Page 127 of Please Open Me
He placed a hand over his exposed chest, and that’s when I noticed he’d polished his nails while I was gone. Nothing dramatic, just the same shiny black Lucian often did.
“Why are you here?” he asked, clicking off the TV as if I’d caught him watching porn in the living room.
“Well, until we convince Mason we’re not murderers and that she should come home, I live here too.” I shrugged, taking a seat down by his feet.
“But wearemurderers,” Sebastian hissed, sitting up, coming almost nose to nose with me. “I worked for S.H.A.D.E., you worked for S.H.A.D.E., and killing is in the contract.”
“Work,” I corrected.
“What?”
“You saidworked,but Iworkfor S.H.A.D.E. and probably will for the rest of my life.” I added aWhat can you do?shrug for good measure.
Sebastian seemed to pale at my comment, which only furthered fueled my fricked-up lady boner. Man, I wished he’d just let me peg him.
“Also, who did you kill? I still need to know.” My fingers shifted to aimlessly trying to claw the dried blood from underneath my nail beds.
His jaw set into a harsh angle.
“Okay, I know, I know, but before S.H.A.D.E., I killed eight.” One of which I got away with. But, he didn’t need to know that. “And, sinceyouwon't tell me your measlyone, can I at least knowwhyyou did it?”
“Fine,” he breathed, crossing his arms. “I did it to protect someone I cared about.”
“Ooooh!” I stopped picking at my nails to clap my hands. “I did that once, too! Who were you protecting?”
He stared at me with a deadpanned look, then, after a beat, his cheeks puffed with a breath as he rubbed his temple and adjusted his glasses.
“Fine,” he mumbled, still shaking his head. “but–I want to know whoyouwere protecting. So, I’m going to count down from three, and we’ll say it at the same time. Okay?”
I nodded, practically vibrating with excitement. Not only was I going to get to knowmoreabout who Sebby killed, but I was also going to learn more abouthim. This meant we were one step closer to dating and not just screwing, and that was a win in my book.
We werebondingin a way few others could.
He held up three polished fingers and made a show of counting down, and by the time he got to one, I was more than ready.
What I wasn’t prepared for was for our words to echo off each other.
“Mason.”
“Mason.”
His eyes widened and fell to the floor, and my heart stuttered. Was he lying to me? No, this was a weird thing to lie about.
“... Did you kill her dad?” I asked before realizing that the timeline didn’t add up.
Plus, Seb wasn’t in France to drug James or cut his brakes. But that knowledge only furthered my confusion.
Sebastian’s jaw dropped.
“No, I did not. Thank you for that vote of confidence, though,” he scoffed.
I opened my mouth to press him a little more becausehello, how many people could have been after one little Mason? But, before I could, Sebastian got up and muttered something that sounded suspiciously likeI’m not high enough to deal with this shit.
“Wait!” I hopped off the couch and held up my hands. “Can you help me get the blood out from under my nails? I’m not used to—“ He turned over his shoulder to look at me. I quickly mimed stabbing someone. “But I know you—“
He froze mid-step as his eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”
I shoved my fingers toward him. “Iscrubbed, okay? Twice. But it’s stuck in there, like, way up there. I usually use poison so I don't have to deal with strangers' blood sticking to me, and I feeldirty.”
