Sebastian leaned against the wall, settling in for the show-and-tell. I would have rather done this without him. I didn’t want him to know how pathetic I was.
Stella snapped her fingers again when my gaze dipped down to the perfect V leading to Sebastian’s jeans.
“Please tell me you’re not still talking to that psycho,” she said.
I recoiled at the thought and glared at her. “Of course not. The flowers started showing up the day after our date. How stupid do you think I am?”
“I don’t know. Pretty stupid since you failed to mention any of this shit to me.”
“What shit?” Sebastian chimed in.
Stella glanced at him, and I knew by her drawn eyebrows that she meant business. “Nora hadonedate with this guy, and he became obsessed with her. And I’m not talking the sweet, caring, ‘I would do anything for you’ obsessed. I’m talking the creepy, stalkerish, ‘I want to impregnate you with my babies right before I lock you away in my dungeon’ obsessed.”
Did she have to put it that way? She made things sound a lot worse than they were. Clive just had a little impulse control issue. And he also thought I was his soul mate. A feeling I didn’t return.
“Name?” Sebastian barked, dropping his towel on the floor and grabbing a T-shirt from his bag that was still sitting in the hallway. My inner hussy sighed when he was once again covered in clothes.
“Clive Miller. He works with Nora,” my traitorous friend replied.
Sebastian stilled, locking eyes with me. “Clive? And you didn’t think to mention this?”
Hang on, what’s going on here?I felt like I’d missed an important part of this conversation.
“Why would I have mentioned it to you?” I asked, frowning.
He narrowed his eyes, something I was getting used to. “I’ll be back.”
Sebastian gave us a chin lift and turned to the door. “Gears is just across the street. Stay inside.”
With that barked instruction, he grabbed his keys off the table and left.
God, he was confusing.
I turned to Stella and sniffed. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
She sighed as she walked over to the couch and sat down. “Who’s Gears?”
“A guy who’s currently across the street, watching the house,” I said and followed, perching on the edge of the couch next to Stella.
“I’ll let that one go for now. What I really want to know is what tall, dark, and hot is doing in your house.”
Stella pointedly looked at Sebastian’s open duffel bag.
“It’s only temporary,” I said.
I mean, what else could I really tell her? That Sebastian was here to make sure I didn’t disappear? That he was waiting for my loser ex to show up again?
“Mm-hmm,” she murmured, her tone telling me she wasn’t buying my story.
We stayed on the couch, Stella relentless in her pursuit to get me to tell her about Sebastian. When I wouldn’t budge, she turned the TV on, keeping me company. When she finally left three hours later, I stayed on the couch, too scared to go to bed yet by myself. It was pathetic to admit, but I’d let Jim screw me around for so long because I was petrified of being alone. And now I was paying the price for being so weak.
A door closing pulled me out of a dream that involved talking frogs, a gold stamp, and a pink llama. It was a great dream, and I didn’t want to wake up. Next thing I knew, someone lifted me off the couch.
I opened my eyes when I was gently laid down on a bed. Sebastian pulled a blanket over my body and looked up when I turned over to watch him.
“Where did you go?” I asked, my voice sleepy.
“Just had something to take care of,” he said, brushing a strand of hair out of my face, then left.
