Page 37 of Sebastian

My sister didn’t laugh. Instead, she shook her head in disappointment. “Newton, you shouldn’t take pictures of people without their consent. You need to get rid of this.”

Her finger swiped across the screen, opening the tab to delete the photo.

I grabbed the phone from her before she could hit the “yes” option.

“I’m not lying, and don’t mess with my phone.”

The pitiful looks they gave me made my skin crawl, and I already knew there was no point arguing with them. Nothing I said would convince them that I was telling the truth.

Part of the problem was the picture itself. I’d snapped it covertly while we were at the coffee shop so that I could have an image to remember him by just in case the date didn’t go well. That meant I wasn’t in the photo with him, and he wasn’t even looking at the screen. It really did look like I’d just taken a picture of some random stranger.

It was no wonder they didn’t believe I was dating Sebastian. Sometimes, I couldn’t even believe it myself.

“Whatever,” I said as I shoved my phone back in my pocket. “I don’t owe you an explanation. Believe what you want. I’m done.” I was about to storm out when I noticed the crushed look on Steven’s face. “Hey, um, I’m sorry about this. You’re a great guy, and you didn’t deserve this. I hope your next date goes better.”

I tried to leave with my dignity intact, but my sister ran after me.

“Newton. Wait.”

I kept walking, all the way out the door and onto the sidewalk. Her footsteps echoed behind me, so I headed for the crosswalk to try and put distance between us.

Two steps off the curb, she caught my arm. “Newton. Wait. Talk to me.”

I slapped her hand away, hard enough for the sound of skin striking skin to echo off the cars waiting at the light.

“What’s there to talk about? How you manipulated me? How you lied to me? God, I have never been so mortified in my life as I am right now.”

She reached out like she would grab me again but changed her mind. “You’re right. I should have asked you first, but every time I’ve suggested people for you to date in the past you’ve always turned me down. You and Steven have a lot in common, and I think you’d do well together.”

“Except for the fact that I’m already seeing someone. That would probably throw a monkey wrench in the relationship.”

The pity was back in her eyes. She still thought I was lying.

“Newton—”

I cut her off.

“No. Don’t even start. You’ve got all these plans for what you think my life should be, but how can you know what’s best for me when you can’t even get my name right. It’s Newt. Not Newton. I hate my full name. You know that, yet you insist on using it anyway.”

Now she looked angry. In that moment, I knew how the opposing lawyers must feel when they had to face her across a courtroom.

“Newt is a child’s name. You’re an adult. You need to act like it. Now stop this tantrum and come back inside the restaurant so we discuss this like adults.”

I turned and kept walking toward the other side of the street. “I’m not discussing anything with people who think I’m a liar.”

“Newton.” Her voice was more distressed than before.

“Leave me alone,” I shouted over my shoulder.

“Newt.”

The sound of my preferred name made me pause.

If I’d kept walking, I would have died right there on that street.

Rosalind grabbed me by the shirt and yanked me backward. We both went tumbling over the pavement, right before a car barreled past. Its front fender missed me by inches. It didn’t even try to stop or slow down. At the next intersection, it swerved around the corner so quickly that its wheels let out a painful squeal. Then it completed the turn and disappeared from sight.

I stared down the road in shock, even after the car was long gone.

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