Strictly Baby Business

Once the car stopped, Peyton felt a nudge on her shoulder a few times before a very irritated, masculine voice spoke.

“Wake up, Silver. You’re not pretty enough to be Sleeping Beauty,” Sebastian said and paid no attention to her glare as he got out of the car.

“Well, excuse me for having to cater to an arrogant asshole and a growing person.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes and grabbed Peyton by the wrist.

Finally, she had noticed where they were and nearly choked on her own spit. In front of her was not a house.

It was a bloody fricking palace.

“How do you not get lost in there?” she asked, looking over and suddenly wondering how his suit had no wrinkles in it.

“I just don’t. Now come on.”

As Peyton was being pulled along, she admired the flowers everywhere and the huge front door five times her height.

Irritation kept pricking at Sebastian, and he couldn’t wait to just leave her and do anything that didn’t include babysitting a grown woman.

If she didn’t have money to pay for food, then he was going to make sure that she always got fed.

“Now, there are two cleaners who come in twice a week and a chef who comes in once a week. Your room is up the left set of stairs and two left turns away; it has the word ‘Peyton’ on it.

“Go settle in, and then you can do anything your heart desires. I’ll settle the rules with you when your whole existence isn’t irritating me.”

Peyton’s mouth fell open in offense.

“Asshole,” she mumbled, crossing her arms.

“What about my stuff?” she asked. Sebastian rolled his eyes then, and she wondered if he did that all the time or just around her.

“Everything you need is there already.” He then turned straight around and out the door, leaving her in the palace known as her new… Living place?

She released a huge sigh and placed a hand on her little bump.

“Can you believe him? I hope he’s a better father than he is a person.”

Making her way up the stairs, she followed Sebastian’s directions and came to a door, just as he’d said.

“This is it, Button.” She took a deep breath and opened the door. As soon as she walked in, she was awestruck.

“Damn, at least he’ll look after you!”

It was absolutely beautiful.

It was a huge room. On the right side were two windows reaching from the top of the ceiling to just before the floor, where they ended in window seats.

Between the two huge windows was a desk with an Apple desktop computer and a notebook with a case of pens and pencils.

Peyton moved her attention to the left side of the room and saw a queen-sized bed with two tables next to it. An open door proved to lead to an already full walk-in closet and another door going to a bathroom.

There were two couches, and a flat-screen TV was mounted to the wall, leaving Peyton in awe as she admired the white and red theme of the room.

“Seems we have a nice room, Button,” she smiled and debated whether she should go into the closet or not. After about two minutes, she decided not to and exited her room.

The whole house was a different color in every room she had seen so far, and everything inside the room was themed to match the color.

Absolutely beautiful!

Too beautiful for Sebastian to have designed it.

Peyton soon found herself downstairs and quite bored. She knew that going up the stairs would take too much energy and remembered seeing a living room when she’d come in.

She walked through a large room that had a big glass table with a crystal blue vase holding white roses. The table sat on a blue fuzzy rug. Peyton loved the way the soft rug felt between her toes.

She smiled and looked around to see a tall white bookcase. It had blue ornaments on it and a few picture frames that Peyton wanted to look at, but she knew there would be time. For now, she felt like seeing what every room held.

Making a mental note to take a look later, Peyton made her way straight ahead and smiled when she found herself in the living room.

She looked around and saw a red fuzzy carpet underneath a beautifully made wooden coffee table, along with a row of couches with red pillows and a huge 70" TV. Everything was red and brown. Even though it was beautiful, she felt like there was more that she needed to see.

Why is he such an asshole?

There had to be something that would give her clues as to how he ended up like this. Peyton remembered seeing a bit of ink on his back close to his shoulder, but before she could study the tattoo, he had covered it up.

Also, she hadn’t missed the one or two or fifteen healing marks that he had. Clearly, the scars had to have come from somewhere. The ones on his left wrist suggested that he had at one point felt self-hate.

When curiosity finally got the best of Peyton, she left the living room and turned right down a hall.

She carried on and found a few more bedrooms, a gym, and a room that looked like a boardroom. Then she reached the second-to-last door in the hall.

It was different from the others, and it gave Peyton a peaceful feeling. When she opened it, she found a library.

It’s absolutely beautiful!

Filled with awe, Peyton walked inside and stared at the shelves that reached from the floor all the way to the fifteen-foot-high ceiling.

One wall wasn’t covered with books, and Peyton found a comfy-looking couch there and a table with a Mac computer and a notepad with pens and pencils.

When she looked up at the ceiling, she saw a chandelier and noticed something on the edge of the ceiling where it met the wall.

Peyton squinted her eyes and saw what looked like messy handwriting in permanent marker. She couldn’t see the letters well enough to read them.

With a shrug and a pleased smile, she knew she would visit the library again.

She walked out to see what the last room off the hall held.

Feeling uneasy, she turned the doorknob and opened the door slowly. It appeared to be an office.

“This must be where he works out the details of being an asshole,” she mumbled with a roll of her eyes.

Walking around to the bookshelf, she found the files boring and turned her attention to his desk.

She took a seat on the rolling chair and sighed in comfort as she leaned back.

“What’s this?” she asked aloud when she saw a framed picture of a little girl no older than five. She had striking green eyes and pitch-black hair, and she was wearing a blue Cinderella dress.

On the top right corner was a sticky note with messy handwriting.

It read, “Couldn’t stop the guilt.”

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” an angry voice roared, making Peyton jump in surprise.