Sebastian (Bowen Boys)

Sebastian

Bowen Boys Book 5

By

Kathi S. Barton

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

WCP

World Castle Publishing, LLC

Pensacola, Florida

Copyright ©
Kathi S. Barton 2014

Print
ISBN: 9781629891071

eBook ISBN:
9781629891088

First Edition World Castle Publishing, LLC
, June 13, 2014

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

Licensing Notes

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

Cover: Karen Fuller

Editor:
Eric Johnston

Editor: Maxine Bringenberg

Chapter 1

“If you want a job here, you’re going to have to cover up those tats. And by covering them, I mean I don’t want to see them. At all.” Ama tried her best to bring her temper down to a low simmer, but this guy was getting on her last nerve. “You think you can get rid of them by Monday?”

“No.
And for the record, I wouldn’t even if I could.” She stood up and was moving toward the door when he called her back. She turned to look at him, not bothering to hide her contempt for the prick.

“You should have thought of this before you found
yourself all drunked up and under a needle. Maybe next time you’ll simply learn to say no.” Opening the door, she walked out, but apparently he had more to say, so he followed her. “Maybe if you’d dress a little more conservatively, somebody might think of you less as a hooker and more of a serious worker.”

She looked down at the shirt and pair of clean jeans she had on. The only thing showing besides her face and hands was
her neck, and not much of it either. She had even covered the biggest mark she had on her arm by wearing long sleeves.

She looked up when he came
around the doorway of the room where he’d been interviewing her and grabbed her by the arm. Ama wasn’t really sure what to do now, so she did what she always did. Her fist popped out and hit him in the face before she could think to maybe take a deep breath. When he stumbled back she took a step toward him, but stopped when she realized that there were other people in the store that might step up to help the prick. She turned and walked out of the used clothing store and into the street, hiking her laptop bag up on her shoulder to keep it safe. She looked across the street and crossed against the light, then went into the deli hoping for a sandwich and a way for herself to unwind.

She was standing in line when the guy from the interview came out of his store
and looked around. She turned her back, not caring at all if he saw her.

“
Is that a computer?” She looked at the older woman standing next to her and nodded. “My mate and I just got ours today. I’m betting you’re very good with them, aren’t you?”

“I do okay.
It’s sort of a way of life now days.” She had no idea why she was talking to her, but Ama glanced at the man coming across the street and turned back to the counter.

This time the man standing next to her spoke.
“That shop you just left? The man is on his way over here. I think you should maybe try moving to one of the tables. That way if he walks by the door, he won’t see you right away and maybe you might not go to jail.” He laughed when she shrugged. “But if your plan is to go to jail, then by all means stand where you are and let him try and take you again. He doesn’t look any too happy with you right now. When we saw you come out just in front of him, we knew he was trouble.”

“
Thank you, but I…he’ll either leave on his own or not. I don’t really care.” And she didn’t either. She turned her back to the man and woman again and heard the woman laugh slightly. When the door opened behind her, she didn’t even bother to look. She knew who it was.

“You,
Amazing or whatever the fuck your name is, I’ve called the police.”

Ama
was next in line and started to place her order. But before she could finish, she was jerked around by the asshole again. He had a white shirt held to his face, and she could see that he was still bleeding. Several people in the deli stepped back, but not the older woman or the man standing next to her.

“
Good. I hope you did call them. Maybe then I can press charges against you for sexual assault.” He sputtered, but she was on a roll now. “You called me a hooker and told me that I was a drunk. You’re just lucky that I didn’t kick your tiny little balls up around your head. I would have said brain, but it’s doubtful that you have one.”

He drew back to more than likely hit her
, but she grabbed his balls and twisted them. He screamed like a girl.

“Now we’re going to play a little game here. I’m going to call it truth or balls. The rules are simple
; you tell me the truth and I won’t pull your balls off. Got it?” When he didn’t answer her, she gave them a little twist.

“I got it.
Christ, I got it.” He started to grab her arm and she twisted them again. “You’re fucking going to pay for this, bitch. You see if you don’t.”

“Not very smart
, are you? When someone has your nuts in a grip like I do, you don’t threaten them. Now, did you call the police?”

He screamed when she jerked him.
“No, you fucking cunt. I didn’t, but you can bet your sweet ass I’m going to when I get back to my desk.”

“It’s doubtful that you’ll be able to sit at
that sorry excuse for a desk, but you’re welcome to it. In a clear voice, I want you to tell these nice people that you’re very sorry for coming in here and ruining their lunch by cussing like a…what is it you called me again?” Ama started to twist him again until he repeated what he’d said to her in the interview, and a couple of things that he hadn’t. “Good boy. Now do it.”

He nearly sang out his
apology and she let him go. But no sooner than she released him, he slapped her in the face. She stood there with blood running down her lip, staring him down. He was backing out of the place as he threatened her again.

Once he was out
, she turned back to the man behind the counter and apologized. Then she turned to the room.

“I’m very sorry
, ladies and gentlemen. I’m sorry you had to witness that.” She moved to the door and was out before anyone tried to grab her. Ama was nearly a block away when a car pulled up beside her and the door was opened by the driver. The older lady from the deli and the man about her age were sitting in the back.

“We followed you.”
She nodded, not sure what to say. If they were pissed about the thing in the deli, they’d have to get over it. “Are we to understand that you need a job?”

All sorts of things ran through her head
, none of them very clean. She wasn’t into stupid shit, and she was most certainly not into anything that either of them might want with her in the back of their car. She shook her head at them and backed away.

“I’m not going to do anything perverted with you two. I may be a little on the fucked up side
, but I’m not into kinky shit like that.” They looked at each other, then back at her. “You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

“I don’t think so.” The man grinned at her.
“I’m assuming you mean something sexual. And if so, then you couldn’t be further from the truth. We have our own kind of kinky.”

The woman slapped him on the shoulder
, and Ama laughed. She decided that for some odd reason she liked them. She leaned against the door and looked at the nice ride. She figured them for a lot of money, and they weren’t used to it.

“What sort of job did you have in mind?
I don’t kill people. Well, I’ve not killed anyone today, though it has been tempting, and I won’t wash windows. The ammonia makes me sneeze.”

“No, we get the windows washed by the new help we have.” The man nodded at the seat across from them.
“Would you like to come inside and have a seat?”

“No thanks.
You seem like a nice couple, but I read the paper all the time. People can be very distrusting, and I have to admit I’m a little more distrusting than your average person.” He nodded and glanced at the woman. “You have a job that you think I can do?”

“Oh
, yes, we think we do. What do you know about computers?” She nodded but didn’t get a chance to answer them. “We’ve got one, you see. Well, laptoppers or whatever they’re called, and we want to learn how to use it. Our sons Sebastian and Reed are very good with them, but they have no time to let us play around and teach us on our level.”

“And your level would be what?
Beginner?” They both nodded. “They’re laptops, not toppers. And I’m assuming that you think they’ll make fun of you if you ask them for help because of your status as their parents?”

“No. I don’t think…they’d better not make fun of us.
I would have to take them to the wood shed if they did. But they are quite large and sometimes a little on the vicious side when need be. We’re actually thinking that Monica and Caitlynne...oh, and probably Jack and Jonny...might be a tad bit more than their mates, but we’re not going to talk about them right now. Would you mind getting in? This is hard on my neck.”

She looked at the driver
, who stood very still. She wasn’t afraid of him because she was positive she could take him if need be. She looked back at the couple in the car. The only way she was going to do this, get into a vehicle with two unknown people, was to be up front. She pulled out her gun from under her shirt and let them see it. The driver started toward her then suddenly stopped.

“I’m not going to get in there with you without you knowing that I
won’t be fucked with. Understand that?” They both nodded and she looked at the driver before looking back at them. “And him? Will he have a problem with this?”

“Not so long as he wants to have his throat where it is.” The man had sounded so serious that she felt a slight hesitation in her
step as she started toward the back with them. “You don’t have to worry about us. We won’t hurt you. Not so long as you don’t try to hurt us first. Will you have a problem with that?”

Ama
wasn’t afraid of them. On the contrary, she respected them for their bullishness, but that didn’t mean that she’d trust them right away. She shook her head as she sat down and left her gun on her lap. She looked at both of them as the door closed and the car started to move.

“
I’m Amarizi Auburn, but most people call me Ama. Where are we going?” She watched them closely and thought they were talking to each other on their own personal wave length, which she knew their kind had. When they looked back at her, she smiled at them.

“Right now we’re living with our son.
He’s a lovely young man, but he’s a bit on the overwhelmed side right now. I believe it has to do with his new mate. We’ve been trying to help him, but children will be children.”

She nodded
, not having a clue what they were talking about. She looked out the window, then back at them. The man handed her a laptop and told her he’d just charged it up. She glanced up at them when she realized that this was no simple computer, but one that had been modified a great deal.

She handed it back to him. “I’m not stupid. I’d like very much if you’d
have this guy pull over and you let me out. I don’t know who you people are, but this is not even close to being a simple laptop, and it’s not cheap.”

“Oh my, George
, we’ve neglected to tell her our names. I’m Corrine and this is George Bowen. And I assure you, we have no idea what you mean. Our son gave us these this morning.” Corrine nodded to the other box. “He said that he’d made them easy for us to use.”

Ama
glared at her. “So you thought that you’d find some random person off the street to show you how to use it? I’m not buying it. You think you can entrap me, you can think again. I have no desire to go back to jail, and I’m pretty sure that even without any money, no one would believe me if I told them what really happened here.”

She flushed when she realized what she’d said.
She pounded on the window between the back and the driver, and when it opened, she asked him to please pull over. George told him it was okay. She was reaching for the door handle when George put his hand on her. She felt the vibration immediately and, apparently, so did he.

“Oh my.”
She opened the door and stepped out before he could say more. Before she was five feet from the car, he called her name.

“Amarizi, stop
please.” She did but didn’t turn. “You know that you can’t be harmed by us, and that you are a great deal stronger than either of us if you needed to be. Come back to the car and I promise you that we’ll take you to our son and he can explain. We didn’t know what…we had no idea when we saw you in the deli what you were, but it explains why we want to trust you. Will you please come back and let us explain?”

She turned to him slowly and saw that Corrine was standing beside him
; the driver was still in the car. She looked around, noting that they were no longer in the city but on the outskirts of town in a part of town she’d never been. She looked back at him.

“I don’t know what you think you know about me
, but it’s wrong.” He nodded, all three of them knowing she was lying. “I’m going with you, but if it even looks like this son of yours doesn’t have a clue what you’re talking about, I’m leaving you.”

He nodded
, and so did Corrine, and then he opened the door for her to get in. When the car was moving again, he handed her the computer. He also handed her the box.

“My son, Sebastian Bowen
, owns this store. We were just in there not an hour ago and were having lunch when that horrid man came in.” Corrine smiled at her as she continued. “I thought for sure he was going to wet himself when you grabbed his more private parts.”