I’m sure Kane did, too. But I was more concerned with the earlier interaction with Blake and Lacey. He was up to something and I had to make my move.
My head turned to look at the door. Lacey stood to the side and watched the argument between Carter and Jack unfold. Her chest rose and fell. She looked rattled as she swung around, opened the doors to the pub, and disappeared.
I shifted from everyone’s view and quietly left.
Chapter 8
Seb
Sprintinguptoheroutside as she strode away and shrugged her jacket around her body. “Where are you going?”
“Home, well not home, back to the dorms,” she said, looking truly pissed off. “I can’t be bothered with that. My life is shit enough without putting up with that crap.”
“I’m Sebastian Colton, but prefer Seb, I’ll walk with you.”
“Sebastian,” she whispered, blinked hard and shook her head. Did she recognise my name? “Hi, you already know I’m Carter’s ex-girlfriend, Lacey.”
I nodded. “I remember.”
“I’m fine to walk by myself. It’s a short walk,” she said. “Shit, I should have told Polly I was leaving. Will you go back and tell her?”
“No, I’m not letting you walk by yourself in the dark. Anything could happen to you.”
She flicked her hand in the air. “I’ll be fine. The dark scares me more than people and I know self-defence.” She turned to me and smiled. “And I’m actually okay at it, so don’t try anything.”
I chuckled. She gave me a knowing nod, but I already heard she was better than okay and a hot-shot in most of the martial arts; which was as weird as fuck as was her being a ballerina. But there was no way she was walking by herself.
“I’ll protect you against the darkness.” I held my elbow out. She smiled and entwined her arm in mine.
“You don’t need to do this. Walk me home, rather than being with your friends and drinking.” She turned and smiled and now I could see my Aurora, her large amber coloured eyes with flecks of gold that sparkled under the moonlight. The heady smell of coconut, which mixed with her light floral perfume. And I couldn’t stop myself. I leaned in, held her chin as I tilted her face to me and kissed her on her lips. It wasn’t deep and passionate. No, it was quick, easy and delicate.
She smiled. “Maybe I should shag you. That would hurt him,” she said and laughed.
My eyes widened. I wasn’t expecting her words, and I pushed at my cock, which seemed to spring to life. And as much as I’d like to take her up on the offer, I needed her to work out who I was to her.
“Don’t worry,” she said, as though she was reading my mind again. She laughed. “I’m winding you up.”
“I wasn’t worried,” I said, raising my eyebrows.
She giggled, and it was a beautiful sound, taking me back to when we were happy together. She stopped walking, rubbed at her neck, and looked around me. She plunged her hand into her bag. “This is my dorm. You can get back to your night out now.”
“I’d prefer to see you get safely inside.”
I thought she was tipsy, but her coordination when putting the key into the lock was perfect. We walked to her room, and she opened the door again with no problems.
“I’m safe now,” she said and smiled. “Thank you for walking me home.”
“This is small,” I said, looking around and ignoring her hint for me to leave. Two double beds in offshoots with wardrobes in front of the beds providing a small amount of privacy. A small sofa and area to study, but not much else but a door I assumed led to a bathroom.
“Where are you staying? I take it not in the dorms.”
“We lease a four-bed house about ten minutes’ drive away.”
“We. Who’s we?”
“Carter, Ryan, Kane and me.”
“I need two more friends and I can do the same.” She grinned. Each time she did, I felt the pull of her, feeling an invisible band our our fate bond flickering as it tightened between us.