Page 125 of Brutal Reign
“I can’t find him anywhere and he’s not answering his phone,” he murmurs, keeping his voice low. “It’s not like him to just up and disappear.”
My heart stutters in my chest, breath stalling in my lungs. “W-when was the last time you saw him?” I stammer.
“Not since this afternoon,” Ace grits out. “You?”
“Same,” I croak. “You don’t think–”
He immediately shakes his head, though it does little to put me at ease. My stomach churns, bile crawling up my throat.
“C’mon,” Ace growls, snapping into action and grabbing me by the hand. “Let’s go track that asshole down.”
41
“You don’t think he got cold feet, do you?” I ask shakily as I follow Ace out of the recruit barracks. “That maybe he doesn’t want our bond…”
“No way,” Ace snaps, yanking me in by the hand as he grinds to a halt and swivels to face me. He reaches up to cup my face, gently sweeping his thumb back and forth over my cheek as he stares into my eyes. “Don’t even think like that,” he murmurs. “Seb is crazy about you, babygirl. Always has been. Whatever’s going on, it isn’t because he doesn’t want you, so get that thought out of your head.”
The sting of tears prickles behind my eyes as I nod feebly, swallowing past the lump in my throat.
God, I hope he’s right…
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and from the way Ace suddenly flinches back and reaches into his own pocket, it seems his own just alerted, too. We rush to pull them out, finding the same text from Seb on both our screens.
Meet me in the squad dorms. Room 103.
I suck in a gasp, jerking my chin up at the same time Ace does, our gazes colliding. Without a word, we both turn to dash toward the hall for the dorms, my heart in my throat.
The second door on the left is marked 103, and when Ace tries the knob, it’s unlocked. He throws the door open, the two of us bursting inside the room to find Seb reclining on the king-sized bed like he doesn’t have a care in the world, wearing nothing but a pair of grey sweatpants and a lazy grin.
“Welcome home,” he remarks, spreading his arms triumphantly.
I stop in my tracks, blinking at him in stunned surprise.
“Where the hell have you been?” Ace growls, advancing toward Seb.
“Uh, getting us these sweet new digs?” he laughs, his abs tightening as he curls up to sit and swings his legs over the edge of the bed, shifting his gaze to me. “Shut that door and get over here, baby,” he drawls, beckoning me with a lift of his chin.
“How?” I ask incredulously, kicking the door shut while glancing around the room. My panic about him going missing is suddenly forgotten, replaced by awe as I take it all in.
“I have my ways,” he smirks.
I never would’ve pegged Seb as a romantic, but he clearly put a lot of effort into this surprise. Not only did he accomplish the impossible by somehow scoring us a room in the overcrowded dorms, but he has a portable speaker playing my favorite Audio Whiplash song, a vanilla scented candle is burning, and his t-shirt is draped over the bedside lamp to soften the lighting. As far as romantic gestures go, this is a ten out of ten.
Warmth blooms in my chest as I stare back at him in shock, at a complete loss for words.
“Still could’ve answered your phone, asshole,” Ace mutters, the corner of his mouth lifting as he gazes upon Seb with a look that can only be described as pride.
“Wanted to surprise both of you,” Seb replies, waggling his brows. “So, did I pull it off?”
I’m still speechless, but I suppose that in itself answers his question.Hell yeshe pulled it off.
Seb pushes up to his feet, grinning from ear to ear as he starts in on giving us the grand tour. “We’ve got a bed big enough to share– Riv can sleep in the middle– and plenty of closet and dresser space for all our stuff since this is a double. Ace, I already grabbed everything from your cubby, but Riv, I didn’t know if there were rules about touching all your girly shit, so I figured we could help you pack up tomorrow. I got us a speaker so you two can play all the weird music you want, and check this out…” He opens up the top drawer of the dresser, pulling out an entire box of chapsticks. “Strawberryice,” he declares smugly, holding it up. “This should last you a while, right?”
I blink back at him, still in a state of shock. “I can’t believe you did this,” I breathe. “I thought…”
His smile fades as he lowers the box back into to the drawer, brows pinching together. “Thought what?”
I shake my head, not wanting to spoil a second of this by voicing my fears. Clearly, they were unfounded, because if this isn’t a declaration of love from Seb Walker, I don’t know what is.Somebody pinch me.