Page 456 of Filthy Elites

“Poor dear, she must have been exhausted. Let’s leave her to sleep and we can get you set up in a guest room, Cassidy,” My mom suggests.

“I should just take her home,” Cassidy starts.

“Nonsense, what’s the point of having guest rooms if people don’t use them?” Mom says, waving away Cassidy’s concerns and ushering her out of the room and down the hallway to the spare room on the other side. “Sebastian, dinner’s going to be ready in ten minutes, the boys are all downstairs in the den, leave Starling to sleep, you can check on her later.”

“Cassidy, let’s get you settled and then I’ll introduce you to my husband and our good friends and neighbors who happen to be the parents of Sebastian and Starling’s friends.”

Mom’s voice trails off as she leads Cassidy away and I smile to myself, then down at the girl on the bed beside me. I’ve waited a year for this moment, and now she’s here in my house, in the room I had decorated just for her, my little bird is finally mine, and I can’t wait to make sure the rest of the world knows it too.

SEVEN

Starling

“Time to wake up, little bird,”a low, somewhat familiar voice says, dragging me from sleep.

Blinking my eyes, I stare up at an unfamiliar high ceiling, a modern chandelier hanging from the center. The bed moves beside me and I jolt all the way awake, snapping my head to the side and finding a very smug-looking Sebastian smiling down at me.

“Where am I?” I ask, my voice shrill.

“My house.”

“What? Why? Oh my god, what time is it? My mom is going to kill me,” I blurt, speaking so fast I can barely understand myself.

“Calm down, little bird, your mom is here, remember? She’s downstairs drinking coffee with my parents.”

“Am I dead?” I blurt.

His laugh is loud and warm, the audible equivalent of a mug of hot cocoa on a cold day. “No, baby, you’re not dead.”

“I must be, there’s no way in real life I’d be in bed, in your house while my mom is downstairs having coffee with your parents. Oh god, this isn’t your bed, is it?” I gasp.

“No, this isn’t my bed, the first time I get you in my bed, I want to be in it with you and for you to be fully conscious.” He smirks.

“Why am I here? What happened? Why is my neck sore?” I demand, anger bleeding into my words, now that the initial shock has started to wear off.

“What do you remember about last night? Dr. Harris never mentioned you’d have any issues with your memory.”

A barrage of memories hits me as I think back on everything that happened after I got to work. “You got me fired, and you were spouting all this bullshit about me belonging to the freaking Elite.”

“You belong to me,” he snarls, then smooths out his expression and smiles again. “But you’re part of The Elite now, and if you’re working every night, when will we get a chance to see each other? I’d assume your neck hurts because you slumped over in the back of the car when you passed out, and I didn’t want to risk your safety by removing your seat belt to put you in a more comfortable position,” he says simply, taking my hand in his and twining our fingers together.

I try to yank my hand free, but he just tightens his grip, refusing to allow me. “I don’t want to see you, I don’t know you,” I shout, feeling a pulsing headache building at the back of my head.

Strong hands curl around my waist and then I’m being lifted from beneath the covers and lowered down into Sebastian’s lap. “Shhhh, little bird, it’s okay. It’s all going to be okay. I know this feels like a lot right now, but this is all meant to be. The moment I saw you for the first time last year, I knew you were mine, but you were a freshman and completely off-limits. I’ve stayed away, but I can’t do that anymore. I’m going to take such good care of you, I promise. I’m obsessed with you, my little bird; I’d give you the entire world to make you happy.”

I don’t mean to, but for a moment I rest my cheek on the fabric of his blazer and let him soothe me. I shouldn’t be calming down right now, but somehow the smooth timbre of his voice and the sweet, terrifyingly overwhelming words he’s saying calm my erratically beating heart, and I feel my tense muscles start to relax against him.

“Sebastian?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Why do you keep calling me little bird?”

His hand curves up my spine and beneath my hair, resting against my neck and rubbing soft fingers over the skin. “Because your name is Starling, and because you’re beautiful and wild like a bird, and because I want to clip your wings and tie you to me almost as much as I want to watch you soar.”

His honesty is almost as disconcerting as his regal beauty. The things he’s saying are making goose bumps prickle along my skin and a cold chill waft over me. But no matter how much I know I should be running from him, there’s a lethargy in my muscles that won’t let my natural flight instinct kick in. I should be fighting free of his disarming hold, but instead I’m sitting placidly in his lap, like this is where I want to be.

Confusion over my reaction to him consumes me. Boys have never really been on my radar. Of course I’ve had crushes, but they’ve all been unrequited and unmentioned. The middle school Courtney and I attended was in North Acres but even at the ages of nine and ten, the kids in my grade knew my house was smaller than theirs, my clothes were from Target not Ralph Lauren, and my summers were spent in Maine, not Mauritius. Nothing in my life so far has prepared me for Sebastian Lockwood. He looks like a man, sounds much older than his years and is so far out of my depth I’m already drowning, and only my toes are in the water.

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