Page 41 of Hate Me

It didn’t matter, though.

I was ready.

9

~Sebastian~

“Just friends?” Ashley said, repeating my words back to me.

I leaned against the wall outside the room we’d just had our support group meeting in. “Yeah. I’m sorry, it’s just—”

“You’re not ready. Or, perhaps your sponsor doesn’t believe you are.”

“Either way.”

She smiled and stepped up to me, folding her arms across the chest of her pink wrap dress, a silver jeweled purse swinging from her right arm. “It’s not just friends.”

Off my worried look and my noticeable tensing, thinking she wasn’t taking the rejection well, she ended up laughing. “Chill. I meant, it’s a big deal to actually be friends with someone. You know my story from group, I burned a lot of bridges when I hit rock bottom. Outside of my immediate family, I’m pretty much empty on the friend front, especially a friend like you who actually gets all this stuff we’re going through.”

Relief sung through me. I smiled at her taking it so well. “Thanks for being cool about it.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s actually best to avoid going the romantic entanglement route with somebody new, as hot and as sweet as you are. As much as I’ve tried to push it aside so I could focus on getting better, there’s some stuff I do need to actually handle with my ex. Asking you out kind of brought it home to me.”

“I know what you mean there.”

“Yeah, I thought so.”

“You did?”

“It was kind of all over you. Somebody hurt you, right? You’re still hung up on her?”

“Maybe.” I scrubbed my hand over my face. “It’s fucking stupid, is what it is.”

“Falling in love is never stupid. It’s courageous to take a chance like that.”

That was a nice way of looking at it.

“Like I said, I’ve got my own issues in that area. While I doubt mine can be resolved, perhaps yours actually can. If there’s any chance with how strongly you feel about her, given that it’s still impacting you, I’d take it, Sebastian. A connection like that doesn’t come along often. Not the kind that actually makes you feel alive.” She winked. “You know, without any artificial input like we’re all too used to?”

“Hilarious.”

She laughed. “I know, right?” She adjusted her purse on her shoulder, then told me, “Anyway, I’ve gotta get to a photoshoot right now. See you around, okay?”

“You will,” I assured her.

With that, she spun on her heel and took off down the corridor.

As she was about to turn the corner to head out of the brand-new building, she pulled up short as Cas rounded it. They exchanged a few words that I couldn’t hear from this distance, and then she disappeared around the corner.

Cas spotted me right away.

And I spotted that haunted look in his eyes.

Shit.

I swallowed hard as he approached me.

“What’s happened?” I asked, meeting him halfway as the worry I was feeling from him got the best of me.

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