Page 10 of Treasure and Tarot

That room had to be it.

He found himself stopped, right before he peeked in. Did he want to do this? Did he think this was a good idea?

He wasn’t sure, if he was honest. If he’d learned anything over the last few years, it was to absolutely, one hundred percent trust his gut.

And his gut was telling him that this was going to change his life in ways he couldn’t unalter.

This was big.

Too bad he’d never shied away from things that were big before.

He took a deep breath and stepped into the doorway. This was a little girl fantasy room—a canopy bed with unicorns and dolls, a little dollhouse, a play kitchen and a toy box. It wasn’t scary in here, but he thought he could sense what Iago had been talking about. There was absolutely a presence.

The air felt heavy.

“What did you do, Sebastian? Why would you hide this from me? How could you?”

Chapter

Five

“Iwanna go wif you, Daddy.” Those pretty eyes filled with tears.

“Not tonight, honey. Tonight, you’re staying with Uncle Xavi. Tomorrow. We’ll go to the park. Or maybe we can go to the river and watch the fishes.” Sebastian thought she seemed so little with her tiny overnight bag and Mr. Bunny held tight under her arm.

He just couldn’t risk anybody staying alone at the house right now, and she was safe here.

“She’ll be fine,” Xavi told him with a wink. “This way, if you happen to have a drink at the bar, you can just walk over. We’ll have a slumber party.”

Xavi was one of his absolute best friends on earth. He’d been there in the room when Abby was born. The little apartment above the curio store wasn’t fancy, but it was warm and solid and clean, and there was even a little bed for Abby whenever she came over to visit.

“I’ll have ice cream ready for our night, er, recap.”

Abby’s eyes went wide. “Ouch cream? For me too?”

Xavi nodded to Abby. “Of course, ouch cream for you. I have strawberry ice cream just for my favorite girl.”

Abby just beamed. “I stay wif Uncle Xavi.”

“Good girl, I’ll be up here as soon as I’m done meeting my…friend—” the asshole “—and then when you wake up, I’ll be here just like normal.” Thank God they’d stayed at Xavi’s a hundred times, just like Xavi had spent nights with them. “Do I look okay?”

He was going for professional but not dressed up. Casual, but not slumpy. So he’d decided on wearing jeans, hiking boots, and a long-sleeved black T-shirt. At their altitude, it was always too cool at night for just short sleeves.

“You look perfect. Run your fingers through your hair. Your curls are getting wild.” Xavi reached out and smoothed his unruly mop, those dark eyes just dancing. “It’s all right. Maybe it’ll help, seeing him. Are you going to tell him?” Xavi’s eyes cut to Abby.

Sebastian shook his head. “God, no. What am I supposed to say? I wouldn’t know where to begin. Besides, he has a lot of explaining to do. He ghosted me. Don’t worry, man. You’ll get all the sordid details.” He kissed Abby and then headed out on the very short walk over to the hotel.

As he walked in, he waved to Tori behind the desk. “Hey, lady, how’s it going?”

“Busy, you know. We’re full up. Crazy group.” She rubbed her swollen belly.

“Yeah, they’re working at my house.”

She rolled her eyes and winked. “Everyone’s abuzz. Apparently, your house was busy today. Good luck. There’s a couple of cute ones though.”

Yeah, no. “I’m supposed to meet one or more of them at the restaurant.”

She bobbed her head. “Alexander made up one of the private dining rooms for you. It was requested.”

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