The Christmas Proposal - Miley Maine Page 0,48

wanted to hurt you. Really, I didn’t.”

“Then you should have thought harder about your actions.” Sebastian turned to me, an expectant look on his face. “Come on, Serenity, we’re going home.” He reached out to catch my hand, but I stepped back from him.

“We? I never said I was going with you.”

He sighed. “Come on, Serenity, don’t be like this. You know it’s better that you come home now. With the way that Grayson’s handled things, I can’t see them ending very well.”

“You’re not even giving him a chance!”

“I already gave him a chance and he blew it. When it comes to you, I have to make sure you don’t get hurt, so come on.”

“Sebastian, I knew that things weren’t going to be long-term from the beginning. Grayson was very straightforward about that. It was only later that things developed more. You shouldn’t blame him for this.”

“Look, Serenity, you’re welcome to stay here with him, but just know that it’s not the fact that you two fucked that I care about. It’s the fact that he lied to me. I just don’t see this ending very well. So, are you coming home or not?”

Sebastian extended his hand again but I shook my head and took Grayson’s instead. “No, I’m staying here. And you should, too. I think you two need to talk through this.”

“There’s nothing to talk through!” Sebastian said stubbornly. He turned to Grayson. “Look, you can either reschedule my return trip or I’m renting a car and driving back. Either way, I don’t care. I’m going to pack now.”

“I’ll reschedule your ticket,” Grayson said, sounding defeated. “I’ll email it to you as soon as I fix it.”

“Good.” Sebastian turned, sweeping from the room on a tide of anger. I turned to Grayson now that he had left, lifting a hand to cup his cheek.

“Grayson…”

He turned away, clearly masking the hurt on his face. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“We don’t have to, just let me comfort you.”

“I can’t, not right now.” He reached out, pushing my hand away, and then turned his back to me. “You should probably go help your brother pack. I can get you a ticket, too, if you want.”

“No.” I stood my ground. “I’m not leaving you, not right now. Come on, Grayson, we can get through this together.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but you really don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

“What if I do want to?”

He turned back to look at me with a sad smile on his face. “Then I appreciate that, but I need tonight to be by myself.”

I could understand and respect that, even if the last thing I wanted to do right now was leave him to mope all by himself. “Okay. Will you wake me up for work tomorrow?”

“Of course. I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, and then turned his back to me again.

I got the message and I left.

Chapter Eighteen

Grayson

I didn’t want to go into work the next day.

There didn’t seem to be an urgency to anything anymore, now that I knew I wouldn’t be welcome at the Allens’ for Christmas. Really, Serenity probably should have left with Sebastian at this point. It would have made things easier for all of them, especially for her.

But definitely not for me.

I still couldn’t believe that I managed to fuck things up this royally. At this point, it didn’t seem like Sebastian would ever forgive me for what I had done or the way I went about things.

The only thing there was to do now was throw myself back into my work and hope for the best.

So, the next morning I got up early before I had to wake up Serenity. Sebastian was already gone, having left on a late-night flight back to northern California.

I went about my morning the way I might usually. Brewing myself a cup of coffee, grabbing the book I was reading. I wanted some time to myself before I woke Serenity up and really started the day. I knew that I needed to push things to the back of my mind in order to be able to get anything done at the office today.

Once it was time to wake Serenity up, I headed to her room, only to find that she was already showered and sitting on her bed, her eyes red and puffy as if she had just been crying.

She looked up at me with a sad smile. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t realize that things would go