I’d debrief with the girls tomorrow. I was sure they’d let me practice a bit more with them.
Sebastian got on his bike and helped me up. I strapped the helmet on and slid forward, winding my arms around him. And despite his jerkiness tonight, sitting behind him on his bike was still my happy place.
And I hated myself for it.
At least this way we couldn’t talk to each other. Less chance of one of us getting pissed off.
One thing the short ride back to my house did manage was to give me time to think. And the more I thought about tonight, the angrier I got.
How dare he push me around and tell me I couldn’t dance onstage.
Wait, why am I trying to defend something that I didn’t want to do in the first place?
But it was the principle of it. I was a grown-ass woman, and I could make my own decisions. Nobody else made them for me. And if they were terrible decisions, I would be the only one to blame.
When we got back to the house, I was fuming mad. I hopped off the bike and ripped my helmet off, needing to walk away before I did something I’d regret later. Like kick a member of a motorcycle club in the balls.
I pushed the helmet into Sebastian’s stomach and stormed off. Not the most mature thing I’d ever done, but I wasn’t feeling very mature right at that moment.
When I crashed through the front door, Stella came out of the living room. She saw me and stopped in her tracks, putting her hands up. “Whoa, what happened?”
“I need a drink,” I growled and went to the kitchen.
I didn’t drink much anymore, not since having the kids. A hangover was made much worse by little voices yelling in your ear.
But I stashed a few emergency bottles in the top cabinet. Since I was so small, I had to climb on the counter to reach them. Which was exactly what I did.
Heaving myself up on the counter, I stood up, balancing on the small area. I reached up to the cabinet, the bottle of wine within reach, when I was pulled back.
I shrieked, but no amount of wiggling got me out of being lifted off the counter and set back onto the ground.
I whirled around and glared at Sebastian, who was still standing closer than necessary.
“I’ll give you a free life lesson, buster. Don’t come between an angry woman and her wine,” I ground out between clenched teeth.
“You won’t get to drink your wine if you fall off and break your neck,” he replied, raising an eyebrow at me.
“I’ve done this many times before and never fallen off. And if I did, it wouldn’t be your problem. At least then you don’t have to babysit me anymore.”
He stepped closer, invading my space like nobody else’s business. If he thought he could intimidate me, he had another thing coming.
“Seems to me you need someone to keep you out of trouble. Tonight being the best example of your inability to take care of yourself.”
We glared at each other, our noses inches apart.
“Ahem, excuse me,” Stella cut in. “Anyone care to enlighten me with what happened tonight?”
I pulled myself away from Sebastian and took three steps back to look at Stella, who was watching us with rapt attention.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Nora thought it would be a good idea to become a stripper,” Sebastian chimed in at the same time.
I was ready to maim him.How dare he?
“You did what?” Stella whispered, looking at me with an expression of pure shock.
“It doesn’t matter now. Sebastian dragged me off the stage, and I nearly lost my job.”
