CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE THEO
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THEO
I stand at the entrance of the bedroom, as far away as I am going to let myself be from her and her parents. I saw the look on her face when she saw them there. There was no fucking way I was going to leave her alone with them.
“Don’t sit there and pretend I’m talking about the one-hundred-dollar check.
” Her voice is low and filled with anger.
“I’m talking about the thousand-dollar check you guys took and forged.
” I close my eyes and ball my fists by my side.
“My rent bounced.” I put my head back and look at the ceiling, trying to stop myself from going in there and kicking them out of my fucking house.
“And now I have to pay for new tires since insurance didn’t cover it.
” The guilt that she would have had to pay for something that was my fault cuts me at the knees.
“We all go through tough times.” There’s not an ounce of love in her father’s voice.
“Yeah,” her mother sneers out, “everyone goes through tough times. But it looks like the tough times are behind you now.”
“This is not my house,” she hisses at them.
I can’t hear anything else, not until the front door closes. I enter the kitchen to find her alone, with her head hanging down. “Hey.” I wish I could see her face.
“Hey.” She doesn’t turn.
I hug her from the back, kissing her neck.
“Theo,” she whispers, and her hands reach to hold my arm around her chest. My other arm is wrapped around her waist, my hand on her stomach. “That was . . .”
I bury my face in her neck, not sure what I should say.
The minute I opened the door, and he told me who he was, I got a feeling up my spine that this was not good.
But these were her parents, and I wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize my relationship with her.
It was up to her, and I would follow her lead.
“Are you hungry, baby?” I ask, not wanting to upset her before she’s about to eat.
“I was, but I’m not anymore.”
I close my eyes and try to fight back the need to go after her parents and tell them to never fucking come here again. “Want to talk about it?”
“What is there to talk about?” The defeat in her voice radiates through her. “Those are my parents. There really isn’t anything else to say.” She sniffles. “It’s night and day compared to your family.” I don’t say anything, I just hold her tighter. “I’m sorry that—”
I stop her. “Don’t say another fucking word.” I have to remind myself I need to be gentle with her, but I will not be fucking gentle when I have to protect her or fight for her.
Her shoulders slump and I turn her around because I need her to look at me when I say these words.
“Collins,” I put my finger under her chin, lifting her head up so I can see her beautiful eyes, eyes that let me see into her pure soul.
“Listen to me”—I move my hand from under her chin to cup her cheek—“I let them in because I didn’t know what to do.
But you say the word, and they will never step one more foot in this house. ”
She smiles sadly, and I can tell she’s trying to cover up what she is really feeling. “I don’t want you to have trouble.” Her words feel like they are ripped from her.
“Stop it right now.” My voice is tight. “I don’t want you to give them another thought. Not one more fucking thought. I’m going to go into the kitchen and make you something to eat, and then you are going to get to bed.”
She swallows down. “Okay.”
I bend to kiss her lips before pulling open the fridge. “What do you feel like having? Is there anything you’re craving?”
“Um.” She comes to stand beside me, looking into the well-stocked fridge. “I’m going with scrambled eggs on toast.”
“That’s really not dinner.”
“It is if you add bacon and maybe sausage.” She shrugs her shoulders. “Besides, it’s quick and easy.”
“Okay, but tomorrow we’ll eat a well-balanced meal.” I grab the egg carton and the pack of bacon. She doesn’t say anything to that, she just grabs the bacon from me. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to help.” She grabs a pan.
“No, you aren’t. You’ve been working all day long.”
“Have you not been working?” She tilts her head to the side.
“Yes, but I’m not growing a human.” I take the pack of bacon from her. “You have only one thing to do: decide if you are going to rest on the couch or in the bed.”
“Um.” She looks at me. “Can I sit on the stool?”
“I’d like for you to stretch out your legs.” I put the stuff down on the counter and turn two stools to face each other. “There, you can sit on the stool and put up your feet.”
“You know what I didn’t notice before?” She sits on the stool, and I bend to put her legs up. “How bossy you are.”
“Baby,” I smirk at her, “hate to say it, but it’s just starting.” I kiss her lips before going to the stove.
“Were you this bossy with your fiancée?” I look up at her. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.”
“I personally don’t want to talk about her, but if you have questions, I’ll answer.”
“Does it hurt you to talk about her?”
“No. It did at first, but then, I don’t know, it was just something I had to go through.”
“When did it change to mean nothing?”
“I realized it a few months before you and I hooked up. And when you told me you were having my baby, I knew for sure I was over her. She didn’t even cross my mind.
” She smiles and looks down at her hands.
“I knew that no matter what I had with her, it was going to be nothing like I have with you.” I put my outstretched hands on the counter.
“Even if we weren’t going to give us a chance, I knew I would protect you until the end. ”
“You didn’t even know me.”
“I didn’t.” I turn to grab a pan and then a pair of scissors to cut the pack of bacon open.
“But the way you handled everything”—I look at her as I place eight pieces of bacon in the pan—“you came at me, and you were so mature. Anyone else would have blown the fucking house down and made a scene when they saw the other person who walked out on them.” The ache fills in my chest. “I’ll never forgive myself, you know . . . for doing what I did.”
“Theo—”
“A couple of things,” I interrupt her. “Don’t ever downplay what I did to you.”
“I’m not downplaying it. It’s just not really worth it. What is worth it is what you did when you found out. That’s what matters.”
“You are too good for me,” I admit to her.
She smirks and then tilts her head to the side, her eyes lighting up. “I was going to say the same thing to you.” She laughs. “What is the next thing you wanted to say, Theo?”
“Don’t say my name like that,” I warn her. “You say my name like that when I can hold you in my arms and then bury myself in you.”
She giggles. “Noted, don’t say your name unless you are next to me.”
“I like hearing you laugh.” I take the pan off the stove. “And I hate to see you cry.”
“I promise, I don’t cry often. Or at least I didn’t before I was pregnant.”
“I don’t want you crying at all.” I turn off the stove. “Not one fucking tear.”
“You can’t order me to do that.”
“No, I can’t,” I agree, “but I can make fucking sure there isn’t a reason for you to cry.”
“Well, you saying those words”—she takes a deep breath in—“makes it pretty fucking hard.” She looks down at her stomach. “Sorry for swearing. I promise I’m really working on it.”
I just smile at her as she talks to the baby while I plate our scrambled eggs with toast and bacon. All conversations about my ex and her parents are gone. “So now that you told your boss and all that, when do you think you’ll be telling more people?” I place her plate in front of her.
“I don’t know,” she answers softly. “Why? Do you want to tell people?”
“Um, yeah.” I take a forkful of the eggs. “I want to tell everyone I see. I would have already, but I was following your lead.”
“What?” she gasps.
“What, what?” I ask her, unsure of what she is asking me.
“You want to tell everyone?”
“Yeah. I would take out the front page of the paper if I could.”
She throws her head back and laughs as she pushes my shoulder. “Okay, well, let’s not do that. I can just imagine the headlines: Trapped by the Local Pariah.”
My fork falls to my plate. “Don’t fucking talk like that about yourself again,” I snap.
She looks at me, surprised. I push away from the counter, walk over to the fridge, and grab the carton of orange juice.
I was about to slam it on the counter. “You will never say anything about yourself like that. Not in this house, not out there, and especially not in fucking front of me.”
“It’s not a big deal, Theo,” she says, trying to downplay it. “I’ve been called that my whole life.”
“Well, it fucking stops now. I’m not fucking kidding either.” I sit back down on the stool beside her, reaching out to gently touch her stomach. “I’m sorry I swore,” I tell the baby, “I couldn’t help myself.”
Collins doesn’t say anything to me. She just puts her hand on mine.
“Eat, then bed. It’s getting late.”
She finishes her plate, and after I push her toward the bedroom, she tries to wash the dishes.
By the time I’ve cleaned up and joined her, she’s fast asleep. I slip into bed, and I roll into her. She has a pillow tucked at her side, and I make my body fit around hers. Like I was meant to be there all along.
“Night, baby,” I whisper into her hair.
The next thing I know, her alarm is ringing. She shuts it off quickly, no doubt to keep me from waking up, and tosses the covers off herself as she gets up.
“Morning,” I mumble.
“I hate that you have to wake up because of me. I’m going to message Roman and ask him to come and get me.”
“I’m taking you to work, and then I’ll drop the truck off later for when you get off.”
“But how will you get around?”
“I have to go out with Caleb, so I’ll be with him.” She shakes her head. I see her wanting to fight with me. “Go get dressed, I already packed your lunch box.”
I drop her off and head back home to sleep, waking when my own alarm rings at 6:00 a.m.
I’m on-site at Burke’s house at 7:00 a.m., and he’s outside, coffee mug in his hand.
“Morning.” He nods at me. “Caleb called me last night to give me the scoop.”
“Yeah,” I reply, my jaw getting tight.
“Got to be honest with you, I don’t think it’s Claire.”
“Why do you say that?”
“If it was her, she would fuck with you directly and not with your work. The tires on Collins’s car was probably her.
Girls are known for keying cars, throwing a rock through your front window, or anything that is directed at you personally.
But stealing tools from your company’s jobsites?
I just don’t think that’s her. Though I will go over and have a talk with her today. ”
I’m about to say something to him when Caleb calls.
“Hey, I’m on my way to you.” I can hear his truck door slamming. “We caught something last night that I think you need to see.”