Page 68 of Good Sisters

‘Jess, Jess, are you okay?’ I shook her.

She looked at me bleary-eyed. ‘I don’t feel well,’ she said. I sat her up, she retched and then threw up all over me and Tom’s bed.

‘Oops.’ Sebastian cracked up laughing and stumbled sideways.

‘What did you do to her?’ I shouted at him. ‘What the hell was going on in here? If you touched her, I swear to God …’

‘We weren’t doing anything,’ Sebastian said.

I looked from his naked torso to hers.

‘Nothing? Really? You expect me to believe that? Shall we get your parents up here and ask them if this looks like nothing?’

‘Jesus, it’s all right,’ Sebastian said, finally a little glint of fear in his eyes. ‘I would never hurt Jess. We weren’t doing anything bad, I promise.’

‘Did you have sex?’

‘No!’ Sebastian shook his head vehemently.

Jess groaned. ‘I’m okay, Julie. I’m sorry … We didn’t do anything.’

I was aware of the guests downstairs. I needed to keep thisquiet. I wanted to protect Jess. I needed to shut this down. I wanted the little prick out of my house.

‘Get out of my sight before I kill you, you little shit,’ I hissed at him. ‘Right now!’

‘What’s going on?’ Luke arrived at the door, out of breath.

‘Tom told us Jess was locked in here.’ Leo was right behind him.

They stopped dead when they saw the scene in front of them.

‘What the fuck are you doing?’ Liam asked Sebastian.

I managed to pull Jess’s top on.

‘Help me get Jess into the bathroom,’ I told Leo. ‘Luke, go down and get me a bottle of water and a cup of coffee.’

‘Liam, show Sebastian to the front door and don’t say a word to anyone. We need to contain this, for Jess’s sake.’

I watched as Liam grabbed Sebastian and shoved him roughly out of the door.

Leo helped me get Jess into the bathroom. I told him to leave us then – I had to clean her and myself up. Vomiting had sobered her a little.

‘I’m so sorry, Julie. I had too much prosecco.’

‘You’re fifteen. You’re not supposed to be drinking. And as for going into a bedroom with a boy and locking the door, what were you thinking, Jess? That is just so dangerous. Anything could have happened. You might have said no and he might not have stopped.’

‘It’s okay, Julie. Sebastian is really nice. We like each other. We just wanted to hang out on our own.’

‘Jess, you were doing a lot more than hanging out. You’re drunk and half naked. If I hadn’t come in, God knows how far you’d have gone.’

She swayed. ‘Julie, it wasn’t like that. He just wanted to mess around a bit. I really like him.’

I wiped vomit off her chin with a wet facecloth. ‘Jess, listen to me. I have to ask you – and youmustbe honest. Did you have sex with Sebastian?’

‘What? My God, Julie, no. Of course not. Just a bit of, like, kissing and stuff. I wouldn’t be that stupid.’

‘Swear?’

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