CHAPTER SEVEN
MAY
I sleepwalk through the next week.
I don’t bother looking for Sebastian—I know he’s not around. The day after the kiss, the first thing I heard was that the swim team was flying out to Virginia for a national competition. I’m not sure how long they’ll be gone, but the pool’s been empty. To clear my head, I go there and swim, picking the same lane I first found him in.
After that night, Opal came back and found me in a state of disarray. She didn’t ask any questions, but she winked whenever she looked at me. Thankfully she didn’t say anything to Tanner, who came around later to apologize for running out on lunch. I had to promise him again I wasn’t interested in Sebastian, although my lips still throbbed.
It’s like that kiss unhinged my whole world.
I dream of it and wake up sweating, tangled in my sheets. I run through it in my head during class. It’s in my thoughts so often I’m amazed Tanner can’t read it on me. I’m already being stared at enough as it is—word’s spread that I was the girl seen with Sebastian at the club. Rumors range between me being his sister, his girlfriend, or his indentured servant. I don’t have the heart to tell them what he told me.
That he was never going to speak to me again.
It had a ring of finality to it that I can’t deny. And when I think about the vow I made, the way my mother acted after my father left me, I can almost imagine that it’s a good thing. I’ve had crushes before, but I was able to suffocate them early on. What I felt during that kiss was something else, something torrential.
But then I remember what I found on the internet the morning after, when I Googled “Sebastian Crane” and “abduction.”
When Sebastian was twelve, he was kidnapped by four men who wanted to extort money from his father. They pulled up in an unmarked van, knocked him out, and threw him in the back.
Except his father wouldn’t pay.
They made threats. They kept him tied to a chair for three days with no food, swearing they’d kill him if they didn’t get the money within a week. When the police finally figured out where Sebastian was being held, an abandoned building on a riverside, they surrounded the place. The kidnappers swore they’d shoot him if the cops made a move.
And Sebastian’s mother snapped.
She made a break for the building, got inside, and made it halfway across the floor toward her son when they shot her—right in front of him.
The information was hard to find, almost as if someone had tried to cover it up. It took four hours of searching through archives on the web before I found old copies of articles someone had forgotten to erase.
Thinking about it is almost too painful.
Swimming is painful too, because when I swim, all I can do is think about Sebastian. I pull to the side of the pool and pant for a minute before hauling myself up. I’m the only one here. This must be one of Sebastian’s usual practice times. I towel off, my footsteps echoing in the empty room, and dress in the locker room. My wet hair swings over my shoulders as I check my phone for new messages.
Only one, from an unknown number:
Meet me in the parking lot at 3
.
That’s weird. It’s definitely not Tanner or
Opal, since I have both their numbers. Maybe it’s a classmate who wants to return something I left in class—but I’m pretty sure I didn’t forget anything.
I check the time. 2:55. Uh oh. And then I realize—what if it’s Renée? I gave her my number, but I didn’t get hers. Maybe she wants to hang out again. I really don’t want to explain the kiss to her, but I’d also feel bad ignoring her text.
I sling my bag over my shoulder, wring out my hair, and walk out into the sunlight. Early classes just got out, so the sidewalks are full of laughing students. I hunt for Tanner but I don’t spot him. He’s probably playing videogames with his roommate.
In the parking lot, I spot that shiny black car that Renée rented the first time I met her. Definitely her, then. This time, when I approach it, the driver gets out. I expect him to open the door for me, which he does—but then he shoves me inside and locks it behind me.
“Hey!” I yell, but it’s quickly muffled by the seat I fall into. Except it’s not a seat. It’s a lap.
And it’s Sebastian’s lap.
“Watch it, you pervert,” grunts Tanner’s voice, and suddenly there are arms pulling me into a sitting position.
“She fell onto me. Why does that make me the pervert?” asks Sebastian, his tone bored.
“You’re a pervert because I can just tell, that’s why.” Tanner straightens his shirt and checks me over. “You okay?”
“What’s going on?” I say, fighting to sound normal despite the fact that Sebastian’s sitting right there, his gaze slung casually to the side like he’s never kissed me in his life. H
is arms are crossed.
“Ask Mr. Sullen Silence over there.” Tanner jabs a thumb at Sebastian as the car starts rolling, nearly knocking me over again.
“I sure as hell don’t know. Got some text from ‘unknown’, figured it was from Opal since I keep forgetting to get her number, and next thing I know I’m being bundled into this car with Cheerful Face here—”
“Which am I—Mr. Sullen Silence, or Cheerful Face?” asks Sebastian acidly. “I suggest you pick one, since I doubt you have the mental capacity to remember two nicknames for one person.”
“I doubt you have the face capacity to not have your face break when I punch it—”
“Face capacity. Is that a scientific term?”
“Stop it,” I interrupt, trying not to look at Sebastian, because every time I do, blood floods into my cheeks. I peer into the passenger seat—Renée’s not there, and the driver has got headphones on. He takes the exit not for town, but for the highway. “Seriously, guys, where are we going?”
Sebastian doesn’t look at me as he says, “I don’t know. I was roped into this the same way you were. I assume it’s some annoying plan of Renée’s.”
By roped into it, I suppose he means he was pushed into the car with no explanation as well. I realize he’s slightly pale, and I remember what I read about his abduction. “Sebastian, are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” he says coolly. His face is as carefully guarded as ever.
“Oy!” Tanner knocks the back of the driver’s headrest. “Where are we headed?”
Unsurprisingly, there’s no answer.
It takes all my strength not to stare at Sebastian. He’s acting like the kiss never happened. When he glances at me, it’s like his gaze goes straight through. I’m not sure how to reconcile that with the fierce passion I got a glimpse of. All I know is that I want more.
Finally, the car pulls into an empty parking lot at the edge of town. I’m completely perplexed until Sebastian gives a low sigh. I follow the direction of his eyes and see it at the same time as Tanner, who swears loudly—a private jet, huge and white, is crouched on the asphalt like some gleaming bird.
The driver finally takes off his headphones and twists around toward us. I notice how beefy he is—more like a bouncer than a driver. “I have instructions to make sure you three get on the jet.”
Sebastian massages his forehead. “
Renée has gone completely insane, then.”
“Are you guys kidding me?” Tanner says delightedly, practically kicking open the car door. “That thing’s like straight out of James Bond! I bet it has martinis. There better be martinis.”
There are, in fact, martinis, a fact we discover after we’re all on the jet. Sebastian very obviously doesn’t want to get on, and I have my own reservations, but Tanner runs ahead. If this is some sort of supervillain ploy, I can’t let him get into it on his own. Sebastian calls after me in annoyance, but after I get on, he follows. I’m fairly certain that if we hadn’t, that driver would have had his own ways of making sure we complied.
I’ve never been inside a jet before, and I can’t stop staring. Each
creamy white leather seat is bigger than the armchair in my mom’s living room. A matching couch stretches along one side of the jet. Gleaming wood tables fold out from the walls, and high-definition television sets are mounted above them. A young woman in a neat uniform smiles at us. “Anything to drink?”
Tanner immediately orders a martini and claims the couch, sprawling out on the luxurious cushions. He tosses one at Sebastian. “There are definite perks to being friends with you, even if I do have to look at your face.”
“Tanner, shut up.” I sit gingerly on one of the chairs. I sink in a few inches. I glance up at Sebastian, who frowns deeply as the entry hatch closes behind us. I can’t help but smile—it is like something out of a movie. “This is really Renée’s? Sebastian, this is amazing!”
“It’s my father’s.” He takes the seat farthest away from Tanner and I. “Renée obviously borrowed it. A fact I’m sure will delight him.”
He can’t quite disguise the bitterness in his voice. I can’t help but remember what I read about Sebastian’s father refusing to pay the ransom. I wonder if he blames his father for his mother’s death.
Of course, he has no idea that I’m aware of what happened to him.
When the jet takes off, it startles all of us. Tanner gives a yell and falls off the couch, and I shriek in a decidedly unsexy way. I don’t know what I was expecting—that Renée would pop into the cabin, maybe, and tell us how she wanted to give us a tour of the jet—but not that it would just leave ground with no warning.
What the hell is going on?
The flight attendant returns with Tanner’s drinks. She hands both Sebastian and I a menu. “Ms. Crane would like to request that you both settle in, as this flight will be approximately four and a half hours long. You may select any movie you wish, and anything on the menu is free of charge.”
“And did Ms. Crane mention where we happen to be going?” Sebastian’s voice drips with sarcasm.
The flight attendant gives a trained smile, though I can tell Sebastian’s tone has slightly unnerved her. “Ms. Crane requests that the destination remain secret for now.”
“Four and a half hours?” Tanner kicks off his shoes and sprawls back. “Bring it. Let’s see how many of these I can drink in four and a half hours.”
The answer, as it turns out, is five. At my insistence, Tanner and I watch Bridesmaids, and he gets more into it with each drink he downs. Sebastian puts on a pair of heavy-duty plane headphones and ignores both of us, resting his forehead against the glass window with his eyes closed.
Every time Tanner guffaws with laughter at the movie, I try to smile along like I’m paying attention, but with Sebastian so close, my head’s in a cloud. I want to ask him about the kiss. I want to know what he meant when he said not talking to me anymore would be his gift to me. I want to tell him I know about the kidnapping. I want to apologize, though I’m not sure for what.
Eventually Tanner falls asleep, snoring over the movie credits as the flight attendant quietly collects his array of empty glasses. One of his arms dangles toward the floor. I watch the clouds pass outside as long as I can stand it, and then I look back toward Sebastian. He’s motionless, and at first I think he’s asleep too, but then his eyes open slightly—and his expression is surprisingly sad as he gazes out the window.
Unable to hold back anymore, I get up and slide into the seat in front of him, leaning over the back of the chair so he can see me. At first he pretends I’m not there, but finally I reach out and pull his headphones down over his neck. I catch a note of classical music.
He looks at me, and suddenly everything I wanted to say flies out of my head. “Hi,” I manage.
He just waits.
I swallow, double-checking to make sure Tanner’s still asleep. “Look, um…
what happened last week, we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want. I understand if you felt like it was a mistake—”
“It was a mistake,” he says.
I try to pretend that doesn’t hurt. “That’s okay. I don’t expect anything from you. But wherever we’re going, just for this weekend, maybe you could keep talking to me? I bet Renée’s planned something neat, and we could just try to have fun. Relax a little. On Monday, if you still don’t want to be around me…I can leave you alone.”
I’m taking a risk.
I need to use this weekend to find out for sure why Sebastian pulls away—if he really dislikes me, or if he’s actually afraid of hurting me. If it’s the second one, I’m sure I’ll be able to convince him he’s wrong. He’s intimidating and cold, but I’m not afraid of him. I don’t think he’d let anything bad happen to me.
For some reason, I trust him.
“And you promise to stay away from me? Like you should have from the start?” A degree of intensity enters his tone.
I bite my lip, remembering
Opal’s bet. But I have to take this risk. Otherwise, I’ll never get Sebastian to open up. “Yes.”
“Good,” he says.
I open my mouth, but at that moment, the flight attendant reappears. “We are starting our descent. Welcome to Oregon.”
Oregon? I rush to the window,
looking down. At first I think I see more clouds, but then I realize it’s snow. We’re flying over a mountain, getting lower every minute, and I can see the tall evergreen trees and what looks like—a ski slope?