Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 116759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
I held on tight to this man who made me hurt with each passing day. It wasn’t his fault, though. It was mine. I’d let our friendship continue when I knew I wanted more. More than he could give me.
“Lily Sawyer, listen to me and listen good.” Sebastian gently eased me back so he could look deep in my eyes. “You are hilarious, thoughtful, so bloody smart, and absolutely knee-tremblingly gorgeous.”
My lips twitched. “Knee-tremblingly? Try saying that five times fast.”
He grinned but shook me a little. “I’m serious. That arsehole took something from you and it’s your job to take it back. Okay?”
That ugly thing in my gut, that thing that tightened my chest, unfurled, and the constriction eased. And I knew … Sebastian’s friendship and the good it did me was worth the ache of an unrequited crush.
“Okay. I’ll try to take it back,” I vowed.
“Good.” He drew me against him and kept his arm around my shoulders as we strolled toward Princes Street. “No one messes with my best friend, Sawyer. Not even my best friend.”
I smiled, leaning into him, enjoying the feel of his hard, comforting body pressed to my side in the only way I’d ever have him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
SEBASTIAN
Several Weeks Later
When I handed over my paper and stood, I felt calm, relaxed. I usually did well with exams, and I felt in my gut I’d passed this one. Classes finished up at the end of November and for the first week in December, I’d been studying nonstop with Lily, either at one of our places or at the library. Lily was a big advocate for flash cards and how they helped her memorize, so she’d put together a bunch with me, even though she was busy herself, and I found them incredibly helpful.
Now, with my first exam over, I was eager to see her. She was upset for Beth. Unfortunately, the Caledonia United goalie, Baird McMillan, had suffered a terrible head injury during their game yesterday. It made national news. He’d been carted off unconscious and Beth had witnessed it. Baird wasn’t just Beth’s friend, he was Callan Keen’s best friend. As a Caley United fan, I was gutted for Baird. As Lily’s friend, I was concerned for her and the people she loved. Baird was recovering, but it was an awful accident. Lily was still shaken for Beth. I’d decided to take her mind off it and treat her to lunch after my exam.
As I was leaving the exam hall, a girl, not looking where she was going as she stuffed her phone and pen into her backpack, ran into me. Her phone clattered to the ground.
“I’m so sorry,” she huffed in what I assumed was self-directed annoyance.
We both lowered to our haunches to pick up the phone. I got it first.
“It’s fine.”
The girl looked up as she took the phone. Her blond hair was piled in a messy, sexy knot and her large black framed glasses sat at an angle, like they’d been knocked slightly too. Her wide gray eyes were gorgeous.
“Thanks.” She took the phone and we stood, getting out of people’s way. “Am a flustered mess after that exam. No’ sure I did aw that well.” The girl had a Scottish accent. It was thicker than Lily’s.
“Are you studying civil engineering?”
She nodded. “That I am. But this Finite Element Methods course has kicked ma arse aw semester.”
There was a lot of calculus in this course, which is why I took it. I was good at it. If you weren’t, I imagined it would be torture. “Sorry to hear that.”
The girl grimaced. “You sailed through it, didn’t ye?”
I chuckled. “I’m afraid to admit it.”
She sighed heavily. “Ah wish ah hud a math brain.” Suddenly she held out her hand. “Am Julianne. Ah’ve seen ye in ma classes over the years.”
I suddenly felt bad for not noticing her because she had a fresh prettiness that usually caught my eye. “Sebastian,” I offered, shaking her hand.
A little tinge of red brightened her cheeks. “Ah ken who ye are.” Julianne shrugged her backpack higher on her shoulder. “Ah dinnae suppose ye’d fancy grabbin’ a coffee sometime? Maybe ye could help meh understand that crap.” She gestured toward the exam hall.
Smiling, I was contemplating how to turn her down when Zac and Harry’s recent needling infiltrated my mind. They’d grown insistently annoying about my lack of a sex life. Truthfully, they were right. I was going through a long dry spell. The reason for that dry spell was masochistic. Extremely.
Maybe it was time to get back to normal in that respect. “Sure, I’d like that.”
She grinned and it was very pretty, though I missed the lack of dimples. Pulling a pen out of her pocket, she then tugged my wrist and did something old school and charming. She wrote her number on the back of my hand. “Call meh.”