HER HOMETOWN PRINCE

5.

Sebastien

Of course, I couldn't answer her. She was too precocious. She got me to let my guard down. How did she do it? That girl was dangerous. I was still seated at the table feeling lonely once more. When she sat beside me something inside me stirred, the companionship and how easy she got me to laugh surprised the hell out of me. Her heady perfume still lingered in the air, it has been a while since I had someone to sit beside and ate dinner.  It was lonely in Prague but I wanted it, I needed it. Currently, I was ninety-five percent done with those two but they still had a hold on me, somewhat. Thank heavens I won't be crossing paths with either of them.

The silence of the suite was deafening and it caused my thoughts to linger on my ex-fiance and best friend. Ex-best friend. Were they now married? Did they call it quits? Why did they do what they did? "Same questions going unanswered," I mumbled to myself going in search of the new music system I asked to be installed. Quickly I found the imported playlist and Panic! at the Disco began to blast through the speakers.

Questions dissolved.

But.

The curiosity of someone came into play.

"How was your first night back?"

"Nothing spectacular happened."

A skeptical hum escaped Annalisa as we both sat at the dining table finalizing the handover documents. The numbers and details were like second nature to me, it was in my blood, running businesses and inventing was passed down to me by my father. That's what my mother always said whenever the two McRoy men gather in the study of their main home in Westchester. A smile made its way to my face just thinking of the two.

"That's number three." my assistant said out loud.

"What is number three?" I asked confused looking over the papers she had in her hand. She rolled her eyes and playfully hid the documents from me. "Number three pertains to how many times you have smiled since you touched American soil," she said with a mischievous smirk. "You have been counting?" I asked, intrigued by her new past-time. 

"Correct. I know the past two have been due to your parents but I'm puzzled by number three. Can it be....?" she mused to herself.

"Again it was of my parents. Particularly my mother. Not of Becca."

"Becca?!"

Shit.

"Miss Callum." I corrected immediately but that didn't stop the sly smile on her face. I knew that smile, she was going into her matchmaking mode. It wouldn't be the first time she will be trying it. Along with my mother, they both think my happiness will return in the form of a new girlfriend. I wasn't giving in. I have the companionship of my feline friends and my work. Even thinking of that prospect of life had me thinking of a future being a cat daddy. Is that even a thing?

"I do not need your so-called help with Miss Callum because there will be no need. I am not interested in her nor any potentials you may have. I do not need a new girlfriend."

"Not a girlfriend. A wife. It has been four years Sebastien, it's ...."

"ENOUGH!!"

I couldn't bear to look at her. I found my breathing to be harsh just by her minor slip into the past.

"I apologize, sir."

 She was back to being my assistant. Why couldn't she stay that way? Not answering I left the room still fuming. The crying meows of Isis and Rhameses caused my steps to falter as they followed me to the installed gym. I needed a distraction. My twenty-second birthday came back into memory, followed by the constant calls and texts from her apologizing and begging forgiveness. My loyal friends at Winthorp stuck by their word to keep it all under wraps, they knew how much I loved Ronnie how devoted I was to her. What hurt, even more, was the silence from my so-called best friend. He never said a word, only that last vacant look in his eyes from the car park. I trusted both of them. Dante the most. We all made plans. He was to be my right-hand man at MacTech while Ronnie and I would have been married and maybe expecting a child as a result of our love. I wanted to question them both as to how long they have been going behind my back but I was too much of a wimp to hear the answer.