Sebastian was pleased that Cassie calmed down, and she appeared to be thinking rationally again. But all of that vanished in a blink of the eye when Cassie jumped to her feet, taking a few staggered steps backward. There was a look in her eyes that was anything but calm, and it put Sebastian on alert.<br/><br/><em>"She's never gonna talk to me again! Only me! I have to be the only person in the world who can have a fight with her best friend and then end up talking to her new friend in the rain about all sorts of personal shit that he has no right to know!"</em><br/><br/>He read her face before the words came from her mouth. She was thinking rapidly, processing a lot of information that she filtered from what he said, and the resulting conclusions were not to her liking. When the words came forth, it surprised him at how she managed to conclude his connection to Isabelle, as well as the possible ramifications. Even when she turned to look at him, he knew her facial expression was lying, or at least obscuring the truth of what she was feeling. Every other part of her screamed out in anger, held in check from becoming a physical manifestation.<br/><br/><em>"You can bet your ass I'm holding you to that statement of ethics there. See, this is the way that this is gonna go if either of us ever want to talk to Izzie again. We never met. This conversation never happened. You will not only never breath a word of anything spoken here, you will forget the conversation ever happened. Are we clear?"</em><br/><br/>Sebastian's own posture tensed in readiness. Good samaritan he may be, giving professional aid in a nonprofessional environment to someone who was not a client did not give them the right to respond to him in that manner. Unlike the heat that came out in her voice, Sebastian's voice bordered on ice cold.<br/><br/>"You are quite incorrect in how this is going to occur from here on. Firstly, you're lack of respect and thanks for my assistance have been duly noted. I don't appreciate being spoken to in that manner. I am not restrained by any particular code of conduct at this time. I am choosing to hold myself to them. I will not withhold anything from Isabelle should she ask, with the exception of the nature of the conversation that we had. But if she asks me if we have met, I will say yes. If we have talked, I will say yes. For one very important reason reason, Cassie. It will show that you didn't steal me, and if she will listen to me, that you never made the attempt and that I had no interest in you that was greater than I have for her.<br/><br/>"Plus, I know that your anger directed at me is as wrong as Isabelle's anger at you. I am not going to be limited, hindered or restrained by you in any manner, not when you are in this emotional state. I am not going to perpetuate any issues in the relationship between the two of you."<br/><br/>Sebastian stood up, easily towering over the shorter woman. "I had been going to offer you the chance to dry off a bit, and warm up before returning you to wherever you wanted to go. However, I don't feel so inclined to do that after the way you have just treated me. Good night, Cassie."<br/><br/>Without looking at her, he turned and started down the pathway back to The Fisherman's Net.