Page 191 of Wreck Me

Was that now happening anyway, in spite of everything I’d put into it, all the effort I’d gone to for her?

Was she really gonna fucking well do that to me? To us? It would crush Cal too, he’d grown so close to her. And Cas had let her into our inner sanctum, he’d trusted her, and he really didn’t do that lightly.

Argh! Everything was a fucking mess!

And now Cal was leaving too.

Sure, he’d said it was just a week or two here and there to get his facility up and running, but what about when it took off? Would it become permanent then? If he’d finally found his place in the world, why wouldn’t it become so?

He and Cas were in an unstable place too for the first time ever with that revelation of Caspian’s about him hating the dark now. That was a deal breaker for Cal, so I didn’t know how they were going to move past that. It was the same for me too, I was right there with Cal, I needed the outlet, especially now I was no longer shutdown. It helped to focus me. It helped me to sublimate.

Fuck, all of this was breaking us.

I pulled up to the gates of the Thorn estate.

The security guards looked more than a little surprised, but being the official heir to the estate, they merely paused for a moment before opening the gates and letting me pass through into the courtyard.

They were the only guards to worry about, thanks to Damien’s ego, him assuring my mom that he was enough to ward off any trouble. Delusional fuck.

Either way, it was serving me well right about now.

I pulled up in front of the house, then climbed out of my Lexus.

Not wanting to announce myself, I strode to the door and punched the code into the pin pad lock. Idiots, change it up once in a while. Security was seriously a joke here these days. It never had been when my dad had been alive. Then again, everything had been better when he’d been around.

As I stepped into the mansion with all the gaudy, old world feel and décor, my phone buzzed in the pocket of my leather jacket.

Hope sparked and I pulled it out.

That hope was snuffed out when I saw that it wasn’t her as I’d hoped.

Cas: I know what you’re doing. Don’t. Stop and think.

Sebastian: Thinking over.

Cas: I already told you I’m taking care of it. He will be gone soon, far away from the city. You don’t need to do this.

Sebastian: The fuck I don’t.

Cas: Get control and check yourself. You’re Rein, Bastian.

Sebastian: Not anymore.

I pocketed my phone, feeling more buzzing, him obviously not done trying to talk me down.

I was done being reined in and holding back.

I was done with it all.

Striding through the mansion, it didn’t take me long before I picked up on that grating, loud mouth voice of Damien’s. Then my mom’s fake sugary sweet tone that belied the real her beneath.

I followed the sounds until I reached one of her fancy-ass, ridiculously overdone salons with all the bad taste antique furniture.

I pushed inside and found them sitting and having tea, complete with pastries, sitting on opposite couches and laughing and talking like everything was right with the world, that it wasn’t all falling apart around me.

She was dressed in a peach dress with ruffles down either side, a pair of her go-to stilettos on, her light brown hair piled on top of her head.

He wasn’t wearing his signature hoodie, instead looking prim and proper for their afternoon tea bullshit in a light-blue button down and black slacks.

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