Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 116759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
“Sebastian Thorne.” I held out a hand to her, feeling grateful she’d interrupted, even if Lily was embarrassed by it. For a moment, I’d let my cock do the thinking. Lily deserved better than a casual fling.
“Olivia.” Lily’s mum shook my hand with a mischievous grin. The woman had a glamorous smile that transformed her from merely pretty to stunning. “I’m Lily’s mother as well as head librarian here. What are your intentions with my daughter?” She had a mixed accent. American with Scottish inflection.
I laughed at her forwardness as Lily squealed, “Mum!”
Olivia hushed her but was still smiling. “This is still a library, Lil.” She held out her hand to her daughter. “I’m going to need that key back. I’ve kicked couples out of the study rooms too many times to count, and my kid is not going to be one of them.”
“Kill me.” Lily closed her eyes. “Please kill me now.”
“After I get that key.”
“I assure you nothing untoward was about to occur,” I interjected.
“I’m still going to need that key.”
Groaning with pure mortification, Lily handed it over. “Nothing happened.”
“And now nothing will.” Olivia thumbed over her shoulder. “You can use the cubicles on the second floor. The ones out in the open for everyone to see.”
I snorted. Lily’s mum was funny.
“You do realize I’m almost twenty-two,” Lily hissed at her as we all turned to walk down the aisle.
“I do. But you do realize I’m the head librarian and I can’t condone sexual activity in the library … even though it’s an uphill battle.”
“There was no—ugh, you’re so embarrassing. Come on, Sebastian.” Lily stomped away.
“Nice to meet you,” I said to Olivia as I passed. Lily was out of earshot now. “Really, truly, nothing is happening. We’re just friends.”
“I remember a male friend of mine looking at me the way I caught you looking at my daughter.”
“Oh?”
She grinned and waved her ring finger. “He married me.” With a chuckle, she sauntered off in the opposite direction, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor.
Biting my lip, I turned back to search for Lily. Hurrying after her, a different kind of guilt clouded my mind. I didn’t want to lead Lily on and that’s exactly what I’d done. Shit.
I had to fix this.
All of it.
I knew I had to tell Harry and Olly we needed to back off the girls’ podcast. Olly had started winding the girls up, trying to make it a competition between the shows to get a rise out of Sierra. He said it was only for fun, but I had a feeling Olly had really liked Sierra and his ego was badly bruised by her lack of interest in taking their relationship further. Sierra didn’t know it was Olly behind Potterrow Blokes, which seemed to piss him off even more that she didn’t recognize his voice.
But the joke had gone far enough.
Lily and her friends didn’t find the interference funny.
And it wasn’t.
It was immature.
I was done with it.
As for Lily …
First, I had to quit the podcast. I’d promised Harry I’d do tomorrow’s show, and I would. But after that, I quit.
And then next time … next time Lily and I met, I’d tell her the truth. Everything. Hopefully, she’d forgive me long enough to want to stay in my life. As a friend. Only as a friend.
CHAPTER SIX
LILY
Present Day
Ishould have listened to my sister.
As I walked into the old student accommodation the next Saturday, my sister January texted me.
Please tell me you’re not going to that psych experiment after all.
I’d chuckled and replied:
Arriving now.
My phone beeped immediately.
Well, unarrive! It’s a trap! IT’S A TRAP!!!
Snort-laughing, I texted back.
So dramatic.
A stream of texts followed.
My drama will keep you alive.
This is the opening to a horror movie.
Old disused building.
Attractive but dim student lured there under false pretenses.
What part of this doesn’t scream Wes Craven to you?
I was impressed she knew who Wes Craven was. Still, rolling my eyes, I’d replied.
Dim? You just talked yourself out of the cupcakes I baked last night.
You’re not returning to claim them.
I’ll comfort-hoover them down while I wait for the police to arrive to tell me my sister was unalived by a psycho psych grad.
Still smiling at her nonsense, I’d followed the signs directing me to where I needed to be, only to walk into the room and lock eyes with the last person I wanted to see.
For the five minutes we waited for everyone to arrive, I tensed against his approach.
But he just stood there, staring at me.
This wasn’t happening.
No.
I was going to kill him.
Seething, I hoped Sebastian Thorne could feel the laser beam of my anger shooting from my eyes to where he stood across the room, smirking unremorsefully.
“It looks like we’re all here,” Arthur said, glancing around what had once been the kitchen of a student flat. The accommodation was much like what I’d lived in my first year. Five bedrooms off a narrow hallway, a shower room, and a kitchen/common room with uncomfortable chairs and no soft lounging area. I always suspected they didn’t include a comfortable lounging area in the accommodation to deter students from socially gathering too often when they were supposed to be studying.