Page 159 of Depraved Boys

“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.

Several minutes later, a squad car pulled into the courtyard, and a male sergeant stepped out. Woman Police Constable Karen Dobson also emerged from the other side of the vehicle, which lightened my heart. She had taken my statement before the forensic exams and had been extremely sympathetic.

“Willow?” The policewoman’s eyes softened. “Sorry to have to see you again. Sergeant Modal and I both read up on the complaints you’ve made in the past few weeks, and we admire your determination to seek justice.”

I glanced at the sergeant, who gave me an encouraging smile. The tension in my stomach relaxed, and I smiled back. Maybe things would start changing for me, and people would take my complaints seriously.

“Thanks for coming,” I said. “This is Sebastian Garraway, and he’s here to make a statement.”

“Is there an empty classroom we can use?” asked WPC Dobson.

“I’ve already set up a meeting with the headmistress,” I said.

She smiled. “Lead the way, then.”

Pupils milled around the hallways, and many of the boys who had greeted me with jeers and groping backed away. Partially because of the presence of the police officers, but I suspected that they still remembered the beatings they had received at Sebastian and the other kings’ fists.