Page 2 of In the Net (Sin Bin Stories #5)

Sebastian chuckles. “Dating app? Getting desperate, are we?”

I lower my brow at him. He’s not wrong. Once this embarrassing incident is over with, I still have to wade through the muck trying to find someone acceptable to take to my cousin Sofia’s wedding in November.

“As if you don’t use them. I know there’s no way you could resist an extra source of attention.”

“Nah, not my style. I get more than enough attention in person. In fact, I was just walking by when I glanced through the door and made eye contact with the cute bartender over there. Her eyes practically begged me to walk in and flirt with her. And, well, you know my generous and giving nature. I couldn’t resist.”

“I guess that isn’t surprising. There’s a rumor going around that you’ve made out with every female bartender in town.”

“Hey, don’t believe every rumor you hear about me,” he says.

“Why? Because they’re not true.”

He grins. “Because they usually are.”

I sigh. “Well, I guess I should thank you for giving up another notch in your belt and coming to my rescue.”

He shrugs. “Don’t mention it. The prospect of watching you founder for minutes while your cousin grills you about why you’re here alone was just too painful.”

“Flounder,” I correct.

Sebastian quirks an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“The word you’re looking for is flounder. To squirm or struggle for an extended period of time. Founder means for something to sink, or for a plan to fail all at once.”

Something sharpens in Sebastian’s blue eyes. An annoyance at himself for being caught making a linguistic mistake, combined with a begrudging respect that I was able to catch him in it. It’s a look I’ve seen from him way more than once.

A waitress comes to our table. When I got here, I told her I’d hold off on ordering a drink until the person I was waiting for arrived, so Sebastian sitting down across from me must have been her cue to come over.

“What can I get you two?”

“What’s the strongest thing available?” I ask, feeling the need for liquid reinforcement.

“Right here,” Sebastian quips, throwing up his right arm in another flex.

I drill him with a nonplussed expression while the waitress can’t help but let her eyes tick to the slab of muscle bulging on Sebastian’s arm; she clearly can’t stop a pink blush from sweeping across her cheeks, either.

She laughs. “The Whiskey Washout is pretty strong, most people say too strong, but?—”

“I’ll take it.”

“Just a Coke for me,” Sebastian says to the waitress. “I’m watching my figure.”

Our waitress jots down our order and heads back to the bar, but not before giving her eyes a second to sweep over Sebastian, watching his figure herself.

“How many times have you flexed today, anyway?”

Sebastian fixes a thoughtful expression on his face. “Well, there were the two times here. Once this morning at the coffee shop. Once on the campus green. Two times in Anthropology class. So six, meaning I need to find two more occasions to flex before midnight to hit my daily quota.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t fly past that quota flexing for yourself whenever you saw a mirror.”

Sebastian blows a raspberry and looks at me like I’m an idiot. “Obviously, flexing for myself doesn’t count. I thought we were talking about flexing for an audience.”

“Oh, how silly of me,” I snark.

He grins. “Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you. I’m a gentleman with my dates, after all.”

Our drinks arrive, and I waste no time grabbing mine and pulling down a gulp. My brow jumps and my back straightens as the liquor burns down my throat. The waitress wasn’t kidding about this drink.

Sebastian regards me with wry amusement before his gaze ticks over my shoulder to somewhere behind me.

“Don’t look now,” he says, “but Mackenzie can’t stop glancing at you, and she looks awfully envious.”

I know that’s not just Sebastian’s ego speaking, assuming that any girl would be envious to see me with him.

Nothing matters to Mackenzie more than status, and as much as I’m loath to admit it, being seen on a date with Sebastian Lawrence definitely gives any girl status points with the more high-school-minded among us. Which Mackenzie certainly is.

I take another sizable sip of my drink. It loosens my lips. “It would be petty to be a little satisfied by that, wouldn’t it?”

“Very. But I won’t tell anyone.”

An odd shiver dances down my spine at the conspiratorial tone in Sebastian’s voice. It’s almost like there’s a little thrill in the idea of sharing a secret with him.

It must just be the alcohol.

“You know, I never could stand her,” Sebastian says. “She always acted so stuck-up to me back when we went to school together, before I transferred to St. Bart’s.”

Memories of those days swirl through my mind, of the Sebastian I used to know before he got that prep school scholarship and became the star player on their hockey team. The Sebastian it’s sometimes hard to detect a trace of anymore in the cocky campus celebrity who sits across from me.

This drink really must be strong, because I even allow some of those memories to bring a smile to my lips.

“Well, that was before you were a hotshot jock,” I joke.

Sebastian glances down, huffing a laugh that sounds dry … and maybe a little bitter? “Yeah. Way before.”

My drink might be strong, but it’s served in a small glass, so soon I’m finished with it. When Sebastian notices me take my last sip, he tilts his drink and gulps down the rest of his soda.

“I think we can probably dip now,” I say. “Like we just stopped for one drink and are heading somewhere else.”

Sebastian’s brow creases just slightly, and something flashes in his eyes. It can’t be disappointment. That makes no sense. Clearly, I’m prone to misinterpreting expressions after a stiff drink.

He pushes up from his seat and holds out his arm in the direction of the door. “After you.”

Once we’re far enough away from the cocktail place to go our separate ways without Mackenzie spotting us, I turn to him.

“Thanks,” I say. “My cousin never would’ve let me live it down if I had to admit I really had been stood up.”

“Don’t mention it. If there’s something I can do to keep Mackenzie’s high horse from getting any higher, I’m up for it.”

“Well, thanks again.” I take a deep breath and blow it out, a mixture of exasperation and surprise.

This night sure hasn’t gone how I expected it to when I left my house an hour ago.

I’m sure my roommates will enjoy the debrief when I get home far too much.

“Thus ends our first, and definitely last, fake date,” I say.

Sebastian smirks, his blue eyes lighting with a roguish glimmer. “Don’t jinx it.”