THEO
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Are you sure this is everything?”
My eyebrows are cinched together, head tilting to the side as I look at both Lucy and my car with her belongings inside. She’s leaving her furniture in the apartment, so she can rent it as fully furnished, but this feels like she’s bringing the bare minimum.
She opens the trunk. “Most of what I have is clothes.” She shrugs as Shaw and Elena both come walking up the driveway. She waves to them both. “I don’t like having a lot of things.”
“Is this everything?” Shaw asks, peering into the trunk with his face mirroring mine. “This doesn’t seem like a lot.”
Lucy blows out a sigh. “This is everything, people.”
“It’s probably since you left all the furniture,” Elena offers before cutting her eyes at Shaw, like she’s scolding him. “You have plenty of stuff, Lucy.”
Lucy glances at her, pursing her lips, annoyance touching her expression.
Elena half-pushes Shaw toward the car, muttering something to him under her breath.
I’m not sure what they were doing together before coming here, but when I texted him, he said Elena had already talked to Lucy, so they showed up together.
Lucy turns to me, inhaling deeply before she slowly releases the breath. “Do I not have enough belongings?” Her brows knit with concern. “I brought everything other than the furniture.” She flutters her hand around, visibly flustered as she moves back toward the car. “I don’t like clutter.”
I’m not sure why she’s starting to spiral.
I reach for her wrist, catching it as she turns away.
She spins back to me, her chin lifting, gaze colliding with mine.
“You have plenty of things, Freckles.” I tug her closer, feeling the swell of her breasts between us.
“Some people need more things than others.”
Lucy’s eyes are locked on mine, her lips parting softly. She closes the distance between us, her hands sliding along my arms to hook around the back of my neck. Nice, Luce. She’s nailing her role as my fake girlfriend right now. Really selling the image.
My hands slide along her waist, heat spreading like wildfire through my body as I feel her warmth beneath my palms. Her stomach sticks out with a small baby bump, and her breasts have been growing.
The recent changes in her body have me feral.
Fuck me. My cock stirs and I pay it no attention. Now is not the time for that.
“Should we take this stuff inside?” Elena asks, her voice amused.
My eyes are still on Lucy’s, my brain barely registering Elena and Shaw’s existence. “Yeah, sure.”
“Come on, El,” Shaw mumbles.
“Sorry,” Lucy breathes, shaking her head at me. The sunlight hits her bright blue eyes, and they shimmer like the surface of the ocean. “I’ve been kind of irritable today and that just struck a nerve.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” I assure her, a smile tugging on the corners of my lips. “Why don’t you go inside and relax, and we’ll get all this stuff?”
She scowls. “I want to help.”
“Nope.” I chuckle, shaking my head. “You’re pregnant and shouldn’t be lifting anything.”
“That’s only when you’re further along,” she argues. “I can help. As everyone has already pointed out, I barely have anything.”
A frown tugs on the corners of my lips. She’s really bothered by that.
I didn’t mean to offend her, it just felt like she would have more stuff after having her own apartment.
“I’m sorry, Luce. I didn’t mean for it to sound that way.
Think about it, you left so much there for the renters.
Everything in the kitchen, the furniture, lamps—that’s a lot of stuff left behind. ”
She releases another sigh, her body relaxing as she steps into my space completely, the front of her body pressing to mine. I wrap my arms around her torso, holding her as she embraces me. My dick’s only half-hard and I can only pray she doesn’t fucking feel it.
“Thank you, Theo,” she murmurs, her face buried in the crook of my neck. She smells like jasmine and rose and I inhale deeply. Familiar and comforting, like home. “Not just for this, but for everything. Everything you’ve done for me… it’s more than anyone else ever has.”
Her body conforms to mine, fitting in like the missing piece to a puzzle.
“You’re the best person I know,” she whispers, her lips soft as they brush against the side of my throat. “The best friend I could ever ask for.” Her breath is hot against my skin.
Fuck me. My breath catches in my throat, a low moan vibrating in my chest as my fingers tighten around her waist. She inhales sharply, yet she doesn’t move. Her lips linger on my neck, and the movement is subtle as they brush my flesh again.
“Lucy,” I rasp into her ear, filling my lungs with her scent. She could move away, but instead she’s melting into me. My arms tighten around her lower back, needing her closer. Her fingertips dance along the nape of my neck, sliding along the back of my head, pushing through my hair.
A throat clears from somewhere near us and I don’t open my eyes. I ignore the sound, sliding the side of my face along the side of Lucy’s head, both of us pulling back enough to look at each other.
“Hello?” Shaw’s voice is louder than his throat and it slices through the air. “I hate to interrupt you two, lovebirds, but I have a question.”
Hues of pink spread across Lucy’s cheeks and the corners of her mouth twitch with a sheepish grin. She ducks her head, her arms falling away from my neck. My arms are still around her waist as she twists around to look at Shaw.
I should let go of her, but I don’t. Instead, she presses her forearms against mine, her hands resting on top of mine with her back against my chest.
“Yes, Cameron?” she asks, her voice sugary sweet as she gives him a patient smile. “What do you need?”
Shaw’s eyes flick to mine and back to Lucy’s as he gives her a smile. “Sorry. I just don’t know what room we’re putting things in and didn’t want to put them in the wrong one.”
Lucy pats my hands with hers and I know it’s time to let her go. “Of course.” She nods at Shaw. My arms fall away from her waist, but she catches my hand, lacing her fingers through mine, giving mine a gentle squeeze.
“You go ahead and show him.” I smile at her, lifting her hand as I press my lips to her fingers. Her lashes flutter, her lips parting with a shallow breath. I release her hand, something warm blooming in my chest from her reaction. “I’m going to grab some things from the car.”
She smiles back at me, dipping her chin before she leads the way into the house with Shaw in tow. Elena stands by the back of Lucy’s car, holding a box. I swallow hard as she pins her gaze on me. I need to get to the trunk, and it almost feels like she’s guarding it.
She glances at the house, where Lucy and Shaw disappeared inside before looking at me. “What are you doing, Theo?”
My brows cinch closer as I finally force myself to walk over to the back of the car. My stomach churns. “What do you mean?”
“With Lucy.” She presses her lips into a flat line.
“I understand you’re doing a noble thing for her, which is fucking awesome.
We both know Lucy deserves nothing but the best in life.
” She pauses, the muscle in her jaw tightening.
“You need to tell her the truth about your feelings for her or you’re going to end up fucking with her head. ”
She catches me off guard. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Simmons. I might wear contacts, but I’m not fucking blind.” She rolls her eyes, huffing as she shakes her head. “She may not see it, but I do.”
“I—” Holy shit. I don’t know what to say or what to do. I should lie. Self-preservation. I don’t want my truth fully exposed, especially not to her other best friend. Elena knows the baby isn’t mine. She knows it’s all a facade. She knows it’s all a lie.
I’m fucked.
“I can’t.”
Elena tilts her head to the side. “What do you mean? Yes, you can.”
I shake my head, my stomach flipping. “No, I can’t. I promised her years ago I wouldn’t let anything ruin our friendship. If I tell her how I feel, it messes everything up.”
Elena stares back at me with a look of disbelief. “You made her that promise when you were fourteen. You can’t seriously still be living by a promise you made when you were an actual child.”
I swallow hard over the lump lodged in my throat. “I don’t want to lose her in any way.”
“So, you’re just going to lie to her and yourself, for what? So, you don’t get hurt?”
My chest constricts. “I don’t want either of us to get hurt.”
Elena narrows her eyes on me. “Too late, buddy. You hurt her every time you were parading around another woman.” She clicks her tongue. “Why do you think she slept with Alex that night?”
My stomach falls to the fucking floor. “What?”
“She saw pictures of you in Vancouver with that blonde you were out with. She met Alex at the bar and made a drunken mistake, trying to forget about you.”
My mind is reeling and I can’t digest all of this. “Why would she want to forget about me?”
Elena presses her fingers to her forehead, her eyes closing as she sucks in a deep breath. “My god, you’re dense.” She opens her eyes. “You’re not the only one who’s afraid of admitting their feelings.”
“Are you guys going to bring anything in or am I just a one-man show here?” Shaw calls out to us as he comes back through the front door. He pauses as we both look at him, his eyes bulging. “Oh shit, who’s in trouble?”
“No one,” Elena says dismissively, pulling the box from the trunk. “Don’t wait until it’s too late to tell her, Theo.”
Shaw comes over to the trunk, grabbing some of Lucy’s things as Elena turns away, heading into the house. “What was that about?”
“Nothing,” I lie.
Shaw doesn’t look convinced, but he doesn’t press the issue, so I quickly change the subject since I’ve been meaning to check in on him.
“Is everything good with you? Is Mackenzie giving you trouble again?”
Shaw lets out the longest, exasperated sigh known to man. “Dude. She will not leave me the fuck alone.” His jaw tics. “I don’t know what part of us being broken up it is that she doesn’t understand.”
“It’s been what, three months now?”
“Yeah.” He shrugs. “I gotta find a way to get her to leave me the hell alone.”
“Cam, are you coming?” Elena calls from the door, cutting through our conversation. I didn’t even realize she was waiting for him to follow her.
Shaw slowly turns to look at her. “I’m right behind you,” he calls out to her, smirking. “I fucking wish.” He glances at me, chuckling under his breath, before heading in her direction.
I laugh, shaking my head as I look up at the house.
The laughter dies on my lips as my eyes drift to the window of the guest room that’s going to be the baby’s nursery, playing over my conversation with Elena.
If what she said is true—if Lucy only hooked up with that guy because of me—that makes this baby even more of my responsibility.
This whole thing… It’s all my fault and it’s all because I’ve been living a lie.
I just don’t know how to tell Lucy the truth.