Page 35 of The Hot Shot

I may have been glad that Dee had shoved my phone into my pocket as I left, telling me that you never knew when an emergency may occur. I slid into my apps and searched for Sebastian’s address and saw that it wasn’t too hard to find, having known he would have needed it to register his new business. A few clicks later and I had it.

I knocked on the door and waited with bated breath for it to open. The moment I saw Sebastian’s crestfallen face I barged my way inside and held him close as he looked shocked at my appearance.

“I… Walker, how did you find my address?” he asked dumbfounded. “I wasn’t expecting you. I was going to call…”

“I was there and I heard everything…” I admitted, shutting the door behind us and holding him close to me. “I couldn’t stand by your side but I hid and listened to it all.”

“You hid?” Sebastian asked in confusion. “What if someone had seen you?”

“They did. Sarah and Will told me afterwards that they meant every word,” I said, watching his eyes widen at my admission. “I couldn’t just sit and twiddle my thumbs. I had to know.”

“Then you understand why I’m doing this,” Sebastian said as he glanced at the time. “It’ll be easier with you here though. Come on, let’s get a drink.”

“Wait a second…” I said.

“What?” Sebastian grabbed my hand and entwined our fingers together, as if it was the most natural thing to do. “I thought you got it?”

“That you’d give everything to Brendan Rightside and I’d close The Hot Shot,” I said, honestly wondering what the hell Sebastian had meant.

“Walker, I’m not meeting with Brendan. You’re not giving up your world," he said. “I thought you understood what I meant. I’m taking control.”

“How?” I stumbled over the word in sheer panic.

“Jace is on his way and I’m going to tell him everything. Now will you stay and support me?” he asked cautiously. He slid his hand into the pockets of his jeans and dipped his head, unsure where to look.

“Sebastian Holt.” I raised his chin to look at me with my forefinger and thumb so that he couldn’t avoid my gaze. “I’m so fucking proud of you. Fuck, I love you so much.”

“You what? You love me?” he replied, licking his lips. “Walker, I love you too.”

I pulled Sebastian’s chin closer so I could gently caress his lips in a tender kiss but paused when a knock at the door disturbed us.

“I’ve got you, okay? No matter what.” I clasped his hand tightly in mine and gave it a squeeze before I made my way into the living room to allow Sebastian to open the door and greet his guest.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

SEBASTIAN

I always thought that if someone ever confronted me with an ultimatum, I’d be true to myself, but this was always going to be hard to face at any time in my life. If Sarah and Will hadn’t thrown this in my face, would I even be considering telling Jace everything? Truthfully, I didn’t know. In time, if my relationship with Walker developed, then I would have considered it.

It all changed though when I saw him on my doorstep; the utter heartache radiating in his tearful, emotional eyes as he saw the pain of what these people had caused me. He cared more about me at that moment than anyone else and only one other person in my life had done that before—my brother. This was different. This was more.

When Walker confused my decision of what I had decided to and I revealed the truth, his reaction wasn’t one I had expected. It was the words I’d allowed to dream about in my mind, hoping that one day I’d be strong enough to say them aloud and make them become a reality. I never expected this to be the moment I did this, but it felt right. I’d never felt this way about anyone else before and if I was going to come out to Jace, then I wanted it to be because I loved the guy. I was with over the threats from stupid people.

“Jace, thanks for coming round,” I said. “I needed to talk to you about something…”

“I guessed that.” He walked into the hallway and closed the door behind him before undoing his coat and passing it to me. “I just don’t understand why you couldn’t just say what you needed to over the phone or wait until the morning.”

“It’s important,” I said, hanging his coat up and clasping him on the shoulder. “I mean it. Thanks.”

“You know you’re starting to worry me now, Sebastian. What’s wrong?” he asked as he walked into the living room. He took a second glance as he noticed Walker laying three uncapped bottles of beer out on the coffee table. Fuck! He thinks of everything. “Erm, I didn’t realize that the bar was such a big deal. You should have said.”

“It’s not to do with the bar,” I said as I walked over to the coffee table and grabbed a beer, pausing to offer it out to Jace. “Why not take a seat and then we can talk.”

“Okay.” He looked across at me suspiciously as Walker gave me a small smile of reassurance before grabbing his beer and leaning forward so that his elbows were resting on his knees. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know where to start,” I said honestly. “I…”

“Just take a breath,” Walker said as Jace nodded.

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