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Thirty-Four
Jamie
I thank the cashier as I pick up the bag on the counter and walk towards the exit. Just as I’m exiting, a woman entering the shop is carrying today’s newspaper, and one headline jumps out at me.
Shit. I hurry back to the car, throwing my bags on the back seat, and set my phone in the cradle. As soon as the engine is on and my phone is connected, I call Seb.
He doesn’t answer the first time, so I try again and try to keep a lid on the panic swirling in my gut. Just as I think it’s going to ring off again, he picks up.
“Hey, what’s up? Did you get everything you needed?”
I breath out a sigh of relief, then mentally slap myself for being such a drama queen. “Yeah, I’m good. Err…have you seen the news this morning?” I ask hesitantly.
“No, why? What’s going on?” I hear the concern in his voice.
“They found another body, Seb,” I say, pulling out of the multi-storey onto the main road.
“Shit!” I hear a bang and know he’s either thrown or hit something. “Where are you?”
“I’m on my way home now. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Go and call Rick, and I’ll see you when I get back.” He tells me to be safe, and then the call disconnects.
This is not what he wanted to hear before tonight, and I know he thinks it’s the girl him and Jay saw at Tempest. I really hope it isn’t her, but even if it’s not, the chances of them finding her are slim to none.
When I enter the house, I can hear Seb talking on the phone in the kitchen, so I quickly take my bags up to my room while he finishes his call.
I hang my dress for tonight in the wardrobe and have just finished placing my shoes on the bottom shelf only to turn and find Seb leaning against the door frame, watching me.
“How long have you been there?” I ask as he comes further into the room.
“Long enough to get a hard-on watching you bent over putting those fuck-me heels away,” he drawls as he grips my chin and pulls me in for a kiss.
I’m surprised by the ease of which he has slipped into my life, and if it weren’t for all this crazy shit going on right now, I would be blissfully happy to spend my days wrapped up with him. The doubts I have about letting another man into my heart haven’t gone away, now they are just a slightly irritating tic in the back of my mind. And I know there is something Seb hasn’t shared with me yet about why he’s never had a long-term relationship. Why he hides behind the cool, cocky exterior when underneath there is a man who is fierce, loyal and loving that shines so bright it’s blinding. Hopefully, he will soon, and for now, I’m just going to ignore my brain and listen to my heart.
When he pulls away, there is a look of hunger in his eyes, but beneath that is a thread of worry.
“What did Rick say?”
He takes a step back, rubs his hands down his face, then tucks them both in his pockets. “It’s not her. Rick spoke to Ray, and the description doesn’t match, which is good news and bad news.”
“Okay, so best-case scenario, she’s still hiding, and worst is—”
“The fuckers caught her, and that means she’ll be among the lots tonight,” he bites out.
“If that’s true then it’s still good news.”
“How do you figure that?” he scoffs.
“Because that means she’s alive, and who knows, maybe we’ll get the chance to get her the hell out of there to somewhere safe, Seb.” He doesn’t say anything, and I get the feeling he’s not convinced that’s even a possibility.
Seb isquiet for the rest of the day, and I let him be as I’m not sure how to help or if I even can. I make us dinner, which he eats, thanking me and tidying up while I go off to get ready.
I have a bath, hoping it will soak away some of this tension that’s strumming through me. It hasn’t really helped. I’m still nervous about how tonight will go, and I’m unsure how Seb feels right now.
Since I’ve accepted this thing between Seb and me, I seem to have lost a bit of my snark. Ironic really, considering he used to infuriate me.
When I come back in the bedroom, Seb is standing there in his suit trousers, head bowed slightly in concentration, with his white shirt undone, giving me an unfettered view of his ripped stomach. The dim light from the bedside lamp, glints off his bronzed skin as he does his cufflinks up, and each flex of his arms ripples across his abdomen. As he turns his head to look at me, his black hair falls forward on one side, and the corner of his lips turn up in a smirk as his caramel eyes flash with knowing. If I were wearing any knickers, they would have been incinerated in a second, as it is, I feel wetness pool between my thighs.
I’m about to drop my towel and step toward him when the light-hearted look on his face vanishes and is replaced with cold-hard seriousness.
