Six
sadie
Ellie’s phone vibrated with a message, and she sat up on the treatment table, headband still in place, skin fresh and glowing.
“Mum’s texting me,” she said, thumb-tapping a reply. “She wants us home, Wills.”
My eyes narrowed as I took in her oh-so-casual expression. Laura had never called the girls home when they were with me. Not once. I didn’t doubt she was sending texts, but I’d bet they were demands for updates on Theo and me. “Why?”
“She’s making lunch,” Ellie said. “It’ll be ready in five, so we need to head back.”
Suspiciously perfect timing. I’d just finished both their facials, and traces of the scented moisturiser still lingered in the air.
“What are you having today?” I asked, forcing her to commit to the role.
“She didn’t say, but she’s working her way through all the stuff in the freezer in case the electricity goes off, so probably something—”
“Frozen?” Theo asked over his shoulder. With his arm stretched along the backrest, he’d made himself disturbingly at home on my velvet couch.
“Exactly.” She ripped off the headband and stared hard at Willow.
As soon as her sister caught on to the ruse, she jumped up from the dining chair. “Sorry, Sadie. If we don’t go now, we’ll be in trouble.”
Lies. All lies. I couldn’t even be annoyed. Their terrible acting had me holding back a smile. “I guess you'd better get out of here, then.”
“You know what Mum’s like,” Ellie said. “She’ll be blowing up my phone if we don’t move now.”
I swallowed a laugh at the visual of Laura overreacting when I’d never heard her so much as raise her voice toward the girls—but they couldn’t set me up with Theo if I ushered him right out the door with them. “Well, it was nice hanging out with you all—”
“Oh, it’s just us leaving.” Ellie dropped her feet to the floor and shifted her attention to Theo. “Table’s free,” she said. “You’re up.”
Wait. No, no, no. “It’s okay,” I said in a rush. “We can do this again another time.”
“But he wants a turn,” Willow said. “Don’t you, Theo? You want to feel pretty, too.”
Theo pushed off the couch and came around the side to join us.
“I think you mean prettier.” He shot a glance at the table, then at Willow.
I mentally pleaded with him to read the room and make a quiet, no-fuss exit, but something in him must have wanted one-on-one time with me.
“Yeah, I do,” he said, locking eyes with me.
“You know what you’re doing. I think I can trust you with my face. ”
A strange sensation came over me. My stomach sank and filled with butterflies all at once, as if apprehension and elation had decided now was the perfect time to coexist. “Okay, fine,” I said. “I guess it’s only fair.”
Ellie smirked at the squeak in my voice. I gave her a mock scowl, vowing to have words with her later.
Resigned to my fate, I shooed them away. “Be gone with you and make some room.”
“Okay. See you later,” Ellie said in a singsong tone. Without wasting another second, she grabbed Willow’s hand and ran for the door, the two of them laughing as they made their escape.
I shook my head as the latch clicked shut behind them.
Theo smiled. “At least it’ll give them something to talk about.”
“True.” With a reluctant laugh, I patted the table. “Why don’t you climb up and get comfortable?”
As he closed the distance between us, his nearness let loose a rush of energy inside me. I didn’t know how to explain it in a way that made sense, but he took up more room than the average person, and whenever I was around him, I became alarmingly aware of my own body.
He settled into position, his shoulders filling the width of the table. A warm, woodsy fragrance rose to greet me, and when he lifted his hips to release his trapped t-shirt, I glimpsed a thin line of hair down the centre of his abdomen. My pulse skipped, and I had to wrench my eyes away.
Once he’d stilled, I slipped the towelling headband in place and told myself to get it together. “I don’t know how much you saw of what I did with the girls,” I said, keeping my voice even, “but just close your eyes and relax. Ask questions if you’re curious about anything.”
“Roger that.” His eyes drifted shut, and he rested his clasped hands on his chest.
As I stroked the cleanser across his forehead and cheeks, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and he released a heavy breath.
“How’d you get so good at this?” he murmured.
“Skincare’s a hobby of mine—and I like to take care of people.” Using gentle swipes with a face washer, I removed the cleanser, pressing firmer to catch the residue in his stubble.
Voices drifted from the television, just enough noise to stop the silence from feeling intimidating.
His lips parted, and he cracked his eyes open a fraction before closing them again. “Each time I learn something new about you, it reminds me how little I know. You’re still being awkward around me, too.”
“How am I being awkward?”
“You can barely look at me.” Humour laced his deep voice, and his mouth softened. “You didn’t want me to stick around when Ellie and Wills left, and touching me is freaking you the fuck out. I honestly don’t know if it’s entertaining or depressing.”
I smiled. “I’m getting better.”
“Only because we’re trapped together. Just like we were on the shopping trip.”
“It still counts.” I sorted through my meagre beauty supplies and grabbed a serum with a few drops left at the bottom. Applying it to his skin, I used soft pats with my palms, letting my hands linger here and there to provide pressure. His sharp inhale told me he liked it.
“Why is it so hard for you to be around me?” he asked after a long pause. “You’re fine with Owen and Varesh. Tim’s your best friend…”
Theo soaked up physical touch the way his skin absorbed serum, so I continued pressing my palms against his face even when it was no longer necessary.
“You don’t have a problem with men,” he went on, “just… me.”
My breath hitched, and my hands went still.
He’d been paying attention, even when I thought I was invisible.
“I didn’t mean to make you feel that way.
” I stroked my fingers softly upwards from his neck to his cheeks, and his reaction to my pampering made me wonder if he craved emotional closeness, too.
Maybe he was more sensitive than I thought.
“I’m just keeping my distance from single, straight men for now. ”
“Why?”
I sighed quietly so he wouldn’t hear me. “I’m doing a factory reset, and I don’t want to give anyone the impression I’m interested.”
“Well, it’s working,” he said with a tinge of humour in his voice. “I’ve never been under the impression you’re interested—and what do you mean by for now? You’ve been alone the whole time you’ve lived here.”
I selected another serum and unscrewed the dropper, dotting it over his forehead and cheeks. “It's a common side effect of peace,” I said, patting the serum into his skin. “Once you’ve experienced a calm life, you don’t want to open yourself up to chaos again.”
“Understandable. But if you’re nice to me, I won’t turn into Kerger and start hanging around you like a creep. We can be friends.”
“I hope so.” The more time I spent around him, the more it seemed like a possibility, which was a blessing in a world where everyone was either sick, in hiding, or gone.
I grabbed a tub of moisturiser and applied healthy globs to his face, knowing it would take a while to work it into his skin. He liked the attention, and it surprised me how much I enjoyed his company.
With a smile, I slipped my hands beneath his jaw and dragged firm pressure back upwards, feeling his stubble rasp beneath my fingertips. He let out a soft groan that stirred butterflies in my stomach, so I repeated the motion.
While he lay there all loose and relaxed, I turned his head to the left and examined the intricate rose tattoo on the side of his neck, rubbing my thumb over a thorn so realistic it should have pricked my skin. “I like your tattoos,” I said.
His eyes remained closed, and he lifted his chin like a cat, inviting more of my deep massaging technique. “You do?”
“The ones I can see.” I obliged his silent demand, running my hands from the base of his neck to his temples. He sighed through his nose as if all the remaining traces of tension were leaving his body. “Why are you surprised?” I asked.
“I thought my ink was a big part of the reason you were staying away from me.”
“What? No.”
“My mistake,” he said with a hint of a smile. “To be fair, you’re not exactly an open book.”
“We’re fixing that now.”
“Are we? I’m still no closer to understanding you.” A long stretch of silence passed before he spoke again. “Tell me something I don’t know about you,” he said, his voice a tempting invitation. “I’ll keep my eyes closed so you don’t lose your nerve. I won’t even speak.”
For a man who could act like such a goof, his insight unsettled me. “I have no clue what you know about me.”
He raised his brows, his eyes still closed. “Why don't you start spilling, and we’ll find out?”
I huffed in amusement and rubbed slow circles on his forehead. “All right, I’ll play along.”
Theo didn’t respond, but the corner of his mouth quirked.
Right.
The no-speaking part had come into effect.
Since his skin had absorbed all the cream, I slipped off the headband.
Before today, I never could have imagined trying to draw out my time with him. Now, I wanted to come up with different ways to extend the pamper session.
As soon as my hands sank into his hair, his stomach pulled in with a breath, and his toffee-coloured strands moved between my fingers like silk.
“My parents died when I was twenty-two,” I said, massaging his scalp. “It was an accident, just a random, terrible thing on a Saturday.”
I could have started with something less heavy, but part of me wanted to test him and find out if he’d meant what he said.
Theo stayed true to his word by not saying a thing.