then pierced me with his brown eyes, that weren’t warm now. No, they were cold as the wind whipping the debris across the parking lot outside.
“My mother never taught me anything unless you count contempt and shame. She taught me plenty about self-loathing, too. She never thought enough about me to teach me the finer things. But she’s dead now, so it doesn’t matter anyway.”
