Wild Girl ✔️

chapter 13: truth

Rose

The door was only open a crack when Sebastian pushed it open, rushing past me. I shut the door slowly and turned to him. He was pacing back and forth, his fingers intertwined, hovering above his mouth. Anger rolled off of him in red hot waves and I realized that he was trying to control it.

After a moment, when his chest began to rise and fall at a slower pace, he turned to me. "Why would you do that? Why would you go to her instead of me?"

"I did go to you, Sebastian. But you wouldn't tell me," I answered sheepishly, feeling like a child in the principal's office.

"Because I wasn't ready to talk about it." He ran a shaking hand through his hair, still damp at the ends. "What did she tell you?

"Nothing." The lie flowed off my tongue effortlessly.

Sebastian gave me a look, seeing right through my words. "What did she tell you?" He repeated, his voice holding no room for negotiation.

"Nothing. She was going to right before you burst through the door like a crazy person," I crossed my arms stubbornly over my chest. "Seems to be a habit," I murmured under my breath.

"A crazy person?" He repeated, laughing. "God. Do you even hear yourself right now, Rose? You went to her because, what, you were upset that I wouldn't tell you my secrets?"

The heaviness in his voice, the pain, made my eyes burn. "I'm sorry."

Sebastian's gaze met the floor. "Those are my secrets to tell, Rose. Not hers."

"She didn't tell me anything," I repeated.

"She told you something," Sebastian whispered. "I can see it in your eyes. You won't look at me the same." I averted my gaze from his quickly. "You have to tell me, Rose. I need to know how much you know."

"It doesn't matter."

"Dammit, Rose!" He yelled, running his hands through his hair. "It matters to me! What did she tell you?"

And, I caved.

"She told me about Violet," the words came out in a rushed blur as Sebastian's eyes widened. "A name. That's all I got from her." And when he breathed a sigh of relief, a new puzzle piece clicked into place. "She's your girlfriend," I said as the realization dawned on me.

Sebastian's body wavered and, for a moment, it looked as if he was going to fall to his knees. His eyes held an ocean's worth of sadness when they locked on mine. "Rose..."

"It's fine," I lied, crossing my arms over my chest. "We all have someone we love, Sebastian."

"You shouldn't have asked her. I needed to be the one to tell you."

His words were the only confirmation I needed. Violet was his girlfriend. I felt like a fool. "We're just two strangers living in the middle of the wild. We don't owe each other anything."

"You don't feel like a stranger. You never did."

My body froze as Sebastian closed the distance between us. Gently, he placed his palm on my cheek and every part of me was screaming about how wrong this was, but, I let him.

"You painted me, Rose. Don't pretend like that didn't mean anything to you." His eyes searched mine and I felt myself slipping into the black hole. "It meant something to me," he said slowly.

"You have a girlfriend," I groaned, grabbing his wrist and tugging his hand off my face.

"No. I don't." I dropped his hand and pushed him away from me.