He slammed into the wall behind him, upending one of the paintings. It fell onto his shoulders, rolled to the side, and crashed onto the floor. Sebastian’s gaze was glued to mine. He never reacted. I didn’t think he realized what he had just done.
“You’re weak, Sebastian,” I murmured lightly, casually glancing around the room.
He was scared, and he was backed into a corner. A wounded animal that couldn’t break free always lashed out. He was going to try. It was inevitable, and I knew it was coming sooner than later, but I was ready. Hell, I was going to use it to my advantage.
“You weren’t weak while hiding behind your fraternity buds. You aren’t weak when you’re trying to hide behind your connections.”
“Screw you.”
I paused. There it was. Some heat came back into him. He wasn’t such a wounded animal. There was some fight still left in him. That was good. I had more time.
“Screw me?” A soft laugh slipped out. “That’s what you were going to do to Sam.”
He seemed to shrink again.
“Weren’t you?”
“I wasn’t going to hurt her.”
Ah.
A baseball bat was mounted on a wall, underneath a professional ball player’s painting. It was signed, too.
I crossed the room for it and said, “Stop lying, Sebastian. There’s no reason for it anymore. I know everything.”
His eyes darted to where I was going. “What are you doing?”
I lifted the glass box that the bat was in and grinned at him. “No worries. I won’t throw the box at you.”
His eyes fell to the bat, and he scooted over until he was in the farthest corner of the room. Samantha was between us, and he looked at her. I pulled off the back of the glass box and grabbed the bat.
Pulling it out, I pointed it at him. “You’ll stay back from her.”
I didn’t want to scare him too much. If I did, all this would be over. He’d lunge for her, and I wouldn’t hear what I wanted to hear.
“I can’t let you hurt her. This is between you and me.” I kept my tone calm, casual even, and it worked.
He held my gaze, weighing my words.
His shoulders relaxed. The fear was leaving him.
Enough was enough. “Like I said before, I was trying to be smarter this year. No burning houses. No cars put on fire. No brawls. Nothing like that.” I tapped the side of my head. “Act smarter. Think smarter. Be smarter. Those were the basic rules I tried following when I came back.”
My gaze fell back to Samantha. She seemed more vulnerable than ever, lying there, where he could’ve done anything he pleased.
If I hadn’t been here…
I couldn’t finish that thought. I’d murder him here and now. I drew in a breath, trying to keep the rage at bay. This asshole…
I shook my head. “Logan and Sam have been trying to protect me this whole time. They knew all eyes were on me. They did anything they could, but this wasn’t their battle.”
It was mine.
I locked eyes with him again. “You went after me, not them. They were collateral damages.”
“They were weapons against you.”
Finally. That was the truth, but I needed more from him. I wanted to hear as much as I could before I hurt him.
I nodded. “You hurt them to hurt me.”
He said further, a soft sigh leaving him, “I was supposed to recruit you. That’s the kicker. I never wanted to use you for your power. We wanted to give you that power.”
He was in control now. That was fine. I could get more out of him like this.
More. I still needed to hear more.
I shook my head. “You’re wrong. I’ll be fine, no matter what I do. I’m a fighter. I don’t and didn’t need anything from you. It was the other way around. Isn’t that what you guys really do? You find people like me, Logan, Sam, and you latch on to them before they realize the game? You take from them. You don’t give them anything.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I’m not. Even you know I speak the truth. It’s why you don’t want us in. Right? You don’t want us to have the benefits your network could provide us?”
Sebastian shook his head, looking down for a minute. His hands were folded together, and he stood like that before lifting his head again. “It wouldn’t have worked with you guys. You, Logan, even Sam. The three of you were wanted, but the program would’ve had to work where you trusted us. We needed to obtain dirt on you in order to hold that against you, to use you later in life. But it never would’ve worked because the three of you never would’ve let any of us in. The three of you don’t trust anyone.”
He was right.
“Trusting means being used.” I skimmed him up and down. I’d heard enough. I needed to take that control from him.