31. ~Sebastian~

I should've done this days ago.

That hadn't been possible, though, not with Cas and Cal breathing down my neck and keeping a close eye on me.

Cal had even gone so far as to search my room and every fucking thing after he'd found out about my slipup. He'd found the fucking pills and gotten rid of them.

A big fucking mistake that had been, because instead of me being able to calm and soothe myself, there was just this rage and pain escalating out of control, not giving me a second of reprieve, not one moment to get a handle on everything.

I'd had to fake it like I used to and get back to attending classes at Luxe, Caspian's guys flanking me in and out of the gates to get me through the paparazzi who were following me everywhere right now, asking this and that, mostly about Sky. So much about her.

Not that I'd tell them a goddamn thing where my personal business was concerned, but I couldn't even if I wanted to, because I didn't fucking know.

She was still secluded inside her home and barely communicating with the three of us.

At first she'd responded and been reassuring us that she was fine, that she just needed time. But then after I'd felt the bullshit coming through from that and challenged her by sending that text and making it damn clear that she couldn't just walk away, it had been radio silence.

Sky responded viciously to anything even resembling a threat or an infringement upon her free will, so I'd expected it to ignite that passion in her, and for her to respond back and fight me, anything to get a real response out of her.

But it hadn't worked like that at all.

It made it so much worse.

Apathy was a bitch to take compared to her hate.

Was that where she was at now? Apathetic toward me, toward us? Was that what she'd used this space of hers to do—to numb herself to us?

Hell, maybe she'd been on her way to doing that anyway and this sex tape fiasco had just been the excuse she'd been waiting on. Cal was right about her not doing well with big feelings. Things had been a whirlwind with all four of us, so there hadn't been much time to analyze it, but now that things were in this frozen state, maybe that was what she'd been doing, and it had gone a bad way where this relationship between us was concerned on her end.

Fuck!

I'd opened myself up to her.

For her.

I'd risked so much.

She didn't even know just how much.

When I'd come close to that first slipup, I should've shut down. That would've stopped it.

But I hadn't. Because of her. Because of not wanting to lose her.

Was that now happening anyway, in spite of everything I'd put into it, all the effort I'd gone to for her?

Was she really gonna fucking well do that to me? To us? It would crush Cal too, he'd grown so close to her. And Cas had let her into our inner sanctum, he'd trusted her, and he really didn't do that lightly.

Argh! Everything was a fucking mess!

And now Cal was leaving too.

Sure, he'd said it was just a week or two here and there to get his facility up and running, but what about when it took off? Would it become permanent then? If he'd finally found his place in the world, why wouldn't it become so?

He and Cas were in an unstable place too for the first time ever with that revelation of Caspian's about him hating the dark now. That was a deal breaker for Cal, so I didn't know how they were going to move past that. It was the same for me too, I was right there with Cal, I needed the outlet, especially now I was no longer shutdown. It helped to focus me. It helped me to sublimate.

Fuck, all of this was breaking us.

I pulled up to the gates of the Thorn estate.

The security guards looked more than a little surprised, but being the official heir to the estate, they merely paused for a moment before opening the gates and letting me pass through into the courtyard.

They were the only guards to worry about, thanks to Damien's ego, him assuring my mom that he was enough to ward off any trouble. Delusional fuck.

Either way, it was serving me well right about now.

I pulled up in front of the house, then climbed out of my Lexus.

Not wanting to announce myself, I strode to the door and punched the code into the pin pad lock. Idiots, change it up once in a while. Security was seriously a joke here these days. It never had been when my dad had been alive. Then again, everything had been better when he'd been around.

As I stepped into the mansion with all the gaudy, old world feel and décor, my phone buzzed in the pocket of my leather jacket.

Hope sparked and I pulled it out.

That hope was snuffed out when I saw that it wasn't her as I'd hoped.

Cas: I know what you're doing. Don't. Stop and think.

Sebastian: Thinking over.

Cas: I already told you I'm taking care of it. He will be gone soon, far away from the city. You don't need to do this.

Sebastian: The fuck I don't.

Cas: Get control and check yourself. You're Rein, Bastian.

Sebastian: Not anymore.

I pocketed my phone, feeling more buzzing, him obviously not done trying to talk me down.

I was done being reined in and holding back.

I was done with it all.

Striding through the mansion, it didn't take me long before I picked up on that grating, loud mouth voice of Damien's. Then my mom's fake sugary sweet tone that belied the real her beneath.

I followed the sounds until I reached one of her fancy-ass, ridiculously overdone salons with all the bad taste antique furniture.

I pushed inside and found them sitting and having tea, complete with pastries, sitting on opposite couches and laughing and talking like everything was right with the world, that it wasn't all falling apart around me.

She was dressed in a peach dress with ruffles down either side, a pair of her go-to stilettos on, her light brown hair piled on top of her head.

He wasn't wearing his signature hoodie, instead looking prim and proper for their afternoon tea bullshit in a light-blue button down and black slacks.

As soon as he saw me—or more like my furious demeanor—he jumped to his feet and rounded the coffee table between them.

"Seb, what are you—"

I slammed my fist into his face.

His head snapped to the side and he stumbled, the coffee table screeching on the hardwood floor as the ugly cast-iron thing shifted at the impact.

"Sebastian!" my mom screeched.

Damien smirked at me out of her eyeline with his back to her, as he wiped a trail of blood out of the corner of his mouth with his shirt sleeve. "I was just trying to help you out, little brother. All that secrecy was causing you so much heartache."

Piece of shit!

I lunged at him, driving him into the couch he'd been sitting on.

My fists flew, smashing into his face, his throat, his chest, his gut, making him grunt and groan. I was a whirlwind of fury unleashing all over him, blood covering my fists in moments.

It wasn't enough.

Nowhere close.

I heard my mom screaming at me to stop, even threatening to call the cops.

On her own son.

That was about right… when it came to me, anyway.

Damien managed to snag one of my wrists, then he used his weight to jerk me to the side, interrupting my onslaught. In the next, he was kicking me back.

I stumbled into one of the expensive vases on display and it toppled, shattering all over me, making me hiss and shards of ceramic bit into my face and neck.

Damien was there in the next second, standing over me, then wrenching me up by the sides of my jacket.

He leaned in and whispered, "I know you had that bitch of yours replace me. Did you really think that would go unpunished? I warned you not to cut me out!"

Snarling, I grabbed his hands on me, then used them as leverage to slam my head into his.

He cursed and lost his grip, staggering back, clutching his head.

"Baby boy!" my mom cried.

Sickening shit.

I spun into a roundhouse kick that sent him careening across the room into the wall beside the bay window.

I stormed over there and drew one of my blades.

His eyes went wide as I approached, and he held up his hand. "Seb, wait, I—"

A roar tore from me and then I was in his space, wrapping my hand around his throat and restricting his airflow so much so that he was wheezing in moments. "All the shit that you've done and you're still standing! How many times have you ruined my life? How many times have you come at me? No matter what, you keep coming, keep destroying any good that I manage to find! You won't stop! You'll never fucking stop unless I make you!"

I brought the blade down.

But then a hand shot out, stopping the descent.

I turned to see Cas standing there, holding my wrist steady.

"Get control," he said calmly.

"Why? You were right. All those times I'd tied your hands when it came to him, begging you to spare him even though he didn't fucking deserve it, just because he's my brother, because I didn't want my mom to have another family member taken from her… it was a mistake. He keeps coming at me, Cas! He won't stop! He won't! I can't… I can't do this anymore. I fucking can't! He deserves this! You know he does!"

"You're not thinking clearly. You're highly emotional. And your slips lately are likely fueling all this intensity. Skylar too. All of this can be fixed, sweetheart. I promise you, I'll do everything in my power to make things better for you."

"You can't promise that anymore! Everything's ruined! It's all falling apart, Cas!"

"Bastian, you do this and you'll be the one who suffers, not him."

I snarled, then relinquished the blade.

"Fuck this! Fuck all of this!" I yelled.

And then I ran.

I heard Cas calling out after me, but I paid it no mind.

I just kept going.

That hadn't worked.

Delivering punishment to Damien had barely scratched the surface of all the rage and pain ripping through every part of me.

I couldn't quell it.

I just… couldn't.

There was only one solution now.

And that was where I was speeding down out of the city toward.

My old supplier outside Rossun, one even Cas didn't know about.

He'd made sure to cut me off from all the others I'd had inside the city back in the day, so all those were useless for me now.

But this guy, he'd get me what I needed.

And then I could calm down, then I could feel some peace.

I passed the border and zoomed right by, even pushing the limit of my car in the process.

I didn't fucking care.

Nothing else mattered but getting what I needed.

Than stopping all these unruly emotions trying to break me into fucking pieces.

I couldn't think, I couldn't focus, I could hardly fucking breathe like this.

My phone buzzed on the dash and I looked to see a text that sent a jolt through me. Another followed, and I looked to see a Group Text had been opened up.

Skylar: Can we meet?

Caleb: Sure thing, darling. Where and when? Miss you.

Caspian: Bastian is AWOL.

Fucker.

Caleb: Where?

Caspian: Trying to get eyes on.

He wouldn't. I was outside his purview, his influence.

Skylar: Bastian, are you okay? I'm sorry for the quiet on my end, I just needed time with everything. It's been overwhelming and I know it has for you too.

"Dammit."

I pulled over, then sent a text back.

Sebastian: I know my mom was over there. If that's adding to it all, forget it. I already know about your mom and my dad.

Caspian: You do?

Caleb: Know what?

Sebastian: Maria and my dad had a thing.

Caleb: Jesus.

Sebastian: It's old news to me. You reading this Sky? Old fucking news. I don't give a fuck.

Skylar: Okay, wow.

Sebastian: So?

Skylar: It's not just about that. Let's just meet and talk, okay?

Sebastian: What's this talk for? To end things in person so you can't be classed as a coward?

Caleb: Let's take it down, all right?

Caspian: I actually want an answer to that one too.

Sebastian: Well?

Skylar: A step back needs to be taken, yes. But not ending things.

Sebastian: Coward's way out after all.

Skylar: There's something I need to do. I can't do it with the three of you breathing down my neck.

Caspian: What might that be?

Caleb: Jett?

Caspian: You can't hunt down Jett. He can't be touched. You're linked to us now. What you do there will impact us all.

Sebastian: Just let her kill the fucker, then come back to us.

Caleb: You really want our woman to take a life like that? It'll mess her up.

Sebastian: Whatever.

Caleb: Jesus, you're fucked-up right now, B. Take it down, all right? Take a beat.

Sebastian: You're the one taking a beat by leaving us.

Skylar: Caleb's leaving?

Caspian: Jett cannot be touched, Skylar. Tell me you understand that. Let me handle him in my own way. Justice will be served. Not like this, though.

Skylar: I can't promise that.

Caspian: You already have by becoming one of us. You can't take unilateral action. Especially not where this is concerned. You don't have all the information.

Skylar: Then give me the missing pieces.

Caspian: King Manor. One hour.

Skylar: I'll be there.

Caleb: Me too.

Skylar: Bastian?

Sebastian: I'll be there.

I'd have to keep pushing my Lexus to its limits, but I could still make it.

I needed to see Sky.

To make damn sure she couldn't take this pathetic break of hers.

And as soon as she was within my grasp, I wouldn't fucking let her go.

Whether she liked it or not.

Fuck it all.

I wouldn't.

I stowed my phone away, then pulled back onto the road.

Before I could even get up to the speed I needed to make it in time, a car rounded the corner all of sudden, shooting around it at top speed.

Another followed from the left.

Both of them were headed straight for me.

I slowed and shot a look in my rearview mirror to see another coming up at my rear.

What the shit?

I was being boxed in.

I had no choice but to slam on the brakes.

As they closed in around me, I rushed out of the car, drawing my backup blade as I went, seeing as though Cas had my other one from my attack on Damien earlier.

That proved futile in the next moment as half a dozen guys decked out in black sweats with balaclavas hiding their faces bolted out of the vehicles with their pistols drawn and cocked my way.

Shit.

I released my grip on the knife and let it clatter to the road.

In the next second, they were on me.

One of them pistol-whipped me across the side of the head.

I wavered, but it wasn't enough to knock me out.

That was solved in the next second as another grasped the back of my head, then slammed my face into the hood of my car.

Lights out.

My head was pounding.

That, along with a burning ache down the side of my face were the first things I became aware of as I regained consciousness.

I tasted dried blood on my lips, likely coming from the graze I could feel on my face.

It didn't take much for it all to come back to me.

Being surrounded down that backroad by armed men, then being knocked out.

Shit.

I went to reach for the gash, only to find that I couldn't due to some sort of restriction. My hands were bound.

I blinked hard several times, fighting to clear my blurry vision, before I was actually able to make out my surroundings.

I was sitting on a steel chair, my wrists tied to the arms, and my ankles tied to the legs. With zip ties of all things. One of the worst things to be bound with, because there was no inching out of them, and no give either.

I was still dressed in what I had been earlier, my leather jacket, white shirt, and blue jeans. Even my shoes were still on. My phone was gone, though, I couldn't feel it pressing against me as it usually did from where I kept it in the inside pocket of my jacket.

The small room I was confined to was concrete on all sides, even the floor and ceiling.

An unfinished basement somewhere, perhaps? Maybe a storage area, a warehouse?

Yeah, that really fucking narrowed it down.

I tensed at the sound of footsteps coming from outside, just beyond the steel door that I was facing.

Adrenaline thrummed through me as a lock clanged outside a moment before it opened with a grating screech that had me grinding my teeth at the awful sensation.

"About fucking time," an unfamiliar voice sounded.

As he came into view, the visual was anything but unfamiliar.

All the file photos I'd seen of the guy, there was no doubt in my mind as to who he was.

His lips were pulled into a twisted grin as he kicked the door shut, then strode toward me, his gray jeans pulling taut across his big thighs with every move. A gray tank barely contained all that bulky muscle beneath. He was a powerhouse of a man just like Caspian.

His peroxide-blond hair was spiked beyond belief, the wildness in his dark eyes just adding a whole other crazy edge to it all. Or maybe it was me reading into it with everything I knew about him and his true demented nature.

Jett Bane was here before me in the flesh.

The brother of my best friend's biggest rival.

Sky's ex and the monster who'd abused her.

And here I was, bound and incapacitated, unable to do a fucking thing to him.

Unable to deliver the punishment he deserved.

"Took you long enough to wake up, sunshine. A good few hours."

"You should've been praying that I didn't wake up," I seethed.

"Yeah? Is that right?" he asked, amused, while challenge lit his eyes.

"You miscalculated, big time. Kidnapping me was a grave error. One you won't recover from."

That amusement only grew as he told me, "Reality check, gorgeous—you're bound to a chair."

"Come closer and you'll see how much that won't matter."

"Gotta say, I do love myself the feisty ones." He winked. "Then again, you and me have got that in common, yeah?"

I growled low in my throat. "I'm not just talking about me and you know it. At least, you should, unless you've now gone completely off the deep end."

"Ah, right, your beloved Caspian King. King of the City. The almighty himself." He made a show of looking all around even though there was nobody in sight, then he dropped his voice to a whisper like a crazy person, "He's not gonna touch me."

"Sky was right, you really have lost your grasp on any form of reality."

He roared, then thrust his fist into my face.

I hissed as his knuckles scraped across my skin, forming a graze on my other cheek now, my head snapping to the side from the power behind his blow.

Then he was leaning over me, his hands fisted in the tufts of my hair right to the roots and using it as leverage to yank my head back, forcing me to stare at him looming over me.

"Don't talk to me about her. I talk to you about her." All that anger dissipated in an instant, and then he was loosening his grip in my hair, and stroking my jawline. "You really are a gorgeous specimen, aren't you? I didn't mean to mess up you pretty face. Hearing her name from the mouth of another man just got under my skin a little." He patted my cheek. "Bygones?"

"Get your fucking hands off me." I lurched forward to smash my head into his face, but he jerked back just in time, all that fight training clearly paying off.

He laughed. "Whew! Close one. You move fast." He waved his hand. "But take it down. I didn't bring you here for a fight, or to torture you. Nothing like that."

What?"Then why? And I'd get talking if I were you, you don't have much time."

He grinned. "You don't think I do?"

"I'm certain of it."

"You've got some balls. Tied to a chair, weaponless, defenseless, while knowing I've got armed guards with me. And let's not forget the threat I am in my own right. I'm sure my girl has told you all about that, King too."

"She's not your girl," I hissed. "You demented piece of shit. You deserve to burn for what you did to her."

"Yeah, you don't get it."

"You're an abuser, a sick motherfucker. That's what I get."

"The thing about Skylar is that she's hella closed off. The girl's got walls made of fucking titanium erected. You try to get close and she pulls away."

"You didn't get close to her. You stalked her, abused her, made her life a living hell."

"The way it had to be in order to break her down, to smash through all that shit."

"That shit was her rejecting you."

"Nah, she wanted me. She still does. She's just running scared."

"You're delusional."

"Yeah? So it's not happening to you then? She's not cutting and running?" He made a show of checking his watch. "I'd say it's well beyond time. Gotta give you props, you held her attention longer than I figured."

I gritted my teeth.

His eyes lit up as I couldn't check my expression in time.

My emotions when it came to that were way too fucking raw right now.

"There we are. She's doing it to you as well. It's her thing. She wants to belong, but she's afraid of giving up control at the same time, of needing anybody. She thinks it will take away her power, make her vulnerable." He tapped his watch. "Her doing it to you is coming at a good time for me. She's in the perfect headspace. One more push and she'll be nice and wrecked, and ready for me."

"You're not laying a fucking hand on her again."

"Sorry, gorgeous, but she's not your concern."

"The fuck she isn't."

"Oh, that's not a threat. It's a fact. I know it hurts. Hurt me too. Until I found another way and learned how to play this little game with her."

"I'm not walking away from her. We aren't."

"Yeah, I know about the three of you with her. Works out even better. There's more to run from there, more to overwhelm her." He shook his head at me. "If you'd kept her just for yourself, you might've had more time with her. Oh, well, what's done is done, right?"

"It's not done."

"It will be soon enough. You see, she's gonna come at me. She's already searching for me, and I'm gonna let her find me. And when she does, she'll try to take me out. She'll want to go for the kill too. The problem for you is, that's the last thing you three boys will want. In fact, you might say it would ruin a whole lot for you."

Jett cannot be touched, Skylar.

You can't take unilateral action. Especially not where this is concerned.

You don't have all the information.

Caspian's texts to Sky.

I hadn't paid the details a lot of mind, as I'd been focused on other more pertinent things.

Or, at least, what I'd thought had been more pertinent.

"What are you talking about?"

A wide smile spread across his face and it looked creepy as fuck. "So glad you asked." He sauntered back to me and grasped my chin. "We'll get to that in a minute. First, though, let's help you to relax."

He reached into the back pocket of his pants with his free hand, then he had me jolting as he pulled out a syringe.

"What the hell is that?" I demanded, my muscles locking at the sight of it.

Ignoring the direct question, he went on instead, "You know, that brother of yours told me about your issues with drugs and all that. Not for the reason you might think, though. He didn't tell me so I'd use it as ammo. He thought I might already know—and I did, the barebones of it from the media circus that surrounded you back when it happened—and he was adamant that I didn't use anything like that against you, in order to get what I wanted. I agreed, but just to get what I wanted from him. And he was all too willing to give me the in that I needed to track your movements with Skylar, the reason I was able to capture that dirty fuck session down that backroad. You see, I zeroed in on his weakness right away. It was so fucking raw. His jealousy of you, that sibling rivalry, all that toxicity there. That's his addiction and this time he failed to fight it. His trigger was you guys cutting him out and, you know, me playing up that Skylar was replacing him at your sides." He gazed at the syringe in wonder. "So, no, Damien didn't want me going this route. The problem is, it's necessary. You're the obsessive type—you know, all that addiction shit as evidence for one thing—so I know no matter what I do or say, you're not gonna agree to end things with her and let me take back what's mine there. Outside of killing you, of course. But, lucky for you, I can't go there at this point in time. Besides, I don't want to martyr you in Skylar's eyes, now, do I? That would immortalize your love, the last fucking thing I need." He stepped closer. "So, I'm gonna have you take yourself from her. All you need is one little push. Isn't that right? It's where you were headed, after all, to your dealer, when I stopped you on the road." That creepy grin infected his features, his face twisting with it. "I'm just giving you what you want. The thing you actually really want more than her."

Dread trickled down my spine at the sick shit he was saying. "No. You can't—"

In a blink, he was suddenly behind me and trapping me in a completely incapacitating headlock.

I tried to buck in the chair, but he just laughed. "That's not gonna help. It's bolted to the floor. If you hadn't been so focused on Skylar, you would've noticed. You also had a sliver of a chance to hurt me again when I got close that second time, but you didn't take it, because you were too consumed with our conversation—too caught up in her. Love really is blind, isn't it? For the fools who can't make it their bitch like I can, of course."

I felt the needle scrape the skin of my throat. "Don't. Don't do this! It's fucking sick! Don't!"

"Come on now, be a good boy. You'll feel much better soon."

It sank into my flesh, my whole body going rigid as the shock of it took me over, the brutal ramifications rolling over me, knowing what it would do to me, the surge of desperate need that would get its claws into me and drag me down so deep, I'd choke on it.

"There," he said, when he was done, tossing it across the room. "Not long now and you'll be much more at ease." He leaned in and whispered at my ear, as I shuddered from what he'd just done. "In the meantime, I'm gonna tell you a story. You've waited years to hear this, so pay attention. It's the story of the night the Kings and Wayne Thorn met their maker."