Page 126 of Heart Break Her

But I don’t because I know I’m his.

“Thank you, Sacramento,” Sebastian says, finally breaking our stare and looking out to the crowd. “You don’t have to go home but get the fuck out of here.”

And when his eyes meet mine once more, he tips his head just enough to tell me he’s not done with me yet.

Quinn and Merry are already on me, dragging me through the people and out of the crowd.

“You guys knew about that?” I ask.

“Yes and no.” Quinn smiles. “Handling publicity, they tend to tell me when one of them is about to do something big or stupid. So I had a little heads-up but didn’t know what exactly it was.”

“I knew,” Merry winks.

I narrow my eyes at her. “Noah?”

She shrugs me off and keeps pulling me toward backstage.

When we finally get through a side door and it closes behind us, I’m surprised by the silence. In a stadium filled with voices, it’s quiet back here.

And then I see him walking toward me. It feels like a lifetime and no time at all since we’ve been face to face. He’s still in his stage clothes, wet with sweat, eyes locked on mine. A gravitational pull makes it impossible to imagine how I ever walked away.

Merry leans into my ear. “Talk later.” She pecks me on the cheek, and she and Quinn peel away, leaving me alone with Sebastian, five feet apart in an empty hallway.

“You look good,” I tell him, tucking my hands in my pockets.

“You look stunning.” His eyes skim me up and down, stripping me with one glance.

I thought about wearing one of therock star appropriateoutfits Merry got me when I was on tour with the band, but I went with jeans and a simple Enemy Muse T-shirt instead. Tonight I felt like just being me.

“That song—"

“Wasn’t fake,” Sebastian finishes with a grin, and it makes me smile.

“No, I guess it wasn’t.”

He takes a step closer and then freezes, like he’s torn by the same pull inside him that I’m feeling. Needing to be closer but not quite sure where we stand.

“How are you?” I ask him.

He looks good. Clean, clear. The haze is gone.

“Good, most days.” He dips his chin. “Missing you on all of them.”

“I know the feeling.” This time it’s me who steps forward.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen, you and me,” he says. “I meant when I said that I didn’t know who you were when I met you. And as soon as I realized who you were, I know I should have told you everything. I wanted to. But I was selfish and terrified you’d walk away before we even got started.”

“I was selfish too,” I admit. “I knew you were struggling with more than you were saying. We both were. And I just let us drown in it. I couldn’t seem to let go, even if we were just meant to be temporary.”

Sebastian steps forward again and reaches for my hands, taking them in his own like they’ve never belonged anywhere else.

“We were never temporary, Cassie,” Sebastian says, looking down at me with those gorgeous eyes. “I’ve been yours since I met you. Fuck, maybe even before that. Your brother sure as shit hated when I asked about his hot sister every five seconds.”

I laugh. “I thought you didn’t know what I looked like?”

“I didn’t.” Sebastian shrugs. “Just a feeling.”

“Mm-hmm.” I shake my head and try not to smile as wide as I want to.

---