Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
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The rest of the day seemed to drag on, and by the time the final bell rang, the gossip had risen to a deafening level.
There wasn’t a single soul in the entire school who didn’t know about the pictures of Taliana, or that Blair had been blamed along with Zak for distributing them. Somehow Blair had managed to escape being expelled, but she still faced a week of suspension. It was better than nothing, considering she hadn’t technically been involved.
Though her father was out of the country, Hawthorne had managed to get ahold of him on the phone, and while he obviously wasn’t able to come back into town to speak to the headmaster in person, Amir had sent his second in command-Mahmoud Rostami, a rather terrifying man Sebastian had had the displeasure of meeting-to retrieve Blair and escort her from school.
He’d overheard from a group of gossipy Iranian girls that her father was going to ship her off again if she kept this up. While the girls had giggled, Sebastian couldn’t see the humor in it. Knowing Amir Bakhtiar, he would probably carry out the threat with no reservations.
But at least with this new drama, some of the heat had been taken off Taliana, which Sebastian was undeniably grateful for. Still, he was waiting to find out if his own plan had worked.
A little while later, he found himself parked outside Taliana’s house. Though he expected her to have been inside, she was sprawled across the grass in her front yard instead, savoring the last bit of the late September warmth as she read a book. Taliana glanced up and placed the book to the side as he shut the car door.
“What are you doing here?” she questioned, raising up on her elbows.
He sat next to her. “I wanted to tell you Blair was suspended. Hawthorne thinks she had something do with Zak releasing those pictures.”
“Wait, really?” She frowned, looking briefly thoughtful. “Damn, I should’ve gone after her too. Why didn’t you let me get my revenge?”
“Because I knew you wouldn’t have stopped after throwing a right hook,” he tried to reason, lying back in the grass. “You probably would have killed both her and Zak.”
“Would not,” she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.
Sebastian let his eyes drift closed, trying not to grin at how adorable she looked with her lower lip sticking out like that. “Whatever you say, Stick Girl.”
Taliana heaved a sigh, and he felt her shift next to him. “I suppose that’s good enough. Won’t take back what Zak did, though.”
“Those shots weren’t so bad,” he admitted. “At least there was no full-frontal nudity.”
“Yeah, but now everyone has seen my boobs. How can I ever show my face again?”
“You’ll get over it,” he chuckled, glancing to his right where she was lounging with one hand supporting her head. “At least you have nice ones.”
For a split second he thought she may have been offended by the comment, but the worry fled when she snorted and buried her face in his shoulder. “Pervert. I can’t believe you looked at those pictures.”
“Couldn’t resist. Had to see if they did you justice.”
She lifted her head and raised an eyebrow, a smile quirking up the corners of her mouth. “And did they?”
“Nah.” He grinned, something clenching in his stomach. “The real deal is better.”
Her smile dimmed ever so slightly when their eyes met, and Sebastian knew immediately he’d said the wrong thing.
Just as he opened his mouth to blurt that he needed to go, especially if he wanted to save himself some mortification, his phone rang. He fumbled to answer it, dragging a finger across the screen.
“Hello?” he said, thankful his voice didn’t crack.
“The devil got expelled!” Marcus shouted before letting out what sounded almost like a war cry.
Sebastian jerked the phone away from his ear, cringing at the volume. “Which devil are we talking about? We know a few.”
“Zak!” he said on a laugh. “My mother tried to offer a donation to keep him at Trinity, but apparently there was a donation from? your family with stipulations that Zak could no longer be a student.”
“How much was the donation?” Sebastian asked, even though he already knew it was somewhere near the million-dollar mark.
“More than enough to make sure he’ll never be a student there again! My mom is currently on the phone trying to get him into another school, but I don’t think anyone here will take him.”
Sebastian cracked a grin. “What a shame.”
After a bit more celebration, Marcus said his goodbyes, and Sebastian turned back to Taliana.
“And now Zak’s been taken care of too,” he told her, pleased when a smile bloomed across her face. “Expelled with no chance of Trinity taking him back.”
“Thank you,” she exhaled, flopping back into the grass. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.”
She really did deserve that tiny bit of happiness, and seeing her smile like that had something tightening in his chest.
“I should probably go,” he said quickly as he climbed to his feet, not wanting to acknowledge this sudden new feeling. “See you tomorrow, yeah?”
He didn’t wait to hear her answer.
26
Family Ties
It took a week for the gossip to finally settle down.
Had it not been for the newest gossip about Lara McDonald getting pregnant, and Mickey Jantzen breaking up with his girlfriend of two years, Taliana had a feeling the drama revolving around her would have lasted a lot longer.
What truly surprised her though was the support Sebastian and his friends had offered. Sure, Michael cracked more boob jokes than she could tolerate at times, and Jacob tended to let his eyes wander to her cleavage whenever they spoke, but all four stood by her side throughout the ordeal.
It had been a long time since she had a group she truly considered friends, but at this point, there was no denying what they’d become. Even Jude, who usually kept his distance from Sebastian’s friends, had started hanging out with them more often. It was nice, it was strange, and it sure as hell wasn’t something Taliana had ever expected to happen.
The six of them were currently gathered beside Sebastian’s car after the last bell of the day. Jude was standing next to Taliana as they chatted about the latest buzz circulating around the school. The other four were discussing where everyone was going for the upcoming long weekend, but Taliana had already tuned out their conversation since she wasn’t planning on doing anything except stay at home. It wasn’t until someone’s phone rang and Sebastian swore loudly that Taliana finally looked back to the others.
“What’s wrong?” she questioned, taking in his annoyed expression.