Chapter Thirty-Four
Theo took Olivia back to where they had very first met.
The smooth songs playing in the background were the same, the steady piano rendition of Dean Martin’s On an Evening in Roma filling the room with warmth and richness.
They sat in the same chairs, navy blue suede, the pillows soft and sinkable.
The table was adorned with the same familiar carved candlesticks and wicker breadstick basket, a little pot of olive oil stationed on the ironed white tablecloth next to the salt, pepper and parmesan pots.
Bringing her back to where they first shook hands, to where he’d written his name in her silly green notebook seemed almost nostalgic.
“I figured this was an appropriate place for our first official date,” Theo said, pulling her chair out for her.
Olivia couldn’t conceal the cheesy grin spreading across her blush-laden cheeks.
This was perfect. All night she had been pacing her apartment, imagining where he would take her.
She’d never expected this: sitting in the same small bistro they’d first met in, where he’d pulled the seat out across from her and said those words that had changed everything, “I believe you’ve been waiting for me.
” It felt like they had come full circle.
Oh, Theo had no idea how right he was. How she had dated numerous terrible, questionable and some decent but not-right-for-her men, before he had sat down and given her that stupidly handsome smirk.
“It’s perfect,” she replied.
Two hours later, after many teasing jokes, banter and the same charming grin that made her want to kiss his face until all of her breath escaped her lungs and her chest burned for air, dessert arrived.
Their date was going well, far better than any other date she had been on, and for the first time, she knew her date didn’t care if she cut up her pasta or not, no matter how childish it was, or illegal it seemed to be in an Italian restaurant.
Theo knew her. Inside and out. Mind and body.
The fact sent shivers down her spine at the thought of what would inevitably happen after they finished their desserts.
Back to his place, or mine? she thought.
It didn’t matter. She was sure he could tell how much she was aching for him to—
“Theo! My man, it’s so great to see you!” A voice rang out across the small bistro, the thick south London accent making Theo’s face go stark white as he took in the lanky figure approaching them.
“Hey, Rick.”
Rick, a man with a short blond buzzed haircut and buggy hazel eyes, glanced between the two of them before flicking his gaze up and down Olivia’s dress-clad form. Rick whistled. “Oh damn, are you on a date?”
“Yes, we are, so if you wouldn’t mind—”
“Oh, hey, did that guy do that job you wanted?” Rick cut Theo off and grabbed a breadstick off their table and began scoffing it down with no sense of etiquette or manners. “Got any more gigs coming up? I could really use some quick cash, ya know?”
Theo shook his head, looking at Olivia with an apologetic smile.
Olivia wondered who this man was who had just sauntered over to their table and was talking to Theo about stuff that sounded more like a drug deal than a normal business conversation.
“Uh, no. No, I don’t, and I don’t think this is app—”
“Tommy said the date went well,” Rick continued.
“Bragged to the whole office that the woman’s face was so funny when he pulled the flowers out from his sleeve.
Classic move, by the way. He even told me he’d teach me a few tricks if you ever needed to help sabotage a woman’s date ever again. You know, more options and such.”
“What?”
Who knew a one syllable word could shatter a person’s whole sense of reality?
The sound of Olivia’s utterance rang out in the space between them, small and laced with the devastating realisation of betrayal. Confusion washed over Olivia and she glanced at Theo in hopes he’d say it wasn’t true.
“Oh yeah, get this. He offered me fifty quid to date this chick, for some research thing. Told me to make it the worst date ever. I offered to do it, ’cause, you know… quick cash.”
Some chick.
That chick had been Olivia. Suddenly all of it seemed to fall into place like an immoral game of Tetris.
“Of course.” Olivia hummed as though she would do the same for a quick payment. Drawing her lips between her teeth, she continued to listen to the stranger, her eyes not daring to look up at Theo again. His silence was confirmation enough.
“Cheeky bastard, isn’t he? Anyway, I heard through the grapevine that he ended up giving the fifty to my mate, Tommy, instead. Something about magic tricks…“
The black wooden legs of her chair screeched against the hardwood floor with a piercing whine. Olivia gave a curt smile to the stranger, her blood running cold at the confirmation. Magic tricks. Tommy. “If you would please excuse me.”
Olivia avoided the eyes of the man she had been on a date with. Had. As in no longer and never again would she be going on another date with Theo Constantine.
“Olivia—” Theo leapt up from his own chair. “It’s not what you th—”
She barely got the words out, turning and storming away with a quipped “I need some air.”
Passing the questioning gazes of perfect strangers, she stormed out of the Italian bistro, only stopping to grab her coat before swinging the glass door open and stepping out onto the rain-soaked pavement.
Olivia breathed in deeply. Shrugging on her coat, she lifted her palms and covered her eyes, as if pressing them tightly would stop the sting brewing in the corners.
Without even registering it, she let out a broken whimper before her hands fell in defeat.
Behind her, the restaurant doors slammed open, Theo’s tall once-protective frame now looming in the doorway.
She had to give it to him, he was smooth.
Yes, the dates she had been on were terrible, comical even.
It was only now that she knew it had all been by design.
He had paid those men to make the dates purposely bad.
Dates he knew she needed for her research.
To help find her leading man, her character’s love.
“Olivia, please it’s not—” Theo said, his voice, smooth and deep; the voice that had one told her how perfect she was as he held her sounded wrong.
Filled with hatred, and with the slimy remnants of the truth making her top cling to her back in uncomfortable twists, she felt her lip tremble before pulling it back into a firm line.
Theo was a snake. He had been sneaky. He had planned it all out, and the realisation made it pierce deeper than the sharpest dagger.
Olivia had dated snakes in the past, she had rivalled, she had fallen for their cunning ways, and now karma had come back to bite her with a poison.
“I trusted you.” She halted his words, her hair swinging around as she turned to face him. With her coat unclasped, she let the summer night air permeate her skin, cooling the heating anger bubbling beneath her skin. “I trusted you with him. I trusted you with me. How could you?”
She watched as Theo’s face fell, his mouth opening, before he had the chance to utter a single word she shook her head, not able to stop the now evident tremble of her lips, the water gathering in the corners of her eyes.
“No.” Olivia shook her head, turning away into the busy London street. “I can’t even look at you. Let alone allow you the decency to make up some excuse that you think will persuade me to ignore the fact that you tried to sabotage me. My book. My dates. My life.”
“Please, Olivia…”
Another step. She could almost smell his cologne. She took one last greedy gulp of his delicious scent, the one she used to find comforting, before stepping back with the realisation that it had all just been a lie. He was a liar.
“I know it’s probably futile to say, but it’s really not what it looks like.”
God he was so handsome it hurt to even look at him, think of him. She had to leave.
“I’m going home. I suggest you do the same.”
Theo stepped forward, his eyes pleading with her. “Let me at least drive you home.”
Lifting a hand, she closed her coat with a sharp tug. “No, thank you. I’d rather walk.”
“In the rain? In the middle of the night, in central London?” Theo took another step forward, his hand reaching out to her. “Please…”
“Is this man bothering you?” A young woman in a smart business suit stopped on the pavement next to Olivia, looking over at Theo with a suspicious glare.
“No.” Olivia’s gaze met Theo’s, seeing the hurt in his own glassy eyes. “No, he’s not bothering me.”
“Are you sure?” the woman asked, beginning to take out her phone. “I can call someone for you if you need a ride somewhere…”
“Really.” Olivia said to the woman. “I’m okay. Thank you though.”
The woman sent Theo one last look before nodding. “Okay, if, you’re sure.” Then, she turned and left the broken pair standing there, drops falling over them in soft wisps of late summer rain.
“You’d really walk home by yourself rather than letting me get you home safely?
” Theo said, a lock of his black hair curling around his forehead, heavy with water.
She understood his logic, and, of course, in the moment that she hated him he still had to be courteous and act like a perfect gentleman.
The answer was yes, though. She knew it was silly of her to walk home alone, take the tube alone, but she was feeling brave, and completely reckless.
If it meant getting away from him to think, she would take it. Looking straight into his eyes, she let herself spit the words she knew would hurt him. “Yes, at the moment I would like to be anywhere but near you.”
“Olivia—”
“Go home, Theo. This date is over.”