Sebastian: The Complete Series (34 page)

I kept trying to think it wasn’t Anthony. That is was all a horrible mistake. No one said it was a date with him, but in my heart, I knew they were connected. Damien had that look Anthony liked, and he was demur and quiet. As far as I knew, Damien hadn’t been with Anthony before, so maybe the fact he was new to him made up for the fact he wasn’t new to the business.

“If I’d continued to see Anthony, maybe he’d be alive right now.”

“And maybe you’d be dead, Seb.”

The thought made my blood run cold, and then the doorbell ringing freaked me out big style and I almost screamed. “Holy shit!” I ran my hand over my forehead, wiping the thin sheen of sweat from it.

“I’ll get it.” Harry was already moving to the hallway and I watched as he looked through the window beside the door before he opened it. “Hey. Thanks for coming. Any trouble getting here?”

“No.” A soft voice came from behind the opened door. “I’ve been here before. It was no trouble at all. Is Robert not in?”

I could see Harry’s brows raise and he shot me a look over his shoulder. I was already up, hands fisted beside my thighs as I watched the door close.

Who stood before me took my breath away. He was stunning, all long limbed, wrapped in designer clothes fitted and made to measure over his glorious slim figure. Silken locks of dark brown hair cascaded over his shoulders, swept stylish over one chestnut-coloured eye. He reeked of high class male model and looked like he’d just stepped off the catwalk for Calvin Klein’s new collection.

Yeah, I could totally see why he was so fucking good at being paid for sex, even I felt like handing over a big wad of cash and dragging him upstairs. There was a subtle sensuality which drifted off him constantly and the way he moved was all grace and deportment, like he’d been schooled on how to walk and speak just right. Those big oval-shaped eyes met mine, heavy black lashes hanging low. I could see them fluttering as he smiled hesitantly at me.

“Hello, Sebastian. I’m Dominque.”

There was so much going on, and despite all that, one thing rung loud and clear in my head. “How the fuck do you know Robert and why have you been here before?”

Yeah, because apparently I’m such a selfish, insecure fucker I went with that, but come on, he was an ex-escort who knew Robert. Knew him when Robert had never been with one before or had any contact with one. So, I felt in my right to broach that first.

H
arry and I both stood looking at the sexy brunette as he moved slowly into the sitting room, a soft smile playing on his full lips as he looked between us both.

“I’m a friend. Well, the boyfriend of a friend, but I class Robert as my friend too.”

“He’s never mentioned you before, I wonder why?” Oh yeah, this was sooo going to be the talking point when I next saw him. I was clinging onto that fact and not thinking about why this sexy bastard was standing in front of me because it made me feel better.

Believe it or not, this felt familiar.

Resolving a murder… not so familiar.

“Well…” Dominque smiled again a little more confidently. “He’s told me about you. He loves you a lot.”

“Oh…”

“I’m not interested in Robert and he’s not interested in me.” He gave a twirl of his left hand, showing off a very nice white gold diamond band. “I already belong to someone, and he’s not into sharing, not even with Robert.” He seated himself in one of the reading chairs by the window and crossed his legs, placing his hands on them before looking at me. “I wish we had met in other circumstances. I was looking forward to seeing first-hand the man who had Robert on such a short leash. He’s so enamoured by you, Sebastian. I’m so happy he’s found someone. I know how difficult it is to trust in your situation. Your questions are understandable. I had those trust issues to overcome with Jacob when we first met.”

“Ah ha.” I pointed my finger at him. “You’re the one who ran off with a client. The one who got his fairy tale ending.”

Harry sighed heavily and took hold of me, thrusting me onto the sofa before sitting beside me. “He’s… strange. I got nothing really. That’s the truth, though.”

“It’s alright, Harry.” Dominque laughed lightly, almost purring out his words through his glorious smile. “I heard Sebastian had an honesty filter which stopped him from being, erm… tactful?” He chuckled as he looked back to me.

The guy was seriously pissing me off by being so beautiful. I felt like I should go change into my finest clothes just to be in his presence, and I was sure as hell doing it before Robert came home and I had to look like some poor homeless guy standing next to Prince Sexy.

“Yes, I met the man I love through the agency. I will always be thankful for that, but I left as soon as we met. I was never really paid for my time with him. I donated what he paid for me to charity. It was a sudden shift in my life, one I wasn’t expecting. It was very different from you and Robert. I can’t imagine how difficult it’s been for both of you. I’m always here if you need to talk.”

“Thanks, but I’ve already got a BFF who I bitch to, and he doesn’t make me feel like Cinderella in her rags either which is always nice. Not saying you’re ugly or anything, Sherry, but you get what I mean.”

“Don’t call me Sherry, dickhead.”

Dominque tilted his head and sighed. "You two are good friends. That’s nice to see. I never really bonded with anyone, but Harry I have fond memories of.”

“Ah, did you fuck him too?” I grinned at Harry.

“What? Shut up, Seb.” Harry punched me in the arm.

“Erm, no.” Dominque lifted his brow.

Harry snorted. “I was his mentor.”

Dominque nodded, a small smirk playing on his lips. “Ah. I see. I mentored many first timers too. None as nice as you though, Sebastian.”

The guy was a flirt, and I liked it. It made me feel better about looking shit having someone praise you. “So, what is it about Harry you remember the most? His stuck up attitude and I-went-to-Eaton accent or—”

Harry nudged me in the ribs.

Dominque smiled. “It’s because of him I met the man I love. He pulled out of a date and I stepped in. The rest is history.”

“Make sure I get invited to the wedding.” Harry chuckled next to me.

“He needs a plus one too.” I nudged Harry in the ribs and got a smile back.

“Yes, I know. For Leigh.” Dominque tilted his head again. “It was nice meeting him. He’s very lovely.”

“You met Leigh?” Huh, how much stuff had I missed out on these past few days?

“Yes, we had breakfast together with Harry when he first set up our little secret activities. Which brings us nicely along to the real reason I’m here.” He stood up and took hold of my shoulder. “Is it okay if I invite the others in now?

“What others?” I wasn’t expecting shit loads of people to turn up. Just Prince Sexy was enough.

“Suzie and Thom. They have a few things for you and they can tell you first-hand what they found rather than going through me. I'm just the connecting piece of string between you both. I didn’t find anything out myself. I just asked them to help me find out some information.”

“I’ll go let them in.” Harry moved slowly from me to the hall.

With my head being like a shed and totally all over the place, I let Harry take over, quite happy to just loll on the sofa while I tried to, but not really pulling off, relax.

Dominque was obviously concerned because he moved to sit beside me, laying his arm over my shoulders and placing a soft kiss on my head. “Everything will work out, Sebastian.”

If I could have spoken, I would have disagreed because right then nothing was looking like it would work out ever. The lump in my throat stopped me from saying anything, but I got out a snuffled grunt which turned into a cough when I choked on the stupid amount of liquid pooling in my mouth. I wanted to be alone, sob and shake into my pillow like a child and let the world turn on without me taking part in it anymore.

Voices which I didn’t recognise were in the house along with the sound of boxes being dumped on the floor and I held my head in my hands while everything around me blurred.

Dominque’s soft voice filtered through my brain. “Lay back, Sebastian.” He pushed me back on the sofa as the room began swirling around me, my focus disappearing over the horizon as I struggled to hold onto life, gripping his hands in mine like a lifeline as he comforted me into the blackness soon covering my entire body.

“How long has he been unconscious for?” A strict male voice vibrated through me, the soft Scottish accent he carried with him making my brain sway with the lyrical sound of it.

“Not long. I called you as soon as he passed out.” Dominque was beside me and my brain kicked into gear. I jolted awake, opening my eyes and trying to sit up.

“Hey—hey. No!” Strong hands had my shoulders, firmly holding me in place on the sofa as I flicked my gaze around the room, trying to take in where I was and who this new man touching me was. “Stay put and just do as I say.”

“Huh. That won’t happen,” I mumbled out as I focused on the blond in front of me. “Get your hands off me.” I brushed him off and slid further up the sofa. “Who the hell are you? What is this, some sort of YMCA? I had no idea there was an open invitation for people to attend the house today, or am I missing some vital piece of information which gives you the right to just walk in here and take over?”

A wide smile appeared on the blond’s mouth and he looked up at Dominque beside me. “Feisty.”

“I know.” Dominque grinned down at me.

“Hmm.” The big blond chuckled. “I can see why he likes you so much.”

I was over this whole thing and still not able to focus on everything. “Hello! You are?”

“Oh, I’m Jacob Buchannan. Robert’s—”

“Oh.” I shook my head. “Jay.”

“Yes.” Jacob leaned over me and I jerked up, moving further away. He held his hands up and backed off. “I'm just going to check your pulse. To do that, I need to touch you. I'm a doctor, remember? And Robert would have me skinned alive if I didn’t care for you right now.”

“Fine!” I huffed as I offered him my wrist.

“When did you last eat, Sebastian?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I rolled my eyes so hard it caused a butterfly effect in Australia, sending a tornado around the country. “What’s he been telling you about me?”

Jacob’s grip on my wrist became ever so slightly firmer and he glared into my eyes, those green ones of his making me take notice of the control he displayed. “I don’t believe that was the correct response at all to my question, do you? Let’s try that again, shall we?”

“Yesterday dinner time.”

“Dominque, could you make him some sweet tea and a couple of slices of toast with jam on it please.”

“Of course, Jacob.” Dominque ran off like some well-trained puppy, his obedience somehow making my childish bad mood and need to be pissy double.

“I can't eat. I feel sick and I’m still dizzy.”

“You feel sick and dizzy because you haven't eaten in so long and because you’ve used up all your reserves. If indeed you have reserves considering how slender you are.” He eyed up my body and I shoved his hand from my wrist. “You
will
eat, Sebastian.” His cold green eyes met mine.

I frowned at him, using every bit of energy I had to pick a fight with this stranger. “Your bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired.”

“So I’ve been told on many occasions. That, however, doesn’t change the fact I’m right, or that you’ll do as I say.”

“Is that right?” There’s very few people who can wind me up in the way he did. It may have been my already heightened state of anxiety or the fact I had four strangers now moving around the house and felt so out of control, but I grabbed hold of anything I could to keep any power I owned over the situation and ran with it. “I'm not really good with being told what to do. And I'm really, really not used to being told what to do by someone I don’t know and who’s such a pushy bastard. If you think I'm doing anything you
tell
me to do, you're wrong because I'm sure as shit going to go out of my way to make sure I don’t do anything which you suggest.”

“Even to the point of harming yourself?” Jacob sat calmly beside me, not touching but still staring into my eyes. He knew by my look the unspoken answer and nodded silently. “I see.”

“And don’t think I fall for reverse psychology and all that crap. I'm not going to be manipulated into following your demands.”

Jacob ground his teeth together and then stood up, turning his back to me and pulling out his mobile as he walked from the room.

I was up and walking after him in an instant, head still feeling like it was full of helium and my legs too heavy for my body, but I made it into the hallway where Harry was talking to Suzie from the office and some giant, who I recognised as being Thom, the driver slash bouncer who had driven me to a few dates. He smiled softly at me as I leaned against the wall, glancing over the boxes of files and what looked like spare parts for a PC on the floor. The evidence, or potential evidence they’d found for me to hand over to the police.

“Hey, Seb.” Suzie ran her hand over my arm while she looked into my eyes. “I think you need to sit down, sweetie. You look kinda pale.”

“I’m fine.”

“Sebastian…” Harry tried to hold me but I stepped back.

I needed space, I felt like I couldn't breathe. “So, did you find anything out about Damien and his date?”

Suzie looked like she wasn’t too sure she should say anything, but I stood up straight and moved to her.

“A person we know died. Someone kidnapped him, did God knows what to him and then killed him. That same person targeted me. He’s running around after getting away with murder and no one gives a fuck. So tell me what you know.”

“There’s proof he had a date. Proof that date was the last person to see Damien alive. I’ve got everything I can about him. I don’t know if it’s enough. He was a new client, a new account.”

“No.” I turned around, looking at Harry. “That’s not right. It was Anthony. He’s the one. I know he is.”

“It could be him.” Suzie dragged her fingers through her hair and sighed. “Harriot has been covering up for him for years. Looking through her files, she logged loads of complaints from escorts about his behaviour, but did nothing. She just handed Anthony over to a new escort and forgot about them. He paid a lot of money, more than the agreed amount. I think it was to keep her silence, and to make sure he still received a new escort when he’d pissed the old one off.”

“I know it’s him.”

There were too many things leading back to my creepy client for it not to be him. He was just using a different name to get a date and Harriot was probably in it with him. What did it really matter one dead escort when she had so many others willing to take his place? I’d already decided to leave, but this just made everything crystal clear. I wasn’t safe to go back, even if I wanted to. The thought of such a creepy guy being able to get away with so much over the years and still be on the books, it made me wonder how many others like him were out there.