Chapter 47

Sebastian

I haven’t stopped fuming since Ava left the track. The idea that Isabella and William showed up intending to injure me or even kill me seriously? That’s sick.

I have never believed there to be people who’d stoop so low. And to attend the race like they haven’t been planning these dangerous plots.

Evelyn is chewing her lip in the seat next to me. She had looked as white as a ghost hearing about the sabotage.

“You did a great job today,” she finally whispers to me from her seat, still chewing her lip. Her right leg is bouncing faster than I’ve ever seen someone do it almost like she’s about to take off on a race of her own.

I nod once. “Thanks.”

“It wasn’t anything I thought it would be,” she continues. “I don’t know, I guess I just expected more crashes. Maybe it’s because movies usually highlight that hindrance of races.”

“Maybe.”

It’s not that I want to give these short, one-word answers that lead to nowhere. It’s the fact I can’t stop thinking about the expressions and the words from all of them. The fact my secret with Evelyn nearly came out in the worst place and timing is terrifying.

“Your obsession with Evelyn is unhealthy,” Isabella had sneered. “She’s just your girl of the year. We all know he’s using you for sex and nothing more.”

My roommate’s reaction was everything Evelyn worried about. “You’re fucking your stepsister?!”

Isabella was stunned. “Stepsister?!”

“I’m not fucking her!” I meant it. One time doesn’t count at this point, it’s been too long.

“That’s why you freaked the fuck out on me! I should have pieced it all together, but no, you’re just some fucking creep!” I wanted so badly to punch William in the throat.

“You literally tried to have sex with her because you, and I quote, ‘need to get this nut out.’ How the fuck am I the creep? You couldn’t keep your dick in your pants!”

“Stop it! Sebastian isn’t fucking Evelyn!” Ava defended us. After the whole blow up between her and Evelyn, and there she was, standing in between the bunch of us.

“And how do you know that?”

“Because she told me.”

It makes sense that they could believe we were all lying. But while we have stolen kisses and held each other for hours at a time, it’s also important that we squash any suspicion.

There have been so many days, hell, weeks where I didn’t give a shit. Let the world find out! Makes my life a lot easier.

But with the pain painted clearly on Evelyn’s face, the fear bubbled up inside me like hot, boiling lava.

“This whole fucking year has been one big soap opera, and I’m sick of it!”

`I heard the hurt in Ava when she accused us of all this drama. She’s not even wrong. But the break in her voice, the quick eye contact she’d made with me before telling me the truth about my car…I haven’t been a good friend to her.

Have I really ruined all my friendships over the deep desire to have Evelyn be with me? I don’t want to believe that’s where I’ve ended up.

But that’s the truth. It’s no wonder Evelyn has been so paranoid about getting caught. It’s clear Ava hurts more than just being betrayed. She feels genuinely hurt by the secrets and the lies. And even if Isabella and William believe her words and think I’m not seeing Eve, that doesn’t mean they’ll keep it to themselves.

The perfect way to ruin someone’s reputation is to let the lies loose.

“Hey.”

Evelyn’s hand touches my shoulder, reminding me where I am at the current moment. “Are you okay?”

I shrug. “I don’t know.”

“You’re not…mad at me, are you?” Her voice grows smaller.

“I’m not mad at you, Princess. There’s not a single reason to be mad.”

I can see her nodding her head out of the corner of my eye. “I just wanted to make sure. I know that everything happening today was just astronomical. I keep trying to imagine how you’re feeling.”

“How’s that going?” I ask her.

“Bad,” she admits. “All I can think is you’ve been betrayed by those people who used to care about you.”

I sigh. “I’ll just have to get a new place to live. Maybe a restraining order against William.”

“I feel like it’s all my fault. That you would still have your roommate as a person to confide in.”

“Why would I want that?” I ask, genuinely wondering where her thoughts are generating from. “Not only did he try to hurt you, but he’s been trying to hurt me all semester. I should have figured out a new living situation when he started acting like a tool.”

“You can take the apartment your dad secured for me.”

“What apartment?” I raise an eyebrow, giving her a quick look.

“Gregory wanted me to live in the same apartment building as you, and he locked down an apartment. I wanted to live on campus because it’s kind of like a freshman rite of passage. So, take mine. It’s next door to William, but I’m the only one with a key.”

My eyes widen. “That’s…thank you, Evelyn.”

Her smile is gentle, and she pushes her hair behind her ear. “No problem.”

We get to a stop sign, and once we slow to a stop, I watch her for just a moment. Trying to capture all the things about her kind, beautiful face is seemingly impossible. After all, those are eyes you could swim in. Get lost in the world of those green eyes.

They look like these little emeralds shining through a jewelry box.

“What?” Evelyn barely whispers.

“I just…this isn’t your fault, Princess. Please don’t assume you destroyed anything. I think William has always used me for my name. And Isabella?” I scoff, knowing she means jack-shit. “She hasn’t been anyone important for a long time.”

“So…you’re not mad at me?” She asks, seemingly looking for some sort of confirmation.

I breathe out of my nose a short laugh. “Mad at you? I have no reason to be mad, Princess.”

Evelyn opens her mouth to answer, but the car starts making this odd, loud sputtering noise. The whole vehicle begins to shake around us, before the hum of the engine dies out.

“What the fuck?” I ask, mostly to myself. I try starting it again.

Sputters out and dies.

“Don’t do this now, you shit.”

But no matter how many times I try to start the car, nothing happens.

“Please tell me we didn’t just get stranded,” Evelyn speaks, but I know it’s rhetorical.

“Call your mom,” I instruct her. “And don’t open the doors unless you have to. We can reserve heat.”

“Shit,” she sighs. She starts dialing Madelyn and holds the phone to her ear.

“No answer,” she groans.

“Try Gregory.”

She doesn’t argue about why I should be the one calling him, but her head is shaking back and forth. “Went straight to voicemail for him.”

I swear. “It’s late, and they’re probably already in bed and asleep.”

“Call a tow-truck?” She suggests, and I dig my phone out of my pocket to do that.

But as I go through the options, to my utter dismay, they inform me it’ll be upwards of four hours of waiting.

“Four hours?” Evelyn groans. “That’s after two in the morning!”

I sigh, bumping my head back against the headrest. “Fuck. Okay, I’m going to go check the engine. Stay here, okay? I’ll get in and out as fast as possible to conserve the heat.”

She nods her head, tightening her winter coat around her.

I jump out of the car, nearly slipping on black ice as I do, but luckily, I keep myself upright before slamming the door. I get to the front of the car and pop the top off, flashing my phone light inside.

I look around, checking parts of the engine, the battery, even parts of the car I don’t know as much about.

The problem, though, is that nothing is wrong. Nothing is disconnected, the battery seems good, and everything else is in place.

Did my battery just shit the bed?

Or is something else happening?

Frustrated, I slam the top closed and rush to get back into the truck. Four hours in December surrounded by snow and in the cold dark of New York?

Fuck, man.

I jump back in the car, slamming the door closed before locking the whole car. Thankfully, the lock mechanism is still working.

“So?” Evelyn sounds almost hopeful.

I shake my head, disappointed.

“Damn.”

“Yeah.”

She picks at her fingers, not even bothering to look up at me again. “What are we supposed to do now?”

Another sigh from me. “Wait, I guess.”

We sit there silently again. But with four hours together, no chance of anyone coming through, and no hope of a rescue before that, I turn fully to look at her.

“You aren’t responsible for anything those fuckers do.”

Her head whips up, those curls bouncing with the momentum. “What?”

“I don’t want you ever to believe you are responsible for anything to do with them.”

“But, Sebastian, if I had just stayed in Hawaii, if we didn’t go through all of this, your life would be completely different now!”

“Different, yes. But not better. The only person who gives a piece of shit about us is Ava. Olivia, too, but I just mean that Ava stepped up and told the truth, even when mad at us.”

“They wouldn’t have tried to kill you!”

“That doesn’t mean any of this is on you!”

She shakes her head, clearly not believing a word I’m saying. I touch her arm, trying to get her to face me again, talk to me, be here with me.

“If anything, I’m the screw-up here,” I tell her, feeling all the weight of emotions that we’ve been through stacked on top of my shoulders.

Evelyn’s head whips back to me again.

“Sebastian Cain is not a screw-up.”

“Tell that to my father.”

I don’t mean to imply she should feel sorry for me, only that Gregory will never allow me to live the life I want. But that’s when Evelyn reaches her arms out, taking my face in her hands.

“Don’t you dare say that.”

“You heard him, Evelyn.”

“You just sat here and told me I’m not allowed to blame myself for your problems. So why do you get to act like it’s all on you?”

I roll my eyes as if her question is idiotic. “Have you met me?”

“I have. And if I believed any of this to be true, you think I’d be sitting here with you? If I thought you were some terrible, disgusting creature that only cared about sex, why would I want to be around you?”

“Pity?” I try with a raised eyebrow.

She pulls my face closer to hers. “I’m here because you’re not just some guy I slept with. You’re not just my family. You’re someone I can’t imagine a world without now.”

To my shock, it’s Evelyn who kisses me first. Her lips are warm and wet, and feeling her taste pushes my face into hers even more.

She cares about me. I thought I was the one carrying everything.

Against her lips, I whisper one more thing. “Ignore the lies spread by everyone.”

She nods, our noses rubbing together. This makes my chest scream, and warmth bursts from every possible place.

“Believe I care about you, okay?” She asks, also quiet.

“Only if you believe in me, too.”

I press my lips harder onto her, every single sensor going off in my brain simultaneously.

It’s almost enough to tell her the truth. To admit there’s more here.

That if I had even a shred of confidence, I’d tell her.

That I’m falling in love with her, and goddamn, I’m falling hard.