Page 19 of Bolted

Xavier leans back in his chair and sighs dramatically. “Listen Sebastian, I'm not stupid. I can see the way you look at Riley. It’s like you own her already. And if we are being honest here, I’ve never seen you as excited about anything as you are when she is around you.“

“I don’t get excited!” I snap.

He leans forward smugly “Your eyes light up when she walks into the room. There could be fifty naked women around and you wouldn't even look their way. You've never looked at a woman the way you look at her. You listen to every word that comes out of her mouth instead of ignoring her like every other female we have had working for us.”

He sits back and says “If that’s not excited, I don’t know what is.”

I grunt in response and he smiles annoyingly.

“No response?” he asks me.

I’m suddenly leaning forward in his face, but he doesn’t back away. “I’m only enamored by her because she is playing hard to get. A married little mouse. I’m sure once I have her the excitement will fade. And even if I did want her, these pictures are not proof anything happened.”

He waggles his eyebrows. “I thought you would never ask Sebastian.”

With that, he dumps out the rest of the photos from the envelope. Ten different photos which look to be Nate and Sasha in various sexual positions. All photos taken from the window outside her bedroom. Most of them are blurry or partially cut off yet, you can still see clearly who the two people are.

There is one in particular that is clear as day showing Sasha pushed against her glass door with Nate’s head tilted over her shoulder slightly.

“How the fuck did you get these?!” I exclaim.

“I found a guy.” Xavier responds and shrugs.

“Well, whoever he is, he must be a ninja,” I say. “Put him on our payroll immediately.”

“Not a ninja,” he laughs. “Just a guy with a really good scope and perfect timing. He called me asking if he should follow them after the initial pictures. What can I say? I was curious who Sasha was spending time with aside from you, so I obliged.”

Xavier winks at me then “And of course, you know I’m a voyeur and couldn’t help a free show. Imagine my surprise when the other guy just happened to be our little intern's husband.”

I drop the photo in my hand in disgust. “Tell me you didn’t jerk off while holding these damn pictures Xavier.”

“Of course not,” he chuckles. And I relax. “But I did pin them all up to the wall and jerk off in front of them.”

I glare at him. “Sometimes I really wonder which one of us has more issues.”

Xavier roars out laughter in response.

Leaning back in my chair, I take a sip of my coffee

“Why did you bring me these photos, really Xavier?”

He sets his cup down and looks out the window momentarily losing himself in thought. Just when I’m about to get irritated with his silence he turns to me with a look of anguish I’ve never seen in my friend’s eyes before.

“Because Sebastian,” he says, “she tames your demons, even if you don’t know it yet. That only happens once in a lifetime brother…”

Chapter 23

Riley

I’m buried in meeting a deadline for Sebastian when I hear his voice coming off the elevator. He’s on his cell phone and doesn’t even look my way as he passes toward his office.

“I’ll need a few nights at the resort then. A two room suite.” He pauses, listening. “Yes, that's fine. We’ll need a car as well. We’ll plan to connect with you Thursday then.”

I wonder briefly where he’s going. This case he’s working on has had him busy, but I didn’t think it was anything that would take him out of the city.

Suddenly my desktop displays an internal message. I open it to see Sebastian’s name.

Can you come into my office please?

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