Passionate Professors || Sebastian Sallow

Part 1 | Ch. 22 - Mine

I dragged myself to the dungeons, stumbling every few steps. I was much more intoxicated than I originally thought. The grimy grout between the stone blocks on the walls slithered along like snakes, the smooth floor waved underneath my feet. I grabbed the side of the wall, afraid I was going to be sick.

I heard a concerned Garreth Weasley's voice as I approached the Potions classroom.

"Look, I just want you to be careful with her," he said, in a low whisper. 

"Why do you think I wouldn't be?" Sebastian hissed back.

"She's been through a lot." He reasoned. "She's a good friend and I care about her."

Sneaking closer, I could see them in the corner of the classroom, Garreth's back turned to me, the red hues in his hair glinting off the candlelight. Sebastian loomed over him, his arms crossed rigidly. If this escalated any further, I could envision Sebastian punching him right in the face.

"Don't you think I know that?" Sebastian said harshly. "Besides, she doesn't need a friend like you."

"I know, I just—I'm looking out for her, that's all." He was backing up from the brooding look Sebastian was giving him whose eyes were black as night.

"She doesn't need you, Weasley. Don't you see? If she wanted to be with you, she would have by now." Sebastian inched closer, puffing out his chest and lengthening his neck. "You need to get it through your thick skull that she's mine before I bash it in." His voice was a low growl at this point, a promise laced in his words.

That was enough to send me spiraling. The phrase was so hard, so cold. It felt like all the warmth left my body, replaced by ice in my veins. There was that dark, troubled side of Sebastian again. I thought after we reconciled, he left that piece behind. Hearing how he spoke to Garreth, how possessive he was, I was scared of what hid beneath the sweet, caring, sexy man I had been dealing with lately.

Beads of sweat dripped down my back as I ran back through the corridor, doing anything to create space between Sebastian and I. The fog in my mind had not yet lifted but what I just heard was clear. Both these men were protective over me but for some reason one left a stabbing sensation in my stomach.

I didn't stop running until I reached my room, slamming the door behind me and locking it. I rushed over to the toilet, vomiting up the contents of the day, the Baileys burning my throat on the way back out. Something about the way Sebastian spoke of me absolutely terrified me to my core.

I hadn't felt a lick of doubt until now. I hadn't thought about what would happen if we couldn't make it work. Because the way he was talking was that if he couldn't have me, no one could.

——

The conversation I witnessed last night felt like a distant dream. Surely I had imagined it all, Sebastian couldn't have said those things. But something in me knew what I overheard was real. Garreth was looking out for me and Sebastian didn't appreciate that. He wanted to make it clear that I was his, a possession that he owned.

My head felt clouded, my thoughts murky. With the students' arrival just two days away, I needed to ready myself, to shake off the awful feeling that the man Sebastian had become was much different than the boy that broke up with me in the Undercroft before graduation. This Sebastian had a dark past, he liked to be in control.

I splashed cold water on my face, washing away the thoughts for now and getting ready for the day. I wanted to ask Sebastian about Octavia Gaunt from my roster but I didn't want to run into him yet. I was still going over last night in my head, overthinking his demanding tone, his overbearing presence in protection of me.