Page 83 of Drawn Together

“Who the hell do you think you are, telling me what to do?” Marcus said as he turned to face Sebastian without a hint of fear in his blue eyes. The gun was now pointed directly at his throat. “You gonna shoot? Huh, Moore?”

Sebastian kept the gun steadily pointed at Marcus, the twitching muscles in his back the only sign of any tension in his body. “Get out of here,” Sebastian said.

Marcus laughed again and turned to me, huddled behind Sebastian. “Tell your father I’ll be calling in his debt sooner than planned.” His eyes blazed into mine, so dark and menacing that I felt true terror. How had he gone from Prince Charming to total psychopath? To make matters worse, I’d been right. Men only wanted me for my body. The rest didn’t matter. It had never mattered.

Once Marcus left, riding back to the house, escorted by Wilson, I discouraged Sebastian from doing or saying anything else. I couldn’t handle it right then. Sebastian had warned me about Marcus, and I’d ignored him, like always.

“Marfil…” he said, approaching me from behind after making sure they had left. “He’ll never lay a hand on you again.”

I turned around to face him and saw that he was still fuming, his fists tightly clenched at his sides.

“I forgot all my tae kwon do,” I said. “You’re going to have to teach me better.”

Sebastian didn’t smile. He simply looked at me and closed the short distance that separated us. When he reached me, he lifted a hand to wipe the tears from my cheeks. “I’ll teach you anything you want,” he said, stroking my face with his rough thumb. His eyes shifted to the spot where Marcus had ripped my shirt open, exposing my pink bra. Without a word, he took off his jacket and held it open so that I could put it on. He stepped in front of me and slowly zipped it up, without taking his eyes off me. “If he touches you again, I’ll kill him.” He said it as if it were an undeniable fact.

I shivered, fully realizing for the first time that my life had changed. I hadn’t wanted to admit it, but Sebastian had been trying to warn me all along. Ever since the kidnapping, from one day to the next, my life had ceased to be the normal drama-free life of any ordinary college girl, to one fraught with threats and dangers.

“I want to leave this place,” I said, wrapping my arms around myself. “I want to go back to New York and forget about all of this.”

Sebastian stood silently observing me. I took a step toward him and, without asking for his permission, I rested my cheek against his chest, still hugging myself. When he wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tightly, I knew that no matter what happened, Sebastian Moore would protect me; he would never let anything bad happen to me. He was the only man I could trust. He was the only man I’d ever desired… would ever desire. And that certainty, I would later learn, meant absolutely everything.

Sebastian said that he would speak to my father about Marcus. I had no idea what Marcus had been referring to when he said that he’d be calling in the debt sooner than expected. I also didn’t understand how he could’ve dared force himself on me, knowing that his father and mine were friends. But the thing that surprised me the least was the fact that my father didn’t say a word about it to me. I was very upset, and I wanted to leave as soon as possible, so I asked Lupe to change my flight to leave earlier than I’d planned.

Spring break had ended horribly, and I simply needed to be home, back to my routines, to try to forget about everything that had happened and feel like I had control of the things around me.

The only true benefit of that short vacation was that I was now sure of three things. First, that my life was still truly at risk; second, that my father hid an unimaginable list of secrets; and third, that I was beginning to fall hopelessly in love with my bodyguard.

CHAPTER 23MARFIL

Sebastian traveled beside me in first class on the flight back to New York. Without my asking, he held my hand and didn’t let go. I was nervous, apart from everything that had happened since my kidnapping, I also had no idea where things stood between us. Living with him had already been intense before. Now, after everything we’d gone through that last week, and knowing for sure that I was starting to have strong feelings for him, I had no idea how to behave in his presence.

A full-fledged war was raging inside my head. My life, as I’d known it, had changed. My list of priorities now included the man seated beside me with his eyes closed, gently rubbing his thumb across my palm. I wanted to bury my head in his chest, to sleep curled up against him, to let him run his hands through my hair until I drifted off, just as he’d done on the flight to Baton Rouge, but something inside me had changed, too. Nothing was the same as it had been before the trip, not only because I’d experienced an attempted murder firsthand, but because of everything Sebastian had done and said during our time there. All that had hardened me, had made me realize that, if I didn’t protect my heart, I might experience the biggest heartbreak of my life.

But whenever I closed my eyes, I still felt his body close to mine, his mouth on mine, his hands on me, and my heart pounded at the memory of that exquisite pleasure.

We barely talked on the flight back to New York, and whenwe reached the airport parking lot without a word, I knew that Sebastian was going to behave as if nothing had happened, that his attitude would remain the same as always. Instead of making me angry, it made me sad. I wasn’t going to keep putting up with his isolation, lack of communication, and distance; I couldn’t do it anymore.

In the car, I rested my head on my hands and looked out the window at the imposing buildings that rose up in the distance. It didn’t matter how long I’d lived there; I always felt like a tiny ant in that city.

It took me longer than it should have to realize we weren’t heading to my apartment. Instead, we were crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in the opposite direction. I peeled my eyes from the road and turned to Sebastian as he parked outside a red-brick restaurant near the East River. Despite often rubbing elbows with snobby, prejudiced people who disliked Brooklyn, Tami and I loved it. Our favorite neighborhood was Bushwick. We often walked its lively streets, popping into galleries to see works by unknown but highly talented artists.

“What are we doing here?”

Sebastian cut the engine and turned to me. “We’re here to eat the best hamburger in New York.”

That was the last thing I expected to come out of his mouth. Before I could say anything, he got out of the car and started walking to the entrance.

I caught up to him just as he stopped to open the door for me. “Why are you bringing me here?” I asked before going inside.

“Why do you think?”

I blinked, confused. “Because you want to fatten me up so you can eat me?” I answered, noticing that my mood had lifted and a smile tugged at my lips.

Sebastian looked at me for a few brief seconds. “I brought you here because I needed to see you smile.”

My lips froze, and I felt a thousand butterflies begin to dance inside me. He didn’t wait for me to answer; he just gestured with his head for me to enter the restaurant, and I did.

The place was casual, almost a fast-food joint, but it was not without its charm.