06

“Mind who you’re talking to, twat.” The woman narrowed her eyes at me but they suddenly widened in alarm when Sebastian seized her by the shoulder.

“If I hear one more filthy word come out of your mouth, Krista, you’ll find yourself eating dinner alone,” he said softly in a voice that was now all coldness and steel. “Apologize.”

Krista sent him a mutinous glare. “It’s not my fault she’s staring at us as if she’s dumbstruck.”

I finally recovered at her statement and I leveled her a cool glance. “It’s not often I’m audience to such despicably poor manners.”

Krista’s lovely, if not overly made up face, exploded with anger. “Why, you—”

“Stop being a spectacle.” Sebastian cut her off with a withering stare.

The waitress, the poor, trembling woman, stepped forward with an imploring look on her tear and wine-stained face. “I’m so so—”

“Please don’t apologize for a mistake that isn’t yours,” Sebastian gently interrupted. “You may attend to yourself and send someone else to escort these ladies to their table.”

The woman chanted a dozen thank-yous to us and Sebastian before scurrying to the back.

“Still giving orders, I see,” I mused dryly. I glanced at Krista again before turning back to him. “And it looks like you can follow them too. I can see you’re eagerly playing by the rules.”

“Who is this girl, Sebastian ?” Krista demanded frantically as she glanced back and forth between the two of us. “Why is she talking to you as if you know each other ?”

Emma snorted. “Maybe because they do, genius.”

Sebastian smiled slightly and turned to Emma. “Ms. Carston, I assume. A pleasure to meet you. I apologize I didn’t get to introduce myself the last time we saw each other. I’m Sebastian.”

Emma beamed and shook his hand. “No worries, Sebastian. Please call me Emma. It’s nice to see you again.”

Of course he knew Emma. They may have never been formally introduced but with the depth of his secret involvement in my life, I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew the name of Emma’s pet goldfish.

I gave my friend a sideways glance. “Loyalties, Em.”

Sebastian’s brow arched slightly, his smile deepening, as if he enjoyed my annoyance. “Hello, Cassandra.”

Krista’s mouth fell open before she flung herself against Sebastian’s side, clinging to his arm like a pesky vine. “It’s a bit crass, don’t you think, to interrupt your ex’s date ?”

I smirked despite my annoyance because really, getting riled up about a ditz like Krista was just silly. “The only thing that’s crass around here is your attitude, Krista.”

“She’s right and it would serve you well to apologize,” Sebastian agreed smoothly, giving his date a hard, meaningful look.

She huffed and puffed in annoyance but she turned to us, begrudgingly, and muttered a short, insincere apology.

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about us. We weren’t the one you splashed with wine. I’d apologize to the waitress if I were you but I don’t think you will, given your overwhelming kindness.”

Krista pouted like pretty raisin. “Sebastian ! How could you let this girl talk to—”

“Enjoy your dinner together,” I chirped brightly, cutting off the nearly apoplectic Krista. “Try not to choke on your scintillating conversation.”

And before Sebastian could say anything else, I looped my arm through Emma’s and turned us towards the aisle even though I had no idea where we were headed.

“Ems, Cassie ! Look who I brought !”

We stopped and turned to see Ty striding in with a broad smile on his face and a grinning Marcus trailing behind him.

“Hey, babe !” was Emma’s bubbly greeting as she detached herself from my hold and went to meet up with Ty in a quick hug and a kiss on the lips.

“Marcus wanted to join us,” Ty was saying as Emma turned to also hug her cousin. “I think he couldn’t wait until Saturday to see Cassie.”

I caught Marcus’s eye and instinctively returned his sunny smile before I saw him glance to the side and suddenly sober up.

I risked a glance at Sebastian whose face lost all traces of his earlier amusement and was eyeing us coldly.

Ty noticed the silence and surveyed our small cluster, his eyes widening slightly when he spotted Sebastian. Understanding dawned quickly on him.

To break the awkward silence, I stepped forward and put on my most dazzling smile. “Ty, you remember Sebastian. This is his date, Krista. Sebastian, I’m certain you remember Ty and Marcus, of course.”

Recovering from his initial discomfort, Marcus laughed a little and shrugged. “Hey, Vice. Haven’t run to you in a while. I didn’t expect to see you here tonight.”

“Clearly not if you’re here with her,” was Sebastian’s instant reply, his expression darkening.

Ty cleared his throat and glanced at me but I refused to explain myself to a man who was on a date with some conceited, ill-mannered bimbo after spending the better part of his day explaining to me just how much he wanted to be with me.

Krista, who probably didn’t have enough functioning brain cells to notice the undercurrents, stepped forward and grabbed Marcus’s hand in an eager handshake, her smile sugary sweet and inviting. “Oh, my God, Marcus Aldridge ! I’m such a big fan ! It’s so nice to finally meet you. I loooove how you ride.”

I raised my eyes to heaven wondering if the divine could waste an intervention here before I throttled the woman who was a walking punchline but I quickly sank back to reality when I felt Marcus sidle up next to me, more in an attempt to extricate himself from Krista’s claws than to stake his claim on me.

But of course, based on the way Sebastian’s smoldering green eyes flared with quiet fury, he didn’t see it quite the same way.

When he turned to me, I briefly saw the flash of betrayal in his expression but it quickly disappeared.

Something heavy and unpleasant grew in my gut, as if I’d hurt him.

He was the first one to play the field, wasn’t he ? Why should you feel bad ?

It was a good point but no matter whose fault it was, a part of me always suffered when Sebastian was in pain.

“We should probably find our table,” Emma said, grabbing Ty’s arm and forging on forward. “It’s nice to meet you, Sebastian.”

Then she quirked her lips at Krista. “If I were you, I’d better hurry to get that stain out. Who knows when you’ll find your next benefactor.”

I suppressed a smile as I took the arm Marcus offered, briefly nodding in acknowledgement at the quietly seething statue that was Sebastian, before following Ty and Emma to a table a newly-arrived waitress was leading us to.

“See you around, Vice,” was Marcus’s subdued parting shot as if he was undoubtedly aware of the sticky situation he’d just stepped into.

I held back a sigh.