Page 45 of Release
Aunt Sadie raised her eyebrows. “You can tell me.”
Sebastian opened his mouth to politely ask her to please drop the subject when his phone rang in his pocket. A smile crept up his face before he pulled it from his pocket. This could be the save to get him out of this interrogation, never mind how good dinner tasted tonight.
“I’m so sorry,” he apologized, looking down at it to see who was calling, fully intending to exaggerate whatever the call was about so he could leave before the hot seat burst into flames with him in it. When he saw the number on the screen staring back at him, he thought twice about answering at all.
Why exactly is Alexandra Storme calling me…and why now?
He was not up for talking to her. He swiped the reject call button, slid the phone back into his pocket, and told his aunt and uncle something pressing came up. It was too much to take right now. In his Jeep, he pulled out the cell phone again, this time checking for messages. There were six voice and text messages. The first five were from Alexandra, all telling him she needed to speak with him urgently—no doubt to come up with some story to explain away what happened between her and Wilkes. The next was from Clint. He tabbed to Clint’s number in the call logs and tapped the green call icon. Clint picked up after one ring.
“Hey Bash.”
“Hey. I just saw your call. What’s up?”
“I was hoping you had time to swing by here for a few minutes this evening. I could use your help with something, and there’s no way I’d ask anyone else.”
“Sure. I’m just leaving my aunt’s place now. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Beth was out when Sebastian made it to Clint’s place. He helped move a small but clunky ottoman from one bedroom to another. It was something Beth probably couldn’t handle on her own anyway, but not so heavy that it would bother Sebastian’s knee. On his return downstairs, the TV was on the music channel, naturally. He would have asked Clint to change it, but it was country music. He was not too worried about having to see Lexxi Rock show up, however after five minutes into another odd job—fixing a living room ceiling vent that had been rattling and driving Clint insane—Sebastian realized he was wrong. There they were, Wilkes and Lexxi, in a clip of the music video for their upcoming duet, no doubt. Clint did not allow him to ignore it, either.
“Hey, there she is. Can you even believe we met her?” Sebastian continued tightening the screws that held up the vent, and did not answer. “Have you heard the new song she did with her ex?” he asked.
“You mean her boyfriend,” Sebastian pointed out.
Clint huffed. “Not even close.”
“Well, they sure look like they’re together. It’s also all over the magazines and tabloids. There has to be some truth to it.”
“Maybe you should have asked her to move in with you when you had the chance.”
“I did. Look, forget it.” Sebastian had no intention of getting into what went down between him and Alexandra.
Clint turned back to the TV, pointing at it as he appeared to be gearing up to speak at length. “Just look at them. Look at her body language. She’s all business. Nothing like she used to be before he cheated on her. Look at how she’s sitting on that bar stool. See that?” Clint pointed until Sebastian stopped what he was doing with the air vent and turned to look. “She’s leaning away from him. A woman who’s interested in a man would lean towards him. He, on the other hand, is all about her. It’s just not reciprocated.”
Sebastian narrowed one eye and glared down at Clint from the step-ladder. “The kiss they aired seemed reciprocated enough.”
Clint looked up at him, a sly grin tightening his mouth. “Don’t you know a publicity stunt when you see one? Wait. Never mind. Don’t answer that. I’m sure you don’t.” He laughed. “Every shot of those two that has surfaced the past little while has been bullshit. Well, except that one of them kissing. That one still baffles me a little because in every other picture, it’s obvious her heart’s just not in it.”
“Can we drop this so I can finish up what I came here to do?” At this point, Sebastian was really ready to pack it in.
“Listen to me, man. I saw the way she was looking at you the night she came for dinner. She looked at you with much more interest than she looks at cowboy there…and she’s dated him. What does that tell you?”
Sebastian stepped down the ladder. “It tells me that you won’t give up this topic, and as I’m done with this air vent, I’ll just head on home now, buddy.”
“Come one now. I’m telling you she wants you. Why is that so hard for you to take?”
Picking up the ladder and stepping to the front door, Sebastian told him, “If this is how she shows me she wants me, I’d rather be alone. On that note, I’ve got to start training tomorrow for the firefighter physical. I’m meeting up with Nate and Rodrick really early in the morning. I’ll get this back in the garage. Let’s talk about it another time.”
“Like never, huh?”
With one foot already out the front door, Bash answered, “That would work too. Tell Beth hi for me when she gets in, okay? Have a good night.”
