Sebastian was in the study at home. He had just finished listening to the tape and returned it to his jacket's pocket.
It had been a drastic step to take, going behind her back to find out what she might tell him someday soon. But Sebastian had lost his patience. He had already toed the line and followed Kathryn's rules. He pretended to be reformed, treated women respectfully, and kept his relationship with Kathryn a secret. He was nice to their parents and drove Kathryn to and from her therapy sessions.
He also wanted to find out what she said about him. For all he knew, she could be using him, and this relationship could be some sort of setup. Sebastian didn't fully trust her, and he never did say those three words, 'I love you' to her. Action spoke louder than words. He wouldn't make it easy for her to hurt him again.
The tape hadn't been all that helpful; it was just her talking about how she hated that his dad took her mother's side all the time and about some nightmares she'd been having. All in all, it was a bore and Sebastian was still in the dark as to what was bothering Kathryn. He was deep in thought when Kathryn stormed in like a whirlwind. Unhappy would have been an understatement.
"What the hell did you do!" Kathryn growled.
"Hello to you too Kathryn. My day was good. Thanks for asking." Sebastian wasn't about to incriminate himself, just cause she might know something. He would play it casual until she revealed her cards.
"I don't give a rat's ass about how your day was! Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"
"Why don't you just come right out and say it, if you're accusing me of something." Sebastian said as he got up to get his school jacket that earlier he had haphazardly thrown on the opposite armchair.
Sighing she pushed him back into the armchair. "Sit," she ordered. She sat down in the other armchair, looked through her bag and pulled out a thick stack of stapled papers. "What's this!" She tossed the packet at him.
"I don't know. Did you become a novelist? It's kind of heavy," he said, catching it and testing its weight, not even looking at it. He was just relieved that she had not found out about the tape.
"Read it Sebastian. It's your journal. Annette gave it to me."
He finally looked at it, and flipped through it. It was all there, every last page. He frowned and said, "You didn't read this, did you?"
"Sebastian," she said rolling her eyes. "Of course I read it. Cut the shit. Why did you give it to her anyway? Your Goldilocks is trying to blackmail me!"
Sebastian couldn't help it. He laughed and laughed until tears came to his eyes.
"Sebastian! I'm serious! I would have taken care of it myself, but we're a team now," she finished off softly. "Now are you going to help me?"
Still chuckling, he took some deep breaths. "Sure," he said, trying to stop laughing. "What do you want me to do?"
"Really, just like that, you're going to help me? You don't even know what I want you to do."
"Yeah, why not? I'm saving some time, cause I know you would just wheedle me into helping anyway, even if I did resist."
"But resisting could be fun," she said sashaying over to him and sitting in his lap.
"Yes," he said slowly. "But first we have to take care of the Annette problem. So what did you have in mind?"
She whispered in his ear, and his eyes grew larger and larger. "I don't think that position is physically possible." He looked deep in thought and made a noise with his tongue that reminded her of a purring kitten. He shook off the image. "What about getting back at Annette?"
"Oh, she's already been taken care of. As for the position, I know it's possible; I've done it before." She nibbled at his earlobe distracting him and slowly unbuttoning his shirt.
"Why did you ask me to help you then? Why all the fake anger?"
"The anger wasn't all fake. Remember? I did read your journal. But I'm in a good mood now that Annette is out of our way," she said as she kissed her way down his now naked torso.
He said between gasps as she delved her hands into his pants, "Will I be mad at what you did?"
"Maybe," she said biting Sebastian's lower lip and licking the pain away. But only if you still care for her. And anyway, shouldn't I be mad that you gave her your journal in the first place, and what about the things you wrote about me?"
She was always using sex to deflect his attention when he was close to finding out something important. It didn't matter anymore, Sebastian had a suspicion he knew what her secret was. He also knew she wasn't all that mad about the journal, or she wouldn't even be talking to him now. And he was not going to waste time thinking about Annette when she was in his past. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter as long as you didn't kill her."
"Of course not Sebastian. I wouldn't risk going to jail just for farm girl. I only helped her find a new boyfriend."
"That was very good Samaritan thing to do," he said really looking at her. She seemed to glow with happiness.
"Yes, and I think I deserve a reward for that. A little sweet treat?" she said dropping her gaze to his waist.
"No arguments here, but remember to save your appetite for that other thing you mentioned." Sebastian didn't know what he did to get so lucky to end up with this girl. All he knew was that he would stop nothing to protect her.
Annette & Anthony
Anthony (the very hot Italian guy), working for Kathryn, took some scandalous pictures of Annette with some toys and a dog. And some pictures with him in it too, but those were only for his private collection. And he put it on the Manchester's webpage about the headmaster. Annette yelled at him, and threatened to press charges. But he blackmailed her with even more salacious pictures of him and her (not that he ever intended to follow through since Kathryn would kill him if the association got led back to her.) So Annette and her father were forced out of town out of shame.
Before she left, Annette wrote a scathing letter to Sebastian telling him 'Could you be anymore pathetic,' and said that people like him and Kathryn could never be happy together or apart. She ended up tearing it up though cause she is too nice of a person to send it. Obviously she was a little bitter about the way he broke it off the second time around, even though technically they never got back together. He just kept making plans with her and kept canceling, and eventually she got the hint.
When she met Anthony she was awestruck by how much more handsome he was compared to Sebastian. He helped save her shopping bags from falling in the gutter when a passerby had pushed her while they were crossing the street. She should have known that he was too good to be true; everything he said in his suave, sexy accent was about how much he would like to photograph her and that she could be a model.
Midnight
"Is everything alright." Sebastian turned on his side to look at her some time after their frenzied lovemaking. They were still in the study, and their parents were away together on a romantic weekend trip.
"Yeah."
"You sure? You don't look that good. Kinda pale? Anything bothering you?"
"No, it's just stress."
"Anything I can do to help?"
"Well, you've already helped, but…" She pushed him onto his back and climbed on top of him. She licked his lips and trailed kisses down his chest. Her heart seemed to hum as she sat up and impaled herself on him.
"I thought I tired you out?"
"Might as…well…make…use…of it," she gasped out as she rode him hard.
"As much as I'm enjoying this. I wish you'd talk to me."
"Talk about what?" she said wholely concentrated on how well they fit together.
"Tell me what's bothering you."
"Well, there's this tension right-"
"Enough of that," he said as he made the hardest decision of his sexual life. He flipped them over, pinned her beneath him, and pulled out. "Tell me about your nightmare." He held her arms down and got right in her face. She tried break free and put some distance between them, but finally gave up defeated.
"What nightmare?"
"The one that woke you over an hour ago. The one that made you need my talents."
"It was nothing. I don't even remember it."
"You were talking in your sleep. You kept saying 'Andrew, please don't go.' Who's Andrew?"
"Sebastian I'm tired. Please let's just sleep."
"No, I won't let you avoid it any longer. I think I've been extremely patient. Who's Andrew?"
"Dammit Sebastian , just let it go." She bucked him off of her and wrapped his jacket around her. She raced out of the study and into her own bedroom. Before she could slam the door, he put his foot in the door.
"You're not avoiding this anymore. Who's Andrew?" He stalked angrily into the room and slammed the door shut.
"Who's Andrew! He's my brother, my dead brother, alright! I let him die. I was supposed to watch over him. I was supposed to watch over him…" She fell to her knees clutching the jacket around her like a magic cloak that would protect her. "I was distracted by my own problems. I didn't check on him after I put him to bed. He was dead the next morning. SIDS, they said. My mother made it worse by leaving the same day I found him dead. And she didn't come back until 6 months later. My dad…he…my dad was so worried."
He knelt down on the carpet and reluctantly pulled her into a hug. He seemed uncomfortable with her turning into an emotional mess on him. Mad he could handle, but this he wasn't so sure. "I'm sorry Kathryn. That must have been hard for you."
"I hate her. I really do. And now…" She couldn't stop crying.
"And now you'll have another sibling." He let her cry. After a while he said, "It'll be different this time. We'll get a nanny."
"We had a nanny. She was sick that day, and my mother had been home taking care of Andrew. Then she just dumped him on me saying I needed to learn responsibility and hard a baby could be."
He wiped her tears away and tucked her chestnut hair behind her ears as he considered his next words carefully. "How old were you when this happened, and did anything else happen?"
"Thirteen. As if my baby brother dying and my mother leaving isn't memorable enough? Why do you think there is more?" She had a hollow look on her face. He thought back to what he heard on that tape: it just didn't make any sense why her mother would be chasing her with a shotgun in her dreams or not want her to save the babies. He wanted to know more, but he was scared to find out what else happened. He would never have imagined that she had a baby brother and that he had died. He thought it had been something else, something that her father might have inappropriately done.