Chapter 70

Zeno stood frozen until Sebastian walked up to him.

"You're standing in the door, we need to get in," Sebastian quietly notified Zeno.

Zeno was too stumped to speak. Since when was Sebastian standing beside the stairs? He must have seen and heard everything between him and Nicholas.

Zeno felt very strange; he was feeling very uncomfortable as if he'd been caught cheating by a partner, but Sebastian wasn't his partner, so why was he feeling that way?

He watched as Sebastian leaned closer to him and he could hear his heart automatically start to beat faster.

His body had an automatic response to Sebastian; it didn't need to be around him for a long time before it responded; it was as if Sebastian had an invisible remote to control his reaction each time he was beside him.

Sebastian placed his hand behind Zeno and pushed the door open, "Get in," He said and stepped away from Zeno.

Zeno blinked back to realization and cleared his throat. 

He stared at Sebastian's unreadable face for a second before he slowly turned and moved into the house.

Zeno walked slowly toward the stairs, he could feel Sebastian quietly following him behind.

He didn't know why, but this silent reception wasn't what he was expecting from Sebastian. 

He had expected a more aggressive approach, maybe even a confrontation, not just this silent and welcoming approach; he wasn't used to this calm and collected Sebastian. 

Sebastian was watching Zeno from behind, he couldn't pin down how he felt, but one thing he acknowledged for the first time was that he was jealous. 

He'd been sitting in the same position as Ida that morning when he saw Zeno walk in with Nicholas. He knew they didn't see him because of the trimmed shrubs that were blocking him, so he remained there, listening in on everything they said to each other. 

He was angry, still was, but he'd suddenly observed that Zeno always responded well to people who spoke kindly to him; maybe, when he treated him gently like other people,  Zeno would respond normally to him for the first time.

He was trying to discard every harshness from his face and tone; that way, he'd be able to have a civilized conversation with Zeno for once.

He'd also realized that he didn't want Zeno with anyone else; seeing Nicholas kiss him evoked a feral possession within him; he couldn't imagine how he'd feel if Zeno actually gave Nicholas a chance.

Even if it was hard to be calm, if that's the only way for him to keep Zeno beside him, then he'd do it.

Zeno reached the middle of the stairs and turned; he felt awkward with the way Sebastian was following him. 

"Boss..." Zeno called, turning to face Sebastian who was a step behind him.

Sebastian covered the remaining distance between them by standing right in front of him, how he'd missed being this close to Zeno.

He had spent the whole day craving this familiar closeness and now that he had it, he was fighting the urge to slam his lips against Zeno and order him never to leave his side ever again.

But he was choosing to remain calm tonight, instead of following his raging emotions, he simply answered. "Yes, Zeno?" His eyes were staring into Zeno's soul as he spoke.

Zeno's lips suddenly felt dry and he licked it to moisten it, pausing when he saw Sebastian's eyes trace after his tongue on his lips.

"Um..." Zeno cleared his throat. 

"Yes..." Sebastian replied in a lazy tone.

"I have something to discuss with Ida; I need to ask him about Ash, I... I'm not sleeping in the mansion tonight," Zeno announced, bouncing his eyes around the walls to avoid looking at Sebastian.

Sebastian's face hardened for a second. 

How dare Zeno?

He had starved him of his presence the whole day, and now that he finally got him back to his side, he was trying to leave him again. 

Yeah? Not happening.

But this wasn't enough to make him lose his tamper tonight, he simply took a deep breath and shook his head at Zeno.

"Ida and the rest are long asleep. About Ash, no one had questioned her; it'll be done tomorrow, so relax, you've not missed anything," Sebastian calmly informed.

Zeno knew there was nothing else he had to use as an excuse. He took a step back and nodded at Sebastian, "Alright." He turned and continued to climb up to their floor.

There was too much tension in the air between them; it made Zeno wonder what Sebastian must have in mind to say to him; surely there must be something; this was just like the calm before the storm.

Zeno hurried his steps and was soon walking toward his room. He unlocked his door and walked in, but he didn't hurry to shut his door.

Unlike before, when he would pretend not to know that Sebastian wanted to enter his room and try to close the door against him, but tonight he knew that Sebastian was trolling behind him to talk with him.

He was taking his shirt off when Sebastian walked into his room and locked the door.

Zeno didn't look at him; he proceeded to take off his pants and that's when he realized that his phone had been inside his pocket the whole day.

It was always on DND and he hadn't checked it once since he left.

He wasn't bothered, though, no one really called him.

He threw his phone on the bed and walked toward the bathroom with only his boxers on.

He could feel Sebastian's eyes on his body but he refused to look at him.

He was trying to lower the rate of his attraction to Sebastian so he could make room for someone else...like Nicholas.

He knew he and Sebastian would never be like those paintings at the art gallery, they were far from being like that. 

Sebastian had never looked at him that way...right?

He'd only seen Sebastian look at him with hatred, lust, and aloofness unless the few times he'd caught him staring at him with those unreadable grey eyes. He never made out the meaning of the stares because they were normally short-lived.

However, no matter how hard he tried to stop himself from thinking about Sebastian, his brain still ended up pasting Sebastian's image in his head.

Somewhere at the back of his head, he wished Sebastian was his, he'd want nothing but to run into his arms after being away from him for so long, he'd missed being close to him, but he couldn't do anything about it, he could only keep imagining how things would have been between them if they were a real couple.

His life was messed up, and that's why, as he entered the bathroom, he purposely left the door slightly open, it was a bold invitation from him.

Sebastian saw the door and had an automatic response to go in there and join him but he resisted.

He wasn't going to be the available one. After Zeno had had fun with someone else, then he'd be the available one for just a fuck. He was getting tired of it, he was starting to realize that what he had with Zeno wasn't enough, he wanted more, but to what extent he could go with him he wasn't sure yet, but he knew he needed to do something fast if not, someone else was going to do it.

He stared at the door and contemplated on joining him or not.

Suddenly, Zeno's phone on the bed beeped, drawing Sebastian's attention.

Sebastian looked toward it, intending to just glance and look away, but the name he saw on the screen made him pick the phone up immediately. 

Here he was, trying to wrap his head around Nicholas kissing Zeno, but Nicholas just went ahead and sent him a message with images attached to it.

Without thinking twice, he swiped up and opened the message. 

"Hava a good night, Zeno," Sebastian read out the message and scoffed.

"You're doing too much, Nicholas," He muttered and proceeded to load the images.

There were three images in total; the first one was at Nicholas' restaurant; it looked like an unaware that Nicholas took of Zeno when he was looking through the menu, and how cute he was in it, he was jealous he wasn't the one who captured that moment. 

The second one was at a golf club; Nicholas had his fucking arms around Zeno's waist! 

Sebastian gritted his teeth and stared at the door of the bathroom; the shower had started to run, and it seemed as if he was going in after all.

He clicked the third image, and it was a picture of both of them standing in front of what looked like an art gallery, it must be the one Nicholas was talking about earlier.

That did it. 

Sebastian placed the phone down on the bed and walked toward the bathroom, undressing himself as he did.

Inside the bathroom, Zeno was slowly scrubbing his body when he heard someone enter the bathroom. He knew it was Sebastian.

He was almost making up his mind that Sebastian wasn't going to join him, but looks like he was wrong.

Sebastian slowly walked toward Zeno and wrapped his arms around his waist, in response, Zeno raised his hand and placed it over Sebastian's, leaning back against his chest as the warm water showered down on them in soft droplets.

Neither of them said anything, they were both basking in the warmth of the other, absorbing the feeling they'd missed all day.

No words were said; none was needed, even though they each had a ton to say. The silence reigned between for a very long time,  the gentle, soothing sound of the running shower was the only sound they heard.

"You were that confident I'd come to you?" Sebastian asked in a low voice.

Zeno slowly shook his head. "Not really..." 

Silence reigned again, a comfortable silence.

Funny enough, they each thought the other wanted sex at that moment, but as they stood under the shower, they realized that none of them was making a lusty move on the other.

They just needed that comfort.

Sebastian sighed and tightened his hand a little bit around Zeno's waist. 

No matter how angry he felt the whole day, it all seemed to melt away the moment he lay his eyes on Zeno; even now after seeing Nicholas' messages, he thought he'd fully lose his calm, but yet he didn't.  

He just wanted to talk.

He placed a soft kiss on Zeno's neck and whispered, "We need to talk."