hapter 112
Sebastian pressed his thumb against the water outlet just as Valeria rushed over and turned off
the valve.
It wasn’t just Sebastian; Valeria had been caught off guard, too. She stared at him. “Are you alright?”
She instinctively grabbed a towel from the shelf and handed it to him.
Sebastian accepted the towel. It was soft and carried a faint, fresh scent–the same scent that clung to Valeria.
After wiping his face, Sebastian paused ever so slightly for a couple of seconds, holding the
towel in his hand.
Sebastian looked down at the pale pink towel, which was clean and soft. He wasn’t some young schoolboy, nor was he inexperienced with women.
But in that moment, he clearly felt himself heating up, and he felt a bit ashamed of himself.
It was just a woman’s towel. Was that really enough to get to him? Yet, his body’s reaction was
obvious.
Valeria had already left the room, so she didn’t see how the skin on Sebastian’s neck had flushed red all the way to his earlobes. It was as if a rush of blood had surged to his face.
Originally, Sebastian had intended to use the towel to dry the dirty water on his shirt, but he hesitated for a moment since his shirt was stained with rust–colored water. Instead, he set the
towel aside and took off his shirt, tossing it to the side.
Right at that moment, Valeria walked over with a black t–shirt in her hands.
She reached the bathroom doorway, and her gaze accidentally landed on Sebastian’s clearly defined abs. She froze on the spot and looked away before handing over the t–shirt.
But she could still see Sebastian’s abs from the corner of her eye. She thought to herself that he probably went to the gym regularly. His abdominal muscles were tight, his skin was fair, and his core tensed slightly with each breath he took.
Valeria looked away, toward the living room. “This is something for you to wear for now. There aren’t any other clothes in the house, but this one should fit you.”
The shirt belonged to Shane. She’d taken it from the wardrobe at Lucy’s house and always kept
it hanging on the balcony to create the illusion that a man lived there. After all, she was raising her daughter alone, and this made it a little safer.
Chapter 117
Her hand had gone stiff from holding it up, and her arm was starting to ache.
But Sebastian didn’t take the shirt. He just looked at her with a calm expression.
Valeria ended up placing the shirt on the rack outside the bathroom before turning around and
leaving.
Valeria assumed it was because he wouldn’t wear such a cheap piece of clothing. It did make sense. Just looking at the dirtied dress shirt he tossed onto the floor, it was clearly from a brand that was far beyond what Valeria normally had access to.
But the real reason Sebastian wouldn’t wear that shirt was that it belonged to Shane.
Even just hearing that name gave him a headache.
There were spare clothes in his car, so he picked up his clothes and left Valeria’s house. Valeria hadn’t been in the living room, but in the bedroom instead.
There was a gap in the bedroom door, and Sebastian glanced into her room from the door. He looked for a moment and suddenly remembered something.
He turned back into the living room and took the trash bag with him to throw out.
Then he got into his car, changed his clothes, and drove out of the neighborhood. Every traffic light he went through was green. The roads at 11:00 pm were quiet and almost empty, so he rested one hand on the steering wheel.
After a while, he reached for the storage compartment and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one before placing it between his lips.
After he finished smoking that cigarette, he sent Valeria a message. “What I said tonight still stands.”
There was no reply from her, but Sebastian knew that she would definitely see the message.
