Chapter 26 Quinn
Quinn
Hey. You were gone when I woke up.
Everything okay?
I don’t mean to pester, just looking for a sign of life.
Theo?
Istepped out of the elevator onto the executive floor at the Knight Enterprises offices and took a breath as the doors closed behind me. It was past nine and the place was empty. There was dread building in my stomach, it didn’t feel unwarranted.
I hadn’t heard from Theo all day, my phone calls had gone unanswered, and he hadn’t replied to any of my messages or contributed to the group texts. Which were honestly quieter than normal from all of them.
We were supposed to go for dinner tonight. I’d waited for him for two hours before I came here. Because his office was the first place I could think of to look for him if he wasn’t home.
I knocked on his door and then walked into his dark office without waiting for a response. I was trying to be pissed that he stood me up but I was really just worried.
None of this was normal for him.
Theo was standing with his back to me looking out the window. He had a drink in his hand and the bottle was on his desk. He’d clearly put a dent in it.
“Theo?” I asked after stopping behind the chairs facing his desk.
He didn’t answer, instead he just glanced at me over his shoulder and then looked back out the window. The pit in my stomach dropped down further, the anxiety rising in my chest. His eyes had been cold when he’d glanced at me. I’m not sure he’d ever looked at me like that before.
“Are you okay? I thought we were going to dinner tonight,” I asked after another few moments of him drinking.
“I’m flying out to London in the morning.” His voice was emotionless and detached.
I could hardly process what was happening, what he was saying.
“Okay.” I frowned. He hadn’t mentioned anything about needing to go to London. In fact he’d mentioned a few weeks ago that he planned on decreasing his travel and sending the other guys instead when something needed to be handled, he said he didn’t like leaving me. “When will you be back?”
“Not sure yet,” he said as he took another sip of his drink.
“What do you—”
He cut me off. “I received a call from your father today.”
I blinked a few times in shock before I moved so I could at least see his profile. “I’m sorry, Theo, I have no idea how he got in touch. What did he want?”
“Called to introduce himself, thought we could have dinner with him. He mentioned he might have a business idea for me to invest in.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as my cheeks got red with embarrassment. “I’m so sorry, Theo. I will talk to him, he won’t bother you again.”
“Considering you’ve been funding his habit since you were seventeen, I’m not inclined to believe you.” His words felt like a slap.
“When I told you that, you said you didn’t care. That you would help me.” My hand went to my stomach trying to stop the nausea that had started.
Was I going to be sick?
“That was before I heard from him myself.” He hadn’t even looked at me yet. “It provided me with some clarity.”
“I’ll talk to him. He won’t call you again, I promise.”
Theo made a noise that meant that he didn’t believe me. “I don’t like being used for my money.” He took another sip of his drink.
My stomach tightened and I flushed even more. I wanted to believe that he didn’t truly think that I would allow my father to do that to him. But my mind was racing and I couldn’t catch up.
“Theo, tell me what’s going on.” I took a step closer to him, and he finally turned to look at me. It stopped me in my tracks.
His eyes had lost any warmth they used to hold when looking at me, the grey was cutting and my heart started beating faster.
“I need some time away from this,” he said as he looked down at me.
“This?” I asked in a quiet voice.
“Us. Our relationship.” His voice and face were still void of any emotion.
“What are you talking about?” I’d known something was wrong when he missed our dinner but this was not where I thought this would be going.
“I’ve reevaluated some things recently, I need some time.”
“Reevaluated? What are you talking about, Theo? We were fine two days ago and now you want time. What does that even mean?”
None of this was making sense. When he’d woken me up and fucked me the other night something felt off but I assumed he had some work things on his mind. When I woke up and he was gone this feeling of dread took hold in my chest, but I’d been trying to ignore it.
Because nothing had been wrong. He’d left the morning before, kissed me and told me he loved me.
Nothing had been off.
And now this.
“You told me you loved me and now you’re reevaluating.” My voice broke as I shook my head.
“I don’t want to do this now, Quinn. When I get back from London—”
“You told me you don’t even know when you’re going to be back!” He looked at me with a slight glare, like he was annoyed I’d interrupted. I honestly wasn’t sure who this man was in front of me. “Are we done then? Are you ending this?”
“I don’t fucking know, Quinn. I just need some goddamn space.”
I took a step back and crossed my arms over my chest. I stood there blinking back tears as his eyes moved from me to the space above my head.
“Then tell me you don’t love me anymore.” I watched as he set his glass down and started to grab his keys and jacket.
“This is not space, Quinn.” He slipped his jacket on as I took a few steps toward him, unshed tears in my eyes. I noticed something pass over his face but it was gone before I could identify it.
“I don’t care. You want to have some fucking space. Fine. It’s yours. But tell me you don’t love me anymore.
“Tell me that everything we had was a lie and that you can just walk away like we were nothing. Like I meant nothing to you. That you’re throwing this all away without even giving me the decency of a conversation.” He started to walk toward the elevator and I moved to the doorway of his office.
I couldn’t even understand what was going on, how we had gotten here.
“Arthur is downstairs. He’ll drive you to your place,” he said as he fixed his cufflinks, without looking at me.
My heart broke at the idea of going to my apartment, I hadn’t been there in weeks.
“Don’t walk away, Theo. Please.” My voice broke. “Talk to me or tell me you don’t love me anymore but don’t just walk away.”
I stood in the doorway of his office and watched as he got on the elevator, looking down at his phone rather than at me. A few tears slipped out as the door closed.
Theo took my heart with him.
And I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be getting it back.
Missed call from Asher
Missed call from Noah
Missed call from Asher
*Noah removed Theodore Knight from the chat*
Noah
Quinn. What the hell is going on?
Oli
Are you alright?
Will
Can you at least answer someone’s call?
Jaxson
Don’t think I won’t find a way to check on you.
*Quinn left the chat*
Me
Please don’t add me back into the group chat.
Is he okay?
Asher
Quinn. What the fuck?
Why did you leave the group?
Me
I can’t do this, Asher… I just… Is he okay?
Asher
I have no fucking clue.
He’s in London and isn’t talking to us.
Quinn?
I don’t know what’s going on. And you know I’m not a good talker but I’m here if you need me.
We all are.