Page 51 of Release
Chapter 20
SEBASTIAN knewthis was a mistake the second Kennedy walked in the door with Chinese food takeout. He wasn’t even hungry. He sat in the kitchen with her, letting her eat, sitting quietly as she gushed about her day, her new cat, and her most worrisome patient at the clinic. Music wafted in from the living room sound system, and after listening to her for nearly fifteen minutes, he was mentally checked out and still wondering how Alexandra could have done this to him.
Inviting Kennedy over was not the best idea he had come up with lately. Getting laid by his physiotherapist was not going to change what he felt. It seemed like the thing to do at the time, in the heat of his anger, but now, he was just not in that headspace anymore.
As he watched her take another mouthful between almost continuous rambling, he made up his mind. Alexandra owed him an explanation. He didn’t care if she was back in the arms of that cowboy and wasn’t coming back to him. He had just bought his ticket to go see her, and had planned to fit in some time to see his brother while he was there. Now what was he supposed to do?
“Everything okay, Bash?”
He pulled himself partially back into the moment. “Sorry, Kennedy. This was not a good idea.”
She stopped chewing. “What? Chinese food?”
“No, you coming over. I’m sorry.”
“Why?”
“I just need you to leave.”
“So soon? You know the look on your face isn’t so convincing.” She laughed a little, clueless that the look on his face had nothing to do with her and everything to do with how much of an idiot he had been for inviting her over in the first place.
What the hell was I thinking?
Inviting sketchy women over was not going to help him figure out what went wrong with Alexandra. If anything, this dumb move made him think about her more. This approach didn’t work when Aileen had plunged a husband-sized dagger through his heart, and now he knew that was child’s play. He didn’t even love Aileen. He thought he did, but clearly he was wrong.
“So, you want to tell me about her?” Kennedy’s voice breached his thoughts again, throwing him off-guard.
“Excuse me?”
She smiled and stood up. “You’ve been a million miles away since I walked in here. I’ve been talking, trying to keep the conversation going, but I’ve kind of run out of things to say. Maybe you can tell me about her.”
“I’m sorry. Here, I’ll walk you out.”
Kennedy shook her head, irritated. “Fine. Let me get my things in the living room.” She walked across the hall, but instead of picking up her bag on the sofa, she planted herself next to it. Smiling seductively, she asked, “Sebastian Sullivan, are you sure you don’t want to show me that move that you do?”
“Kennedy. You need to leave.” He picked up her handbag and held it out to her. “Now.”
“I can stay the night if you want me to, Bash. All you have to do is ask. Remember how much fun we had the last time?” As she stood up to reach for her bag, she flipped her hair back and looked down at something in the seat. “Oh, look—I must have sat on your phone.”
“Hand it over.” Sebastian took the phone from Kennedy and realized the line was open. He recognized the number on the screen.
Alexandra.
“Oh, shit.”
He placed it to his ear. All he heard was ragged breathing, like she was close to tears or already crying. A sinking feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. “Hello? Who is this?” he asked, already knowing full well who it was.
After a few moments of silence, Alexandra answered, “Um. Hi Bash.” Her voice was strained, but still made him regretful. There was regret, and something he couldn’t explain. “I was calling to see if we could talk. Sounds like I wasn’t that big of a deal to you.”
His mouth went dry. “Alexandra. Wait. Hold on.” Placing the phone on mute, he pointed to the door to get Kennedy to leave.
Kennedy sported an angry pout and left for the front door as he stood there, holding the phone, positive the worst had happened.
He unmuted the phone. “Alexandra?”
“Goodbye, Bash.” Her voice was shaky.
“Don’t hang up!”
