Without a word, he uses his hands and arms to move himself up the bed and then rests against the pillows, bloodshot eyes following me as I make my way out of the room. I grab a couple of bottles of water and the pills from the cupboard before I make my way back.
He’s still watching, unnaturally still as I uncap the water and hand it over before shaking out a couple of pills for him to take. He swallows them down without an argument and then watches some more.
Nerves rattle through me but I pretend they don’t and straighten my shoulders as I go around to my side of the bed and climb under the sheets, pulling them over his unnaturally still form. The towel is still wrapped around his hips, his hair still damp from the shower and he lays flat on his back, not moving an inch.
“Bast?”
“Red.” He replies.
“Will you be here in the morning?” I ask, unable to hide the shake in my voice.
Silence fills the space between us, but he can’t hide in the dark anymore, I see everything so fucking clearly. This is a man afraid of himself.
Afraid of me.
“I don’t know,” He finally replies.
“Don’t go,” I say softly.
“Go to sleep, Willow.” He pulls me in closer, thankfully I’m against his uninjured side but I can still see the bruises and swelling on the other where I rest against his chest, his tan skin so many different shades of pain.
And even though his eyes close and he feigns sleep as the hours pass, I know it never claims him, much like I don’t fall into it either. And when the sun begins to crest on the city beyond the windows, a soft light beginning to filter into the room, I don’t fight him when he detangles himself from me.
I pretend to sleep, my eyes remaining closed as he exits my bedroom and returns a few moments later. My body tenses but my eyes remain closed and my breathing even as he leans down and presses the tenderest of kisses to my temple, and I hear him leave.
Fighting Sebastian is much like fighting a storm, there’s no way to win and all you’ll do is tire yourself out until there’s little breath left in your lungs trying to succeed in a battle you’ve already lost.
Chapter Sixteen
One week later
“Still nothing?” Olivia asks as she nurses her wine, body settled back on the plush couches in the media room of the estate.
I’d told her everything, purely to get it off my chest because if I can trust anyone, it’s her. I felt bad with everything she’s already been through, but not once did she interrupt me or question me, just simply listened as I word vomited it all to her, right up until he kissed me when he thought I was sleeping and left.
He hasn’t answered my texts, or my calls and hedidn’t answer the door when I showed up to his apartment. It hurt, so fucking much and yet I still threw myself into the fire hoping for a different outcome.
“Nope,” I pop the P like it isn’t a big deal, “It doesn’t matter anyway.”
Olivia sits up, a concerned frown pulling down her dark, well-groomed brows, “What do you mean it doesn’t matter?”
I shrug nonchalantly, putting on quite the show that almost convinces me that Sebastian ghosting me doesn’t hurt like my heart is being ripped out. “We fucked,” I say breezily, “Not like I was expecting a marriage proposal.”
“Well, no,” Olivia says, taking a tender sip of her wine, “But everything he said?”
“Men will say a lot of things to get into your panties, Oli,” I quirk a brow, “We both know this.”
“It’s just not like him,” She sighs.
Did any of us really know Sebastian? Do we really know what makes him tick? I thought I did but I’m questioning it all now. The Bast I knew wouldn’t have ghosted me for a week, even if sleeping together changed the dynamics of our relationship. Sure, I had feelings for him, but we could have worked through it, got back to how we were before. It’s not like we didn’t flirt relentlessly before the fucking was involved, but I’ve also known and been with men who pretended to be madly in love just to get into bed with me, only to disappear the following day.
Sex does crazy things.
Money makes the world go round but sex and pleasure is a close second.
“Yes, well,” I pick up the bottle of wine and top up my glass, “It is what it is.”
The door to the room opens a moment later and I turn to find Malakai strolling into the room, eyes only for his wife and my best friend. She beams when she sees him, further settling into the cushions on the couch as he captures her face and kisses her deeply.
