6. ~Sebastian~

She hadn't been at Luxe for two days.

Well, counting the weekend, we were talking four.

Four whole days that I hadn't laid eyes on her, let alone anything else.

Logically, that was a good thing.

It meant I'd gotten under her skin like I'd intended.

That I'd rocked her new outlook and created cracks in her well put together life.

All those lies she was telling herself.

But beyond all that rationality, there was something else, something I didn't care for, crawling under my skin, nagging at me with every day I showed up at Luxe and didn't see her there.

And it was making me antsy as fuck.

Keeping it from my outward demeanor was only serving to exacerbate it.

It would cause a stir from both Cal and Cas.

If they knew I'd had a reaction to her, that I still was having an aggravating reaction, they'd swoop on in and take this task from me. They wouldn't want to risk it. They'd see it as a sign that I was headed for another downward spiral.

I couldn't let that happen.

I couldn't let them take this task from me.

I'd only gotten started with the feisty little thing that was Skylar Bennett.

I wanted to believe it was just about the satisfaction of completing the task I'd been assigned by Caspian, the sense of accomplishment and continuing my winning streak of trouncing whatever I set my sights on—tasks, assignments, everything.

But there was something else there too, a need that went beyond that.

I'd thought it had just been an odd attraction to the energy she exuded. That day in the parking lot had caught me off guard, because I shouldn't have been able to feel any of that. It should've just been about the mission at hand. She should've just remained as a key piece on the board that Cas wanted control over.

I hadn't even intended to take things to a sexual place when I'd pulled her into that stairwell a few days ago.

But her reactions, that dark and twisted nature of hers that had risen from my initial provocations had called to me in a way I hadn't felt before. It had ripped right through the walls I'd erected and a voracious need had taken me over. It had been all roadblocks down as I'd tasted her, been all fucking over her, and had my fingers deep inside her tight little cunt making her shatter for me, swallowing her pleasure, her animal clashing with mine.

I'd been so close to tearing into her with my cock, but the look on her face had stopped me. The confusion there, the conflict in herself. She'd looked so fucking lost.

Goddammit. It shouldn't have bothered me. It shouldn't have touched me.

But it had.

And I needed to figure out why.

I needed to know why I could feel around her.

I knew facts about her, sure, but reality and being up close was a whole lot different. Besides there were things that intel couldn't ascertain. And those things were what I needed in order to figure out what the hell was going on here.

"I hate you."

I'd breathed in that hate, eaten it up, fucking relished it.

Again, I shouldn't have.

It should've just been a tick in the positive column, indicating I was well on the way to completing my task when it came to her.

I forced myself back to the immediate moment, as I continued rummaging in the fridge.

Again, not the usual for me.

I was precise, strategic.

I finally settled on a Tupperware of the many prepared meals that Cas had made his staff whip up for us to ensure—well, more like enforce—that we were well fed while we were living out here alone in this mansion off campus.

For the last few years, Caleb had been living with Cas while they'd worked together. And I'd been there for a while too. Cas hadn't wanted me out of his sight after what had happened previously, namely my stint in rehab and all the complications that had come along with that.

I hadn't even wanted to attend Luxe originally. I'd been more interested in a community college program in Architectural Drafting, rather than going the full architect route. I liked the hands-on aspect and the technical focus, rather than the design of it all. I'd taught myself the Revit software and even programmed the families to my liking, to suit the needs of the projects I'd assigned myself. That was where my strength was. The technical side of things, the logic, the patterns, the formulas, the math. Not aesthetics.

But after my public reputation had taken a hit due to my descent into addiction, attending Luxe had been the best bet to counter that and demonstrate stability and me getting back on track. It had put my mom at ease and taken pressure off, settling the Thorn media circus.

Somewhat.

I still couldn't be out in public without being tailed by paparazzi, without my every move being documented and analyzed to the nth degree.

But that was par for the course.

I'd been front and center like that since my high school days.

And I'd learned to handle it now.

More than that, Cas had taught me how to use it to my advantage.

He abhorred media attention, but he could work it like nobody else I'd ever known. Even my mom who was all about putting forth a pristine, perfect appearance in the public eye.

She certainly had her work cut out for her there where Damien was concerned.

At least lately.

If anyone was headed for a downward spiral, it was him.

A curse from Cal drew my attention, the clacking of his laptop keys coming into focus now they weren't drowned out by my whirling thoughts.

"Everything all right?" I asked over my shoulder as I placed the container on the worktop and took in the heating instructions taped to the side.

I smiled to myself, Cas certainly covered all bases.

"Just coming up against some resistance."

"Resistance? You're delving into that hacktivism of yours again?"

He shrugged, trying to play it off and not lifting his gaze from his screen. "A little."

"What about your readings? That assignment you were already given?"

"I've got it handled, B. Business Management is a breeze for me after learning from our genius tycoon, Caspian King, for so long."

"Cas doesn't always toe the line. It might not translate well to this degree program." Hell, I knew it was one of the reasons Cas had pushed him toward Luxe to do this, so Caleb would avoid using the same underhanded and ruthless business practices and approach that he did. It brought out something in Cal, something dangerous and hella dark when he went down that road. Cas had a different way of handling it, to avoid that corruption. But Cal… he liked it too much. Our nightly activities had started to fall short of satisfying that in him because of it. And that was saying a hell of a lot, considering how demented those could get. So now he was supposed to be embracing collegiate life, moving away from all the rest. Caspian had even cut back on our nightly stuff and delayed any more ops to give Cal time to calm down.

"Caleb," I said, walking to him as he sat up at the island in his lounging attire—a pair of gray sweats and a white muscle tee. His sandy-blond hair was all wild and disheveled, his mocha eyes in that intensely focused state and slightly bloodshot, the look he got when he was in obsessive mode with cracking something. The gummy worm hanging from his lips as he absently sucked on it was another giveaway. Not to mention the empty coffee cup on his other side drained to the very last drop.

"I just need another hour or so."

"Until what?"

"Until I'm able to breach the security of Shakers."

"What's that?"

"A strip club that opened up six months ago in the bad part of downtown, one that's turned into a hell of a hotspot real quickly."

"And? What of it?"

"I've heard rumors from my contacts that it's doubling as a brothel. The backrooms aren't just used for personal lap dances."

I stilled. Oh no.

He'd found another fixation.

"The girls are being coerced—or forced—into doing a whole lot more than that."

"You don't know that for sure."

He finally looked up at me. "Hence, me trying to crack this to get proof."

"Hand it over to Cas. With his next-level tech, his people will be able to—"

"I want to do it," he cut in, harshly. Definitively. "Once I have proof, then I can bring it to Cas and we can take that shithole out."

"You think this will give him the impetus to re-launch things?"

"Of course. We can't let something like this stand. It's why our outfit exists in the first place, to stop shit like this, to instill fear in these types of fuckers, to exact punishment and justice. The fact we haven't been out there doing it for weeks because of Cas pulling things back after what Damien did, is gonna have them thinking we're gone, taking away the deterrent we functioned as."

It was clearly more than that for him. He needed it.

He had to deliver that punishment.

He was Wrath after all.

But Cas hadn't just pulled back because of my misguided brother. It had been in part about Cal as well, how consumed he'd become by the dark.

It was a fine line to walk because Caleb needed it, but too much was also detrimental.

I really didn't envy the difficult position and complicated decision Cas had to make.

Once he laid down the terms, I was the one who ensured we all kept to it, that we walked that line, but determining where that fell was a whole other deal.

"Things won't deteriorate that quickly." I shut his laptop lid. "Now, take a beat. Focus on Luxe."

He glared up at me. "You don't need to rein me in, Bastian."

"This is friendly concern." I tugged the gummy worm from his mouth and tossed it beside the bowl full of far too many others. "No more. We're about to eat. You can't subsist on these gelatine nightmares and coffee alone."

"I'm sublimating with the gummy worms."

"What?"

He snatched up a fresh one and licked the length of it, his tongue then swirling erotically.

I shifted my weight and he smirked. "Hmm, is that a reaction?"

"I'll leave that to you and Cas."

He popped the gummy into his mouth and chewed it. His gaze fixed on me, he swallowed, then said, "You just squirmed. Could it be that my little show was eliciting some delectable fantasies of a certain ballsy babe tonguing your cock just like that?"

Off my withering look, he persisted in his usual way, reminding me, "I was the one who rendered that camera non-operational and kept anyone from venturing into that stairwell. You were meant to talk with her away from prying eyes, namely, Damien's, to push her further, draw her into our web. Seeing as though you emerged smelling like freshly eaten cunt, and I caught her disappearing in a disheveled mess, it's clear something else happened entirely."

"I did what was necessary. She revealed Onyx to me."

"What was necessary, huh?"

"That's right."

"How about you calling her beautiful?"

"What?"

"I've never heard you call anyone that before. Not a single one of your string of girlfriends over the years. You know, before you went the whole celibate route."

"You mean all those media whores who used me in a bid to gain their own celebrity? All those fucking liars?"

He grinned.

Fucking bastard.

He'd gotten a reaction from me and he was loving it.

"Getting testy there, B?"

"Shut the hell up."

He laughed. "It's fun seeing you this way. It's not like talking to a robot then."

"You don't want to provoke more from me, believe me."

"Does she?"

"Does she what?"

"Provoke more in you?"

I shoved a hand through my buzz cut. "You know I just don't like change and that's what she represents. Especially with Caspian's intentions toward her. This is just the process, part of reeling in a volatile element, then streamlining and keeping things in line."

"If you want me to step in earlier than planned and—"

"No!"

He smirked and I caught myself.

"I mean, I've got it. I'm handling it." I always fucking handled it. Just because this was turning out a little stranger than normal, didn't meant that was going to change, that I was gonna let it get away from me.

"Well, whatever you did certainly got under her skin, seeing as though she's yet to show her face at Luxe since."

"All part of the process."

He nodded along.

Before anything more could be said, my phone buzzed in my pocket. And Cal's a moment later.

"Oh shit. Looks like your psycho of a big brother has just upped the ante," he groused.

I took in the message that had come through to us both via an old group chat Damien had roped us into.

Damien: Look who just walked on into my domain.

There were two pictures attached and I opened them to see none other than Skylar, her blue hair pulled back into a high ponytail, a studded black hoodie zipped low and revealing a vibrant-blue sports bra beneath, along with a pair of shapely black yoga pants.

The second photo had her looking directly into the camera, her eyes narrowed, obviously having caught him snapping them of her.

I caught sight of the red octagonal ring in the background.

I tensed. She was at the abandoned warehouse down by the distillery, one of the main venues where the underground cage matches took place.

Damien: Don't worry, boys, just gonna have a little taste.

Caleb: Don't be fucking stupid.

Damien: Something you wanna tell me then? Is she yours? All of yours? Is that what this hands-off shit is really about?

Sebastian: You're reaching.

Damien: Yeah? Then what's this?

He sent another picture and I opened it to see close ups of my marks all over Skylar's throat, clavicle and the tops of her breasts. They were fading, but still visible at the close-up range he'd zoomed in on them.

"So that's what happened," Caleb mused.

Hell, his wide eyes made it clear it was more than mere musing. He was fucking stunned.

I didn't get the chance to even try to contain that side of things, before Damien sent another text.

Damien: I would say it's King's handiwork, but I know he hasn't been near her yet. Cal doesn't leave marks on women because of his whole hangup, so it's gotta be you, little bro. She hasn't had contact with anybody else at Luxe, girl's real standoffish. A hell of a thing, considering you've been celibate for ages now.

Damien: Tell me, did she taste as sweet as she looks?

Caleb: Fuck the hell off. Walk off the crazy, D.

"Shit," he grunted, getting to his feet and coming to me.

Damien: Waiting on Seb's response, Rowland.

Caleb eyed me as we looked up from our phones. "What do you want to do? Want me to call Cas in?"

If he did that, the way Cas was feeling when it came to my brother, all hell could break loose.

I shook my head.

Sebastian: The marks are mine.

Damien: So she's yours?

I gritted my teeth.

This wasn't my plan, the way I'd laid it out.

I could feel that chaotic energy rising up, threatening my well-crafted control and protocols, trying to infect me, trying to gain breath.

Sebastian: She's mine.

He was a territorial motherfucker, he understood the weight of those words, of that declaration.

It should be enough to get him to end this pathetic game of his.

To back the hell off.

But then he sent another message that ripped right through all of that.

Damien: I thought you hated liars.

"Little fucker," Caleb muttered.

Caleb: What the shit are you talking about? End this bullshit. Now.

Damien: You're the ones with the bullshit.

Sebastian: Excuse me?

Damien: This was her response when I told her what you said.

He sent another picture and we both opened it to see him with his arm wrapped around Skylar with her glaring at the camera while smirking devilishly and holding up her middle finger.

"She's testing you," Caleb deduced. "Pushing back." He scrubbed his hand over his face. "And, shit, she's found a hell of a tool in Damien to accomplish that."

I heard his words, but registering that they'd been spoken was about as far as I got. Interpreting and dissecting them was out of my reach presently.

Because all I could focus on was one fucking thing that was blazing through to me so loudly it was disabling everything else around me.

Why was she allowing his touch?

She didn't look creeped out by it or ill at ease at all.

He'd threatened her, he'd tried to dominate her… how was this happening?

That middle finger stabbed at me like a bitch of a thing with her allowing him close.

Damien: Wanna tell me what's really going on? Last chance.

Caleb: Watch yourself with the threats.

Damien: Fuck me, check this out.

He sent another fucking photo and I braced myself before I opened it.

There Skylar was halfway to the ring, blowing a kiss over her shoulder at the phone screen.

Or to him.

She was down to her sports bra now and I could see her hoodie in Damien's free hand through the angle of the photo too.

What. The. Fuck?

That wasn't all that I noticed.

As if that wasn't bad enough.

It was the scars that caught my attention next.

Over her lower back, her left arm.

I'd suspected as much when I'd felt her in the stairwell, but seeing them was a whole other thing. So much damage. So much pain.

It hadn't been documented in the intel packed Caspian had acquired on her.

Things that ran that deep rarely were.

That was why face-to-face time was required to get a proper and accurate read on somebody, a personal touch.

Which was what I'd been trying to do with her, but her denial and all the lies she'd surrounded herself with had gotten under my skin.

My skin. What the ever-loving fuck? And then I'd veered off my original plan of approach and the knife and the finger-fucking had happened.

While I'd been basking in the dirty memories of every moment of what had gone down, the part that I did regret was losing control over the situation—at least for the most part. I'd still gotten what I'd wanted from her, what I'd set out to get—confirmation of Onyx. She'd even risen to it and shown me facets of her too—the real her. The one we had our eye on.

But she'd come close to usurping me.

Too fucking close.

And now… now there was this.

Anger was gripping me in a biting grip, threatening to ignite a whole lot worse if I couldn't check it.

The worst part was that I didn't think I could check it.

Not until the root cause was dealt with.

I didn't act on emotion.

Or with emotion.

But here it fucking was.

Right here and now.

"Bastian?" I heard Caleb calling to me.

My gaze left the accursed photo and flicked to him. "What?"

He frowned at needing to spell it out. "How do you want to handle this?"

"Not standing around trying to reason with crazy, that's for sure," I muttered, spinning and striding to my jacket that was hanging off the stool beside his where I'd hung it earlier to get dinner ready.

As I slid my phone into the pocket and shrugged it on, I reeled off the heating instructions for the food.

"Hell, no," he said, cutting me off halfway through.

"What?"

"Give me five to get dressed and I'm coming with you."

"That's not necessary."

"It's either me, or I'll call Cas in on it."

I gritted my teeth. "Caleb, there'll be no paparazzi or media attention to worry about at that venue. Or ending up on social media. Everybody knows the deal."

"It's not that."

I stared at him, somehow hoping that he hadn't noticed how I was feeling this. It was futile, really, because I hadn't had the wherewithal to hide it, more concerned with the actual situation itself. And her. Jesus Christ almighty. This was turning into a fucking shitshow of epic proportions.

His hand landed on my shoulder. "You're reacting."

"I'm—"

"Intensely," he insisted, driving it home to me.

I ground my jaw. "Fine. Five minutes and we go together."

As he rushed off to throw on some street clothes, I strode out of the kitchen and headed for the foyer, starting to pace back and forth as soon as I got there.

I sucked in several deep, cooling-off breaths.

It didn't fucking work.

I was too ramped up.

And I bet I fucking would be until this shitshow tonight was dealt with.

Testing me?

The mesmerizing, enigmatic, stubborn, fierce and downright infuriating beauty thought she could challenge me? Call me out like this? Use my brother to do it?

She was about to discover just how badly she'd fucked up.