Chapter 46

SEBASTIAN

There was a tension in the air that you could taste—like the crackle before lightning hits. Loren was seated on the edge of the couch, legs crossed, one hand resting casually over the other like she hadn’t just broken into my life without notice. Kenna sat stiffly on the opposite side, arms folded across her chest, jaw locked like it was taking everything in her not to explode.

From the way they were seated—miles of silence stretched between them—I knew something had happened. Something bad.

I blinked once. “Loren… What the hell are you doing in my house? Unannounced?”

She smiled. That infuriating, slow, smug kind of smile that didn’t belong here—not today, not now. “Surprising you,” she said with a shrug, like this was some birthday party I forgot I planned. “You know… as a friend.”

Breaking and entering is the perfect idea of friendly now?

“Why do you need to surprise me?” I asked, hoping to hear something meaningful.

“I just tho