Chapter 18
Hayden Princeton, Prince of Rebel
The brothers had decided that Sakura was in great danger where Richard Collins was concerned after all. The man was a flirt—even worse than Tristan—and they knew he had his sights set on Sakura the moment he laid eyes on her. He looked like he’d just seen an angel descending from heaven.
Yes, the brothers decided they no longer liked Richard very much. Not that they had ever liked him very much before anyway. They’d always considered him a bit of an oddball and rather fishy. Of course, after they’d seen how he hugged Sakura for a bit too long and how he had his arms around her as if she belonged to him, and of all things gave her a peck on her left cheek? That was the final straw. Their expressions were fouler than the northern storm that was raiding the Scottish sea as they watched Richard taking advantage of their Sakura. Sebastian was all but ready to pull the man away from the helpless girl and throw him into the ocean. Darcy was thinking of giving him a good knock to the face.
“How are you, my dear Sakura?” Richard said, his voice rather too charming for the brothers’ liking.
Darcy narrowed his eyes dangerously at Richard. Conrad gritted his teeth in annoyance.
“Richard, you haven’t changed a bit,” Sakura said, all but being squeezed in Richard’s arms. She chuckled uncomfortably and blushed intensely. She surely hoped the brothers weren’t watching them. One glance in their direction, however, told her a different story. They looked as though they were ready for war.
“And you have changed a lot since I last saw you,” Richard remarked. “What? Since you were sixteen? Look at you now, all grown up.” He said the last sentence so softly and so sensually, as though he were caressing every single word with his tongue.
The brothers noticed this, and it bothered the hell out of them—especially Tristan, who scowled darkly. He decided that Richard had improved his flirting technique, and he didn’t like that, especially when used on Sakura.
Sakura cocked her head to one side in thought. “Yes. It’s been a rather a long time, hasn’t it?”
Nicolas decided the hug was long enough and interrupted them. “Richard, long time no see,” he said. He extended his hand so Richard had no choice but to move away from Sakura to do the manly, friendly handshake.
“Nicolas,” Richard responded. “Man, it’s been a long time.” Then he turned to wave at the other six brothers who all gave him a cold greeting. He turned back to Sakura. He was about to give her another peck on the cheek when Sebastian saved her by pulling her to his side.
“Come on, let’s get going,” he said, leading her away.
Sakura was pleased she was saved from the embarrassment of getting another peck on the cheek she didn’t want. She looked up to Sebastian and gave him an appreciative smile.
Sebastian decided to return her smile with a cold scowl and said none too gently, “Stay away from him.”
She returned his scowl and muttered, “Why are you telling me what to do?”
“Because I’m your brother,” he replied with a no-nonsense tone of voice.
Annoyed at how he was treating her, she shrugged her arms free from his tight grasp to tell him she wasn’t pleased with his behavior. Then she stomped past the brothers and headed straight to Mary, who was busy hugging and kissing her fiancé, Peter, as if she hadn’t seen him for centuries.
“What did you say to her?” Tristan asked, interested.
“She’s totally pissed,” Hayden added with amusement.
“I told her to stay away from Richard,” Sebastian replied. “Did I do something wrong?”
Tristan laughed at his brother’s naïveté. Really, he thought, Sebastian needed to hang around women more to understand their behavior. Nicolas nodded, telling Sebastian that he did indeed do something wrong. Darcy, however, agreed with Sebastian and said, “You did the right thing.”
Richard came up behind them as they started heading toward the car. “So what are all my cousins up to these days?”
“The usual,” Nicolas said.
“Man, I still can’t believe Sakura has grown up so much,” he said. “Can still remember her when she was a teenager. She was so quiet and shy you didn’t even know she was in the same room.”
Sebastian thought that wasn’t true. Yes, she’d been rather quiet and painfully shy when she was young, but he’d always noticed her. She’d always been there, quietly observing them, quietly going about her business. But Sebastian didn’t know why he’d forgotten all about her for those past years. Perhaps it was because he’d never seen her again since she left for boarding school. Of course, he’d also been busy with studies at high school and then university. Not to mention friends, work, and the occasional girls who came and went. Her existence just kind of faded out of his mind.
“Took us a while to bring her out of her shell.” Richard continued.
“You brought her out of her shell?” Conrad asked, appalled.
“Yep.” Richard confirmed. “We did. Mary, Katherine, and I. My three little darlings, out and about doing all sorts of mischief. Mind you, I had to look after them. Sakura has always been my favorite. Once she’s out of her shell, she’s the most difficult to control. So much spirit in her and very wild too. I’ve been waiting for so long for her to grow up.” He chuckled. “And now she has. I think she’s ready.”
The brothers didn’t like what Richard was implying. Their cousin was waiting for Sakura to grow up so he could what?
Sebastian had a good idea what Richard wanted and decided the cousin would have to get over his dead body first to get Sakura.
“What are you implying?” Conrad, being the one who always took the bull by the horns, asked straight out. “You want to date her or something?”
Richard laughed. “Uh-ho! Is that brotherly concern I hear?”
Nicolas nudged his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Naturally,” he said. “We are her brothers, after all.”
“Come on, guys, I’m your cousin here,” Richard said.
“Shouldn’t you be more concerned about her welfare?” Darcy asked. “You can’t date her. She’s your cousin.”
“Yes,” Logan said. “Incest, my cousin, incest.”
“But she’s not related to me at all,” Richard argued.
Hayden said coldly, “Still wrong, Richard, very wrong.”
“No hard feelings, cousin.” Tristan slapped Richard on the shoulder so hard that the man nearly went sprawling to the ground. Then the seven brothers all walked ahead, leaving Richard standing there looking rather confused about the whole situation.
Sakura, who was standing on the other side, wondered how they were going to get home with only two cars when there were now eleven of them. Then she decided perhaps she should ring home and tell Daddy James they needed a lift. Or perhaps she could wait and go up to the house with Katherine when her friend finished work at the café.
Mary saw her dilemma and said, “Well, that means one of you will have to stay behind or else ride in the trunk. Who’s volunteering?”
“It’s okay,” Sakura said. “I’ll stay with Katherine. She’s coming up to the house this evening to try on the dress. I’ll come up with her.”
“Are you sure?” Mary asked.
“No,” Hayden put in. “I have my motorbike at the yacht. So there’s no need to argue who’s staying behind.”
“Then that should work out,” Mary said.
It was decided then, and Sebastian took Sakura by the elbow before Richard had the chance. “Come on,” he said, leading her to their car.
“Wait!” Richard said. “I haven’t seen Sakura for ages.” He put both his hands on her shoulders and steered her toward Mary’s car. “Young lady, you’re coming with us.”
Conrad would have none of it, however, and said, “We can all catch up when we get home.” He brushed Richard’s hands aside and steered Sakura toward their car. “Mind what you’re touching,” he said.
“What is wro
ng with you guys today?” Mary asked. “Maybe it’s the coffee she made them,” she muttered to herself. “Did she put something in it?”
Peter, who found the whole situation a bit weird, finally had to put in a word. “Two of you will have to ride with us. There won’t be enough room in that car for everyone.”
The brothers looked at one another.
“I’ll go,” Nicolas volunteered.
“Me, too,” Logan said.
The two brothers reluctantly headed to Mary’s car while Conrad and Sebastian led Sakura to theirs.
Sakura wasn’t pleased with how things had gone so far. First there was Sebastian, who was being rude to her. She couldn’t believe that after last night, after he’d said how he had wanted to begin their sibling relationship anew, he would go this far. She decided to glare at him to show him she wasn’t pleased and that she didn’t want him—or any of them for that matter—to interfere in her life like that, especially when they’d never given her a thought before.
Sebastian nudged her gently to get her into the car. She harrumphed loudly, and before she decided she’d changed her mind and wanted to go home with Katherine after all, she was being pulled away by an arm.
She gasped in surprise as she felt a strong hand wrap tightly around her slender wrist and none too slowly drag her to the other side of the street, her feet stumbling behind two long, powerful legs.
She glanced up to see Hayden laughing merrily as he pulled her along with him.
“She’s coming with me, guys,” he shouted once they were safely on the other side of the street.
The brothers stood there watching them in shocked surprise. A moment later, Tristan laughed loudly. Sebastian wasn’t pleased. He scowled severely. Conrad shouted, “Hayden! What the hell are you doing?”
“He’s taking her for himself,” Darcy said.
Sakura didn’t know what was going on until they’d reached a couple of blocks away. She had to catch her breath and wriggled her hand a couple of times to get Hayden’s attention. He wouldn’t release his hold on her, however, though he did stop to let her catch her breath.
Sakura collapsed against the brick wall of a building. Hayden watched her, amused. He came to stand in front of her, blocking out the afternoon sun that was glaring down on her face. When she opened her eyes again, she gasped and caught her breath at the back of her throat. Hayden was standing so close to her that she could feel his warm breath fanning her face.
“Sorry about that.” He chuckled, grinning at her.
Sakura was still heaving. When she finally stopped, she gazed up at him, confused and dazed. What is he doing? Why had he taken her away from everyone else all of a sudden?
Hayden moved his face closer to hers, as if he was about to kiss her. Instead, however, he chuckled softly and gently blew air in her face to get her attention. She blinked.
“Wanna go sightseeing with me?” he asked.
Sakura blinked again and cocked her head to one side. Hayden? Asking her to go sightseeing? She wanted to laugh. Of all things, he wanted to take her sightseeing?
Yes, she remembered him asking her—
No, not ask. Hayden had never asked. Hayden had basically dragged her with him, as he’d just done moments before.
Yes, from her very early experiences, sightseeing with Hayden usually meant sneaking out of the Princeton Estate and doing something dangerous and illegal, such as stealing a motorcycle, for example.
She still remembered those days so clearly. He’d dragged her out with him late in the evening into town and then had stolen a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that he’d had his eyes on for ages. After the thieving, he’d taken her riding with him for a good hour or two—dangerously near the cliff’s edge, of course. He said it was thrilling—even more so with a girl. And she had to be that girl. Of course, this had gone on a couple of times until he’d crashed one of the motorcycles. Naturally, Tara and Alaina had found out and had sneakily told Daddy James what happened. Hayden had been grounded for months, which pissed him off so badly that he turned to blame her for telling on him. She hadn’t told on him but couldn’t go against Tara and Alaina’s words.
Sakura turned her attention to the earring on his left ear then. She remembered him pressuring her to pierce his ear for him after that particular incident. He told her that since he’d been named the black sheep of the house, he might as well go all out and pierce his ear too to get that perfect bad-boy image. She even had to pick him an earring and paid for it with her own money since he said it had been her fault from the start. When she’d given him the pair of silver earrings, he threw one back at her, telling her he only needed one. To this day, she still had that earring kept safely in her secret box.
“I believe it’s a yes?” he asked.
Sakura jolted back to reality. She raised her brows at him. Since when had Hayden ever asked her for her decision? She leaned back and sighed. “I suppose since you’ve already dragged me all the way here.”
He chuckled. “Sorry about that. I couldn’t possibly lose you to my brothers, now could I?”
Sakura didn’t know how to reply to that statement and wondered why he looked so wounded when she shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t care one way or another.
It was forty minutes later, after he’d shown her the mega yacht thoroughly, that he proudly presented to her his Harley-Davidson motorbike.
“What do you think?” he asked, his chest puffing with pride like a peacock.
Sakura cocked her head to one side. “It’s nice.”
Hayden blinked. “That’s it?”
Sakura turned to look at him. She knew nothing about motorbikes, and she was certainly not a motorbike fan, so what did he expect her to say?
A moment later, after he realized he wouldn’t get any more out of her, he made her put on a helmet and told her to sit behind him. “Hold on tight,” he said through his own helmet.
Yes, they were going to ride his motorbike home, and hopefully they wouldn’t crash. But then again, Hayden was now an expert motorcyclist, so the chance of them crashing was next to zero. Yet this was Hayden, and he liked to live dangerously.
Sakura felt rather nervous and hastily tightened her arms about his waist. Hayden secretly smiled behind his helmet, pleased with their close contact.
“Hold on tight,” he said and started the engine. After engaging the accelerator a few times to get the mood going, he released the break and they were off.
Sakura gritted her teeth the faster they went and her arms tightened even more around Hayden’s waist. Once they were on the highway and had the road to themselves, Hayden glanced behind him and saw that Sakura was resting her head against his back. He liked that very much. It brought back memories—both happy and painful memories.
A few minutes later, he pressed his foot on the brake, causing the motorbike to come to a complete halt in the middle of the road. Sakura stiffened and wondered why he’d stopped all of a sudden.
Hayden switched off the engine and took off his helmet. He turned around, and without her consent, pulled her helmet off as well. Sakura blinked. Hayden couldn’t help but notice just how pretty she was with her hair a wild mess and her face flushed red. He cleared his throat and asked, “Do you want to try?”
Sakura cocked her head to one side, wondering what he was talking about. “Try what?”
“Driving,” he replied. He stood up and, without further ado, made her sit in front of him and told her to start the engine.
“I’m wearing a dress, Hayden,” she protested. “And I’ve never driven a motorbike before.”
“It’s okay.” He chuckled. “I’ll teach you. Here, turn this on and voilà!”
The motorbike hummed, and Sakura was rather pleased, feeling a certain type of thrill rushing through her body.
Soon after, with his help guiding her from behind, she was driving the motorbike very slowly along the road. She was having fun and laughed out merrily. Hayden smiled, his
eyes twinkling.
It was a while later, just when she’d gotten used to the speed and the wind fluttering against her face, that she hastily stepped on the brake before she had the chance to crash into what was clearly a holdup in the middle of the road.
Sakura pulled off her helmet and couldn’t help but marvel at the sight she beheld before her. The brothers looked like they were posing for a Calvin Klein photo shoot—in the middle of the road and in the middle of nowhere.
Conrad was standing on the roof of the SUV as if he’d just conquered Mount Everest. Tristan was half-reclining on the hood of the car. Darcy was posing very nicely to the side near the front of the car. Sebastian was resting his weight against the car, his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
The moment she stopped, they made a move. Sebastian was scowling again. She wondered if he would ever stop scowling at her. Tristan slid off his rather comfortable recliner, and Conrad jumped down from the roof of the car.
“Did you have fun?” Sebastian asked.
Sakura couldn’t believe that was the first thing he’d say to her. She blinked, and just to piss him off, she smiled at him sweetly. “Yes. It was fun. Hayden taught me how to drive his motorbike. Why are you guys in the middle of the road?”
“Waiting for you,” he said, wrapping his hand around her arm.
Hayden took off his helmet and chuckled. “You guys couldn’t stay away, could you? Whose idea was that?”
“It was Sebastian’s,” Tristan said.
“Come on, my dear lady,” Tristan said to Sakura. “We can’t allow the Prince of Rebel to keep you any longer.”
“So said the Prince of Flirt,” Hayden put in sarcastically.
So it is Sebastian again, Sakura thought in annoyance. What is wrong with him? Why is he being so overbearing right now?
“Come on, get in the car,” Sebastian ordered gently.
“You don’t need to tell her, Seb,” Conrad said. “She’s coming.”
Actually, Sakura decided she wasn’t coming with them after all. Just to show Sebastian he couldn’t tell her what to do, she refused to move an inch from the bike.
Sebastian, however, did it for her by scooping her into his arms and carrying her—with the helmet still in her hands—toward the car.
“What are you doing?” she shrieked. “Put me down.”
Sebastian refused to listen to her. Sakura grumbled under her breath and glared at him.
“He’s carrying her again,” Conrad said.
“Because he’s responsible,” Tristan commented, heading around to the car as well.
“Why should you feel responsible?” Sakura couldn’t help asking, her voice ice cold.
“Because right now I’m the eldest brother,” Sebastian said matter-of-factly.
Tristan butted in. “Don’t believe him, Sakura. I believe I’m the eldest right now since I was born a full six minutes before him, so that responsibility falls to me.”
Sebastian finally put her down. She brushed down her skirt and hair and muttered under her breath. Sebastian opened the door of the car for her, telling her with his stance to get in.
Sakura gritted her teeth, ignored him, and said rather too softly, “Actually, I believe none of you need to take any responsibility over me. After all, I am twenty-three and not a three-year-old child.” She turned her eyes to Sebastian then and said to him, “I think I can take of myself, and I believe I’m entitled to decide how I want to get home, don’t you?”
Sebastian folded his arms across his massive chest, almost in challenge. Sakura knew he wasn’t happy with her announcement. But to hell with him! Who did he think he was? He had never cared about her welfare before, so why now?
“I think Sakura should choose how she wants to get home,” Hayden butted in, giving her a cheeky smile.
“All right,” Sebastian said. “Decide, Sakura. How do you want to get home? The car?” He nodded toward the back seat. “Or the bike?” He nodded to where Hayden and the bike were.
Sakura knew he wanted her to ride home in the car. Well, he could go home with his brothers without her. She held her head high and said, “I choose the motorbike.”
“What?” Conrad shouted. “But we waited for you.”
Sakura felt bad. It was even worse when Conrad gave her the puppy-dog look. But she hardened herself against her tender heart. After all, it was Sebastian’s fault. If he wasn’t acting so overbearing, then she would have gone with them, and Conrad needn’t be so upset.
“Sorry, Conrad,” she said softly and moved to Hayden, who was smiling at her with glee.
Sebastian watched her go, his face impassive. “Get in the car, everyone,” he said as he tossed the keys over to Tristan. “You drive.”
Tristan knew Sebastian was pissed even though he wasn’t showing it, and when Sebastian was pissed, his driving was affected, which could lead to the passengers experiencing a roller-coaster-type ride. Frankly none of them wanted that right now. What Tristan didn’t expect, however, was for Sebastian to go up to Hayden and say, “You too,” and take Hayden’s helmet without asking.
All Hayden could do was look at his older brother, stunned.
Sebastian put on the helmet and got on the bike. Sakura was so shocked that her mouth hung open in disbelief.
“Well?” he asked. “Or have you changed your mind already?”
Sakura couldn’t answer. Sebastian decided for her by nudging her to him and made her sit behind him.
“See you at home,” he said to Hayden. Then he started the engine and drove off so fast Sakura had to quickly wrap her arm around his waist so she wouldn’t fall. Once she got her composure, she glanced behind to see Hayden getting into the car and Darcy staring after them, his face a hard mask.
Honestly, she thought this man in front of her was being very unpredictable. She really had to give him a bit of her mind once they were home. But it wasn’t home that they were heading to. Sebastian deliberately missed the turn and headed straight toward the beach on the other side of the island.
Sakura tugged at his jacket to get his attention, to tell him he’d missed the turn. He answered her by ignoring her, and soon they came to a nice clearing near the beach where he finally decided to stop.
Sakura couldn’t help herself. She hastily got off the bike, pulled off the helmet, and confronted him.
“I can’t believe you did that, Sebastian. I just can’t. Oh my gosh! Who do you think you are? You deliberately missed the turn, didn’t you? And you deliberately waited out in the middle of the road too. I can’t believe this. And what is it all for? Is it because of last night? Is it? Is it because we agreed to start anew? Is that why you’re doing this? I can’t believe it. You never, ever noticed me before and now all this? This…”
Sebastian wasn’t paying any attention to her tantrum. He was too busy admiring her sensual lips. He wasn’t sure why she was overreacting, though. After all, he’d only wanted to protect her from Richard—and Hayden, of course.
She finally stopped ranting when she realized he wasn’t paying attention. “You aren’t even listening to me,” she muttered under her breath.
He chuckled. “Why are you so riled up?”
Sakura sucked in her breath. Oh, God! Oh, God! He was smiling at her. And when Sebastian smiled, her heart started to do a disco dance. She realized then just how handsome he was when he smiled. He was so charming, especially with his pale blond hair that was a bit too long and his azure-blue eyes that were twinkling. Not to mention the dimple on his left cheek.
Suddenly he pulled her to him, his arms wrapped around her waist. “Sorry,” he said, almost too gently for her liking.
She knew he didn’t mean it because he was still smiling. What the heck is wrong with him?
“Did I annoy you?” he asked softly.
“You annoyed the heck out of me, Sebastian. I might have to tell Daddy James what you’ve done to me,” she said, nodding her head. “Like I always did when we were child
ren.”
He chuckled. “The likes of you telling Dad?” he asked. “Not a chance. You’d rather suffer in pain than tell anyone about it.”
Sakura frowned in confusion at him. “What do you mean? I told on you a lot when we were little.”
He looked at her for a long while. “I may have been a child back then, Sakura,” he said seriously, “but I wasn’t stupid, and neither were my brothers.”
“But—”
“It was better to leave you in peace than to make things worse,” he said. “Sorry we forgot all about you.”
“So you did forget about me, eh?” She confirmed, nodding her head.
“Yes,” he said. “I admit that. But now we’re making it up to you. How about that?”
“A bit too late for that now,” she said. “And I’m totally not interested. When the wedding is over, I’m gone.”
She shut up immediately and blushed.
Sebastian frowned. “Gone? Where are you going?”
She changed the subject. “Let’s go home. I’m sure everyone is worried.”
He wouldn’t have it. “Where are you planning to go?”
“It’s none of your business, Sebastian,” she said and unconsciously played with the pendant of her necklace, nervous all of a sudden.
Sebastian noticed. “Do they know about this? Mom and Dad?” he asked suspiciously.
“I haven’t told them yet,” she muttered. “I will later.”
“I suppose you’re old enough to go wherever you want,” he said finally, disappointed, his heart beating painfully.
“Yes, I am old enough to go wherever I want and do whatever I want,” she said. “And now I want to go home.” She finally removed her hand from the pendant to put on her helmet.
Sebastian had a good look at the pendant. It was beautiful, in the shape of the cherry blossom flower. Hadn’t she always been wearing that, since she was a child? It must have meant something to her, and he decided he’d find out later.