Sebastian shook his head. "I'm going to get dressed and we're going to my flat. Five minutes."
She left without a word, but he knew she would do as he asked. He and Mindy dressed silently and he walked her out.
"A pleasure, Mindy."
She grinned and shook his hand.
"Likewise."
He didn't miss the warning look that Hellena gave the younger woman as she passed her.
Chopped and Screwed
Sebastian joined Hellena on the sofa where she had Artemis draped over her shoulders. He wore a pair of black silk pajama pants and nothing else, his chest on perfect display.
"Why am I here?" Hellena asked, her eyes lingering on his body before they moved to his face.
"We need to talk."
"I need to get back to the club."
Sebastian stretched, reaching his arms above his head. "I'm your boss. I'm telling you to take the rest of the night off."
Hellena tensed and so did Artemis. He took the snake from her, the iridescent scales shimmering in the light.
"What do you want to talk about?" Hellena's voice was low and careful.
"What you did in London was inappropriate."
She snorted and stood, crossing the room to stand in the kitchen doorway. "I was drunk."
"Yes.
Quite drunk.
That's no excuse for letting slip what you did."
"Why?" Hellena turned to glare at him. "Why do you protect her?"
"It's not just her you could have ruined. You hurt yourself and me in the process."
She scoffed again, and twisted her face into an ugly scowl. "It didn't hurt her any. They just love her more."
"You need to leave her alone."
"Do I?" Hellena stalked back across to stand right in front of him. Artemis hissed, menacingly. "Put that damned snake away so I can talk to you."
Sebastian sighed and carried Artemis to his office. He placed her in her terrarium and went back to his place on the couch.
"Why do I need to leave her alone?" Hellena asked, picking back up where they'd left off.
"She hasn't done anything to you."
"You're still defending her."
"Why shouldn't I?" He honestly didn't know the answer to that question himself. After what happened, he shouldn't care one bit. But he did.
Tears pooled in Hellena's eyes. "You sent me away."
Sebastian frowned. "Did I?" He motioned her over and she sat next to him. Her body shook with her sobs. "When did I send you away?"
"The night you carried Mariss from the club.
I came by and you sent me home."
"I remember. That wasn't a good night. I needed to be alone." He kissed the top of her hair.
"She's made you soft. That was almost an apology." Sebastian smiled, but not so she could see. "What's wrong with you? What did she do to you?"
"It's nothing that important. She outlived her usefulness is
all.
"
"Outlived her usefulness?" Hellena grunted. "Maybe she hasn't changed you."
"How have things been at the club? I went over the finances today. You should have told me we were a little behind."
Hellena tensed against him. In truth, they'd done pretty well in the last month. He wanted to give her a chance to tell him about the money she'd been taking, but he knew she wouldn't.
"I heard something interesting the other day." Hellena effectively changed the subject.
"Hm.
What was that?" Sebastian shifted in his seat and pulled Hellena against him so her head was on his shoulder.
"I don't know if I should tell you." She said something softly in German.
"Hellena, you will tell me, now. What is it that you heard?"
"It's about Mariss Red."
Sebastian forced himself to stay calm and not raise his voice. He was growing tired of Hellena's attempts to get rid of Mariss. With the woman already out of his life he didn't see any reason to keep pressing the matter, so he prepared himself to not believe anything she told him.
"What did you hear?"
Hellena took a dramatic breath. "I heard that she and Holden came to the club that night knowing that you would be intrigued."
Sebastian blinked. "What do you mean?"
"They knew you would recognize Mariss Red and, given her social status and her beauty, you would take an interest in her."
That didn't sound like Mariss. She wasn't one to throw her beauty around to get what she wanted, and the way she'd fought him for so many months just didn't sync up with what Hellena was telling him. Still, he listened.
"What was the purpose of that?" he wanted to know.
"Her company needed extra funding, which you offered willingly in an attempt to get close to her. She's too proud to ask for handouts, but with you she didn't have to."
"Are you saying she threw herself at me for my money?" It wouldn't have been the first time a woman came at him for money, but it would be the first time he found himself chopped and screwed.
It would make sense, though. That afternoon in London made more sense if…
No. He refused to believe Mariss would play him like that. Moreover, he refused to believe that he could allow himself to be played so thoroughly for a fool just because one woman had caught the attention of more than just his dick.
"Hellena, I want this ridiculousness to stop."
"Sebastian-"
"No. That's enough of this trying to ruin Mariss."
"Just because you don't want it to be true doesn't mean it isn't."
Sebastian almost dumped her off his lap when he stood. "That's enough," he said with finality.
Hellena blinked at him for a moment, and slowly nodded.
"If I could prove it to you?
Would you allow me to?"
He frowned. "You have proof?"
"I can get proof."
Sebastian shook his head and started toward his bedroom. "That sounds like you're going to make it up."
"I have undeniable proof, if you'll let me show you."
He didn't know what to do. As the idea of Mariss using him for his money began to be a possibility, panic tightened his chest until he couldn't breathe.
"If it's viable," he said somehow. "Are you staying tonight?" He gave her his back. He traced a light finger over the surface of the piano on the way to his room.
"Why do you have a piano if you don't play?" Hellena asked.
Sebastian stopped and frowned. In all the years he'd known her and she didn't know he played piano? Sebastian shook his head at himself.
When he was in his room, he stripped out of his pajama pants and slipped between the covers. Sebastian lay on his back looking up at the ceiling trying hard not to think, but that was the trouble with a man who spent most of his time thinking and planning. When he wanted to clear his mind, he couldn't.
Hellena took her sweet time coming to the room. Sebastian listened as she picked out a few childhood tunes on the piano and couldn't help comparing the way she poked at the keys to the way Mariss' graceful fingers played the notes he'd written. He'd give anything to have those hands playing over him right now.
Sebastian turned onto his side as Hellena came in. She found a shirt he'd left out for her and went to the bathroom to remove her corset and skirts. Then she crawled into bed behind him and put her arm over him, her fingers caressing his bare stomach.
"I used to play piano," she said.
"Before I started modeling.
Back when I was pretty." She gave a bitter little scoff. "I wasn't very good. Do you play?"
Sebastian took a deep breath. "Yes, I play," he said as he let it out slowly, "but not often. I've gotten rusty." The lie slipped off his tongue too easily.
"I want to hear you play." Hellena rested her chin on his shoulder.
"Another time."
He rolled over and pulled Hellena on top of him. She straddled his hips and he hardened at the feel of her against him.
The woman on top of him wasn't Mariss and that, in and of itself, was a turn off. With his hands on her bare hips, Sebastian settled Hellena on his length. She gasped at the intrusion. As he looked over her face, he knew that there would be no release for him tonight.
Hellena rocked back, pulling a moan from him. She thought it was a sound of pleasure, but it was more of mourning. As Hellena's words filtered through his mind, Sebastian closed his eyes and tried to focus on the woman grinding on him. Instead, Mariss' face floated through his thoughts. Beautiful and serene, she was like the last wish of a dying man, yet unattainable.
Sebastian gripped Hellena's hips and tried to make the most of the moment. Pushing Mariss' smiling face from his mind, he looked up into Hellena's eyes. For a moment, he thought she might know he had something on his mind. He thrust into her and she dropped her head back, uttering a little cry of pleasure. His fingers crept over her hips, stroking the flesh just below her rib cage. Hellena pushed his hands away, shoving the shirt down to cover her skin.
The distinct lack of contact brought a frustrated growl from Sebastian. He ached to feel Mariss' breasts beneath his hands, to taste the salt on her sweet skin, or to feed at her mouth. The stolen kisses she afforded him meant more than he could ever say.
But they weren't enough for her. He wasn't enough for her. Wasn't that what she said? The husband knew. Mariss knew, but she led him to believe that her desire for him was nothing compared to what his was for her. He'd given everything, opened himself up to her and…
"I want you on top," Hellena whispered in his ear. Sebastian rolled her over.
He'd promised he would never be made the fool. He'd watched his friends through school and uni as their hearts were broken and their lives were put on hold every time they gave in and let woman after woman into their lives. Sebastian didn't have time for any of that nonsense.
"I'm going to come," Hellena purred.
Sebastian picked up his
pace,
giving Hellena the friction she needed to reach her end. For the first time since he could remember, Sebastian just wasn't feeling the sex. He wanted Hellena to be satisfied, but he didn't care whether he got his or not, which spoke a lot for his frame of mind.
Hellena lay panting as Sebastian finished cleaning up. He
lay
next to her and let her curl into his side.
"Are you alright?" she asked. "You didn't finish did you?"
Sebastian kissed her hair. "I'm alright."
"Are you sure?" Hellena rose up to look down at him. "I can take care of you if you like."
Sebastian pushed her hair from her face where it hung in a few damp waves. She'd found more satisfaction than he realized, if the cooling sweat on her brow was any indication. He smoothed some away and offered a reassuring smile.
"I'm fine. Go to sleep now. Don't worry about me."
The pout of her lips told him she was going to worry anyway.
Sebastian lay in bed for hours without sleeping. Any time he closed his eyes he relived the afternoon at his London flat until it had him half mad. He'd fallen for whatever spell Mariss wove over him and he was paying dearly for it. The ache in his chest, the yearning to touch a woman other than the one in his bed…
Sebastian refused to believe his mother was correct in her assumptions of love. Love was petty. Love was intangible. Love was stupid.
After what seemed like several more hours, Sebastian gently untangled himself from Hellena's sleep-heavy limbs and plodded from the bedroom to find something to do.
***
Sebastian stood at his floor to ceiling office window staring out at the city lights with Artemis draped across his shoulders. He hadn't spent much time with the snake in the last few weeks and he felt kind of bad. Even though it wasn't a pet like a dog or a cat was a pet, he still owed the serpent his attention every now and then. It was the unspoken vow he'd made by purchasing her.
It was well past midnight. Hellena was asleep, or at least pretending to be, but Sebastian couldn't see anything but Mariss laughing in his face and counting his money when he closed his eyes. It was irrational and childish, but she did that to him. He didn't know how, but she had a way of reducing him to things he'd rather not admit to.
Like the possibility that he might love her.
If he knew what that meant.
If love was something he was capable of, which he highly doubted. Love was not a tangible thing, so it was hard for him to understand.
Sebastian thought about putting a call to his mother, just to tell her good morning. The more he thought about it, the better the idea seemed until he had the phone in his hand and was dialing without realizing.
"Hello?"
"Mother."
Sebastian tried to think of something to say. "Good morning."
"How are you, Bassy?"
His eyes slid shut at the sound of that name coming from his mother. This was a bad idea.
"Do you think you could call me Sebastian, Mum?
Just for now."
"Oh, mum is it?" There was a smile in Martha's voice. "What's wrong, son?"
Sebastian cringed. He only called her mum when his head was a mess and she knew it. "I just called to tell you good morning. That's all."