by Amy Daws
“What?” Frank asks, clearly confused.
“It smells like your junk.” His jaw drops in horror. “Sorry, Frankie, I’ll have to pass tonight. Maybe tomorrow though!” He falters, searching for a witty retort but comes up empty-handed. “Your friend the other morning seemed to like it. You should give him a call. He was cute!” I wink at him and kiss his cheek affectionately.
“I’ll bloody well call him when I good and feel like it,” Frank grumbles dejectedly as I stroll out the door.
“You don’t want to know,” I say to a confused Theo as he waffles his hand with mine.
“Wasn’t even gonna ask,” he says, chuckling softly.
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Dinner out is beautiful. Theo takes us to Skyline Lounge which has a stunning vantage point of the London skyline. It’s places like this that remind me what an exciting city I live in. God, I love London.
We split a bottle of red and I feel warm, fuzzy, and sexy. Theo continues glancing down at my chest throughout dinner.
“I’m feeling rather objectified, Superman,” I coax saucily.
“There’s a bow on your chest. It’s like asking me to unwrap you. You can’t blame a bloke for struggling.” I giggle at his deadpan expression. “Honestly, as soon as you walked down those stairs, the only thing I wanted to do was turn you around and march you right back up so I could fuck you senseless.”
“What stopped you?”
“Might have been the welcoming committee,” he winks, clearly amused by my loving roommates.
“They are sweet.”
“I don’t disagree.” He tweaks his eyebrows playfully.
“They’re my pseudo family here in London. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
“Why aren’t you close with your real family? I mean, I know you’re separated by thousands of miles, but still…what’s the story there?” he asks.
I feel myself recoil, pulling out all my armor and tossing it haphazardly out to the line of fire, preparing for battle. This is not a conversation I want to have. Not now. Not ever.
“Just not close,” my smile is saccharinely sweet but I can tell Theo’s not buying it.
“Want to chat about your family?” I ask, pretty certain I know the answer to that question.
He squints skeptically but lets it go, seemingly wanting to protect his own secrets just as ardently as he wants to know mine. Both of us obviously have family issues and neither of us seem too keen on sharing. I feel anxious for how long we’ll be able to get away with not opening up.
“Did you want to stay at your place or mine?” he asks, pouring the last bit of wine into my glass.
“Are we spending the night together, Superman?”
He looks up at me in confusion. “Why wouldn’t we?”
I shrug my shoulders. “We’ve been together the last two nights. I thought maybe you’d want a break from me.”
“I don’t want a break, Leslie. In fact, I was going to ask you if you wanted to leave some clothes at my flat since your office is so close to mine.”
Is he fucking kidding me?
“Are you asking me to move in, Theo?”
“No! God. Not yet at least. I mean, eventually, yeah, of course. But it’s a bit soon, don’t you think?” he looks genuinely curious about my thoughts on this matter.
I’m too busy feeling stunned at his blatant admission of planning a future with me.
“Yeah,” I drawl out slowly. “I think it’s even a bit soon for me to be keeping stuff at your place. It’s been three days, Theo.”
“Stuff that, Leslie,” he chastises. “Don’t put an antiquated label on us just because we’ve only been official for a couple of days. I think we can both admit to being something more long before you ever came over to my flat.”
I shrink at his honesty. He’s right. I’ve been consumed with Theo for months now. He floated into and out of my life, mucking things up every time. My feelings have been seriously involved since that first night at the club.
“Fair enough.” I smile coyly. “I’ll pack a bag,” I shrug my shoulders nonchalantly.
“You do that.” His eyes glitter with amusement.
“Let’s get out of here. I need to get you to my flat right now.”
I fidget with excitement. Yeah, his place is probably best. No need to stay quiet.
***
Theo strokes his hands up my bare legs as I climb the steps into his apartment.
“Would you stop? I’m going to fall on my ass!” I berate half-heartedly, swatting his hands out from beneath my skirt.
“Leslie, you make me crazy,” he says when we reach the top. I turn, waiting for him to unlock his door. He brushes my bangs away from my eyes and smoothes his thumb tenderly on my lips. He licks his own and leans in to kiss me, bracing his hands on either side of me.
I hear him messing with the lock as he covers feather-soft kisses all over my bare shoulders. The door swings open and I go flying backwards, coming so close to landing on my ass. Theo catches me just in time.
“You’re so lucky right now, you dick,” I admonish. He chortles like a teenager and rights me vertical again.
“Are you alright? I better check you out for damages. I don’t have insurance, I’m afraid.” He kisses my shoulders again and his hands find the zipper on the back of my dress. He pulls it down painfully slow, letting it drop to the floor. “It was a great dress, babe.”
“Still is,” I say, stepping out of it and draping it reverently over the dining room chair. I can feel Theo’s warmth behind me and then his hands stroke slowly around my hips and down to my front.
“No underwear again,” he growls into my ear.
“Not if I can help it,” I whisper and giggle.
“You know what that does to me,” he says, turning me around to face him. I’m gloriously naked except for my merlot wedges. He backs me up onto his beautiful dining room table. I sit and he spreads my legs, fixing himself between me.
“I’ve always wanted to fuck someone here.”
“Does that mean I’m the first?” I ask, feeling uncomfortable thinking about someone else in his arms right now.
“There would have been no one else, Leslie,” he says seriously, pausing for a second before assaulting me with his lips. I make quick work of his pants as he licks and sucks every part of my mouth.
He steps back, pulling his shirt off as he goes and I eagerly grab him, pulling him back to stand between my legs. I love him there—right there between my legs—feels like nothing else. It’s like he’s completely mine and I can wrap him up and keep him forever. Never in my life has sex been like this for me. The thought scares me as I instantly wonder how I’ll be able to handle it when he moves on. Surely this can’t last forever.
***
I startle awake as Theo lifts me up off his dining room table.
“What are you doing?” I croak, feeling startled.
“Shhh, sleep Leslie. I got you.”
“Are you seriously carrying me right now?
His chest vibrates with laughter as he ascends the steps heading to his bed.
“Don’t blame me tomorrow when your back’s all fucked up,” I groan sleepily, nuzzling into his naked chest.
“You have to stop this, Theo,” I sigh sleepily as he tucks me into his bed, dropping feather-light kisses on my arm.
“Stop what?”
“Being so good to me. It’s just going to hurt more.”
“What’s going to hurt more?”
“When you leave me,” I say, yawning, feeling exhausted.
“I’m not going anywhere, Lez,” he whispers and slides in behind me. “I’m not going anywhere.” He says it again, sounding sad and distant—I think. It’s hard to tell as the fogginess of sleep returns, swiftly taking me hostage.
***
I jolt awake suddenly, looking around trying to figure out where I am. Oh shit, duh. I’m in Theo’s bed. Did he seriously carry me upstair
s—did I dream that? I hope I dreamt that because I’m going to be mortified tomorrow when his back is all jacked up.
I look over my shoulder at a deeply-slumbering Theo. He looks so peaceful and young without his glasses. I kiss him softly on the lips and he doesn’t even stir. He’s exhausted. Probably from carrying my fat ass up here. My eyes fly wide as I hold my hand in front of his mouth to make sure he’s breathing. I feel the faint puff of air and sigh with relief.
I slide out of bed to use the restroom and hear a faint clanking sound. I strain to hear and it happens again. It sounds like it’s coming from the garage. I pad downstairs and throw on Theo’s shirt that we left on the floor earlier. It falls nearly to my knees and smells distinctly like Theo.
The clanking echoes again in the flat and I go to peer out the fogged glass by his doorway. I can just barely make out someone at the bottom of the steps. Recognizing the mussed hair, I crack open the door to be sure.
“Hayden?” I whisper. He groans and waves dumbly, letting his hand smack down to the floor again. He’s crumpled in a heap at the bottom of the steps.
“Hayden!” I say, a little louder this time. “What are you doing?” I ask.
“Nofin’. I’m right as rain. Don’t you worry,” he slurs. “Just headin’ to the office for some sleepy time. I was ‘round the corner at the pub and got a bit carried away, I’m afraid. Just gotta get myself up!” he groans as he tries to stand. He stumbles to his knees, knocking over the photo stuck to the wall.
Without thinking, I pad down barefoot to help him up.
“Oh, aren’t you sweet!” Hayden slurs, with a half-dopey smile on his face. He tosses his arm over my shoulder and uses me as balance-support to stand. “Just gotta pop through the shop to the couch in my office and I’ll be fresh as a daisy.”
“I’ll help you,” I say, opening the door to the shop and quickly sliding my feet into Theo’s leather loafers to protect my feet from nails and random bits of wood. We stumble awkwardly to the door on the other side of the shop and it opens up to a small office with a loveseat.
Hayden flops onto it and smiles politely at me through droopy eyes.
“So, you’re the one, eh?”
“The one what?” I ask before leaving him to it.
“The one to bring our Theo out of the darkness,” he mocks, his eyes flashing wide dramatically and then drooping back to slits.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean, Hayden.”
“Don’t you?” he tilts his head curiously at me. “Is our Theo keeping secrets?” I shrug my shoulders, unsure what to say. “Ask him about Marisa,” he says, his eyes closing briefly and then opening back up to see if I’m still there.
“Who’s Marisa?” I’m feeling a nervous anxiety tingle up my spine.
“People in glass houses.” He huffs briefly and tsks his lips in annoyance. “You guys act all happy and in love,” he slurs. “But life is a bitch. And that bitch is fast. You can’t ever get away from her because she always catches up.” He stops and looks at me seriously. “Do you have any lager?” He hiccups and giggles drunkenly.
“I don’t think so,” I reply.
He lays down, curling his long legs up tightly to fit on the small loveseat. I flip the light off and close the door, leaning on it for a moment to collect my thoughts.
Who the hell is Marisa?
I manage to slip back into bed without Theo even knowing I was gone. I’m certain that he’d be furious if he knew I went downstairs to help his brother without him knowing it, but I feel thankful as hell I did.
Hearing the things his brother said, drunk or not, was extremely eye-opening. I have a feeling there’s a lot to still learn about Theo.
Before Theo, if something like this were to happen, I’d be running for the hills. But after everything we’ve shared, I can’t just cut and run. We’ve only been official for a few days, surely he’ll tell me in his own time. I can’t pressure him into sharing when I don’t want to open up about my own family dramas, can I?
Surely Marisa is from his past—right? He wouldn’t make it so clear he wants a future with me if there was someone else in the picture. I can’t think so little of Theo quite yet. I can’t imagine him to be playing me for a fool. Not yet anyhow.
I need to give him time—time to open up to me on his own. He’s earned that much.
***
CHAPTER THIRTY
Time flies for the next few weeks as I adjust to life with an official boyfriend. I’m feeling constantly tired and overrun because I work all day and am up way too late with Theo. But things are good between us. Great actually. I’m able to act utterly mental and he only seems to like me more for it.
We split our time between each other’s places. We obviously prefer the privacy of his flat, but it’s important for me to maintain close relationships with Frank and Finley. I’ve lived my entire life caring more about my friends than I have even my own parents, and that doesn’t just go away for me because I find myself in a relationship.
Theo seems to enjoy the dynamic at our house too, even getting sucked into Breaking Bad marathons with Brody and Mitch. Brody pulled me aside after the first week and told me that he was really happy I ended up with someone that isn’t a tool. I took that as a glowing recommendation coming from him.
We’ve spent only three nights apart since starting our little romantic affair. One night, Liam and Ethan demanded Theo go out with them for a guys’ night. I did my best not to act like an insecure girlfriend, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to worrying about other women flirting with him. Theo is attractive—it’s not subjective, it’s objective. It’s a fact probably published in a book somewhere. And his friend Ethan is a womanizing man-whore who probably has no problem calling girls to meet up with them.
He texted me when he got home that night and told me he wanted to see me, but I put my foot down and said no. I don’t want to become an interdependent couple who can’t stand a night apart. It was hard because sleeping with him is so much cozier, but it made seeing him the next night even hotter. I guess it really is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder.
My favorite days with him are lazy Sundays. We veg out in comfy clothes, watch bad TV, and chat about everyday things.
“My mum wants me to ask you to the benefit we sponsor every year,” Theo says, looking up from his phone with a small frown. He’s looking decidedly sexy sprawled across my girlie daybed in a pair of sweats and a weekend’s worth of scruff.
“Oh my God, you’re so sweet! I’d love to,” I reply flatly, swerving back to the dress I’m making for Ameerah’s shop. I’ve been working on it diligently for the past two weeks and have only tried it on eighteen times.
“Look, I’m sorry. I just never go to this benefit, but my mum is laying on the guilt trip like crazy and I thought…maybe with you there, it wouldn’t be so bad.”
“Again, I repeat. You are the most romantic boyfriend ever.” My face is stone serious as I bite off a loose thread from the hem.
“Leslie, I’m sorry. It’s not you, it’s this charity. I just…it’s not my thing. But I want to make my mum happy. She’s desperate to meet you and I don’t know how much longer I can put her off.”
“Try asking me nicely.” I squint my eyes at him in challenge.
He tosses his sketchpad and phone to the side and rises swiftly off my bed. He stalks slowly toward me in that way that makes all my lady parts stand. I feel like a desperate tart. He throws a leg over mine, straddling me but not sitting down. My face is even with his belly and I look up at him, smiling.
He strokes his hands down my face reverently, languidly—passionately. “Leslie…you gorgeous, beautiful, funny, quirky, radiant woman. Would you please go to this charity ball with me?”
“A ball? Like, evening gowns?”
He nods half-heartedly.
“Duhhh—lead with that shit next time!” He smirks affectionately and leans down, kissing me speechless.
***
After clearing it with Ameerah, I know exactly what I’m wearing to this benefit and I can’t freaking wait. I purposefully made this dress my size with the very minuscule hope that I might someday have somewhere fabulous to wear it to.
A suicide prevention benefit isn’t exactly something I would call fabulous, but it is Black Tie, so the dress will be more than appropriate. The ball is in only two days. I’ve been working late nights to finish the dress in time.
I pressed Theo about why his parents were involved with this charity and he mumbled something about them being the corporate sponsors. I shrugged it off and hoped it wouldn’t be too heavy of an evening with such a sensitive subject matter. Surely it wouldn’t be a ball if it’s going to be a sad affair, right?
***
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The day of the ball, Finley accompanies me to a full girlie spa day. I even make an appointment to get my hair styled, which is grossly unusual for me. Typically my hair is so thick and heavy, I don’t have to do much to it. But this dress deserves something special, so I figure splurging for some quality time with my best friend is perfectly fine.
“I love this, Lez,” Finley says during our morning pedicure appointment. We’re both sipping lattes and feeling euphoric with a day full of pampering ahead of us.
“Me too. I haven’t done a spa day in ages.”
“No, I mean…seeing you so happy. It’s nice. You have Theo, I have Brody. It’s just all working out for us it feels like.”
I nod silently, feeling nervous at her grand statement. The idea of things being perfect with Theo feels great in theory, but he still hasn’t uttered Marisa’s name in my presence, so I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“What’s your deal?” Finley asks, obviously noticing my reaction is less than congenial.
“Has Brody ever kept something from you? Are there some things you guys just don’t talk about?”
She frowns, pondering that question for a moment. “No, I mean…we had a rough start in college, as you already know. And then the whole baby making mess.” She rolls her eyes. “I handled that all so, so wrong. And I know everyone tried to tell me otherwise, but it just wasn’t something I could handle I guess. I was weak!”
