Page 70 of Savage Elites

Mrs. Benazir didn’t realize that Miss Claymore had forced me to resign. Or she had covered up her real reason for letting me go and told the headmistress that I’d quit because of the nude pictures.

I pulled myself to my feet and dusted myself off. If Mrs. Benazir wanted me back so badly, she’d need to make a few concessions. And I would need Sebastian’s help in securing my demands.

Chapter 17

As the taxi pulled in front of the entrance of Brittas Academy, I spotted Sebastian standing alone at the double doors. His features were drawn, his posture slumped, and the confidence he usually radiated dimmed. He swiped a hand through the dark brown hair hanging over his brow, and a lump formed in my throat.

How could I possibly hold a grudge over someone who had wanted to protect the woman he believed he had wronged? Although I still felt Miss Claymore should have been able to resist a thirteen-year-old, I had to take Sebastian’s word for it that he pursued her relentlessly.

He walked forward, slipped the driver a fifty-pound note, and told him to keep the change. Swallowing hard, I stepped out of the car and faced Sebastian.

“You’re alone.”

“I asked the others not to come,” he said, his voice hoarse with emotion.

The car drove off, leaving us staring into each other’s eyes. My heart fluttered with the ache of anticipation, combined with both heartbreak and need. Part of me hurt because he still had feelings for Miss Claymore, but I yearned for him to say that he cared for me.

I parted my lips to break the silence, but he spoke first.

“I’m so sorry.” Sebastian wrapped his arms around my shoulders, engulfing me with his masculine sandalwood and cedar scent. “If I had known she would go that far to keep us apart, I would have stopped her. I…”

He audibly swallowed. “The feelings I have for you are so intense, I needed to back off and sort a few things out in my head.”

My heart swelled. “Feelings?”

I haven’t been with a girl since…” He shook his head. “She was a woman. But you’re the first girl my age I’ve been close to in any way. When you rejected me that night—”

“What?” my brows drew together.

“When you found me in bed with Wend—Miss Claymore. You pushed me away and told me to leave you alone. I did, and you ended up on the side of a mountain. When I discovered the accident, all those old feelings tumbled back from the plane crash.” His jaw tightened, and he paused before saying, “I blamed myself for your injury.”

My eyes filled with tears. “Is that why you kept your distance?”

“That, and the thoughts that I wasn’t good for you. I’d already ruined one woman’s life, and I didn’t want to ruin yours.” He placed his hands on my shoulders.

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and his eyes glistened with sorrow. “Until that business with the cave, I didn’t believe Leo’s constant digs about Miss Claymore having the means, opportunity, and motive to kill you.”

“But you do, now?” I stared into his green eyes.

“Who else might have wanted you dead so badly?”

I bowed my head. Mr. Byrd was capable of those attacks, but he only made his presence known after the police wanted genetic samples from Bianca. And even then, he cared more about keeping the abuse of his daughter a secret than anything else. I doubted that he was responsible for putting me in Mom’s car and down the mountain.

Ashley and Bianca were both contenders, but neither would be able to move me without help and the risk of their murderous secret being betrayed by an accomplice.

Sebastian cupped the side of my face. “I’m so sorry.”

I leaned into his broad shoulder and wrapped my arms around his middle. “Stop apologizing for doing what you thought was right.”

“But she—”

“You already said you didn’t think she was capable of going that far. I believe you.” Stepping out of his embrace, I raised my hands and pressed them on both sides of his cheeks. “But it’s time to stop her.”

* * *

Instead of walking into the building, we waited for the next part of my plan to arrive. Sebastian and I stood on those stone steps, pressed together in a warm embrace. The cold wind swirled around our joined bodies, but nothing, not even the faintest breeze would get between us again.

I rested my head on Sebastian’s shoulder and sighed. The worst part of this entire situation was that I had seen Miss Claymore as a protector and had felt utterly secure in her company. Knowing that she had been the one behind the attacks was a blow, but nothing would ever compare to Ashley’s betrayal.