He doesn't budge, but doesn't try to kiss or fondle me, at least. He's just staring at me.
Creepy.
I stare back and realize his pupils are oddly dilated, huge. He's on some drug, I'll bet, and a shiver runs through me at the realization.
"Sebastian." I try again to pull my arm free. "Is Jarett here with you?"
That seems to snap him out of his trance. "Fen? Fuck, no." His mouth curls into a sneer. "I don't know who he thinks he is. He thinks he's my fucking bodyguard. I'm done going out with him."
Shit. "But, listen-"
"Did he tell you he thinks he babysits me? That he has to always be my shadow because he promised Mom to keep me safe? Joined the gang because of me."
"Bullshit," I say before I can control myself.
What the hell? He promised his mom to babysit Sebastian, and that's why he joined the gang? Is this a joke?
"He swore," Sebastian says, eyes bright with glee, the sneer turning into a grin. "He's such an idiot he swore it to Mom, swore on Dad's grave, and thinks Mom remembers it, that he has to keep that promise. He thinks it's the honorable, the right thing to do. I betcha he'd give up everything for Mom, and he's not even her son. Isn't that just a laugh a minute?"
I open my mouth, but no words come.
I feel sick.
He pulls away, releasing me, but I don't move. "Tell him I don't need him. Tell him to stay the fuck away from me. I can take care of myself, and I can handle Angel and Mav without his fucking help."
I swallow hard. "Why do you think he'd listen to me?"
"You're Gigi, right? Took me a while to put two and two together. You're the girl he used to hang out with some years back." He frowns. "So you're the only chick, hell, the only person he's ever listened to. The only one who ever got through to him. Fuck me if I know why."
With a shake of his head, he turns and goes, melting into the shadows, and I slide down the wall, dazed, my ass hitting the floor.
Clues, my sister told me. Find clues.
Here we are. If what Sebastian said isn't a clue, then I don't know what is. A man who swore to his adopted mom to keep her dumb, dangerous, delinquent son safe, and followed through with that promise even if it landed him in deep waters.
Not ideal, but if this clue tells me something, it's that Jarett's heart is in the right place. It is a good heart, steadfast and true.
But is that enough?
"Where have you been?" Sydney throws herself on me the moment I approach the bar. "I looked everywhere!"
"I've only been gone a few minutes," I mutter, still shaken, unwinding her arms off me. Sitting on the stool where I left my jacket earlier, I grab Nathan's drink and swallow it. It burns going down, but it steadies me a little. "Sorry. I'll buy you another."
"Don't worry about it," he says with an amused smirk.
"What happened?" Sydney insists. "Where did you go?"
"Me? You disappeared and I went to look for you." I don't know if to tell her about Sebastian. I mean, nothing happened, not really.
He just shocked me, that's all.
"I disappeared? You did! I peed. When I came out, you weren't there. I checked all the stalls, called your name. So I came here, to see if you'd returned, but you weren't, and I got so worried."
Shit. I'd been so sure she'd left, I didn't consider she might still be inside.
"Well, now you know how I feel every time you go off and leave me to wonder what happened to you," I grouse.
"She goes off?" Weston asks, frowning.
Sydney makes shushing gestures to me that I ignore.
Not that I want to talk right now, about this, or anything else. It's funny, though, and I huff a laugh.
What Sebastian said keeps spinning in my mind. Can I trust his words? He was high on something. Was any of it true? Was it just a story he made up on the spot?
But what purpose would it serve? Too elaborate of a twist just to put Jarett down.
So now I know he joined the gang to keep an eye on Sebastian. And more importantly, I know why he won't leave the gang. How can he, if he promised to stay and keep an eye on his stupid asshole of a brother?
God.
"Are you okay?" Sydney asks, popping up right beside me. "You'd tell me if something happened, right?"
I nod, distracted.
"Good."
"What about your mission?"
She shushes me. "Tonight it's a no go. I'll explain why another time. Talk to me about Jarett."
"What?" I start, because of course he's all I can think about right now.
"Jarett. Any news on that front?" She gestures to the bartender for a drink, then turns back toward me. We're wedged between her guys, and normally I'd feel weird leaning against one of them-I mean, I barely know them-but I don't give a damn.
What else did Sebastian say to me?
"You're the only chick, hell, the only person he ever listened to. The only one who ever got through to him."
Why would he say that to me? What would he have to gain from it? He'd already berated Jarett, told me about the promise, told me to tell him not to bother protecting him …
Why would Sebastian think I should be the one to tell Jarett that?
What am I missing?
Chapter Twenty
Jarett
Sebastian is home when I come back from my new job on Monday evening. He's sprawled on the couch and has obviously found my hidden stash of booze because a collection of empty bottles decorates the coffee table.
Shit. That motherfucker.
"Look what the cat dragged in," he slurs, and I wince, because it reminds me of Mom-of Mrs. Lowe and how she's losing her power of speech.
Whereas her son chooses to destroy his brain on his own.
"Fuck you," I say without heat, too tired to pick a fight, and head straight to my bedroom.
I start undressing, pulling the sweat-soaked clothes off me. Bartending is hard, but working in a fast-food corner store? Ten times worse. All I want is to take a hot shower and hit the sack.
"You don't walk away," Sebastian says from my doorway, making me jump, "when I'm talking to you, asshole."
"What the hell do you want?"
"Where were you?" He has a suspicious glint in his eyes.
"Work."
"Load of bull. You start work much later."
"It's a new job. I got fired from the other one. Missed too many fucking shifts."
"Blame it all on the gang, huh?" He makes a face that I guess is supposed to look sad but looks like a sick clown. "Poor old Fen."
"Goddammit, Seb, fuck you," I say again, and this time I mean it. I shove at him to go out the bedroom door. "Get out of the way. I need a shower."
The punch catches me in the kidneys, and I double over. The next one slams into my jaw, and I go down in a heap.
Goddamn. What a fucked-up evening.
"What. Do you. Want?" I see his boots approaching my face, and I flinch away, expecting him to kick me.
But he just stares down at me. "I talked to your girl."
Ice runs through my veins. "What? What girl?"
"The one you always stuck to like a disease. Gigi."
"You talked to her?" I sit up, seeing red. "What the hell, Seb? What did you do?"
"Relax. We just talked. Honestly, man, I don't get what you see in her. Anyway, I told her what an idiot you are. That I don't need you."
I use the wall as a crutch to get up and lunge for him, sending him slamming into the wall. "Son of a bitch."
"I don't need you babysitting me," he grunts, and tries to punch me, but I twist away just in time. "I told you, I'm valuable to the gang. I don't need you breathing down my back. Think I don't know why you joined, why you're always there? Guess what: I don't hold you to that stupid promise, Rett, and neither does Mom. So leave us both the hell alone."
"You don't speak for her." I slam him back again, acid churning in my stomach.
"She never really wanted you," he spits. "Did you know that? She regretted taking you in."
"Bullshit. You think you're gonna, what, break me with this? Think you're being cruel?" I shake him. "I'm not a kid anymore. I don't care if she never wanted me. I gave my promise to her as a man, and if you're a man, a promise counts." I spit a wad of blood on his boot. "Not that you'd know anything about that."
He growls, and manages to get a hit in, his fist glancing off my jaw, but I'm too angry to feel any pain right now, physical or otherwise.
"You'll never talk to Gigi again, hear me?" I grab fistfuls of his sweater and snarl in his face. "Never go near her, or I'll smash your face in."
He's scowling now, his smugness gone. "Get your fucking hands off me."
With an effort, I let go, giving him one last shake before I do, and he lurches out of my hold.
He crosses the living room, grabbing his jacket on his way, then turns and gives me a rictus of a grin, his teeth bloody. "As for your girl, brother, no promises."
Opening the door, he gets out, and is gone.