Page 5 of Tempting Sebastian

Explaining the situation would be interesting. “One of my staff got into some trouble early this morning and I had to help him. He’s asleep in the spare room upstairs.”

“Bash…explain. Are you ok?” She came up to me and hugged me.

I hugged her saying, “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s kind of a long story. He got beat up. He’s resting now. I just want to let him sleep as long as possible. He really got the shit kicked out of him. I had to lift him into the car and take him to the emergency room.”

Her jaw dropped as she followed me to the kitchen. “Bash, where did this happen?”

I squinted. “Outside the men’s shelter.”

Another suspicious look before she asked, “How early are we talking?”

Here we go.“Four or five in the morning.”

It was like a light bulb went off in her head. “What were you doing outside the men’s shelter at four or five in the morning?”

Letting out a sigh, I said, “Like I said, it’s a long fucking story but I just want to make sure Jackson’s ok.”

“Jackson… ok. Don’t tell me the details then, but be careful.” She leaned on the counter and just glanced up at me.

“Why did you stop by, Quinn? I can see you’re using the key for emergencies.” I gave her a stern look.

She rolled her eyes and said, “Oh! I just had a feeling that something was up with you because I hadn’t heard from you in a while. That’s all.” She shrugged and added, “And I talked to mom earlier. She wants to stop in town to visit us for Thanksgiving instead of Christmas this year. I just wanted to let you know.”

I pointed at her, “Thatcould’ve been said in a text or over the phone. Also, it’s fucking September. Why are we talking about the holidays right now? We have time.”

She punched my arm. “Are you new here? We’re planners. You know that. Assuming your house guest will be gone by then. Hmmm.” She drew out that last part.

“Quinny, it’s September. Jackson is just on the mend. There’s absolutely no reason he would be here any longer than a couple of weeks. Then it’s back to business as usual. He works at the shop.”

She shrugged and turned to walk toward the front door. Rushing past her, I opened the door and leaned against it as she stood against the door frame. She sarcastically offered, “Right. Of course. Business as usual. Good luck, Bash. I’ll check in with you this weekend. Let me know if you need anything or if your house guest needs anything.” She wriggled her eyebrows at me before flashing me a huge smile.

“Bye Quinny. The key is for emergencies only.” I gave her a hard stare and then grinned back at her before closing the door. I turned back to the stairs.

Trying to quietly take the stairs two at a time, I reached his doorway pretty quickly, he was still asleep. I went in and sat back down on the couch, opening my laptop. There was an email from human resources asking what she needed to do about Jackson’s time off. Apparently, he was out of paid leave, which meant he would be taking the time without pay.

Ms. Mitchell,

Thank you for your email. I would appreciate it if you pulled any paid time off from the community pool we have set up for employees when they have an emergency. Please ensure Mr. Hall does not go without pay. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thank you,

Mr. Moore

Other e-mails included inquiries about potential furniture purchases. I could push those off to Ian. Continuing through my email, I glanced up periodically to look at Jackson. He was going to be ok. Everything was going to be fine. That’s what I kept telling myself. I said it over and over but the protective urge I had for him was something I wasn’t used to, not for a very long time. Soon, he would be better and move on his way. I closed my laptop and crept downstairs to grab a coffee, hoping it would calm me down.

Chapter 6

Jackson

When I woke up, it was from a pounding headache and an excruciating pain in my ribs. Opening my eyes, I looked around and remembered I was in Sebastian’s guest bedroom. I tried to sit up, but my ribs hurt so fucking bad. I remembered the kick to the stomach. Yawning hurt, so I grabbed my jaw, too. It was sensitive to the touch, reminding me howSmithhad punched me in the face.Where were my things?Sucking up the pain, I kicked my legs over the massive bed I was in. My right arm reached across my ribs to brace them as I slowly slid out of bed.

I needed to find my things.Had they stolen my money!Panic started to creep in with the thought of me having to completely start over. I walked over to the huge walk-in closet when I saw my bag on the floor. I dug through it, looking for the money. There was nothing. It was gone. It was all gone. Between the pain in my body and the loss of everything I worked so hard for, I broke down into a sob.What was I going to do?I couldn’t start over. I just couldn’t. It had taken me so long to save themoney I had. I was a complete idiot for not opening a bank account or figuring out a way to make sure that the money was safe. I was a fool and so I’d pay the price for it.

I was startled when I heard, “Jackson. What’s the matter?”

Falling on my ass, I slowly tried to turn around, still wincing.

“Hey, take it easy. I’m sorry I scared you,” he said.

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