Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
I pointed at the door. “I just had a flashback of me outside these gates, begging to be let in.”
Sebastian’s gaze darkened. “This is Oliver’s story to tell.”
“But I—”
“Boundaries,” he cut me off. “Respect them, or next time, I won’t let you in.”
My eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. “Bold of you to assume I’d want your company.”
“Considering Ollie is my main intellectual competition, and he is always a fart away from a poop joke, I think it is safe to say you’ll be visiting here often.”
I was desperate for the truth, but I also didn’t want to make this moment about me when Sebastian seemed to be having his own breakthrough. I had to delay my revelation.
“So …” I hopped on his dresser, forcing him – and myself – to look at his face. To get used to it. “What do you do here all day?”
“Workout. Cook. Row.” He shrugged, glancing at everything other than me. “I’m doing remote studies at whatever online program that’ll take me. I’m on my fourth degree now.”
“Holy shit. What are you studying?”
“Business management at Cambridge and Northwestern, psychology at Johns Hopkins, and right now, cyber security at Georgia Tech.”
“You’ve always been so smart.”
“Intelligence means jack shit if you don’t know how to use it.”
“And Oliver is your only companion?”
Sebastian scratched his left cheek, or whatever was left of it. “Pretty much. Though there are entire days we don’t see each other. Contrary to general belief, he does work. Quite hard, too. Other days, I’m not in the mood to be social. We see each other about one or two times a week.”
Sebastian was basically a hermit. This man had once been the most sought-after teenager in the whole Western world. He’d dated actual princesses. He was a Junior Olympic rower. He even did a TED talk.
“What do people say about your disappearance?” I remembered the bullshit story about backpacking, but surely, no one bought it. “They must be asking questions.”
“They think I went to live in India. To meditate after a mental breakdown.” A bitter chuckle rattled his chest. “Highly effective lie. Believable, too. Think about it. After years of pressure from being a competitive athlete and a gifted student, I decided I wanted out of the rat race. So, I escaped to paradise. Radhanagar Beach.”
“But you’re the most competitive person in the world.”
“No one knows that but family.” He shrugged. “It’s not like I need to work or prove myself to anyone. Every now and again, someone will say they spotted me in an ashram somewhere remote. It adds to the allure, really.”
“And your parents?”
“Know I’m here. Too scared to look at me, though.”
“That can’t be right,” I protested. “They adore you.”
“They visit sometimes, and we talk through the door,” he admitted, soft. “I don’t allow them to see me. It makes them distraught.”
“Your dad, too?”
“Especially Felix.” He grimaced. “The old man is in deep depression.”
Now it all made sense. Why Oliver took over. Why he secretly carried the entire von Bismarck family on his shoulders.
Seb worked his jaw back and forth. “Dad never fully recovered from my accident, even though he wasn’t there. I think it drove him past his breaking point that I was ruined. Tarnished. Beyond repair.” He gestured to his face. “It’s not hard to see myself through their eyes. Broken. Soiled. No good.”
“No way this is how they see you.” A zing of anger flashed through me. “They can’t—”
The rest of the sentence died in my throat the minute I heard a feminine voice call out from the balcony outside.
“Briar? Yoo-hoo. It’s your best friend in the whole entire world. Where are you?”
Sebastian and I exchanged alarmed looks.
Seb grabbed me by the upper arms, walking me back from his room. “You have to leave right now. She can’t come here.”
I stumbled backwards. “But we haven’t finished talking.”
The dogs followed me outside, Geezer with his skateboard.
“Speak for yourself. I’ve been done with this conversation for thirty minutes now.”
“I’ve only been here for fifteen minutes.”
“Correct.” Sebastian started to shut the door in my face. “Draw your own conclusions.”
I pushed my foot between the door and the frame a second before he slammed it. “Wait.”
“What?”
“I’m coming to hang out with you tomorrow. We’ll do this puzzle together.” I gestured to his family room area. “My doctor says puzzles are good for my brain.”
“I don’t need company.” He ground his teeth together. They were still nice teeth. Big and white and straight.
“Well, I do,” I chirped, refusing to give up on him. “I’m desperate for it.”
Dallas’s voice boomed louder now, her search beginning inside the home.
Seb narrowed his eyes. “No.”
“Yes.”
“Briar? Are you upstairs?” Dallas sing-songed in the background, her voice alarmingly close.
I squared my shoulders, refusing to budge.
Sebastian took in my raised brow, a clear challenge. “Fine.” His teeth clanked as he locked his jaw, moving it from side to side. “Come tomorrow.”