Ashley grinned. “Yeah, but since Jet doesn’t charge me rent, it’s not like I can get credit for it, ya know?”
“Well, no,” Sebastian said, his look flickering. “I meant you could just move in here.”
Ashley looked back at him for a long minute, blinking a couple of times in surprise.
“There are two bedrooms, if you wanted your own…” Sebastian said, already starting to feel stupid for the suggestion.
“You don’t seem like the roommate type,” Ashley said. “And I know I couldn’t afford half of whatever the rent is here… I mean, this apartment is so nice and all…” Her voice trailed off as she bit her lip.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Sebastian said, even as his phone started to ring. “Excuse me, I need to take this.” He got up and picked up his phone, he picked up his shorts and walked out of the room.
Ashley lay on the bed, trying to figure out what had just happened. She’d been shocked by the offer of her moving in there and at first she’d been excited by the invitation, but then she’d started thinking about what Jet had said. So, just another place to stay with “no permanent house guests” stamped on her forehead. When Sebastian didn’t come back she started feeling stupid, so she got up and put her clothes back on.
Finally, she went looking for him. He was sitting out on his balcony smoking and talking on the phone. Ashely stood trying to decide what to do, and finally she decided to leave. She tapped on the sliding glass door, and Sebastian glanced over at her. She waved, he nodded. She left then, still feeling incredibly stupid and awkward suddenly.
She didn’t hear the yell or the impact to the wall on the balcony above her as she drove away. She drove straight back to Jet’s house and went into her room, not bothering to close the door. Lying down on her bed, she gave into the good cry she needed.
Jet walked by an hour later and heard her sniffling.
“What’s up?” Jet asked, standing in the doorway to her room.
Ashley looked over at Jet, tears still on her cheeks.
Jet’s eyes narrowed. “Son of a bitch!” she growled and turned and walked away.
Ashley stared at the spot Jet had just stood in and then suddenly realized what Jet had thought.
“Jet! Wait!” Ashley yelled, jumping off the bed and running after Jet. But she was too late and Jet sped off on the Ducati.
Fadiyah came to the garage door, looking out as Jet took off.
She looked at Ashley. “What has happened?”
“I was just a major dumbass, that’s all,” Ashley said, grimacing.
Jet walked into Sebastian’s apartment building, texting Kashena as she did: “You’d better get your partner in line, because he is about to piss off the wrong butch!”
Pocketing her phone, Jet pounded on Sebastian’s door, her temper simmering. When Sebastian opened the door, it took everything she had not to sucker punch him, but that wasn’t her style.
“What the fuck did you do to Ashley?” she asked, shoving past him to get into the apartment.
Sebastian gave a sarcastic laugh. “That’s rich,” he said, shaking his head and taking a drink of the beer in his hand.
Jet caught sight of the blood on his hand.
“What the fuck did you do to yourself?” she asked, immediately worried for him.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Jet. Make up your fucking mind already!” Sebastian snapped.
“What?” Jet said, shocked.
Sebastian shook his head and walked back to his balcony sitting back down. Jet could tell he’d been drinking a lot. And he looked absolutely morose. She started wondering if she’d missed something.
“What’s going on Baz?” she asked him, moving to stand in front of him.
“Nothing’s going on Jet Fire, you win,” he said, sounding defeated.
“What exactly was I playing for?”
“Ashley, what else? Or do you need them all?” he asked, his tone sharp.
Jet looked back at him, her look perplexed. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Sebastian just sent her a dirty look, lighting another cigarette and opening another beer.
“I think you’ve probably had enough to drink…” Jet said, moving to take the bottle out of his hand.
He moved to yank it out of the way and his elbow connected with Jet’s cheek. She yanked her head back, but it still hit. She saw stars for a minute, but shook them off.
“Okay, keep it,” she said.
“Jet…” he started. She held her hand up to stop whatever he was going to say.
“Drink yourself fucking silly, have a good time,” she said and strode to the door.
Walking out into the hallway, she leaned against the wall, breathing slowly. She knew he hadn’t meant to strike her but it didn’t lessen the shock she was feeling.
Pulling out her phone, she texted Kashena again: “He’s in bad shape, he needs you.”
Shoving her phone back into her pocket, she walked out of the apartment building. Jamming on her helmet, she got on the Ducati and gunned it, roaring away from the curb in a burst of speed. She knew she was taking risks on the freeway, but the anger coursing through her kept pushing her faster and faster. Bending low over the tank of the bike, she gunned it again. She slowed the bike at the garage door, waiting for it to open. By the time she pulled the bike into the garage, both Ashley and Fadiyah were standing there waiting for her.
This is gonna go well, she thought to herself as she backed the bike into place and turned it off. She took off her helmet, keeping her head turned so they couldn’t see what she was sure a fairly nasty bruise by now, if the ache was any indication. She took off her riding gloves and stuffed them in the helmet, finally climbing off the bike. She turned around and strode into the house, heading straight for the refrigerator and a beer. Reaching up above the fridge, she pulled out a bottle of Casa Noble and took that and the beer to the backyard. Fadiyah and Ashley caught up to her there.
“What the hell happened?” Ashley snapped.
Jet threw her a look. “You fucking think he looks worse?” she asked, her tone sharp.
“He did that?” Ashley asked, paling slightly.
“It was an accident,” Jet said, her tone even.
“Sebastian did this?” Fadiyah asked, moving to touch Jet’s cheek gently. Jet yanked her head away.
“It was an accident,” she repeated, her light green eyes flashing in anger.
Fadiyah glanced at Ashley who just shook her head, shrugging.
Jet’s phone chimed. She pulled it out, checked it and tossed it on the table in front of her.
“Kash is there now.”
Kashena walked out onto Sebastian’s balcony, seeing the state he was in. She sat down on one of the chairs.
“So, what’s going on here?” she asked, her tone light.
Sebastian cast a bleary look in her direction. “Second string?”
“Oh honey, I’m always first string. I just live farther away,” Kashena said, her tone as serious as the look on her face.
Her eyes dropped to the hand that was gripping the bottle of beer.
“Nice work there…” she said. “How many bones do you think you broke this time?”
Sebastian didn’t answer, he just lifted the beer to his lips and drained it then set the bottle on the table.
“This about Ashley?” Kashena asked, sitting back and crossing a booted foot over her other leg.
“It isn’t about anything,” Sebastian said.
“Right…” Kashena said, nodding. “’Cause I don’t know you or anything, right?”
“Back off Kash…” Sebastian growled.
“You don’t fucking scare me, Ranger,” Kashena said, her deep blue eyes narrowed slightly.
Sebastian got to his feet, taking a step toward the chair Kashena sat in, looming over her. Kashena dropped her foot to the ground, her feet set wide apart, her chin coming up slightly, her look at him direct and challenging. Sebastian narrowed his eyes s
eeing her challenge.
“You feeling the need to throw down big boy?” she asked him, her tone serious.
Sebastian looked back at her; suddenly he could see the tension in her neck, and the rigidity of her back. What the fuck am I doing? he thought suddenly. This was his best friend.
“Jesus…” he breathed, sinking to his knees.
Kashena was there instantly, holding him, her arms wrapped around him, her hand stroking his head.
“Okay, partner, okay…” she said, her tone soothing. “We got this, Baz, we got it.”
He shook his head miserably. Kashena was stunned to see tears in his eyes. She helped him to his feet, sitting him in the closest chair, and pulled another chair over for herself. Sitting down, she looked him in the face.
“Tell me what happened, Baz.”
“I was stupid,” he said simply.
“How?” Kashena asked.
“I thought I could do better…” he said, his look still wavering.
“Better than what?” Kashena asked, still trying to figure out what was going on.
“Than Jet,” he said.
“With Ashley?” Kashena asked then.
Sebastian nodded, his lips curling in disgust.
“Okay, what did you do?”
“Asked her to move in here, with me,” he said, his tone self-effacing.
Kashena’s mouth dropped open in shock. “I’m sorry,” she said, blinking a couple of times. “Did you just say that you asked her to move in here with you?”
Sebastian nodded, looking disgusted with himself.
“Wow,” was all Kashena could think of to say for a few moments. “What did she say?”
Sebastian curled his lips in a sarcastic grin. “Blah, blah, blah, I want to keep living with Jet.”
Kashena couldn’t help but grin at the way Sebastian said it, her look a combination of sympathy and downright amusement.
“Is that actually how she said it, Baz?” Kashena asked, trying to keep the laughter out of her voice.
Sebastian saw it, and couldn’t help but start to grin too. “It was something like that…” he said, his tone still dark.
Kashena nodded her head, doing her best to look serious.
“Fuck you, Marine,” he said, starting to grin.
“You may have just shocked the shit out of the girl, Baz, is that possible?” she asked him.
He shook his head, looking serious again.
“She’s really hung up on Jet, Kash. I was stupid to think that I could mess with that.”
Kashena’s lips twitched, she didn’t like seeing Sebastian so completely devastated. It wasn’t him, and she didn’t like it one bit. Sebastian got up to walk into the apartment, heading to the fridge for another beer.
“You want a beer?” he called to her.
“Sure,” she said, pulling at her phone and tapping out a message to Jet.
She had the phone back in her pocket by the time he walked back out.
Jet’s phone chimed. Setting down the bottle of tequila, she picked it up and looked at the message from Kash. She looked over at Ashley, who was sitting in the chair next to her. Fadiyah was sitting on the other side of her, holding a cloth with ice, which Jet had thus far refused to allow her to use on her face.
“Did Baz ask you to move in with him?” Jet asked Ashley.
Ashley looked over at her surprised, then glanced at Jet’s phone. “Kash?” she asked.
Jet nodded. “She’s there with him now. Answer the question, Ash.”
Ashley blew her breath out in exasperation. “Yeah, he asked me to move in, so what? I mean, how many women does he use that one on?”
Jet’s completely shocked look should have been her first clue, but Jet’s response of, “Oh, about ZERO,” certainly made up for it.
“What?” Ashley asked, hoping she’d just heard Jet wrong.
“None, zip, zero, zilch, he’s never asked a woman to live with him… ever, Ash.”
Ashley closed her eyes slowly, feeling all the blood drain out of her head. “Oh my God… I just fucked up,” she said, opening one eye to look at Jet. “I fucked up, didn’t I?”
Jet gave her a tight smile and nodded.
“Oh my God…” Ashley said again, putting her face in her hands and leaning down over her knees. “I think I’m gonna be sick…”
Jet glanced at Fadiyah, a grin starting on her lips. Fadiyah looked back at her perplexed. Jet winked at her, wincing when it stretched the bruise on her cheek. Fadiyah held up the rag with the ice. Jet shook her head, laughing softly.
“Ash?” Jet said then.
“Ashley has left,” Ashley said, her face still in her hands. “Ashley was incredibly stupid, and has decided to just take a leave of absence. Please leave a message.”
Jet chuckled. “Ash, you need to get your ass over there and make this right.”
Ashley’s head snapped up, her look aghast. “I can’t go over there!”
“Yes you can, and you will,” Jet said, her tone sure.
“No…” Ashley said. “I can’t face him again, I can’t, no way.”
“Do you want to live with him?” Jet asked her. “And don’t bother trying to lie to me.”
Ashley took a deep breath, expelling it slowly, and nodding.
“Then get your cute little ass up out of that chair, and get the fuck over there!”
“What if he won’t talk to me?” Ashley asked.
Jet looked back at her. “Then take what you want.”
Kashena had just left and Sebastian was still sitting on his balcony. The crowd of bottles on his table was growing, as were the butts in the ashtray. He wondered remotely if you could give yourself cirrhosis of the liver and cancer all in one day.
“Sebastian…” Ashley said from the doorway to the balcony.
Sebastian didn’t turn around, merely blinking slowly, thinking that he had to be imagining Ashley’s voice.
“Sebastian?” Ashley queried again, taking a couple steps out onto the balcony.
She moved closer as he lifted the beer in his hand to his lips, that’s when she saw the blood.
“Sebastian!” she exclaimed, kneeling next to the chair he sat in, taking the beer out of his hand and then taking his hand gently in both of hers. “What did you do?” she asked him, turning her head to look at him.
She saw that he was looking at her with an odd curiosity in his stormy eyes.
“Oh my God, how much have you had to drink?” she asked, her eyes looking over at the series of bottles. “Oh Sebastian…” she breathed. “Come on…” she said, moving to stand and doing her best to pull him up by pulling on his wrist.
His face became amused as he moved to stand. Ashley pulled him into the house, making him sit down on the couch. She went into the kitchen then, pulling out a bottle of water from the fridge and then grabbed a dishtowel and wet it. Walking back into the living room, she opened the bottle and handed it to him.
“Drink that,” she told him. When he simply looked back at her, she narrowed her eyes at him. “Drink it Sebastian.” She continued to stare him down until he lifted the bottle to his lips and took a long swig.
In the meantime she knelt in front of him again, taking his injured hand in hers and gently pressing the dishtowel to the bloody spots. He jumped slightly, so she eased up on the pressure. After a few dabs she was able to see where his hand was cut, it was black and blue, and she was pretty sure he’d broken some bones.
“What were you trying to do to yourself?” she asked him, her look scolding.
Sebastian looked back at her, a smile hovering at his lips.
“You better be drinking that water,” she told him, narrowing her eyes at him.
He lifted the bottle to his lips again and drained the contents. Setting it aside, he reached out and touched her cheek gently. She looked at him, her blue eyes shining.
“I’m sorry, Sebastian,” she said to him, shaking her head, “I didn’t mean to hurt you…”
&nbs
p; Sebastian drew in a deep breath, blowing it out slowly as he nodded. “You did,” he said simply.
“I’m sorry,” she said again, moving to sit on the couch next to him. Reaching up she smoothed his hair back, her eyes looking up into his. “Please forgive me. Will you?”
“That depends,” he said.
“On what?”
“On where you want to live,” he said simply.
She smiled softly. “I want to live here with you.”
“Then you’re forgiven,” he said, leaning over to kiss her lips softly.
Chapter 6
Jet knocked on Shenin’s door, sticking her head in. “What are you doin’ for lunch?” she asked.
“Uh,” Shenin stammered, then looked back at Jet again. “What the hell happened to your face?” she asked, shocked.
Jet grinned. “Long story,” she said. “Lunch?”
Shenin glanced at the clock, surprised it was already that late. “I have no plans,”
“Have lunch with me, then,” Jet said, canting her head toward the front of the building.
“Okay,” Shenin said, saving her work on her computer and standing up to stretch.
Jet waited for her, and then gestured for her to precede her out of the building. They walked to Jet’s car and Jet opened the passenger door for her. Shenin grinned, she was just like Tyler in that respect, always the gentleman.
“What?” Jet asked, seeing the grin.
“Nothing,” Shenin said, shaking her head.
On the day Tyler was leaving California, Jet walked out to her car, surprised to see someone leaning on the vehicle next to it, even more surprised when she realized it was Tyler Hancock.
“Didn’t you go home today?” Jet asked as she opened her trunk and dropped her gear bag in, glancing around.
“My transport was delayed,” Tyler said. “I need to talk to you, can we get out of here before Shenin comes out and sees me?”
“Okay…” Jet said, thinking this was odd.
Once in the car, Jet started the vehicle and backed out of the space.
“So what’s up?” she asked, as she pulled out of the lot, glancing over at Tyler.
“I need your help,” Tyler said.
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