vingt-six

A/N Hello lovelies!

I am so so sorry for this late update! I do hope you like it though. There are so *ahem* more mature scenes coming up so if you're not into that kind of thing, consider yourself warned.

I was actually super excited to write this chapter. I didn't want to make it more explicit because I'd have to change the rating on this story so I wanna know what you guys think. This is as explicit as I've ever written so this is a whole new area of writing for me. Any feedback would be greatly welcome!

As always, stay safe and have a lovely week!

Love,

Percy

"C'mon, Beck. I'll take you home." Shye wrapped her arms around her daughter and guided her towards the exit. "Sebastian, I'll drop you off at the dormitory."

Rebekah stiffened and gently pried her mother's arms from her waist. "Actually, mum," she mumbled. "I... I want to go back to the dormitory too."

"You do?"

"Yeah. I just... I don't want dad to mess up my life anymore than he as. I want to go to class next week. I wanna do everything I would normally do.."

Shye smiled, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. She reached a hand up and cupped Rebekah's cheek, her hand warm against Rebekah's cool skin.

"I love you so much."

Rebekah reached up and squeezed her mum's fingers, her heart almost bursting with emotion. "I know, mum. I know."

*

The ride back to the dormitory was silent, but no one seemed to mind. It had been a horrific night and no one felt like talking. Rebekah's phone buzzed with an incoming message, but when Sebastian murmured a question to her about what it was about, she just shook her head, lips tightly pressed together.

She didn't want to tell him what it was.

Not yet.

By the time her mother pulled into the parking lot of the dormitories, it was way past midnight and pitch blackness dominated the night. Only skinny lamp posts giving out weak, pale light dared to illuminate the crossroads of walkways.

"I'll make sure she gets back to her room safely, ma'am," Sebastian said as he closed the car door.

Rebekah's mum raised an eyebrow and gave him a pointed look. Her voice was polite as she spoke. "Thank you, Sebastian. I trust that you'll make sure nothing happens to her."

Sebastian nodded. He had an idea of what Shye expected him to be doing with Rebekah tonight and the thought angered him. He might not be perfect, but he would never take advantage of someone after a night like tonight.

"Bye mum. Drive safe."

"Goodbye sweetheart. I'll text you when I get home."

Mrs Lee smiled and Sebastian and Rebekah watched as she backed out of the lot and pulled away. As the red tail lights of her car rounded the corner and disappeared from view, Sebastian turned to Rebekah.

"Let's go. I'll take you back to your room."

His eyes glinted in the dark and he had a crooked smile on his face. Rebekah felt her heart squeeze.

Oh fuck.

She was in deep.

"Okay."

She felt the warmth of his palm set the skin of her hand on fire, the heat rapidly racing up her arm and making her body burn. Her cheeks reddened as she thought of the idea she'd been tossing around in her head since she'd gotten the text from Danny.

Don't let Seb come back to his room tonight. Please. Will explain later. Thanks.

The unwanted image of him and Elise all wrapped up in each other sprang to her mind and it made her cheeks feel hot. She would never want to subject Seb to that image. It was scarring enough to see your best friend in that position; it was a whole other thing to see your twin sister and your best friend.

"Hey, uhm, Seb?"

"Hm?"

"Will you... will you stay with me tonight?" She didn't mean for her voice to shake, but the memory of her dad's blood and the way he'd grabbed her had suddenly made her blood turn cold.

Sebastian stopped walking suddenly and she felt his arms wrap around her.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled into his shoulder. "I'm sorry for being so pathetic."

"Shhh." He held her tighter as tears sprang to her eyes. "It's okay. You don't have to say sorry for anything. I'm here for you, love. I'm not going anywhere."

Rebekah felt her body tremble and she swallowed several times, blinking rapidly to stop her tears from falling. She was better than this; she was. She just needed to stop being such a wuss and get it together.

Eventually, they reached her room where she fumbled for her keys and unlocked the door. When they flicked the lights on, every thing in the room was exactly as she'd left it.

As if the last few hours had never happened.

Rebekah caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were tear-stained and makeup was almost non-existent. Her dress had several dried blood stained patches, turning brown and marring the beautiful fabric.

She felt angry and frustrated, but as her eyes wandered to Seb, she felt those emotions melt away. He'd protected her. She prided herself on the thought that she didn't need any man's protection, but she loved that he'd stood up for her- that his first instinct had been to protect her and stand by her.

Seb must've seen the look on her face because he beckoned to her. "Beck, love," he said and the way he said 'love' made her heart squeeze. He was too perfect, too good for her. He took her in his arms again and they sat on the edge of her bed, her pressed to his chest and feeling her heart beat in time to his. After what felt like an eternity, he asked, "Do you wanna take a shower? It'll make you feel better, I promise."

Rebekah nodded, but didn't move.

"C'mon, love," Seb murmured, his lips ghosting the top of her head. "You can do this."

She swallowed and she pulled away from him, inspecting his jacket and white shirt. There were ugly blood stains on both items of clothing, two reminder of what they'd gone through tonight.

"You need a shower too," she said softly.

"And I'll have one after you." He tugged her to her feet gently. She stood up reluctantly and refused to meet his gaze. There was no way she could look at him with what she was planning to say.

"No," she mumbled. "Share one with me."

A long silence ensued and Rebekah felt her heart pound so loudly that she was sure Seb could hear it.

What was she thinking? She was sure that she'd lost her mind. Up until this point, they'd only ever done PG-rated things, bordering on M and that was because Seb was always pushing it. This... this would be upping the ante way above and beyond anything they'd done before.

Her cheeks began to heat up the longer the silence went on.

And then his response came.

It was more of a whisper than anything else.

"Are you sure?"

Rebekah kept her eyes trained on the floor.

"Yes."

"Beck, what we've been through tonight... it's horrific. Stressful. I don't want-"

Her eyes snapped upwards and she placed her fingers on his lips to silence him.

"It's not because of that," she said. "I... I just want you."

She felt his hesitance, could taste it in his lips when she reached up to brush a kiss against them.

But she was sure.

After everything that had happened tonight, the only thing she was sure about was him.

"We don't have to do anything," she clarified. "We can just... save water."

Seb's lips lifted into a crooked grin.

"Save water, huh? That's what you're concerned about?"

"Yes," Beck said. "Australians are suffering one of the worst droughts in history, after all." She pushed his jacket off his shoulders and heard it fall to the floor.

Seb's eyes darkened infinitesimally, but he didn't stop her as she slowly unbuttoned his shirt. It wouldn't have taken so long if her fingers hadn't been shaking so much. When she'd finished, she tossed his shirt on her bed, suddenly feeling shy and unable to look at his bare chest.

"Your turn," he murmured.

Rebekah turned around and his fingers danced along her neck and collarbones, igniting flames across her skin before he gently tugged down the zip of her dress and let it pool to the floor around her feet.

Slowly, item by item, their clothes found themselves on the floor or on the bed and Rebekah felt herself blushing a deep red when her last item of clothing was removed.

Her hips were too narrow, her breasts were not large enough, she had a small mound on her tummy, her thigh were lined with-

A list of her insecurities raced through her mind as she stared at her feet, unable to look at anything else.

"Hey," Sebastian's voice was soft and cajoling. "Look at me." He placed his fingers under her chin and pushed her face up so she had to look at him.

And when she looked in his eyes, she felt her fears disappear.

Because he looked at her like she was the only woman in the world.

"You are so goddamn beautiful, you know that?" he said. "I've dreamt about this but my they don't do you any justice. I mean, my imagination is pretty fucking amazing but this is one instance where, " his eyes dropped below her face and dipped lower before rising back up to meet hers. "my imagination was like a kid's drawing and the real thing is like fucking Michelangelo."

Rebekah felt her stomach clench and a myriad of feelings she'd never felt before danced across her skin. She never realised until now how much she liked it when he swore.

Almost haltingly, Sebastian reached out and wound their fingers together.

"I mean, he's the one who painted the Sistine chapel, right?"

Rebekah rolled her eyes and grinned, nodding.

"Good, because my art knowledge is pretty terrible." Seb was grinning crookedly and Rebekah found her eyes leaving his to explore his body.

He was a work of art too.

Anatomy books in human biology didn't do him any justice either.

As if sensing her thoughts, Seb's tone was teasing when he asked a couple of moments later, "Shall we?"

Rebekah smiled.

She liked that he always asked her first.

"We shall."