He was still wearing his marina T-shirt, and it had engine grease streaked on it. His eyes flicked around the balcony until they stopped on the big monstera plant. He looked at me and held up one finger then shooed me away from the doors.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. But I backed away when he bent over, muscles flexing, and picked up the giant plant. And when he swung its big steel planter back to get leverage, I knew he meant business, so I rapidly doubled back once more and moved out of the way.
Half throwing, half swinging it, Seb launched the monstera at the French doors. With a terrible crash, glass exploded inward, and the wood framing splintered. He hadn’t smashed the entire set of double doors, only one side—and the monstera planter was half-stuck in the broken glass. But when he kicked the planter farther into the room, he was able to knock away glass with one of the monstera branches and quickly stepped through behind it, white Adidas crunching the shrapnel.
“Seb!” I cried out, flying into his arms.
He squeezed me tightly. “Did he hurt you? Are you okay?”
“He fucking kidnapped me!” I said, and then exhaled. “But I’m not hurt.”
“Thank God.” He released me quickly and glanced at the bedroom door, saying, “Someone would’ve heard that.”
“How did you find me?” I asked, still stunned.
“Benny called. We figured you came out here, but Jaz still has your location enabled, so that confirmed it.”
Jaz and I never thought to turn off location sharing when I left for Harvard, thank God.
“We saw you on her phone just in time, too. Like, less than a minute later, your phone turned off while we were looking at the location. I knew it couldn’t be dead because I put it on the charger last night.”
He had, indeed. Who could ask for a better roommate?
“You never turn off your phone. Sothattold me you were in trouble. Only tricky part was trying to figure out where you were in the house, especially after we didn’t see you in any of the first-floor windows.”
Panic flared. “Jaz and Benny are here? My father’s insane. I don’t know what he’ll do if he catches them.”
“Don’t worry about them. Let’s take care of us first,” he said matter-of-factly. He’d always been good at staying calm in tricky situations. I wassograteful he was here. I should’ve known I could count on him. Why did I ever doubt it?
A bright, warm sensation bloomed in my chest, obliterating all the panic and fear. It felt like I was on the threshold of a door that might lead to a brave, new world if I was willing to take a chance. But once I stepped through, I could never return.
“I need to tell you something important!” I said, grabbing the front of his shirt.
“Paige—”
“Sebastian Jansen, I fucking love you. We have to figure out a way to be together when I go back to school because I can’t lose you again.”
His eyes went glossy as he blinked at me.
He brought my face to his and kissed me roughly. Just for a moment. Then he pulled back and said, “I fucking love you, too, Paige Malone. But if we’re going to have any future outside these walls, we need to hustle, okay? So come on!”
But we didn’t have time to escape.
Heavy footfalls rushed toward the bedroom door.
A moment later, it clicked and swung open.
My father looked around the room, breathing like he’d just run a marathon. He took in the broken balcony door, the glass... and Seb.
“Did you just break my door? Who the hell do you think you are?”
Seb got in front of me and reached for something that stuck out of the back of the khaki shorts he was wearing.
Oh no.Oh no, no, no...
Seb pointed a sawed-off shotgun at my father with such aplomb, evenIforgot it was a prop for a split second. “That’s a question I should be askingyou, motherfucker.”
Sometimes all you need is a little flash.
