The Protege (11 page)

Another
step brought him into the main living area and he instantly knew this wasn’t a
simple matter of an open window. Someone had ransacked his apartment. Every
cushion of his posh sofa was torn apart. Treading carefully he walked to the
kitchen and found every drawer pulled out and every cabinet door opened.

Even
his refrigerator had been emptied.

He
dreaded going into his bedroom.  The door was ajar and he could already see a
pile made up of his fine Italian suits. “Damn it,” he muttered as he pushed the
door open. As expected every drawer had been pulled out of the dresser and the
contents thrown onto the bed.  Not a hanger remained hanging in the closet.

Among
the clothes, ties and boxers on the bed; he saw his favorite cuff links, the
gold chain his mother had given him and the diamond lapel pin he’d won at a
social function.  Whoever had broken into his apartment had obviously not been
looking to steal valuables.

Then
what had they wanted? He couldn’t imagine, but instantly thought of his
parents.  Were they safe? He headed back to the elevator and punched the button
for the garage level. If he’d been targeted, perhaps his parents had been as
well.  He pulled out his cell phone and prepared to call them when it vibrated
in his hand.

It
was Serena. He realized on seeing her name on the screen just how badly he
wanted to talk to her.  “Serena.”

“Sebastian,
I’m sorry to bother you.  I hope you weren’t resting.”

“Not
quite.  What’s up?”  He hoped he sounded casual.

“I
forgot to tell you I have your tuxedo.  I had it cleaned yesterday and picked
it up this morning, but didn’t think to bring it to the hospital.”

“Serena,
you didn’t have to go to the trouble of having it cleaned.”

“Yeah,”
she said with an amused snort.  “I’m guessing you don’t remember throwing up on
it, do you?”

He
laughed despite the stress he felt. The elevator door opened and he hurried to
his car.  “No, I don’t remember that.”

“Well,
if you’d smelled what I smelled when I first came back to my place, you would
have rushed to the dry cleaners too. Poor Mr. Lowry.  You should have seen his
face when I brought it in. I think if it’d been up to him he would have thrown
it out rather than clean it.”

“Hey,
that’s an Armani,” Sebastian said with a grin. He slid into the driver’s seat
of his Roadster.  Amazed at how soothing the sound of her voice was, he sat
back and exhaled slowly.

“Do
you want me to pass by later on a drop it off? Or maybe…”

At
that moment he would have liked nothing more than to have her drop by. It was a
little premature to say he already missed her, but he had to admit he looked
forward to seeing her again.  “Look, why don’t you hang onto it?  I’ll come by
to get it when I have a chance.”

“Sure.”
There was a long moment of hesitation.  “Sebastian?  Are you okay?”

“Yeah,
fine.” Though he would have liked to share this new development in this
disastrous week, he held back. This was all turning out to be a little too
strange for his liking; the sudden poisoning that wasn’t as accidental as he’d
originally thought and now this break in. What were the chances the two
episodes were related?  What were the chances the person who broke into his
place knew he’d be out for the night?

“Okay
then,” Serena said in a soft, almost shy voice.

“I
have a few things to take care of. You wouldn’t believe what can pile up when
you're in the hospital for a few days. I’ll call you the first free minute I
get.”

“Oh,
okay.  I’ll just leave it hanging in the hall closet then. Bye.”

“Bye.” 
He chuckled softly as he ended the call.  He’d heard that shy hesitation before
and it made her all the more enticing.  His body ached as he thought of all he
wanted to do to her.  It ached for all she did to him.  He’d long given up on
ever finding a woman who had that special blend of naiveté and sophistication,
innocence and mystery.  Of course there was the student/professor problem he
had to work out, but he felt confident he could work his way around it.  The
scenarios that played in his mind, pushing her up against the bookshelf while
she wore a skirt with nothing underneath, taking her on top of his desk, hiding
her under his desk while she took him into her mouth during a serious meeting
with a school official or someone stuffy or uptight like that. “Yes, I’m going
to enjoy weaving my way into your life, Serena.” And certainly into your pants.

He
started the car and headed to his parents.

Chapter 11

T
raffic was annoying heavy as he tried to make
his way to his father’s office, but going there was quicker than driving out to
his parents’ home and he was certain he’d get a sense of what was happening
just by seeing his father’s face.

With
growing impatience he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. He’d barely
advanced a few yards in the past fifteen minutes.  Before he lost it and leaned
into the horn he brought his thoughts back to Serena.

The
only thing that kept him from calling her was the risk of needlessly alarming
her. He felt agitated and knew it’d show in his voice. She’d already done so
much for him and he didn’t want to burden her with his problems more than
necessary.

A
break in traffic allowed him to advance just enough to squeeze off the highway
and out into the city streets. Although traffic lights rendered the trip stop
and go, he managed to arrive at his father’s prestigious waterfront offices
within ten minutes.

Newport Harbor; it was an impressive and beautiful place to work, Sebastian thought.  At
least as far as working in an office was concerned.  Everything about the
building was rich and ostentatious. The marble floors gleamed and the brass
fixtures shined.

In
the elevator he anticipated the type of welcome he’d receive once the doors
slid open.  Would his father be relieved to see him up and about?  Would he
question what had happened?  Would he show the slightest sign of caring at all?

He
was a grown man; a grown man who didn’t understand why he still sought the love
and acceptance of his parents. He hated himself for needing his father’s
approval so much, but couldn’t rid himself of that need. He also hated how much
he was still tied to them…he knew his obligations as a Sorensen, the only heir
to the mass fortune and empire. It was the only reason why he was even friends
with Willow, who seemed to understand and want to run the Sorensen empire.

The
elevator doors parted and his heart raced.  With quiet and reluctant footsteps,
he approached the desk of his father’s secretary.

“Hello,
Miss Goldwater.”

The
young platinum blond woman looked up and immediately smiled. It was a warm
smile that was accompanied by a now familiar look of lust in her eyes.

“Sebastian.”
She stood and leaned over her desk to give him a hug.  Dressed in a prim grey
pantsuit she was the height of professionalism, but the pantsuit couldn’t hide
her voluptuous curves.  “What brings you up here?  I thought you were working
at the university.”

“Yeah,
I am.” He couldn’t help but notice the complete lack of concern for his recent
ordeal.  Obviously his father had not even bothered to mention to the people
around him what had happened to his son.  “I just stopped by to see my father. 
Is he in?”

Pressing
her lips into a tight regrettable line, she looked at him. “He’s with someone. 
One of his big hush hush meetings.”

“Any
idea how long he’ll be?”

She
shrugged.  “They’ve been in there for over three hours already.  Either they’ll
step out any minute now or they’ll be in there for the rest of the day.  Your
guess is as good as mine.”

“Okay.”
He looked around, glanced at his watch and returned his gaze to her. “Well,
I’ll take a chance and wait a bit.  It’s almost noon so hopefully they’ll take a break for lunch.”

“That’s
a fair bet.”

Sebastian
turned to the austere beige, black and chrome waiting room.  Modern to the
point of being uncomfortable, he’d always suspected his father had chosen such
a modern, almost hip décor to compensate for his graying hair and aging body.

As
he waited he pulled out his cell phone and called his agent.  After listening
to the phone ring a half dozen times he hung up and tried Rick Steinberg, the
film producer.

“Mr.
Steinberg’s office,” a soft professional voice said.

“Mr.
Steinberg, please.”

“Who
may I say is calling?”

“Sebastian
Sorensen.”

“Just
one moment, Mr. Sorensen.”

A
robotic message about the merits of the production house’s latest movie had
time to play three times over before Rick answered.

“Sebastian! 
How’s my music man feeling?”

“Hi,
Rick.  That’s exactly what I wanted to call you about. It appears I skipped an
important meeting with you.  I know you were looking forward to hearing how the
score to your movie was coming along.  I’m terribly sorry, but I…”

“Hey,
don’t worry about it.  I heard you were feeling a little under the weather
lately.”

“What
do you mean?  How’d you hear about it?”

“When
you didn’t show, I tried to call you.  I didn’t get an answer so I tried a few
hours later; still no answer.  The following day I tried a dozen times and an
angelic voice finally answered. She quickly explained that she’d found your
cell phone was in your jacket pocket… the jacket you apparently left at her
place. I guess you had a bit of fun before you got sick.” He chuckled.

“To
tell you the truth, I couldn’t tell you.  I was out before I could even have
that bit of fun.”

“Too
bad. Anyway, she seemed like a lovely young woman who appears to care somewhat
for your sorry ass. She let me know you were in the hospital.”

“So
Serena told you.” Sebastian said with a warm smile.

“Sorry. 
Didn’t catch her name. Serena, is it? A beautiful name for a beautiful voice.
She just said you would be unreachable for a few days. Something about food
poisoning.”

“I
guess I owe her one.”

“I
don’t know.  I’d say you owe her more than just one.” Rick laughed.

“Right.”

“Look,
take it easy and give me a call when you want to reschedule.  I’m still looking
forward to hearing this work of genius you’ve been working on.”

“Sure
thing.”  Sebastian ended the call just as the door to his father’s office
opened.

“Sebastian!”
Kaiser said when he saw him.  “What are you doing up here?”

Sebastian
approached him but stopped short when he saw a tall and handsome blonde young
man about thirty-two years old in a grey custom-tailored suit and white linen
shirt step out. With clean cut blond hair and piercing blue eyes, he looked
like an European male model. The planes of his face were sharp and angular, but
his lips were curled up in a victorious grin. Something about him seemed
familiar, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. For a long moment the two
men looked at each other, sizing each other up.

One
dark and brooding, the other fair and calculating.  Both young, tall and fit.
The way the blonde man was staring at him in a challenging manner, had his
defenses up.

“I
had a few things I wanted to ask you,” Sebastian said with an uncharacteristic
hesitation, “but… I could come back later.”

“No.
No. It’s just as well you stopped by when you did. Son, I’d like you to meet
Price Turnsby.”

“Yes,
you looked familiar.”  Sebastian accepted the finely manicured hand Price put
out, and returned the strong handshake.

Price
nodded.  “Ah, yes, probably the society pages. I hope you don’t believe
everything you read.  Those stories about me and that young woman were greatly
exaggerated.”

“I
wouldn’t really know about that.  I was talking more about a photo I saw in
Times magazine.  You were among the top ten young billionaires.”

“Ah,
yes, that. If I’m not mistaken, I was actually among the top three… but who’s
counting?”  Though they were clearly the same age, Price affected an air that
was considerably older; much like that of Kaiser Sorensen.  He jutted his chin
up a little higher to better look down on Sebastian.  “And you're a music
teacher at a local school here, right?”

Sebastian
heard the condescension. He was used to it. “Yeah, you could say that.” He
wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of defending himself or his
profession.

“I
hear that it’s a gratifying job.”  He glanced down at Sebastian’s attire.
“Though not a financially rewarding one, I take it.”

Sebastian
snorted in amusement as he realized he still wore the sweats Serena had loaned
him.

“Slumming
it this week, Bash,” Kaiser said.

“I
guess a week in the hospital can do that to a guy. I didn’t take the time to
change before coming over.”

“Is
it true you're working on a movie score?”

“Yeah,
a Rick Steinberg production.”

“I
once knew a girl who was really a fan of yours. Despite her music choices, I
still loved her. So I have you to thank for her endless entertainment when I
had to travel. Go figure. I was never into all that mushy stuff.  But, I guess
a guy has to keep busy, right?”

“It
certainly does keep me busy.”

“You
bet,” Kaiser threw in.  “He’s so busy we have to make an appointment just to
see him.”

“Well
then, I’ll leave you to reconnect with your son, Mr. Sorensen.” Price turned to
Sebastian.  “It was a pleasure meeting you, Bash.”

The
annoying nickname was barely tolerable from the likes of his mother and Willow, but on the lips of this man it was downright infuriating.  Despite that, he
grinned and nodded a salutation.