Not Without You [Chris Evans]

78*

Sadie's POV

Sebastian stopped at his door, holding my hand so tightly I was afraid he was going to leave marks, not making a move to unlock it. When I shifted so I could see his face, he was decidedly green around the gills. I was extremely grateful the boys had decided to go with Chris and Megan for a while, giving us a little time alone while we worked through this.

"Come on," I said, reaching past him to unlock the door and backing inside. "You gonna camp on your doorstep all day?" I tugged at his hand, but he didn't move.

"I don't wanna go in," he said quietly, swallowing convulsively.

I reached up and touched his face, getting him to look at me. "Sebastian, I'll be with you the whole time, okay?"

I was glad I'd had the foresight to come over yesterday to erase all traces of Macy from his apartment...and clean up the blood in the bathroom. If I hadn't known how badly head wounds bleed and how large a gash Megan had, I would've thought someone had actually died from the amount of blood on that bathroom floor.

"I'm putting this place up for sale tomorrow," he said firmly. "I don't care if she's going to be locked up for a long time - I can't live here anymore."

"Wait, you sell apartments here – you don't rent them?" I asked curiously, tugging him inside.

"It's complicated," he said with the ghost of a smile, shutting the door and locking it. "Want to look at properties with me? I could really use your opinion."

"Sure. I love looking at houses," I said with a grin, hanging up my coat and toeing off my flats.

Sebastian surprised me by pulling me into his arms. "Great, because I'd already been thinking about finding a different place before all this happened. Something a little bigger, maybe even closer to Chris," he hinted, kissing my cheek.

"Bigger? Why would you need more room than this?" I gestured at the large open space around me that wasn't even fully utilized, even with all Megan's stuff.

"Well, you see, there's this great girl I know that has a couple of kids that like to complain because they have to share a bed when they come to stay with me."

I pulled back to look at him. "They complained to you about that? I raised them better than that, really I did."

"They're right, Sadie; they're too old to share a bed anymore - and Liam hates how Isaac tosses and turns in his sleep. No one wants to have to share a bed with him - not even you."

"Touché. You were really thinking about that already?" I asked, heading for the kitchen to get a drink of water, Sebastian following behind me. He plugged his phone in on the counter and hopped up to sit on it. I bit my tongue; if he wanted to sit on his counter, he could.

"Yeah, I was," he said with that crooked grin I liked so well. "I'd like it if we had someplace that was well...ours."

I paused in the act of grabbing a glass out of the cupboard, looking over at him. "Sebastian, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I'd like for you to move in with me when you're in New York."

I could tell from his expression that he was serious, so I took a moment to really consider the idea. He held out a hand to me and pulled me over to him so I was standing between his legs, resting my hands on his heavily muscled thighs. I ran my hands lightly up and down them as I thought, watching his expressions.

"Why don't you come live with me at the lake for a couple weeks?" I finally suggested. Some time away from the city would be good for him and it had been a while since he'd been to the lake for more than a day or two. "Just until you have to leave for LA again?"