I eyed him for a moment, then said, “If he doesn’t, then Kirby here will be the least ofDick’sworries.”
A small smile slid over Sebastian’s pretty lips.
Pretty?
Huh?
What the hell was wrong with me?
“So, uh,” I stuttered before I immediately got caught up in staring at the young man in front of me. Kirby barking and squirming in Sebastian’s hold seemed to jolt us both from our respective dazes. Sebastian put my dog on the ground. Kirby immediately wandered off to explore the small yard.
“Sorry for interrupting you and your…friend,” I lied.
Sebastian let out a sad little laugh. “Not a friend,” he murmured. “I guess that should have been my first clue.”
“Clue?” I prodded.
Sebastian began walking back toward his small porch. There was a single chair sitting on the little cement slab. That bothered me more than I wanted to admit. My own patio area was huge and places to sit took up just every available spot. I had a grill too, alongwith tons of plants that were waiting to be planted in my garden. They were the plants that I couldn’t use in my business because they needed a little extra TLC. The result was that my porch looked well used, and considering my family came over for dinner at least once a week, I had no issue with that.
“Rick only liked some of the things that came with the title of boyfriend.” Sebastian shook his head. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what parts the asshole had liked. “I guess it took me a while to see that being my friend wasn’t really one of them.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
Sebastian shrugged. “It is what it is.”
I didn’t like his defeatist tone. Like he’d somehow accepted that Asshole’s behavior was okay… or worse, that he’d somehow deserved that kind of disrespect.
“I hope you’re not considering helping the fucker out,” I said.
“What?” Sebastian murmured. He motioned to the chair. “Would you like to sit? I can sit on the ground.” He made a move to lower himself to the ground but when I saw how painful the move appeared for him, I reached for his elbow. I hadn’t noticed how stiff he seemed, but it was more than obvious now.
“Are you hurt? Did that asshole put his hands on you?” I practically snarled.
Sebastian actually had to grab me to stop me from going after the guy.
“No,” he said quickly. His hand was pressed against my chest as he spoke. Electricity beneath my skin made my heart begin to pound.
“No, Devon,” Sebastian said. “I got hurt a while back and sometimes the injury acts up, that’s all. Rick didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Oh, okay,” I murmured.
Somehow, we’d ended up so our bodies were practically flush. My hand was on his elbow and his free hand was on my bicep.
“Maybe you should sit,” I somehow managed to say, though in truth, I kind of wanted him to stay where he was just a little longer so I could process all the sensations that were running through my body.
Sebastian didn’t seem to hear me at first. His eyes were on mine… no, correction, they were on my mouth.
And fuck if that didn’t make my dick jump in anticipation.
Anticipation of what, though?
I nearly laughed because I damn well knew what my dick was excited about.
I just couldn’t make sense of it.
“Yeah, maybe I should,” Sebastian said as he stepped back, then carefully sat down. When he extended his leg slightly, I saw him wince and realized the limb was probably where he was experiencing the pain.
“And yes, I kind of have to help the fu—Rickout,” Sebastian said softly as he watched Kirby chase a butterfly around the back yard. “I made a commitment.”
