The Sweet Spot (3 page)

“That’s not true,”
Sebastian replied softly, lifting Ani’s chin to meet his eyes. “I wasn’t illegally imprisoned or framed for a crime that I didn’t commit A. I murdered four people, and I deserved to lose those fifteen years of my life.”

“Four people?”
Ani gasped. “Stop being a martyr!” she screamed, suddenly raising her fists and beating them against Sebastian’s chest. “It was an accident that killed that woman and her daughter. It was an accident that I lost our baby. And you didn’t kill Raphael. You weren’t even near him the day he died. You can’t take responsibility for that too, I won’t let you,” Ani sobbed.

Sebastian
stared back into Ani’s angry weeping eyes and suddenly pulled his t-shirt off, revealing a beautiful muscled chest covered in ink.

“Everything is here A
,” he whispered softly. “You want to know what I think, how I feel, why I made the choices I made? It’s all here.” He took Ani’s fingers and trailed them across the art on his chest and around his shoulders and across his back. “This is my story, this is who I am now.”

“Oh
Bast,” Ani breathed, trying to take it all in as she trailed her fingers across the pictures that were inked across Sebastian’s chest and stomach. “The Bean Sídhe,” she gasped, tracing the image of the Irish banshee of death with her fingers. 

“I never heard her warning cry,”
Sebastian murmured, covering Ani’s hand with his own as he traced the image of the tear sliding down the Irish fairy’s cheek.

“Eva,” Ani whispered
, running her fingers over the Irish letters that spelled out Éabha, the Irish name for Eve. She slipped her fingers under the heavy gold chain that hung around Sebastian’s neck, and fingered the gold medal that rested in the hair on his chest. “You still wear your St. Sebastian medal,” she observed softly.

“
My father told me Raffi gave you his,” Sebastian replied gently, reaching into Ani’s tank-top and lifting the heavy gold medal out that hung between her breasts.

“Raffi
put it on me at the hospital the night I lost Eva,” Ani murmured, running her fingers over the Archangel Raphael medal, the Patron Saint of Healing. “I tried to give it back to your dad when Raffi died, but he wouldn’t take it. He said that Raffi gave it to me and obviously wanted me to have it. He told me to heal and feel the warmth of God’s grace around me,” Ani choked.

“That’s what he
said when he gave us the medals at our confirmations,” Sebastian whispered at the memory. “Let God’s grace surround you son.”

“What does this mean?” Ani let
the medal drop from her hand and she trailed her fingers across an intricate tattoo of an eagle and raven entwined together.

“It’s a Celtic sy
mbol for strength and freedom. In Celtic mythology the eagles and ravens were not considered bound to the land, they connected the warriors to the Gods,” Sebastian explained, closing his eyes as Ani continued to trail her fingers across his body, exploring his story.

“Is this the Celtic
knot shield?” Ani murmured, running her fingers across the beautiful knotted shield that spread across Sebastian’s chest.

Sebastian
nodded his head, keeping his eyes closed as he reveled in the sensation of Ani’s fingers on his skin.

“What does
this knot represent?” Ani whispered, tracing the unusual Celtic knot design under Sebastian’s collarbone.

“Monk,” he whispered hoarsely
as Ani’s hot breath teased his skin.

“And the scales of justice?”
Ani whispered, leaning down and replacing her fingers with her lips.

“In the end, t
hey called me The Judge inside….” Sebastian searched for the words to explain. “I was a peacekeeper of sorts. I helped to settle conflicts, brokered meetings between gangs… I was there a long time.”

“Peacekeeper….” An
i whispered, tracing the scales of justice with her tongue.

“Ani….”
Sebastian moaned, burying his fingers in her hair. “I’ve dreamt of your lips on my body for fifteen years,” he murmured as Ani continued to trail kisses across his chest and down to his groin. “Oh God,” he gasped when she started to pull his faded jeans off and kissed her way down his navel.

“Why the monk symbol
?” Ani whispered, pulling Sebastian’s underwear off and closing her lips around him.

“Did
n’t let anyone suck my dick,” Sebastian moaned in irony as Ani took him deep in her throat and wrapped him in her hot wet mouth.

“
God Ani, I can’t-” Sebastian gasped before he came in her mouth in a quick hot burst.

“Fifteen years
and no blow jobs?” Ani teased, crawling up Sebastian’s chest and burying her head in his neck.

“I was waiting for you,”
Sebastian whispered back in reply as his eyes began to close, and then he was out, snoring deeply while he held Ani tightly against his chest.

Ani woke up several hours later to a dark apartment and a warm hand sliding up the back of her shirt.

“I want to feel your skin,” Sebastian whispered, pulling Ani’s tank top over her head and trailing his fingers across the lace of her bra. Ani unbuttoned her jeans and wriggled out of them as Sebastian unhooked her bra and lowered his mouth to her breast.

“
God Ani, your skin is like silk,” he breathed against her breast, his tongue teasing her nipple as he reached down and slid her panties off.

“
Bast,” Ani moaned as he lowered his head and began to trail kisses down her body. Sebastian’s kisses consumed her. It had always been Sebastian. She had been waiting for him for fifteen years.

Sebastian
started with Ani’s feet and trailed kisses up her legs and buried his nose against her thighs, inhaling her scent deeply like a man starved for oxygen.  “Your smell….” Sebastian gasped in wonder as he nibbled his way up Ani’s thighs and pressed his face into her dark blond curls.

“Not a lot of kitty c
at in prison?” Ani teased, arching her back with a gasp as Sebastian flicked his tongue against her moist wet heat.

“What’s that?”
Sebastian taunted, running his tongue over her nub and sliding his finger inside her. “You want to tease me about my lack of pussy in prison or do you want to play?” He lifted his face to look up at Ani’s with a mischievous grin.

“Play,” Ani gasped as
Sebastian slid another finger inside her and began to slowly stroke her clit at the same time.

“I t
hink I found the sweet spot,” Sebastian whispered against Ani as she began to moan and shake and beg.

“Oh my
God Bast,” Ani breathed when she finally succumbed to her orgasm and he came up for air, resting his head against her belly. She ran her fingers over his head, learning the shape of it without his thick curls.

“I’m
so sorry about Eva A,” Sebastian murmured against Ani’s belly, and Ani felt hot tears trickle down his face and pool in her belly button. “I’m so sorry about everything,” he choked, lifting eyes naked with raw emotion up to meet Ani’s gaze.

I
n that moment, as Ani stared back at Sebastian, she was suddenly brought back to the night of the accident sixteen years ago.

They had just
found out they were having a daughter. Ani was nineteen weeks pregnant and finally starting to really show. She had always been skinny, too skinny Sebastian had liked to tease, and it was winter, so no one had noticed the tiny swell of her belly under her sweats and hoody yet. It was Friday night and they were going to a party straight from the clinic where Ani had just had her first ultrasound.

“
We need to have a plan Bast,” Ani pressed Sebastian as he drove them to the keg party. “What if my dad throws me out when we tell him?” 

“He’s not going to throw you out, and I have a plan anyway. Just stop worrying
. I’ll tell both our father’s soon,” Sebastian assured Ani as he pulled up in front of his friend’s house.

“
My dad probably won’t even care anyway,” Ani murmured as Bast took her hand. “He doesn’t care about anything since my mum died. Your dad on the other hand is going to whip you for sure though,” she smiled faintly.

“He
may try, but I’m the same size as he is now so I doubt he’ll succeed,” Sebastian grinned. “Besides, what’s he going to whip me for that he hasn’t done himself? He was eighteen when I was born, I’ll just tell him I’m following in his footsteps.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Ani gasped, laughing at Sebastian’s devilish grin. “He’d whip you for that smart comment alone!”

Ani lost track of Sebastian after he headed over to the keg, and she was hanging out with her friends having a good time until she suddenly overheard some kids whispering about her looking pregnant, and then the next thing she knew Sebastian had decked his best friend and they were out on the lawn yelling at each other about school and throwing the chance of a lifetime away.

“She’s the chance of my lifetime!”
Sebastian screamed at his best friend Tommy Flannigan. They had both gotten full scholarships to BU and were going to be roommates.

“
Bast, what’s going on?” Ani asked, coming up behind him and grabbing his arm. She could tell he had been drinking; he smelled like beer and was wobbling on his feet as he yelled at Tommy.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” Tommy yelled at Ani
. “He’s not going to BU with me because you can’t keep your fucking legs closed!”

Ani was still reeling from Tommy’s words when
Sebastian let out a roar and tackled his best friend to the ground. They fought like wild animals until two of their football teammates pulled them apart and got between them.

“That’s the big plan that you refused to share with me?” Ani
screamed at Sebastian in disbelief. “I won’t let you throw away your dreams for me.” She sobbed and turned to run away.

“I’m not throwing anything away,”
Sebastian protested, grabbing Ani’s arm and pulling her down onto the ground beside him. “I’m still going to BU baby,” he whispered in Ani’s hair, holding her tightly. “I’m just not going to live on campus. I’m staying here at home with you and Eva. I’m going to work with my father on the weekends and make money to pay for our baby.”

“But you’ll miss out on the college experience,” Ani choked, overwhelmed by
Sebastian’s admission. 

“Yes, b
ut I won’t miss out on being with the girl I love and raising our daughter,” he murmured gently. “I won’t miss out on you and Eva.”

People
started to gather on the lawn, talking about the fight and Ani’s pregnancy, and suddenly Ani just wanted to get out of there and go home. 

“I want to go home,
Bast,” she whispered, glancing around at the crowd of kids staring at them. “Just get me out of here, please.”

Ani
knew Sebastian had been drinking but she just didn’t think about it when he led her to his car. She just wanted to get away from all the whispers and stares.

“Hurry up,” Ani nudged
Sebastian when he fumbled with the key in the ignition. Her face burned in embarrassment and she turned away from the car window to avoid the curious stares of her classmates.

Ani shook the memories of that night away as she stared
down at Sebastian with anguish-filled eyes.

“
The accident was my fault, not yours Bast,” she whispered, tears sliding down her cheeks. “I knew you were drinking that night. I smelled it on you when you were fighting with Tommy and I still told you to take me home.”

Sebastian
rolled off of Ani and pulled her into his arms, brushing her tears away gently.

“No baby, it wasn’t,” he murmured, kissing her eyes, and trailing his lips across her face.

“I told them, Bast. I promise you, I told the prosecutor a thousand times that it was my fault,” Ani whispered, burying her face against Sebastian’s chest.

“I know you did,”
Sebastian replied quietly, “and that’s why I had to let you go A. You wouldn’t let me accept responsibility for what I did. In the beginning I agreed with you. I thought it was just a tragic accident and I wanted them to let me go so I could apologize and do my community service and move on. But after Raffi was killed, I realized that it could never be that simple. There are consequences to all of our actions Ani,” Sebastian whispered softly. “And my actions left a young husband and father childless and a widow. I killed our baby A, our daughter,” he whispered, his lips in Ani’s hair. “You never made me get behind the wheel of the car that night and you told me to stop twice when it started pouring.”

“You
remember that?” Ani breathed. “I don’t understand, I just don’t understand. If you can remember details like that, how could you have been that drunk? It was the rain; it was everything. It was just a tragic accident,” she whispered, realizing that she was finally cried out. Ani’s eyes were bone dry and she started to shake suddenly with exhaustion. “Oh my God, I can’t do this,” she moaned, sitting up and pulling away from Sebastian. “How am I supposed to do this?” she whispered, staring blankly into space.