"What is this?" he asked, his voice more frantic than it should have been. "What happened?"
Mariss shook her head, but her empty eyes were trained on Hellena. Hellena stared right back, her eyes wide. Sebastian stepped into their line of sight and shook Mariss gently to make her look at him.
"Mariss, what happened?"
She frowned, as if seeing him for the first time. "She didn't know anything. She would have told me if she had."
Sebastian felt his face open up in shock. "What? You stay here. You two…" He pointed between them and entered the dungeon once more. Ashley was on her knees on the floor. She was no longer bound, but she had her head bowed. He knelt in front of her. Soft sobs shook her shoulders every now and then. When he touched her face, Ashley jerked away, but he caught her chin gently so he could look at her. Sebastian's heart thumped as he prepared to be greeted by a bloodied mess.
There wasn't a mark on her. He turned her face from side to side, but there was no blood. She was just as he'd left her.
Sebastian's eyes were drawn to movement in her lap. Her hands were wrapped in a towel like the one Mariss had.
"Let me see." He unwrapped her hands. The towel was stained with large spots of blood and her nails were caked with it.
He took a deep breath and let it out. There was clearly a lot about Mariss that he didn't know. If he had secrets locked away by the government, why wouldn't she?
"Sebastian!" There was panic in Hellena's voice.
"Don't let her come back in here," Ashley whispered. "I don't know anything. I swear. I don't know anything."
"She won't come back in. Stay here. I'll be right back."
Sebastian pushed to his feet and jogged back to the door. Mariss was on her knees in much the same position he'd found Ashley with her head down and her hands in her lap. Hellena knelt next to her, shaking her.
"What happened here?" He growled.
Hellena looked up at him, lost. "She's not breathing."
"Mariss?" He knelt beside her. "Hellena, go take care of Ashley."
Hellena did as she was told, and he thought he saw relief in her eyes. Sebastian placed his hand on the side of Mariss' face and turned her to look at him. "Breathe, Red."
Mariss blinked. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Sebastian caught her as her body went limp and scooped her into his arms.
"You have to breathe," he said. She hung in his arms as he carried her out to the car. They caused some alarm. The few who had seen them come in were quickly on their mobiles. Everyone wanted to know what had happened, but for the life of him, Sebastian didn't know.
In the car, Sebastian settled Mariss against him and loosened his tie. She was breathing again, but she was still unconscious and that scared him.
"Take me home," he told the driver. He dug out his mobile and called Juliet.
"Yes, sir," she answered on the second ring.
"I need you to clean up a mess for me at the club. Keep it out of the media. It's going to be bad."
"Shit. What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything. Just remember, whatever they say, it's probably not true."
Juliet sighed. "I guess this means I'm not off tomorrow after all."
"Get this taken care of and you can have tomorrow off."
"Yeah, right. Are you with Mariss?" she asked, annoyed.
"Yes."
"Is this about her?"
"She's involved. Just…keep her name out of it. I don't care what they print about me."
"Really?"
Sebastian shook his head. "I'll deal with whatever they print as long as she's not mentioned. I'm going home now. Come by when you've taken care of it." His mobile rang again as he was hung up.
"Not now, Hellena." He didn't need to look to know that it was her.
"Sebastian, what's going on?" she asked, despite his warning.
"I said not now. Finish up at the club. We'll talk later." He hung up.
Mariss stirred against him. She whimpered like she was frightened, then her whole body shook. Sebastian tried to put his arms around her, but she tensed. She struck out at something, pushing against his chest. He released her and she immediately calmed.
"Drive faster," he told the driver.
When they made it to his flat, Sebastian carried her inside and laid her on the bed in the second bedroom. She was shaking so bad that he had to get her warm. He drew a bath and carried her into the bathroom.
"I'm sorry, Mariss," he told her as he removed her clothes.
He settled her in the warm water, keeping one arm around her so she was leaning against him. Languidly he stroked her arm, hoping it would soothe her.
Sebastian had never cared for a woman like this, save Hellena. He wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Mariss stirred. She was slowly coming around, but he didn't know how she would react when she woke. Her head lolled against his shoulder and she moaned, her face twisted in pain.
"You're safe, Red," he told her softly. He sat there on the floor, holding her for what felt like hours.
Sebastian's mobile rang shrill in his pocket and he fumbled to answer it one-handed. He had to reach across himself to take it out of his right pocket with his left hand. As he struggled to get it out, he fumbled it, almost dropping it in the bathtub.
Sebastian caught the mobile and pressed it to his ear. "Jules?"
"Yeah. I didn't think you were going to answer. What the fuck did you do? There's an injured girl in your office that Hellena is trying to take care of and a million people with cell phones talking about how you carried Mariss Red out unconscious."
Sebastian sighed at the panic in her voice. "Where are you?"
"I'm driving. Where are you? We need to talk."
"I'm at home. With Mariss. Do me a favor."
"I think you're all out of favors for today."
"I think I sign your paycheck. Stop and bring us dinner. You can get yourself something to eat. Steak and a brownie ala mode for Mariss. Please. And thank you."
"Are you begging?" Juliet was incredulous. "Sebastian, Mr. Boa. No, you know what? Right now you're just a fucktard. I'll bring your dinner." Juliet sighed. "I deserve a raise."
"You'll get a bonus."
"You won't remember me in the morning." Her voice took on a teasing, suggestive tone and he knew she couldn't be too mad at him.
"I'll remember. I'll see you soon." He hung up and looked down as Mariss rolled her head up to look at him. "How are you?"
She blinked, confusion written all over her face. Her brown eyes were deep and consuming. "I'm naked."
"Yes," he said carefully. "I undressed you and put you in the tub."
"Why?"
"You were freezing and I didn't think you'd like to wake up to find me naked in the shower with you, so I chose the lesser of two evils. What happened, sweetheart?"
"I blacked out."
"Yes, I know."
"Are we at your apartment?"
Her voice was so juvenile that Sebastian wasn't sure what or who he was dealing with. It was so different that he was almost convinced he was dealing with an alternate personality.
"Yes, this is my flat. Mariss, you held your breath until you passed out."
Her eyes slid shut and she turned away from him. Mariss' head dropped onto his shoulder.
"So it was bad, then, huh? What did I do?"
"Do you really want to know?" That she was coherent enough to know she'd done something out of character was slightly encouraging.
"No, but I need to."
"You cut under her fingernails. I don't know how many. You stuck to your three minutes."
"I said three minutes? Fuck." Her head rolled back against the wall, her eyes still shut. "Please, don't let Holden find out. Oh, my god."
"You've done this before? With him?" Damn it if he didn't want to ask her about that story, but he'd save it for a more appropriate time.
"He hates it when I do this. He doesn't know what to do." Mariss opened her eyes and looked a
t him. "You handled this better than he ever did."
Sebastian offered her a smile. "That's good to know." He continued stroking her arm, unsure if she'd noticed. "Why does this happen?"
Mariss shook her head, as he'd known she would. "I can't. Please."
"Alright. Are you okay, though? No more suicide attempts?"
She made a noise that he wanted to interpret as a laugh, but he just wasn't convinced. "That's my mind's way of telling my body to stop whatever it is I'm doing. Somewhere in there I know what I'm doing is wrong and that's how I shut it down."
"Then I guess I should be thankful. I'm going to change clothes and take a shower." He paused. "Not in that order. Stay here as long as you like."
"Bassy."
"Yes?"
"Are you afraid of me?"
He considered that. He was a little more understanding than before and possibly more wary. "No. Is your husband afraid of you?"
"Sometimes, I think he is."
Despite his better judgment, Sebastian pressed a kiss to her temple. She leaned into him and he stayed there a moment. "Stay here as long as you want," he whispered. "I have your dinner coming. Juliet may join us if that's alright with you. She's taking care of the media issue."
"Fuck."
"Hm. I'll handle it. She's also bringing your steak and dessert."
"Yes, I'm going to need the dessert, I think. As well as those chocolates and a shot of something strong."
"You'll have it."
He pulled away from her before he was tempted to climb in the tub and hold her all night.
***
Sebastian put on a worn pair of jeans and a loose grey t-shirt. He opened the front door to Juliet laden down with food and clothes.
"Sorry it took so long. I ran home to grab some clothes to change into and figured if Mariss has been in the same clothes for two days she's going to want to change too."
"Thanks, Jules." The take-away boxes teetered dangerously. Sebastian grabbed them and set them on the coffee table in the front room. Then he took the clothes from her. "She's still in the bathtub." He checked his watch. "Been in there a while. I'm going to check on her."
Mariss was under the water when he walked in. Sebastian set the clothes on the counter and loomed over the tub so she could see that he was there. When she came up, her normally sleek, straight hair was a mess of tightly woven curls. It was the most unrefined he'd seen her. He had an idea that she didn't like people seeing her undone, as it were, but he thought this was the most beautiful she could be.
"I'm going to need a rubber band," she said when she came up, rubbing water from her eyes.
"I'll see if Juliet has one. She brought you some clothes. Aren't you cold?"
"I added some hot water to it."
She was Mariss again, calm and in control.
"I'm sorry for what happened today, Sebastian. I was trying to think, but I don't remember anything after you told me she was the person who pushed me out into traffic. Are you sure that was her?"
"Yes. Positive. But she didn't know anything. I should have stayed in the room with you."
"Do that next time."
"There won't be a next time. If I'd known…" He sighed. "I wouldn't have taken you there. I would have handled it myself."
"Don't treat me like I'm fragile because I had one breakdown."
"I'm not. I'm looking out for you. Trust me, Red. This is as new for me as it is for you. I'm not used to spending this kind of time with women I haven't fucked."
"We've…done stuff."
"Not the way I want." He needed to end this conversation. "Finish up here. Your steak is getting cold. We'll wait for you." He hoped she didn't think he was mad. He was a bit short with her, but he needed a quick escape.
Sebastian stopped by the Baby Grand in the foyer, running his fingers over the keys before he sat down. Automatically, his fingers began to play Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu. It was one of his favorites and one he could play without thinking. He often used it to channel his mind before he played a more difficult piece. Tonight, however, he needed it to channel his mind for other reasons.
Sebastian let his fingers fly over the keys. It helped to hone his focus and pull him to a place where he wasn't thinking about Mariss' naked body lying in the bathtub in his guest room. He pulled his mind away from trying to figure out what had happened to her to send her into such frightening, dissociative episodes. It took him away from the fact that Hellena would be here at some point tonight and he'd have to explain something to her about the girl Mariss had tortured for information.
Sebastian finished up Fantasie Impromptu and launched right into Chopin's Nocturne. He played and relaxed and let the music lift the moments of the day that he no longer wanted to carry on his back.
Sometime later, Sebastian looked up and saw Juliet starting at him. She cleared her throat and threw her eyes behind him. He stopped playing and turned to find Mariss staring at him, transfixed.
"Why did you stop?" Mariss asked.
"I forgot you were here."
She frowned. "Why should that matter?"
"I don't usually play for anyone. Juliet is something of an exception."
"Looked to me like you were playing for yourself." She shrugged. "You're very good."
He raised an eyebrow. "Do you play? Mariss Red, you are so very faceted."
She nodded. "I'd play you something, but the food is getting cold and I haven't eaten anything since breakfast. That's probably why I freaked out."
Sebastian stood from the piano and her eyes drank him in. He sneered, though he didn't mean to. "You expected me to wear suits all the time?"
Mariss shook her head. "That's a good look for you. It makes you look…human. Kind of like when we were in the car this afternoon and you weren't worried about which face to put on or what I would think when you copped your little attitude. You were just being you. I like it."
"I guess I should wear jeans more often, if it means you'll look at me like that."
Mariss looked at him, but he couldn't tell what she was thinking. "Like what?" she asked.
"Hungry."
"Oh, no. You mistook my actual hunger for food for being about you."
Sebastian grinned, relieved that she was back to her normal, smartarse self. "Ah, I see. Well, then, shall we?" He motioned her to the front room thinking he may have finally found
someone he could be himself with.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Good Night Kiss
"Why don't you like to play the piano for anyone?" Mariss asked.
She took a bite of her steak and chewed, looking up at him through her thick eyelashes. She and Juliet had opted to sit on the floor and use the coffee table while Sebastian stayed on the sofa. He'd put his meal on a plate, arranging it much the way he was sure they would have in the restaurant. Mariss and Juliet ate out of the styrofoam take-away boxes.
"I just don't. It's not something I do to show off. I play for myself, not other people."
Mariss smiled and shrugged. "I'd like to hear you play again." She took another bite. "Why is Juliet so special?"
"Because he doesn't want to sleep with me," Juliet answered. Then she added, "I'm gay."
"Oh, I see. So it's not that he doesn't want to sleep with you, because we all know he'll do anything with a vag. It's that you don't want to sleep with him." Mariss nodded. "I'm glad to know that works for someone."
Juliet snorted. Sebastian would have kicked her if she'd been close enough.
"Don't think he didn't try," Juliet went on. "But he let it go when he realized it wasn't about not wanting him, it was about not wanting men."
Mariss laughed. "Oh, my god. He's so vain."
Sebastian did kick Mariss then. He tapped her bottom with his toe until she turned to look at him.
"I'm right here," he told her, his mouth twitching with the need to smile. "Don't talk about me like I'm not."
Mariss bit her lip and he was struck with just how sexy that was
. No wonder she almost died from heart failure when he did it.
"I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings?"
He shook his head. "I don't have feelings."
Mariss smiled wide, pursed her lips together, and turned away. She shoveled some more food in her mouth and shook her head.
"It's true," Juliet agreed. "He works me to the bone. I'm overworked, under paid, can't get a vacation, let alone a day off, and he makes me do all of his dirty work. I should quit."
"You should. Leave him high and dry and see what happens."
"He'd crash and burn without me."
Sebastian shot Juliet a fiery look. "That's enough, you two. I'm not sure how comfortable I am with you being friends."
"What are you going to do about it if we are?" Juliet asked. "Fire me?"
"I'd never fire you," he said affectionately. "I'd make your life a living hell."
"I don't doubt that for a second." She bumped Mariss who was concentrating on her food. "His last assistant was this poor thing who couldn't think straight when he was around. Kind of like you."
"What?" Mariss huffed, but her face brightened with humor. "That's not true."
"No. She was way worse than you. Anytime he asked her to do something, he'd have to repeat it several times before she'd get it right."
"I made her write it all down so she wouldn't forget," Sebastian added.
Juliet grinned and leaned toward Mariss conspiratorially. "The notebook she was supposed to write these things down in was full of hearts and 'I heart Sebastian Boa'." She and Mariss laughed together. "I worked with her for, like, a week. She was supposed to train me, but I ended up figuring it all out on my own."
"Did he fuck her?" Mariss asked. "Oh, oops. Sorry, Bassy. Did you fuck her?"
"Bassy, huh?" Juliet eyed him suspiciously.
"Mm hm. It's either that or Bash." Mariss shrugged. She was looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Sebastian watched her until she turned around.
"Are you going to answer the question?"
"Yes, I did. It was before I hired her."
"Why did you even hire her?" Juliet asked. She shoved a piece of broccoli into her mouth.
"She needed money."
Mariss looked up at him. "But you don't have any feelings."
The Man Without Rules Page 16