“We can’t both be absent,” I insist.
In my peripheral vision, I can see his jaw tighten. “Who cares about the damn party? It’s not important. You are.”
I finally turn to look at him. His face is twisted with pain and recrimination.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, unhappy I ruined our first event together as a couple.
“No.” He lightly dabs the tears with the cloth. “Never say you’re sorry for what happened.”
I blink, and more tears stream down my face. “Why aren’t you upset with me?”
He looks at me like I just slapped him. “Upset withyou?”
“I ruined the party. I should’ve known Karl would crash it, and I should’ve done a better job to make sure he couldn’t. And if I couldn’t do that, I should’ve had security drag him away as soon as I realized he was there.”
His mouth parts, and he just stares at me like I unloaded all that in a foreign language. “You did nothing wrong.”
“But—”
“Listen to me. You didn’t do anything wrong, Luce. Karl’s the bad guy, not you.”
“But I could’ve donesomething—”
“No. You didn’t have to do anything. If he were a decent human being, he wouldn’t have crashed the party. If he were a decent human being, he wouldn’t have cornered you in the pantry. If he were a decent human being, he certainly wouldn’t have hit you. It was never aboutyou. It’s all about him and what a subhuman piece of garbage he is.”
Sebastian’s saying all this like he means it. His defense of me is absolute, I realize. And he’s being so kind and understanding, like he was all those years ago. The ache in my chest swells, and I can’t breathe. I put a hand over my breastbone, feeling my heart pulsing erratically.
I clench my teeth as the air in my lungs shudders. Something crumbles in my heart. Tears fall endlessly, and I can’t stop them.
Sebastian pulls me to him until I’m in his lap. His arms wrap around me protectively, shielding me from the world.
I cry until I’m out of tears. Even then, he doesn’t let go.
Chapter 27
Sebastian
When Luce’s tears finally dry, I reach over and pluck some additional Kleenex for her. She blows her nose carefully, and seeing that makes me want to both hold her tighter and break Karl’s nose.
She gives me a wan smile. “Thanks.”
Her face is blotchy, her nose red. Her previously impeccable makeup is smeared with tears, the mascara smudged around her bloodshot eyes. The butterfly pins I gave her hang limply in her messed-up hair. The sight of them makes my blood boil again. Death is too good for Karl. She was nervous, but somewhat optimistic about the party. She relaxed some more after meeting my sisters-in-law. She should’ve shone at the event, enjoyed herself.
Instead, she can’t even go back to it. I don’t know if she can go to work on Monday. It looks like her cheek’s going to bruise. Her lip is busted, and I don’t know how long that will take to heal.
If it were me, I could claim Griffin hit me too hard by mistake when we were sparring. But Luce doesn’t have such a convenient excuse. People are going to stare and wonder, and she’ll hate that. Although she acts like whispers don’t bother her, the slight tensing of her jaw and shoulders says otherwise.
“Guess the party’s over,” she says quietly.
“We’ll throw another one.” I keep my tone light.
“Yeah.”
“And I’ll make sure Karl never attends it.” I still don’t know how the asshole crashed the party, but I’m going to find out. And fire the security team hired for the event. Actually, that isn’t enough. I’m going to sue them into oblivion.
“Thanks.” She gives me another smile, a better one this time. “Can you help me get up? I want to change, but my legs are asleep.”
I adjust my hold on her and help her stand. She teeters slightly. I crouch down, untie the stiletto straps around her ankles and pull the heels off her feet. “Better?”
