Page 18 of Come As You Are
“You can,” I said. “I promise. I had no idea what was going on when I started here, but as soon as I realized, I stopped. And I’m sorry about the storeroom—”
Olivia waved that aside. “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t okay that you did it, but no one got hurt, Illyria didn’t get damaged or fined, and Sebastian’s helping you out now. In the grand scheme of how things have been going, I’d put this in the win column. But…”
“Liv, come on. You know the kid isn’t going to hurt the club.”
I winced at the term “kid” because the feeling I was having right now, seated between Olivia and Sebastian, wasn’t very kid-like. Coming from Sebastian, it hurt even more. I did not want him thinking of me as a kid.
“I’m notthatyoung,” I murmured, and both Olivia and Sebastian turned to look at me.
“No, you’re not,” Olivia said.
Something in her tone or her bearing released a torrent of conflicting feelings within me. I was aware at once of how striking she was, the way she carried herself like a queen, and seemed to have everything under control, but I also saw how vulnerable she felt, how much the burden of running Illyria was weighing on her shoulders. It broke something in me, and I felt tears welling at the thought that I had added to that weight.
“I wasn’t trying to hurt you,” I blurted out. “I had no idea what was going on, and I wouldn’t have done anything that damaged the club or anything like that…” My words dissolved into sobs, tears streaming down my cheeks.
I wanted nothing more than to get out of that office, to hide somewhere and get myself under control. Showing emotion was dangerous in my family, just one more reason for my brothers to try and “toughen me up” or my father to give me extra chores to build backbone, and I felt the familiar struggle of trying to keep everything under wraps bringing fear into my chest. Who I was, who I wanted to love, how I wanted to live my life: those arguments echoed in my head. The imaginary ones I’d had where I pleaded my case to my family, and the real ones that happened after I came out.
Shoving back my chair, I stood and tried to make it to the door, but Sebastian stopped me with a hand on my upper arm before I took more than a couple of steps. The heat from his touch shocked me all over again. I looked at where he touched me, and then up to his hazel eyes, watched them seem to darken as his pupils dilated.
“Vee,” he whispered, his voice kind, gentle. “Don’t run away.”
While I was distracted by Sebastian’s proximity and the way my body was reacting to him, Olivia got up from the couch andcame around the coffee table. She stood on my other side and put one hand on my shoulder, the other on my wrist. I turned my attention toward her, registering in that moment the fullness of her parted lips, the beautiful sharp line of her cheekbones, and the rich darkness of her eyes as she stared into my own with an expression that said she understood.
Something passed between us, a bone-deep sense of being seen and understood in a way I’d never felt before. When I looked back at Sebastian, I felt the same connection and reached out blindly for both of them.
I didn’t know who gathered me in their arms first, nor whose shoulder I leaned into as I gave myself up to the grief and fear and anger I’d been hiding for months. Someone stroked my hair and someone else traced circles on my back like my mom had done when I was little. And I cried.
At some point, the three of us ended up on the couch. I was sandwiched between Olivia and Sebastian, my back to Bast’s chest, my head on Olivia’s shoulder. Her hand was in my hair and Sebastian’s arms were around my waist, his cheek resting on my back just below the knob at the top of my spine.
“We’ve all been there,” Olivia said as I calmed.
Burying my head in her shoulder even deeper, I exhaled, then sat up and wiped my eyes.
“I’m sorry. I don’t normally fall apart like that,” I said.
Sebastian patted my back. “Totally been there,” he said. “Don’t be embarrassed for it all getting to be too much.”
Olivia cleared her throat and stood up, but Sebastian remained on the couch and kept his arms around my waist. I had to admit, it felt nice. He was this solid wall I could rest against while I caught my breath. Olivia paced across the floor of her office, a long, red manicured nail tapping against her lips.
“What are you thinking, Liv?” Sebastian asked.
“I think someone’s sabotaging the club. The question is who and how to catch them.”
Olivia
Sitting on the couchwith Vee sandwiched between Sebastian and me was disconcerting. On the one hand, listening to Vee sob was heartbreaking.
“We’ve all been there,” I soothed as I stroked his hair in what I hoped was a comforting manner. Vee cried harder and buried his face in my shoulder.
Sebastian raised his head, and I found myself staring into his eyes; which was the on-the-other-hand side of this unsettling moment. Since the night I’d watched Sebastian and Vee dance together, I’d been very aware of my attraction to both of them. And now, here we were, on the couch where I’d had one of the best orgasms of my life, and I was holding both of the men responsible for it.
Blood was rushing south so fast, I was dizzy with it and shifted slightly to stave off my arousal. All I managed to do was increasefriction on a part of my body that was already craving more contact.
Fortunately, Vee got himself under control somewhat and sat up. “I’m sorry. I don’t normally fall apart like that,” he said as he wiped at his eyes.
Patting his back, Sebastian told him not to worry about it. “Totally been there.”
I met Sebastian’s eyes again and could see that, yes, something had happened to him in the past that had forged a bond between him and Vee. More than anything, I wanted to ask what it was, and I was almost overcome with the desire to reach out and soothe away the pain I saw in those normally lively hazel eyes.
