Page 41 of Blood and Thorns
He continued to stare down at me, his lashes low, but his expression was now calm.
Shaking my head, I returned to cleaning his skin. There were a few fresh bruises darkening his ribs, so I was carefulnot to add any pressure when I placed a bandage on the longest slice and taped it in place.
“Why do you fight?” I asked, covering the second cut lower across his abs.
He didn’t answer. Not that I expected him to.
Doing the same to the cut on his arm, I sat back on my heels, tossing the bloody wipes onto the table before I stood. There was a slight tension in his jaw when he pulled me forward, forcing me to straddle his thighs. Luckily the armchair was big enough that I could push both my knees into the cushion beside his hips.
The T-shirt rode up, and I was suddenly conscious I wore nothing beneath the fabric. Sebastian’s hands came down on my hips when I went to scramble off, his fingers pressing into my bare skin.
“You asked me to stop.” He said it like it was a question.
“I did,” I replied carefully. “I didn’t want you to kill him.”
There wasn’t even a pause before he continued. “Why? Because you cared for him?”
I wanted to laugh, but that would look like I was losing it–I was–but I couldn’t show weakness while in the enemy’s lap. “I hate him, but that doesn’t mean I wanted him dead.” I didn’t think so, anyway.
“Who was he?” he growled, the sound straining the air between us. His hand came up to collar the back of my neck, thumb reaching around to stroke along the bottom of my jaw.
“Lennon. Gabriel sent him to offer me a deal.”
Sebastian stilled beneath me, his palm rigid against my skin. “What was the deal?”
“Does it matter? I refused, and Lennon got angry. Now he’s dead.”
Sebastian’s fingers tightened enough to bruise. “What was the deal, Arabella?”
My voice was quiet when I answered. “For me to go back to him.”
Sebastian’s nostrils flared, and a muscle ticked in his jaw. “Is that what you want?”
“No.”
His attention was like a weight along my skin, overwhelming to the point of intimidation. Internally I was terrified, but externally I tried to keep myself as calm so as not to agitate him any further.
“Have you decided if you’re going to kill me?” I asked before I’d even realised the question had passed my lips, because fuck me, I didn’t actually want to know the answer.
Sebastian leaned forward, and I carefully moved my hands away so I didn’t accidentally touch him. “Keep testing me and find out.”
Chapter 21
Arabella
I couldn’t sleep. The sheets kept getting tangled around my legs, and while the bed was arguably better than the floor, I couldn’t relax. Not with Gabriel’s offer keeping me awake.
My notebook remained open on the bedside table. Fictionally creating a villain and naming him after my ex should’ve been therapeutic, especially once I’d planned his suspicious and somewhat dramatic disappearance. But it hadn’t helped calm the maelstrom of emotions festering inside me.
Despair and panic. Anger and guilt.
I couldn’t get Lennon out of my head, the way he’d gurgled, blood splattering from his lips before he’d collapsed. The crack of his head hitting the ground, and then the stillness of his body. He hadn’t breathed. Hadn’t moved. Completely motionless while Sebastian stood vibrating with barely contained rage.
I was at the mercy of a man who killed three armed men with an ease that was horrifying. And I hadn’t done a single thing to stop him.
Throwing the sheets off, I silently padded to the door, finding it unlocked. I couldn’t sleep, and I couldn’t spendanother minute staring at the ceiling. Artificial light streamed through the living room windows, London very much awake amongst the street below.
The kitchen to the side was silent, and there was no movement up on the mezzanine above. It seemed only I was up.
