Page 59 of Please Save Me

Last night, he looked like he was mentally undressing me, and today, we were back to business as usual.

“Don't flatter yourself, cowboy.” He reached over to unbuckle himself. “The quicker we get out of here, the faster I'm away from you, and the sooner I can surprise Mason.”

Between him and Lucian, Seb wasn’t going to win the award for the biggest surprise. Seeing as Sebastian had demanded Mason get a GED before he’d think about marrying her, he wasn’t going to be getting down on one knee anytime soon. Still, I wanted to know what he had in store.

“Can I ask what you’ve got in store for Mae?”

“Her name is Mason. Please don’t disrespect her with that god-awful nickname,” he lectured, but after a moment of staring at me, he looked away and covered his mouth. A subtle flush across his cheeks was visible just above the tips of his fingers. “But Lavender is probably coming sooner rather than later, and I noticed the boxes and cans of paint in the nursery. So, I was going to finish it for her.”

He trailed off at the end of his sentence as if something about assembling a changing table embarrassed him. Honestly, there was a lot I could use to make fun of him there—the fact his surprise was just piggybacking off of my apology, or even how I was pretty sure he’d fuck up and spill the gray paint all over the floor.

But I didn’t like that he used that dish-soap-sounding name for my daughter again.

“Why do you keep calling the babyLavender?”

“…Because that’s her name? Did you seriously not know that?”

I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat. “Mae ended up changing it. Rosemary, we’re still working on a middle name, though.”

And, by the sound of it, we’d better pick fast.

Sebastian blinked twice as if he wasn’t sure what to make of me.

“Her name is Lavender Joy Albright. Mason wouldneverchange that without asking me first.” The small fray at the edge of his voice hinted at the fact he knew that wasn’t true.

“Well, she did.” But why didn’t she tell him that?

“… Did she let Lucian pick it out?” His guard continued to slip further.

And honestly, I felt a little bad for him. “No, he’s named two humans. He don’t get to name a third.”

Sebastian took a deep breath as a little of his undeserved confidence filtered back into his system.

“Please, when it comes to anything regarding my relationship with Mason,don’tlie to me.” His plea almost sounded human, which made it that much worse.

“I ain’t lying.”

Sebastian pressed his lips into a thin line as he shook his head. “Look, I’m sure you’re used to the world bowing at your feet because of the whole cult leader thing—but Mason is the only person in the world who has consistently been nice to me. I know she’d never let anyone other than my brother sway her.”

A weird sense of pity filled my chest, and if I didn’t know any better, I would have probably felt bad for Seb. Mason shouldn’t have lied to him about something like this, but seeing as Sebastian had literally killed people. She probably had her reasons for keeping it secret.

Maybe she was afraid of what he’d do if he found out.

Sebastian prepared to open his door. “If you’re done trying to torment me, can we go inside now?”

Inside of the house was no better than the outside.

The walls were all painted some shade of white, and the plaster was chipped to hell. The wooden floors looked to be the ones the home was made with, and the dappled sunshine pouring in through the ivy leaves only made the place look more washed out.

But it was warm, so there was that.

I sat stiff as a board in the wooden chair directly across from Dale. His green eyes were trained directly on mine, and the Cheshire cat-like smile he wore grated on my already frayed nerves.

I shouldn’t have come here.

Sebastian cleared his throat, drawing Dales’s attention away from me, and it was like I could breathe again.

“So, as you can understand, I’m a little confused about the whole situation.” Sebastian was calm and cool on the outside, but I would have given anything to be able to read his mind.

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