TRISTAN
“They shouldn’t be fucking around,” Elliot grumbled from the couch across from me. I was in a bit of a mood myself, mainly because I was jealous that it was Seb that got her first. Not that I was that surprised. He was the first one to fall for her, and he was the first one she fell for. I scrubbed my hands over my face and through my hair.
“Elliot,” I started, taking a deep breath.
“Don’t fucking start,” he said, getting up and stomping out of the room.
“Okay, then,” I said to the empty room. A moment later, Seb walked down the stairs, hair sticking up at all angles and a smile on his face.
“Pleased with yourself?” I asked him as he plopped himself down onto the couch Elliot had just abandoned.
“Very,” he answered. “Was she that loud?” He looked over at me with a shit-eating grin.
“You know she was.” I closed my laptop and couldn’t hold back the laugh at just how pleased he was with himself. No matter how jealous I was that he got to taste her first, I was relieved to see him smile again. “How’s she doing? Sleeping again?”
“Yeah. She’s hurting, mentally and physically. But she’s doing better than I expected.” He chewed on his thumb and then looked over at me with a mischievous smile. “I think the multiple orgasms helped.”
I stood up and put my laptop down on the coffee table.
“We have shit to discuss,” I told him as I walked past him and into the kitchen to make another cup of coffee. I was on my fourth of the day, trying to get through planning our next steps with her family and whoever it was that had taken her.
“I figured you already had a plan, and Elliot and I would just fall in line,” he said with a bite in his tone, following me into the kitchen.
“Despite the way we’ve been acting the last couple weeks, we’re still a team, and I would prefer for us all to be on board before we jump into anything. Maybe if we decide on a plan that Elliot is okay with, it’ll help his sour-ass mood.”
“Alright,” he said, hopping up on a barstool. “What’s your idea, then?”
“Well, the first thing is to not let our territory go unguarded for too long. We need to get back to London before her family decides to just take over. It worries me, us all being here.”
“Niko and the others can handle it,” Seb said, shaking an empty mug towards me. I rolled my eyes and took it from him to make him a cup as well. “They’re more than capable of handling that shit. Next problem.”
“They may be more than capable of handling rival gang members, but that doesn’t mean we should make them deal with it on their own, and it definitely doesn’t mean they can handle the big guys. We should at least plan to pop in every once in a while until this shit is over with to keep Dulca on his toes. If you think he won’t try shit just because we aren’t there, you’re delusional.”
“We aren’t leaving her here alone,” he volleyed back.
“I never said we would.” I didn’t want to leave her alone either. Even if she was safe in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, she wasn’t going to be left out of our sight ever again.
“I’ll stay.” I looked up and saw Elliot standing in the doorway. Seb let out a loud cackle that I wanted to mirror. The last of us I would have thought would volunteer would be Elliot. I also would’ve been lying if I said it didn’t worry me to leave them alone together. Seb and I could come back to the house being burnt to the ground and them fighting to the death.
“Why do you want to stay?” I asked him, suspicion heavy in my voice.
“Because Scarlet and I have some shit we need to work out. Just me and her. I’d prefer us not have an audience for it.”
“Yeah, that’s going to be a hell no from me, mate,” Seb said, laughing to himself. His back was to Elliot, and I looked between the two of them. Honestly, it would make more sense for Elliot to go with me. He was the supposed brawn of the operation, and Scarlet had always been more comfortable with Sebastian.
But if we left her and Elliot alone to get their shit out in the open, maybe he would finally get over himself and they could fuck it out.
It also wouldn’t hurt to have Seb’s particular set of gifts with me in case something went wrong. Elliot could fight anyone that came our way, but Seb… Seb was his own brand of crazy. He wouldn’t let anyone get in the way of him getting home to Scarlet.
He finally realized I had been quiet for too long and looked up at me.
“T, no,” he said, his temper suddenly rising. “You said we wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t a unanimous decision.”
“You want to keep Scarlet, yes?” I asked him.
“Dumb question.”
“If you want to keep her and have her be as happy as she can, you need to let her and Elliot work out their shit.” I looked at Elliot out of the corner of my eye and saw him smirking. I was just glad Sebastian couldn’t see the look on his face. If he turned around and saw the thoughts written all over Elliot’s face, he’d never leave them alone again. Whatever it was he had planned, I had a feeling it would end up working out whether he intended it to or not.
“And,” I continued, “if someone is going to stay with her, it makes sense that it would be the bodyguard of the group, yes? Wouldn’t that make sense from the outside looking in?”
Seb looked up at me, angry resignation in his eyes. He was going to give in to the idea, but he wasn’t thrilled about it. He popped his knuckles and then rolled his neck before jumping off the stool and going to stand in Elliot’s face.
“I will not hesitate to knock you out again if you hurt her.”