“Mom! Leave her alone!”
Suddenly Sebastian was standing in the room, placing his body between me and his mother who still had her hand raised to hit me. I didn’t understand where he’d come from. I felt sick and confused and so dizzy I was afraid I might faint.
At first I thought Estelle was going to hit Sebastian instead, but she backed away when she saw the appalled faces of Ches, his parents and Donna standing at the entrance of the room watching the ghastly drama unfold in front of them.
Sebastian sat down next to me and pulled me into his arms.
“It’s okay, baby. I’m here now.”
I leaned against him, a half-sob escaping from my chest. It felt good to be held: it felt safe, protected.
“How… how did you know…?”
“My mom,” he sneered, “she called Shirley to tell her good news.”
“And how did she…?”
His head dropped.
“Brenda told her. She saw us… last night… at the restaurant. She followed us.”
The blonde at the window.
“Yes, apparently you were very cozy going into a hotel last night,” Estelle added, triumphantly. “And he was missing for two nights without a word. And you,” she said, pointing to Shirley, “you hypocritical bitch: you lied to my face to cover it up! I wouldn’t be surprised if you knew about it all along.”
Shirley gasped and Mitch looked angry.
“Not to mention the box of condoms I found in his room,” continued Estelle, enjoying her moment in the limelight. “And a woman’s bra – yours, I presume. In my son’s bedroom! Slut!”
Sebastian stared at her, his face curiously blank.
Silence crept across the room like ice. I started to shiver and seemed unable to stop.
David’s face was frozen in a mask of shock.
“This boy?” he whispered. “You’re leaving me for this boy?”
Sebastian shot him a look of pure hatred, while Donna held her hand over her mouth as if trying to push back words that sprang to her lips. Mitch shook his head and Shirley took a step forward seeming to reach out towards us. Ches looked as if he wished he could be anywhere but here: I understood that emotion very well. I was watching my life implode in slow motion.
“It’s okay, Caro,” Sebastian crooned, kissing my hair over and over. “It’s okay now. I love you, baby.”
It was Donald who broke the spell.
“It isn’t fucking okay,” he said in a low voice, full of loathing. “It really isn’t fucking okay. She’s been screwing half the Base and now she’s got her claws into you. You’re so fucking na?ve you can’t even see it. Christ! Why did I have to have a son with shit for brains?”
Sebastian was on his feet in seconds.
“Don’t you dare talk about her like that! You’re so fucking wrong! You think everyone is like you, but they’re not! You think it’s a secret that you’ve been fucking that little nurse all those nights you’ve been working late, Dad? You’re just a fucking joke and you don’t even see it!”
Donald hit him so hard that Sebastian flailed across the room and crashed to the floor. He struggled to his feet, blood pouring from his nose and launched himself at his father.
Ches and Mitch ran forward trying to pull him off. Sebastian had got in several good body blows before they peeled him away. He was incoherent with rage, shouting and swearing at his father.
Donald rubbed his ribs, and seemed to grow calmer as Sebastian’s fury increased.
“Sebastian!” I breathed. “Don’t, please.”
He turned and stared at me and his face softened. His body went limp but Mitch and Ches hung onto him.
“Tesoro, please!”
I reached out for him and he stretched his hand towards me. Cautiously, Mitch let him go and nodded at Ches for him to do the same.
Sebastian swept me into his arms and pulled me to his chest.