Page 208 of Sebastian's Baby

I remember that day. Gabriel and Ariana were uncontactable after the soundcheck for one of our concerts, and Cooper was furious.

“Why did you never say anything?” Gabriel asks her.

“I wasn’t exactly in a great place, mentally. It played right into all of my fears, so I just internalized that shit big time and added it to my list of reasons I should leave.”

Gabriel hugs her tightly and kisses her head. He whispers something to her, and she smiles at him.

“Harrison, thoughts on Cooper?” Hayden asks.

“Same. If he pullsanykind of shit again, we’re done. He’s not good enough at his job to get away with that. It’s not okay.”

Hayden looks at me, and I nod. “I think my position is pretty fucking obvious, considering I seem to constantly have to try and stop myself from punching him in the face.”

There’s silence in the room, and it feels as though we’ve come to a momentous decision. I’m pretty certain a day will come when Cooper will step over the line again and I, for one, cannot fucking wait to get rid of him when he does.

“Hey, who knew you had more self-restraint than I did, darling?” Heather says to me with a grin on her face, and finally, the tension leaves the room as everyone laughs.

We end up staying at Harrison and Heather’s for the evening. By the end of the night, Heather slapping the reporter is a full-blown meme on the internet.

“Live on in infamy!” Heather announces, lifting a glass of whisky as a toast.

Eventually, I take Lita downstairs to the parking garage so I can drive us home. She looks dead on her feet, and I’m sure it’s been a stressful day for her.

“How are you feeling?” I ask once we’ve made it onto the road and are headed toward my apartment.

“Tired,” she tells me. “You? It got pretty tense with Cooper. He was going at you pretty hard about Heather.”

“He probably knows,” I shrug. “He’s seen a lot, and he’s not dumb. I don’t think that he liked me telling the guys what he did, though, so he was trying to get back at me.”

“I feel bad; Heather was defending me.”

I smile at Lita as I think about the day I threatened a reporter over Heather. “I was defending her when I almost hit a reporter once. Turnabout is fair play.”

“Do I have to hit a reporter to be a part of the cool crew?” Lita asks with a grin.

“You’ve told them off twice. You’re already part of the cool crew.”

My guilt at bringing her into this world is immense, and I hate that she has to be subjected to shit like this now.

I sigh heavily and tell her, “I’m not sad that you’re in my life, Lita, but I am sad that you have to deal with all of this. Reporters, Cooper, fans, all of that. I know that this kind of drama is the last thing that you need right now.”

Lita sighs as well in response and is quiet for almost a minute before she speaks. “I need to talk to you, Sebastian.”

My blood runs cold, and I know that I don’t want to hear whatever it is she’s about to say. Sure enough, when I glance over at her, she quickly averts her gaze from mine.

I turn to look back at the road and say, “Uh oh, sounds serious, princess.”

“It kind of is. Heather and I were talking today, and I realized that I’ve been unfair to you,” Lita tells me.

I can’t tell what she’s going to say from what she’s said, but she won’t look at me, so I’m still guessing that I’m not going to like it, but I say, “Okay, you’ve got my attention, that’s for sure. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?”

“It depends on how you look at it. I’ve been sending you mixed signals. I’ve told you over and over again that I don’t want us to be together, but then I’ve let you sleep with me and hold my hand and kiss me, and it’s not fair to you. It makes it seem like there’s some chance of a relationship for us, and there isn’t.”

Her words are unbearably painful as she confirms, yet again, that there is no chance for us to be in a relationship. We’ve pulled up to a set of lights, so I look over at her. She’s staring intently out of the windscreen and won’t look in my direction. I don’t understand why she’s suddenly saying any of this out of the blue.

“Where is this coming from, Lita?” I ask quietly in my confusion as the lights turn green and we take off again.

“Nowhere. It’s the truth. I knew from that day on the plane that I shouldn’t sleep with you anymore, but I’ve kept doing it, and it’s not fair. So, we can’t keep doing it, Seb. I have a firm new ground rule: no more sex or kisses, hugs, or handholding. We’re not a couple, and I need to stop acting like we are.”

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