Dumped the Dirty Heir for the Platinum Player

"The most important thing in a man is that he stays clean. You understand me?" I shoved Sebastian Ward flat on the couch, sat down across his waist, and said it one word at a time.

A minute ago I opened this man's journal. The handwriting was a scrawl, but I read every line.

My stepsister had told him I would never want a man who didn't know what he was doing in bed.

So, to keep my first time from being a letdown, he decided to go practice on other women. His fingers landed at my waist. Hesitated there.

Then he pushed me back, voice low and rough. "It's not the right time." I was out of moves. So I went to the guy my family picked for me. "I hate dirty men. Are you clean?

If you're clean, we get engaged right now." Chapter 1 I closed the journal and looked up.

Sebastian Ward, who does not talk to other girls, had turned his head and was talking to one. His face stayed cold. But she said something and he said something back.

She said something else and he answered that too. I almost laughed out loud.

So every single time he turned me down, it was because my stepsister told him he had no experience in bed. And he really was going to go practice on someone else.

I pulled in a breath and decided we needed to talk. Everything else about Sebastian worked for me. Good face, good body, right family, and he did what I asked.

My family had already lined up a match for me. Because of Sebastian, I refused to even meet the guy. My parents thought it over.

The Wards had money and pull of their own, so they let me pick for myself. But I was at the age where people start asking about a ring. And Sebastian kept stalling on the last step.

So of course I wondered. Something wrong with his body. Something that happened to him once. He never told me anything. I was about ready to quit. Then I found the journal. Fine.

This was fixable. So the first time would be a letdown. So what? I didn't want some other woman breaking him in for me. I wanted to train him myself. I walked over to him.

He looked up. His fingers twitched once. Then he took my hand and pulled me down beside him. I glanced at the girl. She smiled back at me. "What are you two talking about?" I asked.

She smiled, all sweetness. "Secret. Ask the Ward heir. See if he wants to tell you." I looked at Sebastian. "Nothing," he said.

Then he tightened his grip on my hand and pulled me closer. He smelled like cedar, the way he always did. My chest loosened a little. "I need to talk to you," I said.

He stood, kept my hand, and walked me off to the side. He had a face people turn around for. Straight nose, sharp jaw. When he looked down at me, those black eyes were serious.

Focused. Only on me. The ache under my ribs went soft at the edges. I picked my words carefully. "My stepsister's home on break.

She hasn't been bothering you, has she?" "No," Sebastian said. I frowned.

While I was still working through that, he set his chin on my shoulder. "I like you." Low, almost under his breath. I sighed. "I like you too." In the light I could see it.

The tips of his ears had gone red again. They did that every single time I got close to him. Chapter 2 I watched him for a while and felt some of the anger drain out.

So I teased him the way I always did. "Shy again, hubby?" His throat moved. He laced his fingers through mine. Fine. Whatever. I would just stop bringing him to family dinners.

If he never saw my stepsister, she couldn't get into his head. Right? The next afternoon, I found someone standing next to him I never expected to see.

Sebastian and Tiffany, side by side, talking about something. I didn't know they met on their own. She was smiling with her whole face. Like she was teasing him.

I had told Sebastian more than once that I don't like my stepsister. She has been taking my things since we were kids.

But he had always been cold to her, and she had walked away with nothing plenty of times, so I stopped worrying about it. I stayed quiet and moved a few steps closer.

Close enough to hear them. Tiffany was laughing. "You're not going to give her a good time. And it's going to wreck the way she sees you.

For good." Nothing from him. "I know my sister," she said. She thought about it. "She's going to be disgusted.

She might dump you on the spot." Sebastian leaned back against the wall, tall and still. His head was down.

I couldn't read his face. "Come on," Tiffany said. "You don't even sweet talk her, do you? Zero fun.

I don't know how she's put up with you this long." He still said nothing. "She's told you your kissing sucks, right?" Tiffany dragged the words out, easy and slow.

His fingers moved against his leg. A long moment went by.

Then he lifted his head, and his voice came out rough. "So what do I do?" "Easy," Tiffany said. "You and my friend hit it off last night, right?

Keep practicing on her." My temple started to pound. I stayed where I was and let him finish. I don't know how long the quiet lasted.

Then Sebastian said, "Okay." "Oh, and," Tiffany sighed, "remember to keep it from my sister. Otherwise our whole plan falls apart. Which is the small stuff, really.

Your relationship falls apart too." He turned to leave. His voice went flat and cold again. "I know." That night I sat on the couch and waited for him.

He pushed the door open and saw me right away. He stopped for half a second, then came and sat beside me. "Why are you still up?" I kept my face blank. "Where were you?

Who did you see today?" He slid an arm around my waist and pulled me in. His voice stayed level. "I went home. Grandpa's big birthday party is coming up.

I was going over it with my parents." "That's it?" "That's it." He hooked his pinky around mine, like he couldn't imagine why I was asking. I leaned in.

Close enough to feel him breathing. Under the warm yellow lamp his lashes flickered.

He stared straight at me and his ears went red. "Josie." I breathed in, slow, and let him hear exactly what I meant. "Your cologne smells a lot like my stepsister's perfume." His brows pulled together.

He looked lost. "What are you talking about?" Then, "Maybe I picked it up off somebody." I looked at him and closed my hand into a fist where he couldn't see it.

One inch closer than usual and his ears go red. He lied to my face without so much as a flush. I was done.

Chapter 3 I shoved him down onto the couch right there. "Let's do it," I said. Flat. I reached for his shirt. Sebastian caught my hands. Same as every other time.

Locked up, going nowhere. My throat went dry. "You don't want me?" "How could I not?" It came out fast.

Then he pressed his lips shut, and the room went quiet for a long time. "Josie. I want you. Only you." "Then why won't you sleep with me?" His grip on my wrists tightened.

He didn't let go. I pulled in a breath. "What, are you saving it for some other woman—" "No." He cut me off. "Don't accuse me of that, Josie." Low and quiet.

I looked him dead in the eye and said it one word at a time. "The most important thing in a man is that he stays clean.

You understand me?" I thought about it and added, "The rest of it we can learn. Slowly. I don't care about the rest." His fingers came to rest at my waist. Hesitant.

I let my breath out. I thought I had him.

Then he pushed me off anyway, voice muffled and rough. "It's not the right time." He stood and walked toward the bathroom on those long legs. "I'm going to shower." I stayed where he had set me aside.

I didn't move. He has turned me down more times than I can count. There was a stretch where it got to me. Where I sat around wondering what was wrong with the way I looked.

Water started running behind the door, and all at once I didn't have anything left. I picked up his phone. I scrolled his contacts and found Tiffany.

No idea when they added each other. The thread was blank. Not one message in it. He had wiped it on purpose. I got up and left. After that we weren't speaking.

That's not quite right. I wasn't speaking to him. It only ran one direction. He texted me every day anyway.

Back when he used to turn me down, I always felt like a fool and went cold on him for a while. After enough times I stopped handing him the chance.

He assumed this was more of the same, so he coaxed me the way he always did. [Josie, don't shut me out.] [I miss you, baby.] Then he Venmo'd me money. I didn't answer.

My head was a mess anyway. Then one night. I ended up at the Larkspur Club without really deciding to go. Sebastian's name is on it. I had a bottle in storage there.

I figured I would go open it. Then somebody came out of the back VIP room. That room is ours. Sebastian and me, when we bring people. If I'm not there, he doesn't use it.

I walked toward it. The staff all know me. Nobody stopped me. I pushed the door open a crack. Narrow. Just enough. Lights flashing inside. Men, women, loud. Then I saw him.

A girl seated on his left, another on his right. He sat back against the couch with his legs crossed, bored, like the whole night was wearing on him.

The girl on his left was Tiffany's friend. She said something that had half the room howling. Sebastian didn't react. He didn't belong in that room.

Then she took a sip of her drink, turned to him, and smiled while she said something. Chapter 4 Then she grabbed him by the collar. He didn't pull away.

He raised his hand instead and wiped the wine off the corner of her mouth. I took a step back. Then somebody tapped my shoulder. I turned around into Tiffany's eyes.

She was enjoying every second. She let it sit. "Don't look at me like I'm the enemy, sis." I said nothing. "Are you mad?" she said.

I laughed once, cold, and went straight at it. "He's like this now and none of it is your work? Why are you playing innocent? You think I can't tell?" Tiffany blinked.

Then she smiled, and the scorn came through thick. "What does it have to do with me? You know better than anybody.

You really think I can make the Ward heir do a single thing?" She stepped closer and dropped her voice. "Go tell him you don't care what he is. Beg him to sleep with you.

Tell him to stay away from other women. That fixes it, doesn't it?" I turned to leave. She caught my arm, thrilled with herself. "I nailed it, didn't I?

Now you're embarrassed and angry. Don't you think you look pathetic, sis?" We pulled at each other, and I shoved her. She shoved me back harder. We must have made noise.

The door to the room opened. He stood in the doorway, broad shoulders, out of patience. Behind him a dozen curious faces swung our way. "Josie?" Sebastian looked surprised.

Those cold black eyes warmed a little. He didn't ask questions. He took my hand and walked me up to a private lounge. The second we were inside, his arm came around my waist.

He pulled me in against his chest. Warm right through the shirt. Then he kissed the corner of my mouth. When I didn't react, he touched his tongue to my lip. Testing. Coaxing.

I didn't move. I was looking at his collar. Crumpled, in the exact shape of that girl's fist. So this was what the practice had bought him.

Neither of us said anything for a long time. I reached up and touched his ear. Normal temperature. Not burning the way it used to. It must have read as encouragement.

His fingers slipped under the hem of my shirt, cool on my skin. My phone buzzed. I stepped back and looked down at the screen.

The guy my family picked for me had answered the message I sent half an hour earlier. […That's blunt.] [I'm clean.] [Tomorrow, then?] Sebastian's hand closed around my wrist.

His eyes dropped to my screen. "Who is that?" He leaned in to read it and I hit the lock button. "Nobody." His brows pulled together.

He stared at me like he could stand there all night. I didn't wait for the next question. "I have somewhere to be.

I'm going." His voice came out unsteady. "Did I do something wrong just now?" We looked at each other. Those black eyes still had nothing in them but me. Same focus.

Same everything. It felt different anyway. There was no getting back to before. I reached out and straightened his crumpled collar for him. Then I turned and walked out.

I never answered his question. This time the silence looked real. He didn't text me once after I left. I got home. Showered. Put on a sheet mask. Sat down on the edge of my bed.

Chapter 5 And that was when it finally hit me. Was his pride hurt? He made the first move for once. And I turned him down. I almost found it funny.

Before I could think it through, Tiffany's Story came up on my feed. Three photos. The first was a marble table with a row of expensive bottles lined up on it. All of them open.

One look and I knew the room. The room I had just walked away from. The second was Tiffany and her friend.

Two pretty girls with glasses in their hands, leaning into each other, smiling. Very easy on the eyes. The third one. My finger stopped. Tiffany shot it from behind them.

Her friend and Sebastian, both from the back. His long fingers rested on a glass. A shadow cut across his face. The girl was beaming.

From that angle she was practically leaning against his side.

Tiffany's caption: [thanks to my girl, Sebastian Ward covered our tab tonight] I don't know how much of that caption was true.

I don't know whether Sebastian even knew the post existed. I was past caring which. Past wanting to ask him. I swallowed the sick feeling and screenshotted it.

Right then a new message came in from the guy my family picked for me. [Anything you want to eat?] I wrote back: [No.] [Fine.

I'll make the reservation.] The confirmation came through a minute later. I clicked into his profile. He had never posted anything. No idea what he even looked like.

I was already in a mood, so I sent a voice memo with an edge on it. "If you're ugly, let's not bother meeting." [?] [Relax. You'll be blown away.] I made a face at my phone.

Sebastian's face showed up in my head without asking. Back at the start, his face blew me away too. And look where that went. Whatever. The next evening.

I got to the restaurant and the server walked me in. "Mr. Locke called ahead. This is the best view in the house." I turned my head. The sun was all the way down.

Out past the glass, the harbor threw broken neon across the water, and the whole downtown skyline sat in the window. It was beautiful. It put me in a better mood.

I would have been in an even better mood if my candlelit dinner date had shown up on time. I FaceTimed Cassius Locke.

It rang a long time before he picked up. "Where are you?" I checked the clock. "You're ten minutes late." A low voice came through. "Something came up on my end.

I might be a little—" I hung up. That was when I heard a familiar voice from the table by the window. "I had to pull strings to get this reservation, you know.

And you're going to sit there and make that face at me, future brotherinlaw