Meant to Crash | ✓

Chapter Twenty-Five

Timmy Lockhart held off from making verbal remarks, but no amount of cash could stop him from pinching his nose every now and then. Honestly, being around an unbearable child made me thankful that I'd popped my birth control consistently for the last two months.

Only thing Sebastian was getting out of me was a smile.

That's not to say that I was hoping to get alone time with Sebastian. This event, for all I knew, was family related and didn't have a flair of romance attached it. But despite that being known, my knees still rubbed together when he touched his hand to my upper thigh. The drive there left my mouth dry, sucking in countless deep breathes because of how nervous he was making me. 

Repressing the urge to overlap my fingers with his, I stayed frozen under his grip as his opposite hand whipped into a parking structure.

"I'm going to park the car, could you take Timothy up to the front building? I'll meet you there."

I wanted to protest this plan of being stuck with the kid. 

Biting my tongue, I threw open my door and waited for his nephew to join me at the curb. He made sure to wave goodbye before coming to my side, blowing his cheeks up into a big bubble—making himself look like a chipmunk storing food for winter.

"Do you think there's going to be a clown?" he asked earnestly.

I slowly gazed down at him. "Uh, well, it's an engagement party."

"I know that." He puffed up his chest as though I shouldn't question his intelligence. "I wasn't asking what kind of party it was. I want to know if there's gonna be a clown."

"Clowns aren't customary at these kinds of gatherings," I informed him, hoping that gave him some ease of mind. But his shoulders were still hiked up and his hands were balled to his side, ready for a fight. I was curious to know if he ever squared up with a clown simply from his stance.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Do you have some drama with a red-nosed fella?"

He shuddered, and it took every ounce of me to not crack a smile. "Clowns eat humans."

Now, I had no interest in smiling.

The fear that rang clearly in his eyes made me want to assure him with a hug that he was safe, but the attitude he had in the car showed me he didn't want me anywhere near him to begin with. Instead, I said:

"I heard they only eat mean people."

He gulped. "I'm not mean."

"I didn't say you were."

"Where'd you hear they only eat mean people?"

His brown eyes bore into me as if I was an oracle, holding the secret to eternal life. I chuckled, "I saw it in a movie called Killer Klowns from Outer Space."

"I saw that, too! I don't remember that. Those clowns ate anyone," he jumped. "But I thought it was real, not a movie."

Huh, I was stumped.

Whoever had gotten to this kid had engraved this terror towards clowns deeply. Also, they had terrible taste in 80s cult classic horror movies.

Before I could calm his nerves, Sebastian had turned the corner. He had two gift wrapped boxes tucked under his arms. "Hey, Maddison. Could you help me?"

I took one of the boxes from him and then he piled the other on top of it. "I'm going to need you to take this inside for me. I still have two other boxes that I need to bring up."

"I want to use the bathroom," Timmy proclaimed. "Can I go inside?"

"Take him with you," Sebastian instructed. "I'll be up there with you guys in a moment."