Chapter 30 THEO
THEO
By Tuesday, I’m crawling out of my skin and nothing is distracting me. Alex isn’t sleeping or eating much, and she’s checking her phone constantly. When I watched her leave for work this morning, she seemed distracted and frazzled, leaving without her phone and reappearing two minutes later.
I can’t keep waiting for her to come to me.
I watch her talk to Bailey, grateful that Alex has someone who cares about her like that.
I don’t watch the cameras or check her trackers after I hear her talk to Bailey.
If Alex feels like she needs time to herself, I can give her that.
I know Alex told Bailey she didn’t mean some of what she said, but I know she didn’t mean any of it.
She got scared and lashed out, and we just need to talk about it.
We’d finally started to talk more before this happened, and we’re going to keep doing that, because that’s what couples do.
I need to fix this as soon as possible, so I’ll go over after trivia and make her dinner. I’ll show her that she can trust me, that she can let herself be happy with me, that I can make her happy if she lets me, and then she will.
I need to get the fuck away from my computer and phone if I’m going to give Alex privacy, so I leave everything but my wallet at home when I go on a run, purposefully running in the opposite direction of her office before heading to get groceries.
I take a long time buying groceries, thinking about what she might like for dinner, taking my time debating which wine to buy her and which flowers she’d like most.
When I get home, I spend a long time making a salad and lobster ravioli, trying to lose myself in the process.
Once I’m done and realize I still have a few hours, I do what I can to work off some of my anxiety.
I clean the house. I work out. I jerk off to a video of us fucking that I have saved to my computer.
I make a key lime pie. None of it helps that much, but it eats up the time I need it to.
Trivia’s usually over by nine, and it takes her half an hour to walk home, so I pack the food, wine, and flowers in a tote bag and get to her place fifteen minutes before she gets home.
She’ll walk in the door, and I’ll be there making dinner with a chilled glass of wine ready for her, and then we’ll talk.
She’ll love the flowers and the food, and we’ll spend the whole night making up.
It’ll be fine. I know she has trust issues because of her ex, I know she didn’t mean any of what she said, and I know she’s just scared of her feelings.
It’s all going to be fine.
When I get up to Alex’s floor, I can hear her talking with someone through the thin walls, which sets me on edge.
She shouldn’t be home yet, and she’s so embarrassed about her apartment that she never has anyone over except me.
Her door is already unlocked, and I start to freak out as I open it slowly.
“...a fucking tease,” a man says bitterly, and I see Alex backed into the kitchen counter, Ben looming over her, one of his legs jammed in between hers and his hands all over her body.
She’s looking at him with wide eyes and her hands flat against his chest, and my body floods with hot rage when I watch him passionately kiss her.
There’s no fucking way this is happening.
I’m across the room in an instant, ripping him off her and shoving him into the wall.
“What the fuck is this?” Alex startles at my voice, looking up at me with wide, teary eyes. She opens her mouth to say something, but nothing but a quiet huff of air comes out. God, she looks gorgeous. Is that a new dress? Why is she so dressed up?
Every thought fades when I look at her face.
Alex looks scared.
I look over at Ben, taking in his frustrated, terrified face, and my stomach twists in anger.
Were they on a date?
She should be afraid for him if that’s the case.
I set the tote bag on the ground and try hard to stay calm as I step in between them, the small kitchen crowded with the three of us.
“What the fuck is your problem, dude?” Ben says, his voice panicked and angry. My fists clench and my arms tense up because I want to punch him so fucking badly, but I stop myself. The last thing I want to do is scare Alex off anymore, so I need to work a lot harder to stay calm.
“Get the fuck away from my girlfriend,” I say, trying to keep my voice even.
“She said she was single, I swear!” I whip my head around and stare down at Alex, but she’s glaring at Ben.
“Alexandria?” We’re going to have a long fucking talk if she said she was single.
“I didn’t…it wasn’t…Ben was just leaving,” she says, her voice shaky, and he looks at her incredulously.
“What are you talking about?” I’m holding on to my composure by a fucking thread, and I don’t know who to trust until I hear Alex scoff. I look down at her, and she looks back at me with wide eyes, her jaw set and her face flushed.
She’s not just scared.
She’s furious.
Oh.
“Sweetheart, did you want him to touch you?” My voice is slow and quiet, but it sounds wrong, as if it doesn’t belong to me. Her eyes widen, and she and I stare at each other for what feels like an eternity before she shakes her head the tiniest bit.
“No,” she whispers, and a loud, angry buzzing starts in the back of my head as the edges of my vision swim with red.
He’s fucking dead.
“Wait, what?” Ben’s voice is panicky, and Alex must see how I feel, because she pales and reaches a hand out towards me.
“Theo, calm down,” she says, her voice soft and placating. “It’s just a misunderstanding, okay?” I laugh at her as I look over at Ben, who seems to realize how much shit he’s in.
I don’t even try to stop myself.
I grab his head with both hands and slam his face into the kitchen counter twice in quick succession, his nose making a loud crunching noise.
He yells in pain, and Alex screams my name as I pull him up and finally punch him in the face.
He’s trying to hit me back, but he’s obviously never been in a fight before because he’s just flailing his arms towards me.
I hit him in the stomach, and he doubles over, and I throw him to the floor and follow him down, jamming my arm across his throat and pressing my weight into it.
I punch him again with my other hand as he starts turning purple. He’s hitting me in the ribs and pulling at my arm frantically, but I’m too angry to feel any pain. Alex is yelling at me, her voice terrified and pleading, but I can’t tell what she’s saying. It doesn’t matter, anyway.
The only thing that matters is that this motherfucker pays for what he was going to do to her.
I pull my arm back to hit him again, but Alex grabs my elbow, yanking back hard. The moment I register the feel of her hands on me, my mind clears just enough to hear what she’s saying.
“Baby, stop,” she begs in a low, terrified voice, and I freeze.
Ben takes the momentary interruption as an opportunity to punch me in the face.
Alex screams at him and lets go of my elbow instantly, and I press more of my weight into the arm across his neck, making him choke harder as I hit him in the face once more before I shove off him.
Alex grabs me around the waist the second I stand up, but it doesn’t stop me from lifting my foot and driving my heel into Ben’s side.
He screams as one of his ribs snaps, and Alex starts yelling at me angrily.
“Theodore, stop it right now!” She tries to pull me away from him, and I let her, angling us towards the front door and keeping myself between her and Ben. I slide a hand behind me to grab her hip, focusing on the grounding feel of her arms tight around me and her body pressed into my back.
She’s okay.
Ben scrambles off the floor and backs into the living room, looking furious and scared once he realizes he’s blocked from leaving.
His face is dark red, his lip is split, his nose is bleeding freely, and he’s bent over, clutching at his side.
It’s so fucking satisfying to see him in pain that I can’t help smiling at him, and his eyes widen until there’s a rim of white completely circling his irises.
“You’re a fucking psycho, man! I’m calling the cops!
” The smile drops off my face immediately.
Shit, I didn’t even think about that. Alex lets go of me and walks towards him, her hands out in front of her like she’s trying to calm a skittish horse.
I keep close behind her, one hand hovering over her waist, and he backs away towards the wall quickly.
“Ben, this is all just a misunderstanding, okay?” Her voice is shaky, but she’s trying to be calm and placating.
“I’m so sorry. You misread the situation, and Theo’s a little…
protective. We don’t need to call the cops, right?
We can deal with this ourselves. I can give you money for the medical bills, and Theo can apologize.
” I bark out a harsh laugh, and Ben flinches.
“Um, just hang on for a second. Please don’t call the cops, okay?
” She rounds on me and mouths apologize before she hurries out of the room, and I wait until I hear her rifling through her closet before I step closer to him, keeping my voice quiet.
“You touch her again, and I’ll fucking kill you,” I hiss as I lean towards him, and the blood drains from his face as he shrinks away from me. From the look on his face, he knows it’s not an empty threat. “I wouldn’t recommend calling the cops, either.” Ben shrinks against the wall and nods once.
“Theo?” I back away from him the second I hear Alex’s shaky voice. I see her walk back into the living room with a small stack of cash that’s easily a thousand dollars, looking nervously between me and Ben. I cross my arms and glare at him, working hard to keep myself from hitting him again.