Once he’d backed away from me, I did damage control and grimaced when I saw I’d blown my load on the side of the seat. That was gonna be fun to clean up tomorrow. Actually, I wanted to get it done right away, so I grabbed a pack of wipes from the glove box.
Sebastian found that funny.
I let him have it because I loved that sound. It’d been a long time since I’d heard him laugh. Or chuckle, I guessed. A laugh would be asking too much.
After zipping up and getting rid of our waste, I picked up my hat from the ground and brushed away some dirt.
“Can I drive you home now?” he asked.
I nodded once.
Six
“Do you think you can handle Teddy’s birthday breakfast tomorrow?”
“Of course.” I frowned at him. “Quit tryna get rid of me.”
He rolled his eyes and made a turn. In this area, it was one residential neighborhood after another. “I’m not. I figured you’re gonna be hungover.”
“I’ll be fine.” I glanced out the window again and traced some stray raindrops on the glass with my finger. “Is that another tradition of yours? First the breakfast, then the party later in the day?”
“Not really,” he answered. “Teddy always chooses an activity instead of a party, so we do the breakfast at my place because there’s more room. We eat, he gets presents, and we have cake. Didn’t you get Soph’s text?”
Yeah, I should’ve paid more attention to the details. I remembered seeing something about breakfast at Sebastian’s house at nine and then something about bowling.
“I’ll read the fine print about the bowling tomorrow,” I replied, adjusting in my seat. Damn, I was gonna be sore in the morning. “My ass hurts.”
Sebastian laughed through his nose. “Good.”
Dick.
“My heart hurts too, you know. Some compassion wouldn’t kill you. I just lost my dog.” My jaw ticked, and I had to take a breath to let the annoyance simmer down.
“What? Did Rosie die?” His posture changed, and I could’ve sworn I saw concern in his eyes for a brief moment. “I assumed she stayed behind in Georgia.”
I shook my head. “I was gonna bring her, but I visited my brother on the way, and he has a knack for finding cancer in my dogs. Aggressive lymphoma—I had to put her down.”
As much as it pained me, it felt kind of good to talk about it.
“Shit. I’m sorry, Blake. I know she meant the world to you.”
I swallowed at a sudden onslaught of emotion and nodded with a dip of my chin. I was a little surprised he remembered her name, to be honest.
“She would’ve turned eleven today,” I admitted. “Hence the wise decision to go get drunk.”
“Ah.” He nodded slowly and checked his blind spot before crossing Emsworth. In my research of the area, this was the road Realtors kept track of. It was more expensive to live within the area encased by Emsworth because it was closer to the marina.
People cared about the weirdest shit. A plot of land, if there’d actually been any, inside that area would’ve gone for three times as much as I paid for Soph and Dylan’s. It was a matter of ten fucking minutes.
Case in point, we arrived at the end of Marten Lane way too fast.
In ten minutes, you couldn’t even go from one end of our land in Georgia to the other.
Sebastian killed the engine on the street, as opposed to driving it onto the lot, and I realized he’d have to return to the marina somehow.
“I can ask Soph and Dylan to come get me in the mornin’,” I said.
He raked his teeth over his bottom lip and glanced at the RV. “Or I can come get you. I gotta step out to buy juice and Nutella anyway. Teddy’s list was very specific.”
That coaxed a smile out of me. “All right. What time do you want me to be ready?” Luckily for me, I’d already wrapped Teddy’s gifts. I just needed a shower and possibly the hair of the dog. We’d see how I felt. Most of the time, my hangover symptoms consisted of an insane thirst for water, pineapple juice, and coffee.
“I’ll knock on the door to your mansion at seven thirty,” he replied. “And that was a joke. I won’t knock, so you better get your ass out here.”
“Can’t stop thinkin’ of my ass, huh?”
He snorted and side-eyed me. “Get outta the truck, Kidd.”
“Okay, Wilder,” I mocked and opened the door. I was starting to think he loved my truck. “For the record, that is a mansion to me. Just imagine being able to hit the road whenever you want—and you don’t even have to leave your home. You could be walking Mischa and Echo in Redwood tomorrow.”
He was watching me as I jumped out of the truck and turned to face him.