Las Vegas Layover by Eva Siedler Read Free Book Online Page B

what was wrong, she just looked at the thick-necked bastard toting her shit and laughed.
    “Then she stared me right in the eye and said, ‘Having an abortion can do that to a girl.’ I didn’t understand for a long minute. So she glances at the other guy and says, ‘I told you he was too stupid to guess I was pregnant.’”
    Clara’s blood thudded through her veins, her vision fraying around the edges in her anger. She tried again to meet his eye, but Sebastian still wasn’t ready. He kept her pressed against his chest like a lifeline.
    “She’d been about eight weeks along. She said I shouldn’t bother giving her money for my half. She was just glad she could ‘get rid of the thing.’ See, she couldn’t imagine having children with a man who’d never be anything more than a grease monkey.”
    New tears pricked at Clara’s eyes. Her own words ran through her head like a haunting litany. She’d called him a monkey, an ape. Though she’d had no idea of his past, her words had been every bit as cruel as his. How he must hate her.
    Yet when Sebastian ran his fingers through Clara’s hair, she felt cherished, not despised. And when he spoke, no more anger marred his voice, only pain beyond reckoning. “The kid would have been five years old this month if I could have made her happy. I’ve never forgiven myself for that. The real kicker is that she left me for Muscles because he’d convinced her he was going to make it as a pro wrestler. Now they live in a trailer park five miles from my parents’ house. Neither of them has a job, but they do have two kids. So yeah, I’m a little touchy when it comes to welfare.”
    “Sebastian, I’m so sorry. I—”
    He squeezed her again to stop her apology. “I didn’t tell you all that to make you feel sorry for me. I just…” He shuddered. “Fuck, I don’t know why I told you. I guess I didn’t want you to think I was just this heartless dick.”
    Clara nodded, but before she could say anything else, the phone in Sebastian’s pocket sang an annoying little tune, vibrating between them.
    He muttered a few of his favorite expletives as he pulled the device from his pocket. When he drifted away to answer, she shivered. The night felt cold again without his heat, cold and empty. Just that one little star. But then, maybe there were two after all.
    “You’re here already?” Sebastian barked in a tone that was surly, even for him.
    The other voice sounded too loud and too lewd to be calm.
    “Relax,” Sebastian snapped. “I’ll be there in a minute. Hell, I can see the van from where I’m standing.” Throwing his hand up, he aimed an exasperated wave at the street. Without so much as a goodbye, he disconnected the call and stuffed the phone back in his pocket.
    “I have to go,” he muttered.
    Her stomach sank, the hollow ache returning to her chest. “So I gathered.”
    Again the silence waxed dangerously thick as his gray gaze caressed her face.
    Sebastian gently turned her toward him. His hands slid between his shirt, still dangling from her shoulders, and her thin-as-air dress to settle hot and solid on her hips. “What time’s your flight tomorrow?”
    She shifted closer, her breasts brushing against his chest. He groaned low in his throat, and her breath came out in a rush. “One.”
    “Can I call your room in the morning?” For all the arrogance she’d seen in him today, Sebastian’s expression now was open, exposed. And he didn’t seem to give a damn.
    Because he wanted to see her again.
    “You really must be a glutton for punishment,” Clara said, glad for it. Of course, she might have been the true glutton. Who knew anymore? “Here,” she grabbed a pen from the breast pocket of his shirt and pulled one of his hands into hers. Writing her number on the back of his palm, she said, “This is my cell. Maybe we can have breakfast or something.”
    He glanced down at the numbers on his hand, a crooked smile lifting one side of his mouth.