"No, I don't think you would recognize her. This is the woman who pushed you into oncoming traffic and tried to kill you."
Mariss' looked to him, then back to Ashley, and something changed about her. "Give me three minutes." She put her right arm behind her back and dropped it back down to her side. Her voice was flat, almost monotone.
"Alone? I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"She's tied up, Sebastian. What can she do? She's not very good at killing people, or I'd be dead. I'll be fine. Three minutes. That's all I need."
Something told him it wasn't a good idea, but Sebastian turned and walked out of the dungeon. As he pulled the door shut, he was sure he heard a whimper.
Sebastian leaned against the wall and tilted his watch up to see the time. She'd get her three minutes, but the unease continued to grow in his belly until he couldn't stand it any longer. It hadn't even been a whole minute when he reached for the door handle.
"Sebastian." Hellena called his name from down the hall, loud enough to be heard over the music. He stayed where he was and let her approach him. "You're angry. When you left last night I thought you were well satisfied." Her sultry, thickly accented voice did what she intended. His body relaxed into its familiarity with her and lower regions reacted to the visual that she created in a cranberry satin corset with black boning. He knew this one had cream satin ties in the back because he'd bought it for her a year ago. Her ample breasts nearly spilled from the top. She had her hands on her hips, one hip dipped to show off her figure better.
Sebastian's body may have reacted, but she didn't have control over his mind. Mariss had opened his eyes so he could see her manipulating ways. Looking at her now, he saw all of her tells, and he wondered how he'd been tricked by them for so long.
"Hellena, we'll talk later. Right now, I'm quite busy."
"Why are you out here if she's in there? Who's the girl you brought in?" Her demeanor changed, suddenly suspicious. She was hiding something, which probably meant she already knew who the woman was. He didn't doubt that she'd been in the room before he got there.
"Mariss is talking to her." Fear flicked across Hellena's features, and then it was gone.
The door opened slowly. Sebastian grabbed hold and pulled it open enough to see Mariss standing in the doorway. Her normally clear brown eyes were cold and empty. They flicked from him to Hellena and took her in from head to toe in one smooth, appraising look like a lion sizing up its next meal. Mariss looked down at her hands and Sebastian's eyes followed. She wiped at her hands with a white towel. As he watched her, Sebastian saw that it was stained with red.
Hungry
Sebastian took Mariss' hands in his, turning them so he could see where she was bleeding from, but there were no cuts. He snatched the towel from her. It was smeared with blood, but there wasn't much.
"What is this?" he
asked,
his voice more frantic than it should have been. "What happened?"
Mariss shook her head, but her empty eyes were trained on Hellena. Hellena stared right back, her eyes wide. Sebastian stepped into their line of sight and shook Mariss gently to make her look at him.
"Mariss, what happened?"
She frowned, as if seeing him for the first time. "She didn't know anything. She would have told me if she had."
Sebastian felt his face open up in shock. "What? You stay here. You two…" He pointed between them and entered the dungeon once more. Ashley was on her knees on the floor. She was no longer bound, but she had her head bowed. He knelt in front of her. Soft sobs shook her shoulders every now and then. When he touched her face, Ashley jerked away, but he caught her chin gently so he could look at her. Sebastian's heart thumped as he prepared to be greeted by a bloodied mess.
There wasn't a mark on her. He turned her face from side to side, but there was no blood. She was just as he'd left her.
Sebastian's eyes were drawn to movement in her lap. Her hands were wrapped in a towel like the one Mariss had.
"Let me see." He
unwrapped
her hands. The towel was stained with large spots of blood and her nails were caked with it.
He took a deep breath and let it out. There was clearly a lot about Mariss that he didn't know. If he had secrets locked away by the government, why wouldn't she?
"Sebastian!" There was panic in Hellena's voice.
"Don't let her come back in here," Ashley whispered. "I don't know anything. I swear. I don't know anything."
"She won't come back in. Stay here. I'll be right back."
Sebastian pushed to his feet and jogged back to the door. Mariss was on her knees in much the same position he'd found Ashley with her head down and her hands in her lap. Hellena knelt next to her, shaking her.
"What happened here?" He growled.
Hellena looked up at him, lost. "She's not breathing."
"Mariss?"
He knelt beside her.
"Hellena, go take care of Ashley."
Hellena did as she was told, and he thought he saw relief in her eyes. Sebastian placed his hand on the side of Mariss' face and turned her to look at him. "Breathe, Red."
Mariss blinked. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Sebastian caught her as her body went limp and scooped her into his arms.
"You have to breathe," he said. She hung in his arms as he carried her out to the car. They caused some alarm. The few who had seen them come in were quickly on their mobiles. Everyone wanted to know what had happened, but for the life of him, Sebastian didn't know.
In the car, Sebastian settled Mariss against him and loosened his tie. She was breathing again, but she was still unconscious and that scared him.
"Take me home," he told the driver. He dug out his mobile and called Juliet.
"Yes, sir," she answered on the second ring.
"I need you to clean up a mess for me at the club. Keep it out of the media. It's going to be bad."
"Shit. What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything. Just remember, whatever they say, it's probably not true."
Juliet sighed. "I guess this means I'm not off tomorrow after all."
"Get this taken care of and you can have tomorrow off."
"Yeah, right.
Are you with Mariss?" she asked, annoyed.
"Yes."
"Is this about her?"
"She's involved. Just…keep her name out of it. I don't care what they print about me."
"Really?"
Sebastian shook his head. "I'll deal with whatever they print as long as she's not mentioned. I'm going home now. Come by when you've taken care of it." His mobile rang again as he was hung up.
"Not now, Hellena." He didn't need to look to know that it was her.
"Sebastian, what's going on?" she asked, despite his warning.
"I said not now. Finish up at the club. We'll talk later." He hung up.
Mariss stirred against him. She whimpered like she was frightened, then her whole body shook. Sebastian tried to put his arms around her, but she tensed. She struck out at something, pushing against his chest. He released her and she immediately calmed.
"Drive faster," he told the driver.
When they made it to his flat, Sebastian carried her inside and laid her on the bed in the second bedroom. She was shaking so bad that he had to get her warm. He drew a bath and carried her into the bathroom.
"I'm sorry, Mariss," he told her as he removed her clothes.
He settled her in the warm water, keeping one arm around her so she was leaning against him. Languidly he stroked her arm, hoping it would soothe her.
Sebastian had never cared for a woman like this, save Hellena. He wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Mariss stirred. She was slowly coming around, but he didn't know how she would react when she woke. Her head lolled against his shoulder and she moaned
,
her face twisted in pain.
"You're safe, Red," he told her softly. He sat there on the floor, holding her for what felt like hours.
Sebastian's mobile rang shrill in his pocket and he fumbled to answer it one-handed. He had to reach across himself to take it out of his right pocket with his left hand. As he struggled to get it out, he fumbled it, almost dropping it in the bathtub.
Sebastian caught the mobile and pressed it to his ear.
"Jules?"
"Yeah.
I didn't think you were going to answer. What the
fuck
did you do? There's an injured girl in your office that Hellena is trying to take care of and a million people with cell phones talking about how you carried Mariss Red out unconscious."
Sebastian sighed at the panic in her voice. "Where are you?"
"I'm driving. Where are you? We need to talk."
"I'm at home.
With Mariss.
Do me a favor."
"I think you're all out of favors for today."
"I think I sign your paycheck. Stop and bring us dinner. You can get yourself something to eat.
Steak and a brownie ala mode for Mariss.
Please. And thank you."
"Are you begging?" Juliet was incredulous. "Sebastian, Mr. Boa. No, you know what? Right now you're just a fucktard. I'll bring your dinner." Juliet sighed. "I deserve a raise."
"You'll get a bonus."
"You won't remember me in the morning." Her voice took on a
teasing,
suggestive tone and he knew she couldn't be too mad at him.
"I'll remember. I'll see you soon." He hung up and looked down as Mariss rolled her head up to look at him. "How are you?"
She blinked, confusion written all over her face. Her brown eyes were deep and consuming. "I'm naked."
"Yes," he said carefully. "I undressed you and put you in the tub."
"Why?"
"You were freezing and I didn't think you'd like to wake up to find me naked in the shower with you, so I chose the lesser of two evils. What happened, sweetheart?"
"I blacked out."
"Yes, I know."
"Are we at your apartment?"
Her voice was so juvenile that Sebastian wasn't sure what or who he was dealing with. It was so different that he was almost convinced he was dealing with an alternate personality.
"Yes, this is my flat. Mariss, you held your breath until you passed out."
Her eyes slid shut and she turned away from him. Mariss' head dropped onto his shoulder.
"So it was bad, then, huh? What did I do?"
"Do you really want to know?" That she was coherent enough to know she'd done something out of character was slightly encouraging.
"No, but I need to."
"You cut under her fingernails. I don't know how many. You stuck to your three minutes."
"I said three minutes? Fuck." Her head rolled back against the wall, her eyes still shut. "Please, don't let Holden find out.
Oh, my god."
"You've done this before?
With him?"
Damn it if he didn't want to ask her about that story, but he'd save it for a more appropriate time.
"He hates it when I do this. He doesn't know what to do." Mariss opened her eyes and looked at him. "You handled this better than he ever did."
Sebastian offered her a smile. "That's good to know." He continued stroking her arm, unsure if she'd noticed. "Why does this happen?"
Mariss shook her head, as he'd known she would. "I can't. Please."
"Alright.
Are you okay, though? No more suicide attempts?"
She made a noise that he wanted to interpret as a laugh, but he just wasn't convinced. "That's my mind's way of telling my body to stop whatever it is I'm doing. Somewhere in there I know what I'm doing is wrong and that's how I shut it down."
"Then I guess I should be thankful. I'm going to change clothes and take a shower." He paused. "Not in that order. Stay here as long as you like."
"Bassy."
"Yes?"
"Are you afraid of me?"
He considered that. He was a little more understanding than before and possibly more wary. "No. Is your husband afraid of you?"
"Sometimes, I think he is."
Despite his better judgment, Sebastian pressed a kiss to her temple. She leaned into him and he stayed there a moment. "Stay here as long as you want," he whispered. "I have your dinner coming. Juliet may join us if that's alright with you. She's taking care of the media issue."
"Fuck."
"Hm.
I'll handle it. She's also bringing your steak and dessert."
"Yes, I'm going to need the dessert, I think.
As well as those chocolates and a shot of something strong."
"You'll have it."
He pulled away from her before he was tempted to climb in the tub and hold her all night.
***
Sebastian put on a worn pair of jeans and a loose grey t-shirt. He opened the front door to Juliet laden down with food and clothes.
"Sorry it took so long. I ran home to grab some clothes to change into and figured if Mariss has been in the same clothes for two days she's going to want to change too."
"Thanks, Jules." The take-away boxes teetered dangerously. Sebastian grabbed them and set them on the coffee table in the front room. Then he took the clothes from her. "She's still in the bathtub." He checked his watch. "Been in there a while. I'm going to check on her."
Mariss was under the water when he walked in. Sebastian set the clothes on the counter and loomed over the tub so she could see that he was there. When she came up, her normally sleek, straight hair was a mess of tightly woven curls. It was the most unrefined he'd seen her. He had an idea that she didn't like people seeing her undone, as it were, but he thought this was the most beautiful she could be.
"I'm going to need a rubber band," she said when she came up, rubbing water from her eyes.
"I'll see if Juliet has one. She brought you some clothes. Aren't you cold?"
"I added some hot water to it."
She was Mariss again, calm and in control.
"I'm sorry for what happened today, Sebastian. I was trying to think, but I don't remember anything after you told me she was the person who pushed me out into traffic. Are you sure that was her?"
"Yes.
Positive.
But she didn't know anything. I should have stayed in the room with you."
"Do that next time."
"There won't be a next time. If I'd known…" He sighed. "I wouldn't have taken you there. I would have handled it myself."
"Don't treat me like I'm fragile because I had one breakdown."
"I'm not. I'm looking out for you. Trust me, Red. This is as new for me as it is for you. I'm not used to spending this kind of time with women I haven't fucked."
"We've…done stuff."
"Not the way I want." He needed to end this conversation. "Finish up here. Your steak is getting cold. We'll wait for you." He hoped she didn't think he was mad. He was a bit short with her, but he needed a quick escape.
Sebastian stopped by the Baby Grand in the foyer, running his fingers over the keys before he sat down. Automatically, his fingers began to play Chopin's
Fantasie Impromptu
. It was one of his favorites and one he could play without thinking. He often used it to channel his mind before he played a more difficult piece. Tonight, however, he needed it to channel his mind for other reasons.