Page 50 of The Cursed Sebastian Storm

James snorted a laugh. “You would think that, you nightmare.”

“Aw, don’t pretend you’d want to change it. Unless you wish I was your first. Oh, you do, don’t you?”

James went red and grumbled, “Shut up,” without any real bite. He glanced down at his clothes from last night, discarded on the floor, then at the curtain-covered window. “How early did we wake up? The sun still hasn’t risen.”

Sebastian was distracted by James’s ass as he bent to retrieve his phone. Even towel-covered, it was perfect. “We can always role-play. You know, pretend we’re deflowering each other. You can wear your swimsuit and ‘catch’ me changing in the locker room on the way to swim practice.”

James straightened and stared. “I—that’s…” His words trailed off, a blush spreading down his neck as the front of his towel tented.

“Mm. You’re into it. Fuck yeah.” Sebastian dropped his own towel. “Come on, James, show a shy little boy like me the kind of stamina all that time in the pool gave you.”

James’s eyes were glued to Sebastian’s rising erection. “You are not shy.”

Sebastian stalked closer. “But I could be. If it’s what turns swim-star James Gray on. The shy little virgin you saw around town and thought was cute. He’d have been overwhelmed by you.”

James squeezed his phone, maybe in an effort to resist pulling Sebastian in and fucking him senseless—Sebastian could dream—but before James had the chance to give in to his apparently conflicted desires, the screen on his cell lit up, drawing their attention.

“It’s nine o’clock!” James shoved the phone under Sebastian’s nose in disbelief. “I have to be at work. Like now.”

Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the phone. “No way.” He marched to the window and drew back the curtains. “Look how dark it is. The sun hasn’t risen. We must’ve started fucking at four a.m.”

James checked Sebastian’s phone. “No. It’s really nine. Look.”

It wasn’t pitch black outside, but nine o’clock should be nowhere near this dark.

“Come on.” James pulled him away from the window. “Let’s get dressed and see what’s going on.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Sebastian and James rushed into what felt like the pre-dawn morning and hurried over to Gray Electrical.

Hazel was already at the shop, seated at her desk in the back, glowering. “It’s the fucking apocalypse.” She gestured out the window unnecessarily.

James seemed to be getting more worried by the second. He’d run his hand through his hair three times since leaving the house, and they’d only walked across the street. “Did the sun just not rise?” he asked in a tone that suggested he was personally offended by the situation.

Sebastian followed him past the counter into the work area of the electrical shop. “That’s not possible. Because of, you know, physics.” He waved his hand in a circular motion. “The earth didn’t stop spinning.”

“Then what’s happening? Even if it isn’t as bad as the sun not rising, whatever is going on out there isn’t good.” Hazel glared at James, who returned the look with equal intensity. “Eleanor is going to let me know if she hears anything, but sitting around waiting might kill me first.”

Sebastian perched on the edge of James’s desk. “You talked to Eleanor already?”

“Yeah.” Hazel’s eyes flashed, her scowl dropping for a split second. “I wondered this morning if the darkness had to do with the magic last night, and she agreed.”

James narrowed his eyes like he was trying to decipher something. “Hazel, did you?—”

“Not now.” She waved at him impatiently. “Focus.”

James grunted, shaking his head, and went to turn on the coffee maker in the corner.

“The weird shadow thing was coming from the sky last night,” Hazel continued, leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed. “So when the sky was dark today, I wondered if it could be connected.”

“But James and Parker banished that thing in the yard,” Sebastian argued.

“Maybe.” Hazel didn’t look convinced. “When we were fighting the shadow in the house, it kept breaking off. We know it retreated when the thing in the corner caught fire, but what if part of it splintered off and stayed up in the sky. It was too dark last night to see if anything like that happened.”

Sebastian and James shared a look. Hazel had a frighteningly good point.

“I should call Eli.” James pulled out his phone. “I wonder if Parker has gone home yet.”

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