Page 99 of Harrison's Wedding

I hate it. All of it. I’m the piece of shit. Maddy couldn’t even consent to having sex with me. Heather is an angel who would never dream of cheating on me. Certainly not with Sebastian.

I laugh in bitter amusement as a moan comes from the direction of his bedroom. I lock my phone and roll my eyes. What the paparazzidon’tknow about our lives could just about be squeezed into the Grand Canyon, and even that would be a tight fit.

I turn on the TV and pick something to watch on Netflix while I wait for Sebastian. After about half an hour, he appears wearing jeans and nothing else, following a blonde woman in a tight dress.

She gasps when she sees me. “Oh my god, Harrison Fletcher.”

“Yeah, he’s very cool. You should probably go now, Sahara. It’s been fun.”

Sebastian doesn’t let her stop to say anything to me, but I give her a halfhearted wave as she walks by. He walks her to the entryway and kisses her in a way that is far too passionate for an audience. Our bodyguards tactfully keep their eyes turned away from the scene in front of them, causing me to chuckle.

“Thanks for the fun afternoon,” she says to him.

“Yeah, it was good.”

“We should do it again, sometime.”

Sebastian says in a casually cool voice, “Yeah, probably not. Anyway, I have a visitor, so I’d better let you go.”

He turns and walks back to me without looking back at her. The woman’s face falls, and she leaves the apartment.

Sebastian drops on the sofa next to me and I blow out a breath of air. “You’re cold, Seb.”

“It’s better not to let them get their hopes up, I’ve found. If you leave it open for the possibility of seeing them again, they follow you around and shit.” He shrugs his shoulders.

“Do you ever think you’re missing out by not being in a relationship?” I ask him.

It’s a stupid question, and it’s not like we haven’t had this discussion before, but I walk into it anyway.

“No. I don’t need women for anything other than sex. I’ve got you guys for everything else.”

I frown at him. “It’s not the same, though. Heather—”

I cut myself off. It’s too painful. I can’t argue to Sebastian that Heather brings so much more to my life than friendship because, right now, she doesn’t.

He sighs heavily. “Your relationship with Heather isn’t over.”

“Not yet,” I whisper. “You know it’s true.”

He doesn’t respond at once. He looks at the glass of whisky on a coaster on the coffee table in front of us, then gets up and pours himself a drink before coming back.

“You and Heather will never really be over. You’ve been in love with her since she was your not-girlfriend,” he laughs at the old joke from our teens.

I can’t find any amusement in it today. “I wish I was as certain as you are. I don’t think she can get past this.”

Once again, he doesn’t respond immediately. He takes several sips from his whisky before he speaks again.

“I’ve been worried about her,” he confesses.

“Yeah, me too,” I sigh. “What exactly is worrying you?”

“She doesn’t shine anymore. She’s not laughing and lighting up a room. It’s like she’s there with me, but she’s not really there. It scares me because it reminds me of…” he trails off.

I swallow heavily, and I think I know the answer, but I ask, “Reminds you of who?”

He doesn’t answer, just shrugs his shoulders. “Never mind.”

“Reminds you of who, Sebastian?” I repeat the question in a stern tone.

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