Defying the Lycan King (Kira and Derek) novel Chapter 314

Chapter 314: Just Jealous

"You poured coffee on him?"

Odelia had stopped halfway through serving, the spoon suspended over the dish, staring across the table with her mouth open.

"Not on purpose." Jessica reached for the water. "Obviously not on purpose. Who wakes up in the morning and thinks, right, today I’m going to redecorate the Chairman?"

Odelia’s eyes went wide. "Wait, wait, wait. How are you saying this without tears? Do you still have your job?"

"Of course," Jessica said with a snort.

Over by the sink, Sebastian was crouched down with his head half under the cupboard, wrestling with a pipe that had been dripping since the day they moved in. He had turned up with a toolbox, refused all offers of help, and was now making a series of small noises at the plumbing.

"That’s not even the mad part," Jessica said.

Odelia sat down. "There’s a mad part?"

"There’s a very mad part."

"Go on."

"He hugged me."

The spoon came down on the table with a clatter. "He what?"

"Hugged me." Jessica was already laughing at her own story. "He was holding on like I was the last lifeboat on a sinking ship and announced that he would never let me go."

Odelia was making a noise somewhere between horror and glee. "What did you do?"

"I pushed him off, obviously." Jessica shook her head, grinning. "And he called me Jessica."

Neither of them noticed that Sebastian had stopped moving entirely. His hand was still on the pipe, and it had stopped turning.

Odelia’s brows pulled together.

"Hang on." She sat forward. "Jessica? That’s the same name. That’s the name that man was shouting at the shopping centre. The one you ran from."

Jessica pointed her fork at her. "Yes. Same man. Turns out I was indeed the person he was after."

"But why on earth would he think you’re his fiancée?"

The cupboard door shut, harder than it needed to. Sebastian came into the living area wiping his hands on a tea towel, and there was nothing funny in his face at all.

"That isn’t funny at all."

Both women looked at him.

"It’s not right, and it’s not funny," he repeated, walking toward the table. "That’s a stalker, a deranged one. He runs a company, so everyone pretends his behaviour is acceptable. Rich people always get away with things." He tossed the cloth aside. "But the next time he touches you inappropriately, I want you to quit that job immediately."

Jessica blinked. "He didn’t touch me inappropriately, Seb. He hugged me. It was weird, but it wasn’t—"

"He put his hands on you in front of all those people," Sebastian cut in. "You don’t know him. You didn’t ask to be touched. He made a spectacle of you in your workplace, and you’re defending him?"

"I’m not defending him. I’m saying he’s clearly not well." Jessica set down her fork, feeling the familiar frustration rising in her chest. "The man lost someone he loved, and apparently he hasn’t recovered. I’m not going to quit my job because he made a mistake."

Sebastian’s jaw tightened. "A mistake? He didn’t trip and accidentally fall into your arms. He deliberately grabbed you."

"I know." Jessica’s voice had gone quiet. "But here’s the thing, Seb. I don’t have the luxury of quitting jobs whenever things get uncomfortable. Some of us need to work for a living."

The words hung in the air, and Jessica regretted them immediately, but she didn’t take them back.

"Besides," she added, trying to soften the blow, "I actually feel a bit sorry for him. Losing someone like that, not being able to move on. The rumours say his fiancée had ginger hair. Maybe that’s why he saw me and just ... lost himself for a moment. Grief does strange things to people."

Odelia nodded slowly, her expression thoughtful. "That’s true. If the woman he loved had hair like yours, and then he saw you... maybe in his mind, it was like seeing a ghost."

"Exactly." Jessica picked her fork back up. "So I’m not going to treat him like some kind of monster."

Sebastian, who had not moved from his spot near the table, let out a sharp breath.

"That doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter why he did it. The point is that he believes you are someone you’re not, and that makes him dangerous. A man who sees his dead lover in a stranger is not a man you want to be alone in a room with."

"Aren’t you being a little dramatic?" Odelia asked lightly.

Sebastian ignored her. "You’ve only been at this job for a few days, Sid, and you’ve already had more problems than you had in three years at The Copper Lantern. Security breaches, bizarre encounters with the chairman, women threatening you in corridors." He ticked them off on his fingers. "This is not normal. This is not what a job should be. I think it’s a sign that you should leave."

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