Page 82 of Heart Break Her

Sebastian shakes his head. “No.”

“Okay then.” I’m not really sure where this leaves us.

On one hand, I should be ecstatic. Sebastian Kane wants to have sex with me, and only me. But on the other, I know that answer is incredibly dangerous. Words like that get in a girl’s head.

Because he might mean it for now. Either because he enjoys sex with me or out of some strange loyalty to my brother. But it isn’t forever, and I can’t let myself forget that. Whatever he’s offering between the two of us is still temporary. Eventually, I have a life to get back to, and he has fans to continue pleasing.

A relationship, a future, love—those aren’t things a girl can expect from Sebastian Kane. After all, my brother knew Sebastian well, and he knew enough to want me to stay far, far away.

But Sebastian bringing this up confuses the equation in my head. Because the way he’s looking at me and asking me to be exclusive says a lot more than that he wants me just for sex.

He might be a rock god, but I have no doubt from the expression on his face that he’s actually asking for something he’s not willing to label for one reason or another.

I reach for my sketchbook and try not to sink too deep in the thought. Try not to think about the implications of this conversation. Sex, that’s all it is. That’s all it can be. I shouldn’t even let it continue, but I can’t seem to help it.

Luckily, Sebastian lets the conversation drop.

“What are you working on?” he asks, his eyes dipping to my sketchbook.

Looking down at the paper, I realize I’ve been absent-mindedly drawing again, and my face must show the cringe because it gets Sebastian’s attention. He reaches for the sketchbook and pulls it out of my hands before I can stop him.

“It’s not what it looks like,” I say, as he scans it over. “Well, maybe it is. I don’t know. I wasn’t really thinking.”

“An angel.” His fingers drift over her wings.

She’s standing on a pedestal in a pit of flames, reaching for the stars above her. “Angel of life…”

“Angel of death,” Sebastian finishes. “Like my song.”

“The words have been stuck in my head.” I shrug. “I wasn’t really thinking when I started drawing it. Just had this feeling and had to get it out.”

Sebastian’s eyes flick up and focus on mine.

“It’s all right,” I say. “Work in progress.”

“It’s perfect.” He looks back to my sketch pad. “Can I have it when you’re done?”

“You’d want this?”

No one’s ever asked me for my art before. Illustrations for business, yes. Butmyart. That’s always just been for me.

Sebastian nods and hands me back the sketchbook. “If you’ll part with it.”

The idea of parting with anything right now sounds extraordinarily painful. But, as I look down at the angel, I nod my head at him.

She never really felt like mine anyway. He created her with his lyrics, and I was so lost in them that I felt this inexplicable need to set her free. Like maybe if I could bring his Angel to life, she could save him from whatever pain I sensed him drowning in.

Maybe then she’d help me with my own.

Sebastian takes my sketchbook and sets it on the seat beside me, pulling me into his lap so I’m straddling him. His arms wrap tightly around my waist, and it quickens my pulse. But the intimacy doesn’t feel sexual, which is even more terrifying.

He buries his face in my neck and takes a deep breath. My chest is pressed to his. My heartbeat might be frantic, but his touch calms me, and his arms keep me in place.

I could stay with him like this forever, holding his pain in my hands and not letting go. I could be the girl who fills him to the core of his bones. I could heal him, if he’d let me.

“Stay with me when we get to Denver tonight,” Sebastian says on an exhale. He looks up and rests his forehead on mine. “In my room, not on the bus. I want you with me.”

I nod, and it brings a disarming smile to his lips.

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