Page 50

“Next weekend is the annual Pride parade downtown,” my mom explained. “We’re going to have a booth where we hand out these packets and bottles of water.”
“That’s wonderful,” Byron said.
“If you want to give them a hand, I’m going to steal my son for a moment. I need him to carry something heavy for me. I promise to return him shortly.”
Byron nodded and slipped into a folding chair at the table. The other volunteers happily greeted him and helped him get set up to stuff bags, seeming oblivious to the dark looks my mother was directing at me behind his back.
Great.I’d been there for less than ten minutes, and I was in trouble.
But I held on to my smile in case Byron glanced over his shoulder at me. I didn’t want him to worry. Not when he was beginning to relax.
I followed my mother into the house and didn’t even try to say a word until she stopped in one of the empty parlors and closed the door. The happy façade fell away in the blink of an eye.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, her glare sharpening to a knife’s edge, ready to cut me to ribbons if I lied.
“What are you talking about?”
“Are you really dating him? Or is this just a joke?”
“What? Yes, Byron and I are actually dating. It’s not a joke.”
Her expression clouded, and she shook her head slightly. “Did he quit?”
“Quit what?” Talking to my mother wasn’t usually so confusing, but she wasn’t giving me enough information to understand what she was going on about.
“I thought he was your assistant.”
Oh. Fuck.
She knew. Byron had specifically stated that he’d never met my mother. Plus, she almost never came into the office. My father stopped in the office four times a year since he’d mostly retired. As a result, my mother came in less frequently than that. When had she seen him? The only reason I’d felt safe bringing Byron to this event was due to the fact that my father was in New York and wouldn’t be back until Tuesday.
“Sebastian! What are you thinking?” She smacked my arm. “He’s your direct subordinate. You know better than to think with your dick!” She continued to smack my arm with each sentence, forcing me to at last dart away from her.
“I’m not thinking with my dick,” I hissed, trying to keep my voice low in the event someone passed by the room.
“Well, you’re not using your brain about this. Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you could get into if people find out? And what about him? If this gets out, he will be fired immediately. There’s no way past it. How do you know he’s not going to turn around and sue you for harassment?”
“Mom!” I snapped. “Byron would never do that.” What little amusement floated through me vaporized the second she said something so hideous about Byron.
“How do you know?”
“I know Byron. He wouldn’t.”
She narrowed her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. Something in her expression chilled me to the bone, and I knew I wasn’t going to like what came out of her mouth next.
“Thomas. Cook.”
Each syllable she spoke was like a bullet shot into my chest. I flinched at the sound of his name and even curled inward.
Somehow, I’d pushed him to the back of my mind.Thank God.Thomas Cook was my greatest mistake and greatest regret in life. He’d nearly destroyed me and my family. I’d met the bastard my freshman year in college before I’d started running with Rome and Pierce. He was a senior, and I had been completely enamored with him. He’d seemed older, wiser, and more experienced with everything.
And somehow, he’d convinced me that I’d needed to just trust him with every aspect of my life. Why wouldn’t I? At the time, he was older and smarter. He’d understood everything better than some idiot eighteen-year-old. It wasn’t just that he’d made decisions for all the minor parts of my life. He’d also needed money constantly, and I’d been happy to give it, because when he’d been happy, my life had just gone better. Of course, this had all happened while my parents were having their own troubles, so he’d given me a sense of safety and love when my family had stood on the cusp of falling apart.
We’d dated for only six months, but in the blink of an eye, he’d maxed out my credit cards and drained my bank account. Declan had tried to talk sense into me, but I’d refused to listen. He’d gone to my family and told them what was happening. They’d also tried to talk sense into me, but I’d turned on them too.
The moment my parents had threatened to cut me off so Thomas would have no access to my family’s money, Thomas then attempted to manipulate and threaten me into stealing from my family. It was a sad wake-up call that had taken yearsfor me to recover from. I was just lucky that my parents and Declan hadn’t given up on me completely.
It had taken me years to recover from the deep wounds Thomas had created with his manipulation, gaslighting, and betrayal. I’d given up on relationships and turned my back on the idea of romance. Through college and well into my twenties, I’d slept around…a lot. Honestly, it wasn’t until I met Byron that I’d wanted something more. Byron was too precious, too wonderful to just use for a one-night stand.