Beyond the Black Curtain

Chapter 31 - Reassurances

Sebastian

God I can be such a dickhead sometimes. It wasn't my intention at all for Rae to feel insecure about our relationship. I'll admit, I didn't like the way that stupid waiter looked at her and blushed like a strawberry when she smiled at him. But making her feel bad about it was the last goddamn thing on my mind.

I need to learn how to control my temper better now that she made our relationship public. We had talked about it the night before the premiere and realized there was no use keeping it lowkey when we've been photographed everywhere we were out together. We just agreed that afterwards, we wouldn't be talking publicly about it to anyone. It was the practical thing to do seeing as how her profile practically grew exponentially with just one big event. As I perused my social media while she was in the shower, I couldn't help but notice how I've been tagged in so many pictures of her from the premiere.

The last thing I wanted was for her to doubt my trust in her in all of this.

"That you're secure in what we have together."

I took a deep, calming breath before I responded to her. Rae was now looking at me with those curious chocolate eyes of hers, searching for reassurance.

"I will never doubt this," I begin, taking her hand in mine. "Us. I've never fallen for someone so hard like I have with you before, Rae. And it's because of that that there's not a single day I feel confident to call you mine. Sometimes, in the past, my temper and jealousy have taken the best of me that's why my relationships have always been toxic."

"Then why did you react the way you did earlier? That guy didn't even do anything."

"I know, and I realize that now and I'm sorry. I do trust you 100% and I'll always believe what you tell me because I know you won't ever lie to me."

Rae nods slowly at me, as if pondering my words. My heart is beating so fast, words are coming in droves inside my head, but I don't know how else to properly articulate to the woman I love how much I trust her.

"I appreciate that, Seb, I really do. I feel the same way, and I hope you see that because you're the only one I have now. If something is bothering you, I need to know so that we can work it out to make you feel better. You know I'd do anything for you, okay?"

"Okay," I say back. I graze my lips on her hands and say 'okay' again while I set it down. "Are we alright?" she asks.

Rae nods as she smiles at me. "We are more than alright, baby. I love you so much."

***

I was currently going through my upcoming schedule with my assistant, Josh via Facetime. My doctor-prescribed rest was to finish in two days and I wanted to make sure I knew where I left off with my commitments and if there are new ones Leslie and Ann have managed to book me for. I was thankful for the activity; with Rae out during the day and sometimes until late at night for work, I was left alone in the house with nothing else to do. I was told to keep gym activity light as well so the most I did was just to go for a run for an hour every morning. Frankly, this sudden stoppage of activity is driving me nuts and I can't wait to get back to my normal routine again.

"Okay, I'll set all these up on your phone's calendar when I drop by your dry cleaning stuff tomorrow and set up email alerts as well so you don't have any excuse to miss any of your appointments for the next week," Josh says transactionally. I regard him with a smile while taking a sip of water.

"You seem tense, Josh, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, um, sure, everything's good. Why'd you think otherwise?"