Chapter 10 #2
I watched as he moved to the kitchen, pulling out his phone as he went. I looked around, large shelves framed a fireplace in the living room. There was a vase and some candles but most of the shelves were empty.
There was a throw blanket on the couch and coasters on the coffee table but otherwise there wasn’t even a remote. It felt like a show home or a hotel room. If he hadn’t told me this was his place, I wasn’t sure I would have been able to tell someone lived here.
I decided to head out on the balcony so I could get a better look at the view. You could practically see the whole city from up here. It was a warm night with only a little breeze. I loved the start of a new season, each day the air was just a little warmer than the last.
“Not a bad view,” Theo said as he stepped outside beside me. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been staring, I’d gotten distracted by the lights.
“It’s beautiful.”
He made a sound of agreement, and I looked over to see him watching me, not the view. I smiled and tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear as I leaned my arms on the railing in front of us.
I felt his eyes on my face for a few more moments before he spoke again. “What do you think of my place?”
Looking over my shoulder at the space, I evaluated it for a moment before looking back at him. “It’s a little… impersonal,” I said tentatively.
“What were you expecting?” I could hear tension in his voice, his grip tightened on the railing. “Photos of a big happy family that I was hiding.”
“No, I just feel like I don’t know all that much about you.
I talk a lot, I know that about myself especially when I’m nervous and you make me nervous, but you don’t really tell me anything aside from stuff about the guys and knowing what brought you back here.
” I bit my lip nervously, looked over at him and saw the tense set of his jaw.
“You know what. Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.
I’m tired, I don’t think well when I’m tired.
The place is great. Very modern. Very clean. ”
As the silence grew, so did my desire to leave. Maybe I could say I wasn’t hungry anymore or I could pretend someone had an emergency I needed to tend to.
Would he believe me if I just said I was too tired to eat and just wanted to go to bed?
Maybe I had been misreading this thing between him and I, and he was just being nice or something.
“It’s not because I don’t want you to know me, I’m not very good at sharing.
” I turned my head to look at him, but he had refocused on the view.
I didn’t want to push so I gave him a minute to decide what he wanted to tell me.
I didn’t want to put pressure on it, but I really hoped he shared something other than that he ran for fun.
“I told you I lived here with my mum for a while.”
“Yeah, you mentioned it was why you decided to open an office here.”
“My dad is wealthy, has been since before I was born. But my mum refused to spend his money on anything for herself when she started getting money for me. She got me into a good school and a decent place for us here, but put the rest away for me, which I still haven’t touched.
Noah’s parents didn’t either when I moved in with them. Told me they needed nothing from him.
“Anyway, she got us this small two-bedroom condo that was run down and in desperate need of repair, but she loved the neighbourhood. It was the last ‘affordable’ building in the area. Everyone else had big yards and porch swings and kids playing in the street. Every night she made us take a walk after dinner. I hated it when we started and always complained.” He smiled at the memory and so did I.
“I’m sure an eleven-year-old boy wouldn’t want to walk with his mom every night.”
“I sure didn’t, but she didn’t care. She forced me.
We passed this house one day and she fell in love.
It was this beautiful white house set back on the lot with her beloved porch swing.
She looked down at me, squeezed my hand and said, ‘We’re going to buy that place one day, baby, just you and me.
’” My heart broke for the little boy who seems to have lost his mom not long after.
“After that night, we walked past the house every day. We made up what the inside would look like, how I would decorate my room and the dog we would get with the big yard. Obviously, it never happened for us.”
I didn’t know what to say and he looked like he needed a minute.
So instead of saying anything I took a step, closing the gap between us.
When I pressed myself against his side he didn’t move, he didn’t look at me but at least he didn’t step away.
He had bent forward to rest his arms on the railing, my head came up to his shoulder with him bent at that angle.
Before I could overthink it, I put my head on his shoulder and looked back out at the view with him. He let out a breath and I knew I’d made the right call.
“About two years into my business I was making more money than I knew what to do with. I’d been up late one night and for some reason I thought of that house that my mum used to walk us to.
I reached out to a realtor here on a whim and paid him a monthly fee to keep an eye on the property and call me if it ever came up for sale.
“Five years ago the relator called, his friend had just met a couple looking to sell. Turns out it was my mum’s dream house.
I paid well above asking so the thing never even hit the market.
I visited it to sign the papers, and the outside had been refreshed but looked the same.
I went inside for the first time and it wasn’t anything like my mum had pictured it.
“So I had the whole place renovated to the best of my memory on what she wanted. I thought about renting it out but I just couldn’t do it.
So now I have someone go in and check on the place even though I live here now.
It just doesn’t feel right to live there.
At least not yet. I stay the night sometimes, but it is easier to be here, it’s a block from the office.
” He finally let out a breath, like talking that much was exhausting, which for him it might have been.
We were both quiet for a moment while he was lost in thought.
“Thank you for telling me.” I reached my hand up and gave the arm I was laying on a squeeze.
The ping of his phone broke the moment and had us both pulling away.
“Food is on the way up.”
“Could we eat out here?” I asked, letting the topic change. I figured he had reached his limit of being vulnerable with me today.
“That would be great. Want wine? I have red and white.”
I rubbed my hands on my arms. “Yes please, whatever you’re drinking works for me.”
We moved inside and he told me where to find cutlery as he grabbed the food from the doorman who had brought it up, and I watched as he popped a cork on a white. We carried our stuff outside and settled at the table. He went back inside and then came back, tossing a hoodie on my lap.
“Put it on, Quinn.” He glared at me until I slipped it on, nodding at his plate as I settled back in.
“Thank you for feeding me. You didn’t have to do this,” I said as I took the lid off my food.
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m happy to do it, plus this way I get to spend more time with you.” He watched me as I took my first bite of food.
I moaned, closing my eyes. The food was delicious, maybe made even better by the fact that I hadn’t eaten much today. “This is amazing,” I said as I opened my eyes.
Theo was staring at me with heat burning in his eyes. He watched as my tongue popped out and ran along my lips, his eyes tracking every move.
We both sat there frozen for a moment before he cleared his throat and looked down at his plate. I felt pretty smug that I got that reaction out of him, even if it was unintentional. Well, at least the moan was. The food was delicious.
“So Dick is making you work late?”
I gave myself a moment to decide how to tackle his question while I chewed and took a sip of my wine.
“Not making me exactly… but there are a few things I need to get done. I should have left earlier and worked from home, but I was focused and didn’t notice the time.”
“And why did you decide to walk? You live too fucking far.”
“I should’ve never let you get my address,” I mumbled as I took another sip of wine. “I just wanted a little fresh air, I was going to get a car after a few blocks.” He grunted and I avoided eye contact.
“I could get Richard fired,” he said casually.
“Isn’t your dad’s company an investor? Isn’t that a conflict of interest or something?”
“I have more than enough money to convince the other investors to sell his portion to me.” I could hear the pride in his voice. “I could buy him out, become the investor and then fire Dick.”
I shook my head and laughed at the absurdity of that statement. “That seems a little drastic. But it’s cool that you could.” I wasn’t sure what else to say, we were talking about money way out of my league.
“Pisses the man off that I’m more successful than him. I kept my mum’s last name too. He told me to change it when I started uni but I refused.”
“It’s too bad he couldn’t just be proud of you.”
He made a sound of agreement. “What about your dad? Is he proud of you? You seem to be doing well for yourself.”
“If you asked him, I’m sure he would say yes but he has no idea how I’m really doing. He has no idea how good or bad I’m doing financially, if I have any investments—”
“Do you?” He interrupted me with a quirked brow.
“No,” I dragged out my reply since I felt like I was answering wrong. Especially when he narrowed his eyes slightly at me.
“You should. Oli will help you.” It wasn’t a question meaning I’m sure I would hear from Oli about it. Theo seemed like a man of his word.
“The point,” I pointed at him with my fork to emphasize my words as he seemed to be repressing a smile, “is that he wouldn’t know anything about it.”
“Why?”