Bait for a Gentleman novel Chapter 129

"So, after Mr. Hawthorne confessed to you, you just pretended to be asleep?"

The next morning, Audrina was sitting in Willow's living room. Having barely slept the night before, she looked completely drained.

She stifled a yawn. "Yeah. I didn't want to deal with it."

Right after Sebastian dropped that line, Audrina had let her eyelids flutter shut, muttering a faint 'hard to tell' under her breath.

She immediately rolled over, cocooning herself in the duvet, and flat-out refused to open her eyes no matter what he said.

Her last memory of the night was the press of his lips against her cheek, followed by his low, resonant voice whispering, "Go to sleep."

It wasn't that she didn't want to deal with him; she just didn't want to answer the loaded question.

Answering meant taking a stance, and taking a stance meant taking responsibility.

Right now, 'responsibility' was the most terrifying word in her vocabulary. She had been 'responsible' to Zachary for three years, and it had turned her entire life into a humiliating joke.

So, if you can't handle the pitch, don't swing. It wasn't like he was the one suffering anyway.

Before dawn had even broken the next day.

Audrina opened her eyes. The man beside her was still deeply asleep.

When Sebastian slept, the hard edges of his face softened drastically. There was no intense scrutiny, no relentless questioning, no overwhelming pressure.

She carefully extricated herself from his arms.

As she lifted the corner of the blanket, his brow twitched. She froze instantly. Thankfully, he didn't wake up. Holding her breath, she gathered her clothes from the floor, threw them on as fast as she could, and bolted.

She called a cab and ran.

Sitting cross-legged on the sofa, Willow absorbed the story and finally delivered her verdict. "Audrina, when did you turn into such a coward?"

"...?"

"He confesses his feelings, you play dead, and then you sleep with him and run away at the crack of dawn like you're the one who committed a crime."

"I didn't commit a crime."

"Then why did you run?"

Audrina opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Willow gave her a hard look. "Honestly? You're just traumatized by Zachary. You're terrified of doing it all over again, terrified it's going to blow up in your face. So you're sabotaging it before it even begins."

The living room was dead silent for several seconds.

Audrina had no choice but to brace herself and walk over.

Unbelievable. Now he was accurately predicting her morning routine.

She stopped a few feet away, trying to look as unbothered as possible. "...What are you doing here so early?"

"Someone slept with me and ran off." He calmly tapped the ash from his cigarette. "I came to drive her to work."

The night of the Sutton estate gala, Sebastian had flown for over ten hours straight, completely blowing off his jet lag, only to spend the entire night tearing the sheets up.

He had been exhausted. Holding Audrina, he fell into an impossibly deep sleep.

So deep that he had completely missed her slipping out at the crack of dawn.

He was half-furious, half-amused. Playing dead to avoid a conversation was one thing, but pulling the classic 'sneak out the window' routine?

The man walked around to the passenger side, pulled the door open, and tipped his chin toward the interior. "Get in."

"I have my own car," Audrina replied, pointing at the McLaren.

Sebastian gave the trapped sports car a lazy once-over. "That works too."