“Tori come talk with me for a minute,” Bastian says.
I nod and follow him across the yard into the house. We continue through until we find an office. He gestures for me to sit while he makes his way to a small mini bar. “Drink?” he asks with his back toward me pouring himself a glass of tequila.
“Dear God, please,” I gasp. It’s exactly what I need if I’m going to make it through the rest of this party.
“What’s your poison?”
“At this point, literally anything. The stronger the better.”
“I’ve seen your work, Tori,” he begins without further pleasantries. “The tattoos you did on Zane and Zoey are really, really good. Can’t say I’ve seen too many better.”
He sits across from me while handing me a tumbler full of dark liquid. I didn’t see him pour but I know the smell. Jack Daniels.
“Thank you, Sebastian. Zoey actually drew the design, so I don’t know if it’s that great but thank you. Coming from you, it’s a huge compliment.”
He gives me a sharp look. A smug smirk drawing the side of his mouth as he sips his drink. “It’s not a compliment. It’s the truth. Compliments and flattery aren’t exactly my forte.”
I nod as I look into his eyes, noticing they are two different colors. And quite intense but it’s a different kind of intensity than I’ve seen in Jax or Rory. His are almost indifferent but – not. He is enigmatic and not easy to read by any means. “Well, thank you anyway,” I tell him with a curious look.
“I wanted to offer you a job at my shop,” he says gauging my reaction.
He doesn’t have to gauge long. Or hard. I bet the way my drink comes flying out of my mouth is plenty of indication that my reaction is pure surprise.
“You may not offer flattery, but I definitely am,” I tell him as I regain my composure. “But I live in New York.”
“I may have heard that you aren’t exactly happy there anymore.” Those two different colored eyes continue to take me in, and I finally understand the intensity of them. He’s reading me. And as much as I want to make it stop, I find myself unable.
“I’m not unhappy,” I retort. “Besides, I don’t think Zane would be very happy to have me around here.”
“Zane isn’t happy with you right now. That’s for sure.”
I feel a little attacked by his tone. There’s no doubting that he’s been told about what happen a few weeks ago. But, fuck, if I’m going to let this man know that I feel like shit over it all. I straighten my back and raise my chin. “I really can’t help that he isn’t happy with me.”
A grin spreads across his face. No doubt Sebastian Delrie is hot as sin. All angles and arrogance. “You are the only one that can help it. But I want to tell you a few things you may not realize about Zane.”
“And what may that be?”
He throws back the rest of his drink with a chuckle. “I like you, Tori,” he tells me shaking the glass toward me. “You don’t really delve into drama, do you?”
“I try not to if I can avoid it. But it’s not always avoidable.”
“Zane is different. The kid has this knack for reading people. We all do, but Zane? He can see past all the bullshit and lies and even self-denial like no one I’ve ever met. The way his mind works is something I may never understand. Did you know it was Zane that told Jax, Rory and I to pull our heads out of our asses about our girls?”
I shake my head in response, but I can’t say I’m surprised. I already knew Zane is capable of looking straight through a person.
“He always knows exactly what a person needs to hear or knows just the right thing to do to push someone into doing what they should. It’s unnerving as fuck because on the surface, he plays the part of laidback goofball. An attention whore that never gets enough.”
I lean forward a bit to listen to what he has to say. Hoping he can impart some wisdom on me. Or least give me an idea of what to do to make Zane fucking talk to me.
Although I’m not sure what good it will do. What can I really tell him? I can’t tell him the truth without putting him and Cara in danger.
“But Zane has a bad fucking habit of looking into a person’s soul. It’s a little fucking creepy. You know he was in love once?”
I swallow hard. I actually didn’t know that. He told me he was in a relationship once, but never elaborated. I also never asked.
“It was a whirlwind type thing a few years ago. He knew a girl when he was younger. They lost touch. Then he ran into her again. He found Lacy again and fell ass over feet instantly. Although, knowing what I know now, that’s usually how it happens. I never believed in love, much less love at first sight, but when you meet the person you’re supposed to be with, it’s like your soul recognizes it so much fucking faster than your head.”
I’m not sure I’m even breathing right now. I’m sitting on a sofa across from Sebastian Delrie discussing love and Zane. I’m pretty sure my embarrassment is showing even though I’m trying hard to fight it. I’m trying to be strong, but I have a feeling any second, I’m going to crumble back into the crying fits I’ve lived in for three weeks now. “Wh – what happen with them?” I croak, not sure if I want to know the answer.
