Sebastian (The Beck Brothers #2) (16 page)

  Sebastian must have sensed her
tension because he sidled up behind her and kissed her on the cheek, then
whispered something in her ear that Quinn couldn't hear. Raelynn just nodded.
Not wanting to be all up in their business, he gave them some room and moved
into the living room. He flopped down onto the sofa and kicked his feet up onto
the coffee table.

  A beer bottle thumped him on the
chest from over his shoulder. Quinn glanced back to see Sebastian standing
behind him. Quinn took the beer and thanked him. Sebastian then went back into
the kitchen.

"So tell me about this Frenchy
you're working with, is she hot?" Sebastian asked from the kitchen.

Quinn took a sip of his beer before
answering. "Yeah."

Sebastian was silent for a moment, making
Quinn turn slightly to look back at him. Sebastian was standing at the counter
with Raelynn staring at Quinn expectantly. "And?" He prompted.

"And what?" Quinn frowned.

Sebastian huffed. "’And what?’"
Sebastian mocked. "Are you gonna try to bang her?"

Raelynn rolled her lips in as if she was
trying to hold back a laugh. Her light blue eyes sparkled with amusement and
sympathy, as she looked at Quinn.

"Why would I try to bang someone I
can't stand?" Quinn asked incredulously.

"I can't stand Raelynn, but I bang
her all the time." Sebastian shrugged, fighting back a smile, as he snuck
a glance at her.

Raelynn gasped in mock outrage and
elbowed him in the gut. Sebastian, "Oof-ed," and twisted away from
her. "I think it's the other way around, jerk,” she grunted, punching him
in the kidney.

"Ow!" Sebastian chuckled.

  Quinn bit back a smile. Sebastian
being playful with a woman? It's been a long fucking time since Quinn had seen
that. He didn't ever tease Victoria because she always took it the wrong way
and he'd end up in the dog house.

  A knock sounded, interrupting
Sebastian's beating. The apartment door opened and Henry walked in, followed by
Christian and his best friend Shea Dempsey. Apparently, Henry already knew
Raelynn because he gave her a big hug. She introduced herself to Christian and
Shea. Henry came up behind Quinn and gave his shoulders a squeeze before going
and dropping into the recliner.

"Hey man." Henry smiled
brightly.

"Hey," Quinn replied. "What
are you so happy about?"

Henry sighed and raked a hand through his
hair. "I'm happy to be away from the kids and Claire for a little while.
They're driving me nuts."

"That's what happens when you get
married and have kids,” Sebastian grunted from the kitchen.

Henry rolled his eyes. "I know that,
dickhead. I wouldn't change it, but it's nice to get away every now and
then."

  As Sebastian and Henry bickered
back and forth, Christian came and sat down next to Quinn. Christian patted
Quinn's knee in greeting, then settled back and took a sip of his beer. Shea
sat down next to Christian, then leaned over and shook Quinn's hand.

"Who are we playing today?"
Christian asked, effectively cutting off Henry and Sebastian's bitch fest.

"The Cowgirls,” Sebastian replied,
setting a bowl of tortilla chips and the taco dip on the coffee table.

  Henry gave up the recliner for
Raelynn, which Sebastian immediately stole, who then pulled Raelynn down onto
his lap. Henry sent Sebastian a dirty look before folding his long legs to sit
on the floor, next to the coffee table. Henry dug into the taco dip and moaned.

"Holy shit...this is amazing, who
made it?" Henry asked with a mouth full of taco dip.

"I did,” Raelynn answered with a
pleased smile.

Henry gave her a thumbs-up as he stuffed
his face again. Quinn dug in, too. It was really good, probably one of the best
taco dips he's ever had.

  The game started and the small
apartment got loud. It was mostly Sebastian, Henry, and Raelynn. It was obvious
that she actually enjoyed the game and wasn't just faking it to please Sebastian.
And shit, the way Sebastian looked at her - it was completely obvious the man
was head over heels in love with her. Quinn couldn't help but watch the two of
them together. They were so perfect for each other. He could definitely see
them getting married, if Sebastian ever got over his fear of love and marriage.

~~~~~

  Sebastian was insanely happy. He
had the most gorgeous - and perfect - woman in his bed almost every night. Bill
had made a full recovery and got the shop reopened, so Sebastian was able to go
back to work. He wasn't going to Jared as often, down to about once every two
weeks. Sebastian smiled and laughed often, and felt like he was back to his old
self. Things were finally going his way.

  He had finally admitted to Jared
yesterday that he was definitely in a relationship with Raelynn, and that he
had serious feelings for her. Sebastian knew that his feelings were deep, and
probably fell into the L-word category; he just couldn't bring himself to say
it in his head, let alone out loud. But he did agree that he and Raelynn were
officially in a relationship, and that she was his girlfriend. Jared - the
sneaky bastard - had tricked Sebastian. He made him so furiously jealous; Sebastian
actually roared at Jared that Raelynn was his girlfriend.

After being together for four months now,
they started slowly doing other things together besides sex, like going on
dates. How that started, Sebastian had no idea, but it had, and he was glad
because they had such a great time whenever they went out. Sebastian felt like
he could be himself around her; he held nothing of his personality back from her,
and she accepted every part of him. Raelynn was just amazing.

  Raelynn worked a lot, and got
called into work a lot. She had to leave a few times during their dates, but
she always made up for it by staying the night at his place, if she could.
Sebastian couldn't picture his life without her, and that scared him to death.
He promised himself that he was never going to be in this position again, having
deep feelings for a woman. The thought of marriage even popped into his head a couple
of times. He quickly dismissed it. No way! Not going to happen!

  Sebastian stepped into the coffee
shop that was down the street from his job. He wanted a muffin and a cup of
coffee before going into work. He just finished paying when he caught a flash
of blonde hair out of the corner of his eye. When Sebastian glanced to the
side, he saw Raelynn walking into the coffee shop. She was heading straight
down the aisle toward a man sitting at a table next to the windows. Sebastian
frowned. Whom was she meeting? Was it something for work? She was dressed for
work in a suit and her wool jacket.

  Sebastian watched. Dread pitted in
his stomach as Raelynn neared the man sitting reading a book. Sebastian
couldn't see his face because he was looking down, but he just seemed familiar.
Finally, the guy looked up, and Sebastian sucked in a sharp breath, it was
Jared! She was meeting Jared in a coffee shop at 9:00 am. What the fuck? The
scene just got worse - Jared stood, gave her a warm, almost loving kiss on the
cheek, then a tight hug.

  Sebastian's heart pounded. What
was he seeing? He had known that they knew each other because Raelynn had
called Jared her friend, but what if they were more than
just
friends? Could Raelynn be messing around
with Jared while she was with Sebastian? Was Sebastian the
other
guy? Sebastian's anger spiked. How could
she do this to him? After everything he has been through! She knew everything;
he told her everything! And Jared, that fucking asshole! After everything Sebastian
admitted to him yesterday - was Jared running around behind Sebastian's back,
fucking his woman this entire time?

  Sebastian didn’t even realize he
moved until he was shoving Jared to the floor. Jared’s wide green eyes stared
up at him in shock, but Sebastian didn't know if he was shocked to find himself
on the floor, or that he was caught.

"Sebastian!" Raelynn cried.
"What are you doing?" She squawked and moved to help Jared up.

Sebastian swung around to glare daggers
at her, stopping her dead. "How could you do this to me?" Sebastian
bit out through clenched teeth. His nostrils flared from the force of his
breaths, and his hands shook with the anger coursing through him.

Raelynn's mouth worked but nothing came
out. She looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
she finally asked. She glanced at Jared, who was getting to his feet.

"Don't give me that shit! I saw your
little exchange! How long have you been fucking him?" Sebastian shouted,
pointing at Jared. Raelynn gasped in shock.

"Whoa! Sebastian, you’ve got the
wrong idea," Jared said in his soothing voice that usually calmed
Sebastian down. Right now, it just pissed him the fuck off.

Sebastian turned and gripped Jared up by
his shirt. He pulled him up so that they were nose to nose. "You shut the
fuck up! I trusted you! And this is what you do to me?" He snarled,
shaking him.

Sebastian shoved Jared away. Jared
stumbled back into a table, ending up on the floor again.

"Sebastian..." Raelynn
started, her voice pleading.

"Don't! This is exactly why I didn't
want to get this close to another woman! You're all the fucking same! Damnit! I
can't believe I've been so blind," he said with a bitter laugh. "After
everything I've been through...this was the last thing I needed, Raelynn,”
Sebastian choked, his emotions threatening to break him down.

Raelynn had tears running down her face.
"Please, just listen for a minute..."

"NO! We're done! I can't...we're
done,” Sebastian hissed as he backed away.

  Sebastian forgot all about his
coffee as he practically ran out of there. He also ignored the stares from the
other customers. The pain was threatening to bring him to his knees. He choked
back a sob as his heart shattered into pieces. That was twice now that a woman
he loved cheated on him. Aw fuck, did he just say the L-word?
Jesus Christ!
Sebastian couldn't handle this right
now. He had finally healed, and now he was falling apart all over again.
Sebastian raced to his truck, the cold October wind slapping him in the face.
As soon as he got in and started it, he peeled away from the curb. He couldn't
work today, he'd call Bill after he calmed down.

  Sebastian ran to the one person he
could talk to about anything - Henry. It took him twenty minutes to get to his
office and park. He paced in the elevator on the way up. When he got off the
elevator, he bypassed the receptionist - who called after him - and jogged down
the aisle to Henry's office. When he got there, he banged on the door.

"Henry! Henry, you in there?" Sebastian
called.

The door swung open and Henry stood there
looking confused. "Sebastian?"

  Sebastian walked in and Henry shut
the door. As soon as the click sounded, Sebastian lost his composure. He
covered his face with his hands as the tears started falling. He was such a pussy,
again, crying over a woman who tore his heart out.

"What the hell is going on?"
Henry asked worriedly, his hand gripping Sebastian’s shoulder.

"Raelynn...she's been cheating on
me," Sebastian choked out from behind his hands.

"What? Are you sure?" Henry
asked in disbelief.

"I just saw her with my therapist.
She kissed and hugged him. They were definitely more than friends,"
Sebastian whispered. He dragged his hands down his face then looked at Henry.

"What kind of kiss?" Henry
asked gently.

"It was just on the cheek,"
Sebastian mumbled.

"So why do you think that they're
more than just friends?" Henry asked, still squeezing Sebastian’s
shoulder.