CHAPTER FOUR THEO
CHAPTER FOUR
THEO
I would have left, too, but Caleb’s parents insisted on staying, so I stuck around as well. My eyes are now past the point of being dry, and I think I dozed off a couple of times in the last hour.
“You know you don’t have to stay with us,” my uncle, Jensen, says from beside me. “We can meet you at the house.”
“What kind of nephew would I be if I just left you alone in a new town by yourself?”
He just smirks. “The smart kind.” He slaps my leg, and I look up at the television in the corner of the room, which has been playing the whole night with no sound.
The doors swing open, and Caleb comes out.
His face is finally getting a little bit of color back.
The whole night, he seemed one second away from passing out, and then, in an instant, he looked like he wanted to destroy the walls in the room.
I sit up as he comes in. Sierra’s parents get up and go to him.
“How is she doing?” her mother, Marian, asks him.
“She’s coming in and out,” he reports. Sierra’s father puts his arm around Marian as she picks up her hand with a white Kleenex in it, silently crying. “Would you like to go in and sit with her? Figured we can take shifts.”
“I would like that very much,” Marian sniffles and smiles, her eyes rimmed red with all the tears she’s cried.
She and Joseph walk through the swinging doors to Sierra’s room.
“How you holding up?” Caleb’s mother, Hailey, gets up from her seat and rushes to him, rubbing his arm. “Do you want to sit down? Do you want something to drink?” She looks around at the cups of coffee Everleigh brought from the bakery. “You should eat something.”
“No, Mom,” he answers softly, “I’m okay.”
“But you didn’t eat anything.” Her voice is low.
“He’s going to eat when he’s ready to eat,” Jensen interjects. He’s now stretched out just like I was, with his hands on his stomach. “Leave him be.”
“I’m good, Mom,” Caleb assures her softly, then he looks at me. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“He’s the most polite when he’s tired,” I mumble to Jensen, making him laugh. “I think what you are supposed to say is, ‘Theo, thank you so much for staying here and making sure I’m okay.’”
“Yeah, whatever,” Caleb says, “but seriously, why didn’t you leave with everyone else?”
“And leave these two alone? Where would the fun in that be? Let’s say something happened to Sierra, and you go apeshit bonkers.
” I sit up. “That makes your mother go a bit more bonkers. Which then would make your father really go bonkers. Who is going to keep everyone calm?” I wait for him to answer.
“I would have been okay,” Hailey says, and Jensen gives her a look that says he doesn’t believe a word she says.
“Sure, you would have been because I would have talked you down.” I stand up.
“Okay, then. Since I’m really not needed .
. . Aunty Hailey,” I walk to her, “you call me when you’re ready to come to the house, and I’ll come and get you.
” I kiss her cheek, and she puts her hand on it, just like she did when I was younger.
“I might even let him come with us.” I point over my shoulder at my uncle.
“As if he would leave me alone.” She rolls her eyes and then turns to her husband.
“Till death do us part.” He smiles at her big.
“Or till I kill you, either-or,” Hailey retorts.
“I’m heading out.” I look at Caleb. “Unless you want me to stay, man. Say the word.”
“No, no.” He shakes his head. “She’s going to be fine, we’ll be good.”
“I’m a phone call away,” I remind him, and he nods at me before I turn and walk out of the emergency room. The sun is long gone, and in its place is a quarter moon that barely lights the sky. The warm breeze rolls through as I walk to my truck and open the cab door.
I get in and opt to drive home with the windows down. There isn’t another car on the road. The soft chirp of crickets sounds in the distance.
As I pull into my driveway, all the houses are quiet, with their inside lights off, while some have their porch lights illuminated. I walk up the steps, and the crick in my neck starts to nag me.
I slide the key in the lock and turn it. Stepping into the darkness of the house, I bend to untie the laces of my construction boots before I’m able to kick them off. I bypass everything and make my way up to the shower. Taking my phone out, I see I have texts from Mikaela.
Mikaela:
Cleanup crew is on its way.
Mikaela:
Cleanup crew is done.
Mikaela:
I’ve got us covered for tomorrow.
Mikaela:
Let me know if you guys need anything.
Mikaela:
Wow, thanks for answering. I could be dead.
I laugh at the last message and think about replying, but knowing her, she probably has the phone beside her, and the last thing I want is to wake her if she’s sleeping.
Instead, I pull up my uncle’s number and text him.
Me:
Not that you care, but I made it home.
I turn the shower on, pull my shirt off, and toss it into the empty basket in the corner. My phone vibrates, and I check the screen.
Uncle J:
I was so worried. Thanks for not having our backs. We could be in jail right now.
I snort at his text and put the phone down before completely undressing and stepping into the shower. I put my head down to let the water run over my neck. My mind immediately wanders to Collins.
Seeing her was definitely not on my bingo card. Today, in general, was not on my bingo card, but coming face-to-face with Collins? Boy, did that throw me off. Not as much as someone I know being shot, but it’s high up there.
Ever since I came to town, I had a strict rule with myself that I wouldn’t go home with anyone who lived here.
Thatcher’s has always had people staying in the area drop in to taste the local wares.
I mean, I did cave a couple of times here and there with people that lived here, and Collins was one of them.
But running into her was a fluke. It should never have happened.
I had spent that night in the bar with a couple of guys from work.
Usually, Nino drives Frankie home since Frankie’s rental is a street over from where he lives.
But Nino left really early that night, so I stepped in, even though it was in the opposite direction of where I was going.
I saw her blonde hair as soon as I turned the corner, and my headlights caught her.
She moved back away from the road as I slowed down to see that her tire was flat.
“Hey.” I rolled my window down. “Need a hand?”
“Depends.” She tilted her head to the side, her hair blowing in the wind.
From the little light that was shining on her from the moon and my lights reflecting on the road, I could tell she was a knockout.
“Are you a murderer?” Out of everything she could have asked, I would have never imagined her asking that.
“Not that I know of.” I smirked at her.
I suggested she could wait in my truck, but she didn’t take me up on the offer. Still, I left the motor running when I parked my truck in front of her car, in case she wanted to bolt out of there.
“Hi,” she said softly.
“Hi.” I smiled at her, and I was wrong about her being a knockout, she was way past that and probably out of my league. “I’m Theo.”
I reached my hand out as she told me that serial killers usually introduced themselves to their prey, but she still crouched down beside me when I looked at her tire. It was shredded, and she’s lucky she pulled over in time and wasn’t going fast. She might have lost control of the car.
I changed her tire in a little over ten minutes, and the whole time she was beside me, helping by shining the flashlight on her phone just where I needed the light.
“That should do it,” I said to her as I put the jack back in the trunk, dusting off my hands.
“Thank you, really,” she said.
“Do you have a rag or anything?” My hands were filthy and streaked with grease. She shook her head. “How far do you live from here?”
“I’m not going to tell you where I live. That’s an open invitation to come and murder me.”
“Collins, if I were going to murder you, I would have done it while you were next to me.” She thought about it. “I’m going to follow you home to make sure you get there. The pressure in that spare is low.”
“You’ve already done so much for me. You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t, but I’m going to. It’s really late, so if we can just jump over the whole conversation, that would be amazing.”
I thought for sure she would argue with me, but she didn’t.
She got behind the wheel, and I followed her to her little house, where the grass was a bit overgrown.
When she got out of her car, she held up her hand.
“I feel really bad about before,” she said.
“Please come in and wash your hands. It’s the least I can do. ”
I thought about turning her down. I should have turned her down. But the smile she gave me in that moment made me forget my own rule. “I promise not to murder you.”
I followed her into her house and washed my hands. When she handed me a towel to dry them, that’s when it happened. I kissed her, and it went from a kiss to a serious make-out session, and the next thing I knew, we were in her bed.
I should have left when we were done having sex the first time.
Instead, I got up, got rid of the condom, and then watched her turn on the shower.
I left the room for a split second to get the second condom.
It was a tight fucking squeeze in her tiny shower, but I put my mouth exactly where I got a quick taste before I took her the first time.
Her back was against the wall, one of my hands playing with her nipple while the other fucked her, and my mouth sucked on her clit.
It took less than three minutes for her to come on my tongue.
A sweetness I have never tasted before. It took me less than ten seconds to slip the second condom on, or at least try to.
Before I even got the packet in between my teeth, she was on her knees in front of me, the base of my cock in her hand, the tip in her mouth.
We fell into her bed not long after that, our bodies still damp. It was then that I finally got the second condom on and, unlike the first time, I took my time with her.
I should have made an excuse after round two, but I didn’t. I lay there in her bed and listened to her breathing. It was the first time I had ever done that, and I didn’t even understand it at the moment.
“Fuck,” I hiss out, looking up at the water and then closing my eyes when it runs down my face.
“You’re a goddamn idiot,” I tell myself.
One-night stands are my norm, but it didn’t sit well with me as I was leaving.
I knew I would see her in town, eventually, since she lived here.
It was as if I was waiting for it to happen, but I never expected it to be today, my first day back. Not in a million years.
Tomorrow we’ll have coffee, and I’ll apologize, then it’ll be over, I decide. I turn the water off and step out, grabbing a towel. “Hopefully, at the end of it all, we can be friends.”