Page 18 of Release
Chapter 7
SEBASTIAN flippedthrough the TV channels and landed, completely by accident, on the music channel. Wouldn’t you know it, a music video by Lexxi Rock happened to be playing. He had not been able to get her on the phone today. She had sent him a few texts, though. Now it seemed he had to settle for getting a small dose of her, the one she shared with her television audience of millions.
He thought back to when Clint had tried to get him to listen to her albums. He hadn’t then. He just didn’t have the desire at the time. Now that they were closer—despite the distance—listening to her voice felt right.
The doorbell rang. Sebastian quickly grabbed the remote and muted the volume. “Just a minute!”
He was floored when he opened the door, but maybe he should have expected this. Aileen stood there, dressed as she usually did, and beside her was a man that held on to her arm like she was his.
This is a first.
“Good evening. Aileen, what are you doing here?”
The man answered for her. “I’m Mitch. Aileen’s husband.”
Sebastian looked at him, curious about why they would be at his door. They were the last people he expected to show up—and he had never seen Aileen’s husband before. It caught him so off guard that all he could do was stare. He was not inviting them in, that was for sure.
Aileen seemed extremely nervous, twisting her hands and looking down at her feet.
“Can I help you two with something?”
Aileen answered this time. “I…ummm…Mitch has something to say.”
For a moment, Sebastian just looked back and forth between the two of them. Taking in the sight of them standing at his door. Wondering if it was some kind of sick joke Aileen was up to.
“Look. We know about you and Lexxi Rock. Aileen saw her here in your house with her own eyes.”
“That’s none of your concern.”
“It is, if you don’t want us going to the media to set them straight about who Lexxi is really dating.”
Sebastian scoffed. “This is crazy. What are you doing? Extorting me? Aileen, whatever you think you saw, you need to think long and hard about what you say and do with the media…” His eyes narrowed when he looked over at her, and he thought of something. “Wait a minute. Hold on, Aileen. Mitch, how exactly did Aileen say she knew me?”
Aileen put both her hands on Mitch’s forearm to get his attention. “Mitch, I really think this was a bad idea. Can we just go? Maybe I didn’t see what I thought I did.”
“Not so fast, woman,” Mitch answered, holding form at the front door. “The man asked me a question and I’m going to answer it.” He turned back to Sebastian and said, “Aileen here told me she met you when she dropped off a contractor quote a few days ago.”
This was too crazy. Sebastian smiled, satisfied. “Really?”
“Yes. That’s what she said and I believe her.”
“Before I ask you two to leave, what exactly did you want?”
“Well,” Mitch started. “We figure one of the top celebrity news sites would pay thousands, maybe ten grand even, to get the scoop on Lexxi Rock and her new man in Tucson. So…I don’t know. Ten thousand dollars?”
Sebastian almost broke down laughing. “You and your wife want ten thousand dollars from me so you can keep quiet about something your wife may or may not have seen? Listen folks, I think you’re at the wrong house…and Aileen, you be careful about throwing rocks with that glass house of yours.”
Mitch looked at her and back at Sebastian. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think I’ll let your wonderful wife enlighten you. Now get the hell off my porch.” Sebastian swung his door shut without another thought and went back to watching TV.
When there was another knock on the door a half-hour later, Sebastian was ready to punch in a wall. He had spent some time stewing over Aileen and her husband’s visit. These people had some nerve to think they could extort him that way.
It had better not be them again.
He pushed off the sofa and stomped to the front door again, limping as he went. He didn’t even wait to open the door before he started shouting.
“Who the hell do you people think I—” He paused mid-shouting when he realized it was Alexandra. “Alexandra? Hi. Sorry, I thought it was someone else. What are you doing here?” He remembered his manners the next second. “Come in.”
