Page 103 of Last Man Standing

But did I tell him that? Of course not.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather go back inside.” I look up at his annoyingly handsome face and pout. “I don’t want to be out in this cold.”

“Too bad.” He scoops his hand around the back of my neck and marches me forward. “I do. And since I’m bigger than you, I guess that means you don’t have a lot of choice in the matter.”

Anger pulses in my blood, like tiny splinters of rage designed to destroy a person by a thousand cuts. “Do you honestly think that’s an appropriate thing to say to me? Really?” I spin out of his grip and come to a skidding stop. “I know you pride yourself on being the biggest, coldest asshole in the room, and God knows the world doesn’t care about my feelings, but seriously?”

He chuckles.

Chuckles!

“Come on.” He grabs my arm and drags me past the pool and along a walkway that sort of leads in the direction of the medical wing. “If you’d just listen and walk when I tell you to walk, I wouldn’t have to be an asshole all the time.”

“Says every abusive piece of shit I’ve ever met! If I’d just worn a longer skirt, that guy wouldn’t have hurt me, right? If I hadn’t smiled at this other guy that one time, he wouldn’t have expected a BJ. But if I did smile at the dude at the bar, he wouldn’t have called me a frigid bitch.” Frustration roars in my blood, and with it, enough strength to tug us to a stop. “Quit pulling me!” I steal my arm free of his grip and tear the coat zipper down. “Stop dressing me. Stop telling me to leave my room when I don’t want to. And stop trying to be the biggest asshole all the damn time. I know you were raised in this fringe community built for mercenaries and homicidal tendencies, but you don’t have to be that guy.” I peel his jacket off and slam it against his adrenaline-filled chest. “It’s okay to be a decent human once in a while, you know? You’re allowed to be nice sometimes and not risk your I’m-the-biggest-and-baddest-motherfucker-around masculinity card.”

I hate that I like this asshole, but I can’t even feel safe in that decision, because he’s not safe. He enjoys cruelty and unkindness. He spouts off lines that ring terrifyingly similar to the things Roy has said to me in the past.

Shaking my head and ignoring the soldiers watching from afar, I turn on my heels and retrace the steps we’ve already taken. Please, God, don’t let me run into Arabella on the way back. “Leave me alone, Sebastion. I’m going to my room.”

“I said no.” He wraps his muscular arm around my stomach and lifts me off my feet.

I choke out a squeal and kick my feet into the air. Emotion makes my eyes sting, and tears make my throat ache. But nothing I do betters the situation I’m in, because he flips me over his shoulder and continues on his adventure.

“Sebastion!” I pound my fists against his back. “I swear to G⁠—”

“You’re making a scene, Princess.” He smacks my ass, then rubs the sore spot like he knows my brain stops working every time he does that. “And now you’ve forfeited my jacket, which means you’re gonna get cold. Like a punk. Please shut up and let me show you what I wanna show you.”

“I don’t want to see!” I kick my feet and wish for the ability to dislocate my knee and smash him in the face with it. “Sebastion, just leave me the hell al⁠—”

“Can you smell that?” He carries me around a building and into an area I haven’t explored yet, where grassy knolls stretch into the distance and… now that I sniff the air, the scent of something not entirely pleasant hits my senses.

“What…?” I twist my torso and attempt to look ahead, which is actually kinda difficult, considering my position. “Where are you taking me?”

“To the woods, where no one will ever find you again.” He smacks my butt a second time, no less painful than the first, but then he nibbles on the warmed flesh until all the fight I had in me dissipates.

Boiled. Fucking. Spaghetti.

“Gonna chop your head off,” he teases. “Be done with your high-maintenance ass. You move around a lot when you’re sleeping, you know that?” He trails his broad palm down to my calf and gently massages. “So much fuckin’ twitching. So much tossing and turning. If I do away with your body, I won’t have to share my bed with a fidgeter anymore.”

Anger turns to passivity, and then passivity turns to pain. Because I’ve heard all this before. About how imperfect I am. How annoying. How bothersome and not worth the trouble.

“I keep trying to sleep elsewhere,” I sniffle. Don’t you dare cry, Scarlett! Not on your birthday. “You keep moving me to the bed.”

“Mm. Cause I like having you there.” He brings his massaging hand just a little higher, kneading the muscle at the bottom of my thigh and humming somewhere deep in his chest. “I’m not gonna chop your head off, by the way. Won’t do away with your body. Will take you into the woods, though.” He steps off the concrete pathway and onto crackling grass, then he brings me over his shoulder, even as he walks, so I end up in the cradle of his arms, my belly exposed from the shift of my sweater.

My breath catches as he walks confidently into a massive set of stables, with stalls lining each side until I count a fast twenty. Each stall boasts a horse larger than any I’ve ever known. Like they’re all of the Clydesdale variety.

Slowly, he releases my legs, but not my back, so my feet touch the dirt, and still, we continue toward a stall labeled Jasper.

“Y-you have horses?” I stumble forward and rest my forearms on the top of Jasper’s gate, while inside, the massive, mountainous animal flicks his tail and glances my way to take stock of his visitor. “Oh my gosh. He’s so handsome.”

“I’m not afraid of losing my biggest-and-baddest-motherfucker card, by the way.” Sebastion stops only when his chest rests against my back. His cock is perpetually hard, pressed against my spine, and his warm breath tickles the top of my scalp. “Jasper here is bigger and badder, anyway. He’s had me on my ass more times than I can count.”

“You ride him?” I tilt my head and look up at the man I never would’ve pictured in a saddle. “Really?”

He shrugs. “Not often. We tend to have differences of opinion, mostly, and he’s intolerant of my bullshit. But…” He wraps his hand around the front of my throat and holds me in place long enough to bring his lips down to mine. His tongue darts out to play, and his warm breath fills my chest. “I have it on good authority he’ll be good. For you.”

“For me?” I swing my gaze back to Jasper and watch him in wonder. He’s so beautiful. So large and muscular. So freakin’ cool. “I could ride him?”