She’s a tiny, mousy lady with big glasses and a permanent look of nervous politeness. Her gray hair is wound up in the most impressive bun I’ve ever seen. I have long hair that dusts my lower back, and I can tell that hers is exponentially longer.
“Someone just dropped these off for you.”
My breath catches.
The flowers are hyacinths.
For a second, I can’t move.
My mom loved hyacinths. The memory floods back in one giant wave. When I was little, our entire house would smell like them every spring because she insisted on filling every room with fresh bouquets.
Without thinking, I take the flowers and bring them closer, breathing in their sweet scent.
Memories hit me so fast it almost hurts.
“Thank you,” I murmur softly.
The librarian smiles awkwardly before scurrying away.
Nathan tilts his head.
“So is Vale like your boyfriend, or are you just hooking up?”
The question makes me pause.
Because technically… I’m not sure what Sebastian and I are. He’s said things that would make me think yes, he’s my boyfriend, but we haven’t actually established any of those boundaries. I’m too new to the whole dating thing to really know what’s happening. More importantly, now that Nathan hasyanked me off of memory lane, I realize that even if the bouquet is from Sebastian, it’s weird that he would choose this flower.
“Yes. Boyfriend. Now get the fuck out of here.”
I gasp and spin around to see Sebastian is standing right behind my chair.
Nathan rises slowly, a smirk spreading across his face. He’d be handsome, I guess, if I didn’t hate his entire existence for being annoying.
“Worried I might steal your girl, Vale?” I do throw my head back in annoyance because now we’re definitely going to get kicked out of the library and I’m going to have to do research with Miranda and Ronan screaming as background noise.
Soph is right. Rugby boys are why we can’t have nice things.
Sebastian leans forward, placing both hands on the table. The movement makes his arms flex beneath his shirt, the muscle there tightening with the pressure. He’s so freaking big, I don’t understand why anyone would want to fight with him.
His voice is low, and there’s a deadly calm to it I haven’t heard from him before.
“Where do you want your remains scattered?” he asks quietly. “Cliff? Countryside? I’ll let you decide.” I would like to think that my maybe boyfriend isn’t a cold-blooded murderer, but I also get the feeling he’s like…genuinely asking the question.
Nathan grimaces, and he must realize that Sebastian is a live-wire because he doesn’t say anything back. He winks at me before puffing his chest out and walking away.
Two steps later he’s suddenly hurled sideways and crashes face-first onto the floor.
I blink in surprise and then I realize that the guy who shoulder-checked him is just Jeremy wearing a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead.
I hadn’t even realized he was there.
He grins at me, gives a little nod to Sebastian like they have some sort of agreement that I’m not aware of. He casually steps on Nathan’s back and then moseys out of the library like he was never here.
I slowly turn back toward Sebastian.
“Was he here watching me for you? I didn’t even notice him come in.” I don’t know a whole lot about Jeremy Bennett, but I know he doesn’t hang out in libraries. I look over to see if Nathan is going to make things worse when he gets up, but he’s apparently vanished. That’s a relief that he isn’t going to hang around and play who has the bigger ego with Sebastian.
Sebastian doesn’t even hesitate to answer my question. “Absolutely, he was watching you. Just like we watch over Juniper for Kalen and Lakynn for Riven.”
