Crumbling Cakes

Part XXXIII (33)

I stumbled slightly at his words. The way he said it... was he implying something more? "Uh..."

"Go. We'll talk later." Ollie turned back to his bread, leaving me gaping and swallowing. Fuck, what was everyone's impression of Ronaldo and me? People couldn't know, they couldn't think this went beyond what it was. Any indication otherwise would put a massive target on his back if Bathilda's goons came sniffing about. I didn't have much time to panic because Sebastian called out to me again.

"Today, Pints. Please." His impatience was still wrapped with a blanket of gentleness. FUCK.

Standing before him, I dove right in. "What's going on?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm going to need your help through this next meeting."

My brow pinched. This...was new. Dalia and big customers don't mix. It was one of our rules from debacles of the past, it might as well be gospel, right? And this was definitely a big client. Ronaldo had scheduled off the rest of the afternoon for front-of-house to be closed. 

Questionable practice for a running business but he's only ever done this before for the Senator. No one has time for gawkers... Whoever this was, he wanted privacy for it. So why the hell was I getting dragged into this? "Why?"

"Because I want to get this over with as fast as possible, and two pairs of hands are better than one." He'd stepped closer to me. I couldn't get a read on him. We never addressed what had almost, but most definitely not, happened almost a week ago in his office. Followed by my meltdown in the bathroom. 

We had gone home, ate our dinner in silence, followed by an hour of TV and ice cream. Then rinse and repeat for the last five days. Minus the weekend. That silence had been different. Strained yes, because of everything we hadn't said, but mostly just brought on by emotional exhaustion. He looked strung tight. The frown that was permanently hanging out on his face was reason enough to pull at my heartstrings.

"Alright, I'll help."

"I wasn't really asking." The first hint of a joke blossomed in what seemed like decades, but it disappeared faster than I'd have liked. "Just do what I say, okay?"

"Got it."

He looked at the clock behind him, nodding. "Okay, Guin should be here in 5 minutes."

A record screeched to a halt in my head. Wait—"Hold on, what?"

Sebastian turned back to me. "Problem?"

"Kind of yea." I frowned. "You didn't tell me it was Guin."

He picked up on my accusing tone and exhaled heavily. "Not today, Lia. Please." Ronaldo sounded put out. I felt guilty for adding to his plate of frustrations, but I also felt resentful that he was subjecting me to that woman's vindictive whims. Sebastian's hand smoothed down the side of my face, fingers curling into my hair, pulling my head closer to his. "Please, Darlin'. It will be okay, I'll buffer the worst of it. I need you." I need you. Three simple words. That left me in a pile of goo.

Go, he needs you.

Ollie's words reared their ugly head. Instantly, I panicked, my eyes straining to the side trying to see if anyone was looking. All that got me was Sebastian's other hand popping up to effectively cradle my face and keeping it in place. Forcing me to look back at him.

"It's one, consult. One afternoon. I won't make you do this again." He offered quietly. "But today, I need you."

Merde. I owed him this one after everything in the last two weeks. I nodded slowly; reluctantly. The hinges in my neck creaking in their resistance at this horrible idea.