Chapter 3

I repacked my bags and went downstairs with the fairly large suitcases. At the end of the stairway was Sebastian , mother, and Santiago. I hadn't even gotten a chance to see John since he was attending summer camp for the week."Let me get those for you, Ms. Star." One of the many butlers said as he took my bags.I pressed my tongue to the top of my mouth to try and stop any tears that threatened to fall. "Can we go?" I snapped, not making eye contact with any of them."Of course," Sebastian’s smooth voice said. I knew he was looking at me, but I continued avoiding his gaze and just followed beside him out the door."Thank you, Christiana." I heard my mother say.I ignored her knowing I'd say something I shouldn't. Not that I'd regret it.A man opened the door to the large black SUV and I got in, sliding all the way over. Sebastian got in and was seated closer to me than I would have liked.The car ride was quiet and awkward. It wasn't too long of a drive, maybe twenty minutes. I watched out the tinted window as the large buildings flew by. New York City was ugly. I loved cities, but this one was too big. It reminded me of the colors brown and gray. You could smell the stench from garbage as we passed certain areas. I never wanted to be home so badly.Moments later we pulled into what looked like a hotel. As we stopped I was about to open my door, but Sebastian quickly reached over to me and held my hand in his.I turned my face to shoot him a glare, but was taken back by how close he was to me."Do not open that door," his tone serious.I raised an eyebrow, challenging him."There will be paparazzi outside so stay close." He instructed and before I knew it, his door was open revealing many flashes of cameras going off. I didn't have a chance to take it in because Sebastian had grasped my hand in his yet again and pulled me from the car."Sebastian !""Mr. Knight, over here!""Who's this with you?!"The questions were asked one after the other as they continued taking pictures.Sebastian’s hand let go of mine but was placed on the small of my back as he lead my through the people and into the building. Two other men followed us into the elevator and I assumed they were bodyguards for Sebastian .The elevator stopped at the 21st floor and when the doors opened it revealed a lavish looking pent house. It was bigger than my house alone. Across from me were windows, floor to ceiling, revealing the skyline of the city. I couldn't deny that from this view New York actually was pretty."Whoa," I couldn't help but breathe out. "I can't believe you live in this building."He chuckled. "I own this building." Surprise, surprise. "Let me show you to your room." He said, once again placing his hand at the small of my back.I reached behind me and held his wrist to take it off my back. He just glanced down at me, amusement clearly in his eyes. "No touching," I said sternly.With a smirk he raised his hands in defense. "No touching," he agreed.I followed him up the beautiful staircase and down the hall. He opened the door and get another beautiful room was in front of me. This was smaller than my mother's, but the view was beyond words. You could see past the city and the ocean. It was something out of a dream."Anything you may need I, or my housekeeper, Mrs. Brown,would be more than happy to get for you." Sebastian said, his tone was warm. It was refreshing from all the people I'd met in the last 24 hours.I couldn't help but feel a slight bit of guilt for how rude I'd been to him.But that guilt quickly slipped away as I remembered the deal we just made. The original deal was for me to just stay the summer with Olivia.Because of him I'd be here much longer than I wanted."Ok," was all I said. I met his gaze to see that he'd been looking at me with heated eyes. I shifted uncomfortable and pulled my dress down slightly. "Sebastian ?"He blinked, obviously in a daze. "I'll be in my office if you need me." And with that he shut the door.My phone went off and I looked down to see it was my best friend, Amelia. I quickly answered, relieved to hear someone familiar. "Hello?" Christy!! How is everything?" She asked, probably already knowing I wasn't having a good time. Amelia knew me like the back of her hand."Well... I'm... married?" I said and for a moment I thought the line had gone dead. "Ameli -""You're what?!" She exclaimed.I let out a deep sigh and fell back onto the bed. "I have to," I further explained the situations, with many interruptions from Amelia calling my mother not so nice things. "And that's how I've ended up here.""You haven't even been there a full two days." She said in disbelief.I snorted. "Tell me about it,""What are your parents going to think?" She said, referring to Debbie as my actual parent. She was and growing up I did occasionally call her 'mom'."I'm not going to tell them.""That's unavoidable considering you're already on the TV.""On the what?!" I freaked out."ABC News, go look!"I scrambled to find the remote for the large TV that was mounted to the wall above the dresser. I finally turned it on and switched the channel to the news. "Oh. My. God." There I was. With Sebastian moving through the photographers. They used the most unflattering photo of me though. I look like a scared animal!"Love the dress," she commented, trying to make me feel better."Oh, no, no, no, no, this can not be happening." I groaned, continuing to watch the coverage.I turned up the volume slightly to hear what the anchor had to say."Well looks to me that New York's hottest bachelor is no longer on the market. Alexander Knight was earlier spotted with a woman going into his building. Follow us on Twitter for more updates on the story.""These people are nuts!" I said before turning the TV off. "I'm not even interesting!" Everyone will probably think I'm a gold digger!She laughed. "Well now you are."I talked with Amelia for a couple hours on the phone and hung up when a knock came from the door."Come in," I called out.The door opened and Sebastian walked in. "Hungry?"My stomach rumbled. "No," truth is was that I didn't want to eat with Sebastian . I had no interest in making any effort towards actually getting to know him.He gave me a pointed look. "Your stomach says otherwise."I rolled my eyes. "Fine;" I muttered.He looked satisfied as I followed him down the stairs and into the kitchen. To my surprise there was a pizza waiting on the counter."Pizza?" I questioned."You don't like pizza?" He questioned."I love pizza, but I didn't think someone like you would order one. I thought you'd have something made for you like steak."He chuckled, grabbing two plates from the cabinet behind him. "Sorry to disappoint," he said, handing me the dish.I grabbed a slice and bit into it. Yum. Maybe pizza in New York is better..."So about the marriage," and I lost my appetite. "I know this a lot on you so how about we just say we're engaged for now." He offered, not making me feel any better."Or how about we don't get married at all?" I offered, fluttering my eyelashes at him and smiling.Sebastian sighed and raked a hand through his hair, his muscles showing through his white dress shirt. No doubt he was a handsome guy, in fact I'd even say he looked like some Greek god. "We could get married tomorrow-""Nope, engaged is fine for now." I protested, taking the second offer.He nodded and took another bite of pizza, leaving sauce of the top of his chin and a spot on what was his crisp white shirt."You got," I pointed to my chin to indicate where the sauce was on his."What?" He asked with furrowed eyebrows.I laughed and grabbed a napkin, reaching over the counter to wipe the sauce off. "For a business man you're quite a messy eater."He groaned as he looked down at the stain."Maybe you should start wearing bibs," I joked.He looked up at me with narrowed eyes, but I could tell he was amused by the comment.After dinner I went back up to my room, tired for no reason considering I didn't do much of anything. I kept the curtains opened so I could see the moon high above the city buildings. The sounds from below causing me slowly to fall asleep