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“It was nothing.” Each syllable has a bite to it.
“Talia…”
“Why do you even care?” I ask, turning to him and setting my hands on my hips. “Because from my standpoint, I’m the bad guy who broke your bestie.”
“Yeah, well, as the best friend, I also get to play mediator where necessary.”
“It doesn’t work like that, Seb, so leave it.”
I take my opportunity to leave, but he catches me gently, preventing me from moving past him.
“Talk to me, doll face. I walked in on something, and I deserve to know. You had like a five-minute head start. Trouble didn’t just follow you in here.”
“I was never Alistair’s favourite.” I shrug nonchalantly. “I’m still not, apparently.”
It never hurt to know I wasn’t liked by Beckett’s father. I always thought it should be the worst thing to be hated by a man slated to be my father-in-law, but the indifference I felt was numbing. Alistair hated me, but I hated him back.
“He had his hands on you.”
Sebastian’s voice is tight, like those words were stuck in his throat.
“And so did Beckett ten minutes ago. I don’t see the outcry over that.”
He shoots me a deadly look. “Beckett and you are not Alistair and you.”
“Well done, Captain Obvious.”
I can’t help my sarcasm. It’s as second nature as breathing, and at this point, it’s most definitely a defence mechanism. I’m on hostile ground with not one ally. Sebastian might be here, charming and caring in his own ways, but I’m no fool. Sebastian is only here out of obligation.
“Talia.” He grinds out my name. “What the fuck happened?”
“Nothing!” I argue, shaking him off. “Alistair’s drunk. He’s angry that I’m here… I don’t like people in my personal space.”
“You kicked him in the balls!” he states loudly, like he can’t quite believe it himself. “He’s an old man.”
He studies me for a second and I let him. At first, I don’t meet his gaze, unwilling to out of defiance, but I slowly cave and look his way. There’s a softness to his expression, something nostalgic for me to take comfort in.
“He’s just angry that I’m here.” My admittance is weak. “He decided to tell me so, along with telling me how much better my father was without me around. He’s just stating the obvious to me, Seb.”
“So why the need to get physical?”
I shrug. “He’s rattled I’m here. I guess I’m still the threat. The Knights just took over The Company. I’m a risk factor to that. He’s not happy with it. He put his hands on me, and I dealt with it.”
Remaining silent, Sebastian regards me with harsher scrutiny.
“I’m not well-liked,” I quickly state, trying to soften the reality we’re in. “And I don’t really give people reason to.”
I laugh at myself. Andreas always likened me to roses— beautiful, but one prick from their thorn and you could bleed a whole lot.
I’m a lot more poisonous than he ever gave me credit for.
“Does anyone actually like you?” There’s a slight lift in his tone, a mirthfulness trying to press through.
“Does it even matter?” I’m blunt because, really, in this life, having people who care means you have something to lose. “Being liked or not doesn’t change a damn thing.”
Apparently, that sobers Sebastian enough because he becomes thoughtful.
“This wasn’t how it was meant to happen.”
