At Her Discretion

CHAPTER SIX: OUT OF PLACE

By the time they left the penthouse, Naomi was already questioning her decision.

She sat in the backseat of Adrian's car with her tablet resting on her lap, wondering how exactly she had allowed herself to be talked into this. The entire thing felt unnecessary. Adrian had practically forced the invitation on them, and somehow she had ended up agreeing.

Across from her, Sebastian looked entirely too pleased about it.

"You could still change your mind," Naomi said.

"And miss seeing you voluntarily leave the penthouse?" Sebastian asked. "Not a chance."

Naomi looked away before she could respond.

From the driver's seat, Adrian laughed.

"You know, most people would be grateful for a free outing."

"Most people weren't kidnapped."

"You agreed."

"After being harassed for twenty minutes."

"Details, details."

Naomi sighed.

The worst part was that Adrian genuinely seemed incapable of taking anything seriously. The man had spent most of the drive talking, jumping from one topic to another without warning. Somehow he always circled back to teasing either her or Sebastian.

Watching them together was strange. Both men had grown up in the same world and carried the same kind of privilege, yet they couldn't have been more different. Adrian seemed determined to fill every room he entered, talking to strangers as easily as he breathed and treating silence like a personal enemy. Sebastian, on the other hand, never appeared to chase attention. People simply gave it to him. Even when he wasn't speaking, eyes found him. Conversations adjusted around him. It was subtle, but Naomi noticed it.

The members-only lounge occupied the upper floors of a private building overlooking the city. The moment they arrived, Naomi understood why Adrian had insisted on bringing them.

Everything about the place was expensive.

The marble floors gleamed beneath soft lighting. The furniture looked like it belonged in a luxury magazine. Conversations drifted through the room in low voices, interrupted only by the occasional clink of glass.

The kind of place where people pretended they weren't watching each other while knowing exactly what everyone else was doing.

Adrian stepped inside like he owned the building.

Sebastian looked equally comfortable.

Naomi immediately felt out of place.

"Relax," Adrian said.

"I am relaxed."

"No, you're planning an escape route."

Naomi blinked.

"...There may be an escape route."

Adrian laughed.

"I like her."

"You've said that already," Sebastian muttered.

"I'll keep saying it."

The hostess greeted them immediately.

"Mr. Sinclair. Mr. Vale."

"Good to see you again, Rachel," Sebastian said.

The woman smiled warmly.

"It's good to see you too."

Naomi noticed the exchange. There was no arrogance in it. No expectation. No superiority. Just familiarity.

As they walked deeper into the lounge, more greetings followed. A manager stopped to shake Sebastian's hand. A bartender waved at Adrian from across the room. Several people greeted them by name.

For the first time since she'd met him, Naomi saw Sebastian completely relaxed.

No arguments.

No sarcasm.

No walls.

Just comfort.

Then she started noticing the stares.

At first, Naomi thought she was imagining it. The lounge was full of wealthy people, and wealthy people were naturally curious. But the longer she watched, the harder it became to ignore. A woman looked up as Sebastian walked past and immediately leaned toward her friend. Two men near the bar glanced in his direction before lowering their voices. Even a group seated by the windows seemed to pause their conversation for a moment before quietly resuming it.

It wasn't obvious enough to be called rude. If anything, it was worse than that.

Everyone was pretending not to stare while staring anyway.

Most people probably wouldn't have noticed the reaction, but Naomi did.

Sebastian's shoulders tightened for the briefest moment before relaxing again. His expression never changed, yet she could tell he had heard every word.

The realization settled slowly in Naomi's mind.

The embarrassment hadn't stayed behind at the restaurant like she had assumed. It had followed Sebastian here, slipping into conversations and curious glances, turning him into the subject of whispers the moment he entered the room. The incident itself had lasted only a few minutes, but the story had clearly spread much further than either of them realized.

She found herself looking at him again.

He was pretending not to notice.

Pretending well.

But pretending all the same.

Thankfully, Adrian was too busy ordering enough food for an entire wedding reception to pay attention.

"You know we're only three people, right?" Sebastian asked.

"I'm planning ahead."

"For what?"

"Well, you never know."

Sebastian stared at him.

Naomi had known Adrian for less than twenty-four hours and already understood why Sebastian looked permanently exhausted around him.

The food arrived.

Then the stories started.

Unfortunately for Sebastian, most of them were about him.

Apparently university had been a dangerous time for everyone involved.

Adrian seemed determined to expose every embarrassing detail he could remember.

"There was also the fountain incident," Adrian said.

Sebastian immediately groaned.

"We are not discussing that."

"We absolutely are."

Naomi looked between them.

"The fountain incident?"

Adrian looked delighted.

"You see? She wants to know."

"I don't."

"You do."

She did.

Adrian pointed dramatically across the table.

"One gossip blogger spotted him leaving a party with a certain blonde."

Sebastian closed his eyes.

"Adrian."

"He panicked."

"I did not panic."

"You jumped into a fountain."

Naomi stared.

Sebastian rubbed his forehead.

"It seemed like a reasonable decision at the time."

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Then Naomi laughed.

The sound escaped before she could stop it, warm and genuine enough to surprise even herself. The story was ridiculous, Adrian's dramatic retelling making it even worse, and for one careless moment she forgot to stay guarded.

The reaction around the table was immediate.

Sebastian looked up so quickly that Naomi almost wished she hadn't laughed at all.

For a brief moment, his attention settled completely on her. Not teasing. Not challenging. Just watching.

It was oddly unsettling.

Then Adrian pointed at her.

"There."

Naomi frowned.

"There what?"

"That."

"What?"

"The laugh. You should do that more often, Naomi."

Naomi already regretted everything.

"Oh, be quiet."

"I'm serious."

"No, you're annoying."

"That too."

Then he laughed.

Sebastian looked suspiciously amused.

The afternoon settled into an easy rhythm after that. Conversations drifted from one topic to another, stories turned into arguments, and arguments somehow turned into jokes.

Before Naomi realized it, hours had passed.

And for the first time since signing the contract, she had spent most of a day around Sebastian without thinking about the contract at all.

That realization should have bothered her.

Instead, it made her curious.

As the afternoon stretched on, Naomi found herself noticing things she hadn't expected. Sebastian remembered the names of staff members who greeted him. He asked a waiter about his mother's recovery as though he genuinely cared about the answer. He thanked people instead of dismissing them and never once used his family name to get his way.

It was a version of him she hadn't seen before.

Or maybe it had always been there, hidden underneath the arrogance, the flirting, and the constant need to pretend everything was a joke.

At some point Adrian excused himself to take a phone call.

The moment he left, the atmosphere changed.

Not dramatically.

Just enough.

The noise of the lounge suddenly felt further away.

Naomi glanced around the room before looking back at Sebastian.

A few people were still staring.

Still whispering.

Still watching.

"You know they're talking about you."

Sebastian's smile appeared instantly.

But it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"That obvious?"

"To me."

He looked down briefly before letting out a quiet laugh.

"I've been talked about before."

"That's not the same thing."

His gaze lifted to hers.

For once, there was no joke waiting behind it.

"No," he admitted. "It's not."

The honesty caught her off guard.

"You know what's funny?" he asked.

"What?"

"The money isn't even the part that bothers me."

Naomi stayed silent.

"It was one card."

His smile returned, thinner this time.

"One stupid card. Yes, it bothers me, but..." he said, pausing for a moment.

"But?"

Sebastian leaned back in his chair and looked toward the windows overlooking the city.

"People look at me differently now."

The words settled heavily between them. There was nothing dramatic about the admission, which somehow made it more honest. For the first time since she'd met him, Sebastian wasn't hiding behind sarcasm or charm. He wasn't trying to win an argument or provoke a reaction.

He was simply telling the truth.

And Naomi found herself understanding far more than she wanted to.

When Adrian returned a few minutes later, neither of them mentioned the conversation.

But something between them had shifted. Not enough to change anything and not enough to name, but enough for Naomi to realize that the man sitting across from her was becoming much harder to dismiss than he had been a few days ago.