“It’s only 6:45 a.m.”
“Early meeting.”
She smiles up at me.
“What?”
“Are you in the middle of a freak out right now?”
I swallow the lump in my throat, it’s a strong possibility. “No.”
“Are you regretting anything?”
I hesitate for a moment, and she raises an eyebrow.
“Nope.”
She smiles up at me as she runs her hand over my suit-covered cock. “Do you still love me?” she asks.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, April. Enough of the lovey dovey crap. You caught me in a moment of weakness. We don’t have to go on and on about it.”
She giggles and rearranges the lapels of my suit jacket. “Okay.”
“What are you doing today?
“Well, I can’t go into the office with this black eye. I’ll go home and work from there.”
My eyes hold hers. “Stay here.”
“Why?”
“I’ve arranged security for you.”
She frowns. “Why?”
“Have you looked in a mirror lately?”
“Sebastian, it’s okay. I’m safe.”
“That’s debatable.”
“Do you think she’s going to try and hurt me?”
I rearrange the cufflinks on my sleeves, trying to act uninterested. “I don’t know what that woman is capable of but I’m not taking any risks.”
She smiles proudly, as if knowing something I don’t.
I turn toward my coffee machine and flick it on. “So, you will stay here?”
“Yes, dear.”
“And you won’t leave without security?”
“No, dear.”
“Stop patronizing me, April. I don’t like it.” I fill my cup, and her arms come around me from behind. She kisses my back.
“Do you want to go out to dinner tonight?” she asks.
“No.”
She lets out a deep sigh and steps back from me.
Fuck, I’m being a prick.
It’s not her fault that I’m fucked up. I turn and take her into my arms. “I can bring home dinner, if you like?”
She acts uninterested when I kiss her cheek.
“Anything you want. Text me when you know what you feel like.” I kiss her to try and sweeten the deal.
“What we had last night was pretty good,” she says casually.
“All right.” I take a sip of my coffee. “Choked out chicken it is.”
She laughs out loud, and it brings with it a warm fuzzy feeling. She has the most beautiful laugh I’ve ever heard.
She kisses me and pushes the hair back from my forehead. “I’m feeling like the luckiest girl alive today, Seb.”
My heart swells before I quickly recover. “Yeah, well, you do have a brain injury.” I hug her. “I have to go.”
“Okay.”
I grab my keys and briefcase, and I take one last look at the woman in my kitchen. Wearing my dressing gown, with her messed up hair and black eye, I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.
It’s me who’s feeling lucky.
“Next question,” I snap and point to another reporter. Fuck, I hate this part of the job.
“Can you release any further details on Theodore's condition?”
“Not at this stage,” I reply. “Next question.”
“Is he having a mental breakdown?” someone yells.
No, but I might if they keep this up.
“Theodore is suffering from exhaustion. There is no need for concern, he just needs to rest,” I lie. “He will be back at work before you know it.”
Fuck it, this can’t go on. We need to fess up that he’s a loose cannon with a drug problem and admit that he’s missing. Where the hell could he be? We have so many people out searching, and with every day that passes, my fear for his welfare escalates.
At first, I thought he’d just gone on a bender with a wild woman. Now, I’m not so sure. His phone has been switched off for weeks. He hasn’t touched his credit cards. Although, I know that he does have others in different names so that he could escape the press when he wanted to disappear. I guess his plan has worked a little too well this time.
I wish I paid more attention to those fake names when I saw them way back then. Never in a million years did I think this would ever eventuate.
“Are you going to supersede the Prime Minister?” someone calls.
“No.” I look around. “Next question.”
April
The warm afternoon sun is beaming down on me in Sebastian’s backyard, and I smile up at the sky. The rare London sunshine is a delight.
Bentley is stretched out beside me. I think I’ve found my own little piece of paradise.
I love this house.
I can see why Seb is so attached to it. My mind goes back to Helena and the fact that she’s been in here. We are still trying to work out how she got a key. Apparently, a few weeks ago, she turned up at Sebastian’s sister’s house to ‘see’ Bentley when she had him. Putting the pieces together now, Seb and his sister think that she was there to steal the key to Seb’s house, because she turned up again a few hours later saying that she left her scarf there. That’s when he thinks she went and got a key cut and was sneaking it back in.