Page 113 of Wicked Empire (Knight's Ridge Empire 3)

He holds my eyes for a beat before looking at Seb.

His lips part but no words come out for a second, although when he does finally speak, it hits exactly where I think he was intending.

“This,” he says, pointing between the two of us, “is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. Fuck what anyone outside the two of you says or tries to do. Hold on tight and never fucking let go. Ever.”

Seb’s hand tightens around my waist as silence falls around us.

“I’m sorry you and Miss Hill lost so much time,” I say softly.

“Yeah. I got her instead,” he says lightly, nodding his head to Emmie.

“What he means is that he got wasted and fucked my mum without wrapping it.”

“Yeah, did you need more advice?”

“No, no,” I say with a laugh before he dives deeper into that conversation. “Got it covered, thanks.”

“Good to hear it.” Putting that to bed, he turns back to Emmie. “Speaking of the witch, you heard from your mother?”

Emmie shakes her head. “Still nothing.”

I narrow my eyes at her. I knew something was going on with her, but I assumed it was the shit with Theo and the secrets she’s keeping from her dad. I had no idea it was anything to do with her mom. She’s barely ever mentioned her.

“I’ll put some more calls out. She can’t have just vanished off the face of the Earth.”

“It’s fine, Dad. If she wanted to be here, she would be.”

He parts his lips to argue but quickly cuts himself off when it becomes clear that Emmie really doesn’t want to talk about it.

“Do you want us to take you home?” I ask Emmie once we’ve finished eating and D is cleaning up after us.

“I can take her. You’re on the other side of town, right?” he asks without looking up at us.

“Uh, yeah. But it’s okay,” Seb says.

“S’all good. You two head off. You can spend the night comparing your ink.”

“Okay,” I say, jumping up. I’m more than ready for Seb to get his first look. “We’ll see you at school tomorrow?” I ask Emmie.

“Hopefully you’ll all be more successful at getting there tomorrow,” D says, still with his back to all of us.

Emmie stills, realizing that she’s been caught.

“It’s my fault,” Seb confesses. “We got a little carried away last night. You know, after my mum’s funeral.”

“It’s okay, Seb. I get it. I’m not completely old and uncool.”

Seb nods at D and moves toward the door.

“Thank you so much for this,” I say.

“You’re welcome. Try to stay out of trouble, yeah?”

Seb laughs. “Yeah, we’ll see. Come on, Hellion. We’ve got things we need to do.”

Heat rushes between my legs at his suggestive tone.

“Bye,” I shout as Seb all but drags me from the room and down the hallway.