Overlooked(1)(136)
His ex? The gravity of that information hits me with the force of ten-thousand bricks. Sebastian outright told me that he never dated anyone because of his demanding career.
And judging from the photos, they were very familiar with one another. The photos screamed intimacy. Their entwined arms, their smiles and their searing eye contact. Everything about it was nauseating.
My unanswered calls suddenly make sense. He wasn’t working late after all.
But he’d been busy all right.
An eerie sense of déjà vu settles over me, twisting the knife in my gut that much more. This is Jordan all over again, except more people get to witness my humiliation.
But there was no blog post to point out Jordan’s betrayal. This was worse.
What I thought was love for Jordan dims in comparison to what I feel for Sebastian. And he’d just stomped all over my heart.
I can’t believe I made myself vulnerable to him and believed the bullshit about him being “all in.”
My chest is constricting from the pain and I want to scream at the top of my lungs but I refuse to wake Winnie.
Why had he led me to believe we were more than we actually were? He’d snatched away my right to choose whether or not I wanted to be a part of his sick little lineup of women.
The screen blurs in front of me before I feel wetness on my cheek. But he isn’t worth my tears. Foolishly, I’d opened my heart up to someone who wasn’t worthy and now I have to face the repercussions.
Silly me.
With shaking hands, I quickly type out a text.
Message received loud and clear. I won’t bother you again.
My finger punches “send” as more tears threaten to fall. Refusing to feel sorry for myself, I swipe the moisture from my face and toss my phone across the bed.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SEBASTIAN DOWNS
I fucked up.
When I pulled out my phone tonight and saw those three missed calls from Olivia my stomach dropped to my shoes because I just knew she was calling to confront me about the pictures that surfaced with me and Maya.
Instead, I’d heard her tired but cheerful voice lamenting about a rough day and urging me to call her back.
Thinking I had time to warn her about what she may see later, I saved the voicemail just as a text message from her came through.
Message received loud and clear. I won’t bother you again.
Swearing under my breath, I immediately call her to set the record straight, already realizing that my chances are pretty slim. She’s had time to form her own idea of what happened. On my fourth attempt, Olivia finally picks up the phone sounding groggy.
“H-Hello?”
“Olivia, I can explain.” There’s really no need for pleasantries at this point.
Silence stretches before Olivia speaks again, sounding confused.
“Sebastian?”
“It’s not what you think.”
I can tell the exact moment she comes awake fully. The grogginess leaves her voice and is replaced with icy anger.
“I don’t know, the pictures are pretty damning. You know, I thought I was special when I saw the pics from my trip and the way you looked at me. But I guess that’s just your default expression whenever the prospect of getting laid is on the table.”
“Olivia.” I don’t know why I can’t manage more but words fail me at the moment I need them most.
“Very convenient of you to forget you had a supermodel ex.” The anger in her voice is evident but so is the hurt and I feel like shit for being the cause of it.
Sighing, I try to string together my next few words carefully.
“Maya was in town for a family member’s funeral. I felt bad for her.”
It sounded silly to my own ears but it’s the absolute truth.
“So I’m guessing you felt bad for me too when we started our little fling. She looks pretty radiant for someone who’s grieving. How’d you pull that off?”
“You’re not a fucking fling!” I roar through the phone. “You’re everything. You have to believe me, Olivia.”
“I don’t have to believe anything. I made a mistake by letting down my guard around you. We should have left it all on the island.”
“Olivia, don’t. You know how I feel about you.”
“No, I don’t. I don’t trust a thing you say. I wouldn’t be lying here humiliated if your words were anywhere near the truth. Tell me something. If the shoe was on the other foot and you saw me out with another man, would you be okay with it?”
A beat passes as the line goes silent because she struck a nerve. Hell no, I wouldn’t okay with it.
“That’s exactly what I thought. You’ve been territorial over me since before our first kiss. If another man so much as looks at me, you go into an uproar. But you’re allowed to walk the streets with your ex after a date and I should just take it?”