"It was nice to meet you as well, Spencer." I tore my gaze away his and had to remind myself that he was nothing but trouble. I looked around the table at all three of them. "Thank you for inviting me to dinner with you, I enjoyed getting to know all of you and I am looking forward to working with all of you. I am excited to have the opportunity to share my ideas with you about Blu Sierra Dubai. I will see you all tomorrow in the office?"
Shane smiled at me. "Yes, we'll see you tomorrow."
Sebastian stood and held my chair for me. "I'll walk you to the car. Guys, I'll be right back."
We walked in silence to the door and a black town car was waiting for me outside. When we stepped outside Sebastian turned and looked at me, the wind gently brushing his hair.
"Thank you for joining us for dinner. I'm glad you had a chance to meet my brothers away from the office. You can probably see that there is a big difference between Spencer and Shane."
What I can see is that all of you are gorgeous. "Yes, I noticed a difference, but being different is what makes the world go around, right? Shane seems extremely mature for his age, Sebastian. He is going to make some girl very happy one day, he's very sweet."
"Oh, interested in my younger brother?" He tried to sound like he was joking but I could see the hint of jealousy flash across his eyes.
"No, that's not what I'm saying. He's just very nice, I can see why you are closer to him than Spencer. Spencer seems a little more self-centered and I can definitely see that he's a handful."
He gave a small chuckle. "That's an understatement." He reached out and smoothed my windblown hair away from my face, his eyes searching mine, and the butterflies went crazy. He was so beautiful and regret was tugging at my heart as I looked at him, but I was so hurt by him and I didn't want to give in.
"Elena, can I take you out Saturday night?"
"I don't think that's a good idea, Sebastian."
"Please." I could see the hurt and the longing in his eyes and I had to look away because I could feel myself getting weak.
"It's just not the right time. Thank you again for dinner, I will see you in the office tomorrow." I turned and ducked into the car quickly before he could say anything, and as we drove off I turned to see him standing there, watching me drive away.
I turned back around and a loud sigh escaped my lips as I slumped down in my seat, ran my fingers through my hair in frustration and gazed out of the window. The wall that I built around my heart was slowly beginning to crumble each time I saw him and I started to question why I was staying away from him.
Chapter Sixteen – Court Calls
The next few weeks passed quickly and on a Tuesday morning my attorney called me to tell me that Brian's court date was scheduled for the following month. A glimmer of fear coursed through my veins when I thought there might be a chance that he would be released. My attorney assured me that wouldn't happen but I wouldn't feel 100 percent comfortable until I knew for sure that he would remain locked up. I must have had a worried look on my face because as Sebastian passed by he knocked on my door.
"Everything okay?" We had not really talked since I went out to dinner with him and his brothers, even though he still sent me flowers and a note every week. As far as I knew, everything was still unresolved with him, Sophia and the whole custody thing so I was keeping my distance.
I looked up at him standing in my doorway and I had to admit that I was happy to see him. I needed to talk about my fears about Brian and since Sebastian was one of the few people who knew what had happened with him, even though we weren't speaking the way we used to, I needed to get it out.
"Do you have a few minutes?"
His face was filled with concern. "Of course." He came into my office, shut the door behind him, and sat down across from me. "What's going on?"
I took a deep breath and raised nervous eyes to meet his.
"I just talked to my lawyer and he told me that Brian's court date is set for Monday the 21st, next month. Sebastian, what if they let him go?"
"Elena, that is not to going to happen."
He sounded extremely sure of himself so I wondered if he knew something I didn't.
"How can you be so sure? Do you know something?"
"I had someone do some digging and I found out that he committed a lot of crimes on his way to see you. His obsession with you is really strong and he basically dug himself deep into a hole that he won't be able to get out of. He won't be going anywhere anytime soon. You honestly have nothing to worry about."
I felt a little bit of relief when he told me that, but I knew that I wouldn't feel hundred percent relaxed about everything until I heard what the judge had to say. I was really thankful that Sebastian took the time to look into things for me and it was only fair that I told him that.
My eyes searched his. "Sebastian, thank you for doing that, it shows me how much you care."
He looked very surprised. "You don't know how much I care?"
I looked down at my desk and my voice was very small. "Yes, I do."
"Good, I'm glad. I have news to share with you also."
I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. "Oh?"
"Our final custody hearing is two weeks from today. We will finally know what the custody arrangement will be and I won't have to deal with Sophia's games and bullshit anymore. She has been using Jaden to get to me since she first told me she was pregnant and I can't wait until everything is finalized and I won't have to deal with her anymore."
I looked at him. "Sebastian, you do know that she will be in your life in some capacity forever because you share a child together. You do understand that, don't you? Sophia is never going to go away." As I said the words it confirmed the reservations I'd had about getting involved with him and the thought of having to deal with a woman like that for the rest of my life was not something I was sure I wanted to even consider.
I must have had an unhappy look on my face because the next thing I knew Sebastian was reaching across my desk and grabbing my hand.
"Yes, I know that Sophia is the mother of my son and she will always be around in some way, but that does not mean that she will affect my relationship with the woman I love. I love you Elena, and I don't want you to think that life with me will be miserable because of her."
"I don't think life with you would be miserable, I just think that it would be more complicated than it had to be because of her. Maybe I would think differently if you had told me about her and Jaden from the beginning but now, I'll never know. I do love you Sebastian, I just think that with someone like her she would do everything in her power to make our lives complicated."
I decided to tell him how I felt instead of holding back because my heart was winning over what my head was saying. I was in love with him and I was sad that things had turned out the way they did. I kept telling myself that it wasn't selfish of me to wish that he didn't have a three-year-old son but whenever I looked in the mirror and thought about it, I felt like a very selfish person. At 24 years old, I just wasn't sure if I was ready for the responsibility of someone else's child.
He looked at me. "You said you love me."
"Yes, but that doesn't change the situation Sebastian. I don't mean to sound so selfish but it's a lot, you have a lot of stuff, and I wish that I had known everything from the beginning."
"Would that have changed things for you? Do you think that you wouldn't have fallen in love with me if you knew from the beginning that I had a son?"
"I don't know, but I feel like you intentionally kept that information from me."
"Elena, I told you before that the only reason I didn't say something sooner is because I was trying to protect everyone involved. And to be honest, I was being a little bit selfish. I liked having time with just us and I wanted you to get to know me as a person and not me as a father. On some level maybe I was afraid that if you knew about Jaden right away you wouldn't even give me the time of day, so I was hoping that if you got to know me first you would just fall in love with him when you got to know him."
We sat there in silence for a couple of minutes and I was just getting ready to tell him that I needed more time when my phone rang.
"Hello?"
Bev sounded frantic. "Elena, tell Mr. Blu to call his mother immediately."
I instantly felt terrified because I could tell that something was wrong. I looked at Sebastian and held the phone out to him. "You need to call your mother, there is some sort of emergency."