Plus One

Chapter 1

SIMON

“My ex-boyfriend is marrying my sister.”

Another man might have been startled—even alarmed—by being awoken by the presence of a second person in a bed they’d definitely crawled into alone.

I, however, was more or less used to this.

“It’s…” I lifted myself up to check the blurry numbers on the alarm clock over the warm body curled up next to me and made a sound usually heard from unhappy dogs. “Three in the morning, Theo.”

Even New York managed to be quiet—quiet-ish, anyway—at this hour, with only the hum of traffic serving as a reminder that the rest of the world was out there somewhere.

Theo made a curious little grunt and shifted to look over his own shoulder before sighing and settling back down as though he belonged in the bed with me. Or that this was even still his apartment, let alone his bedroom.

I wished.

Not that I was ever telling him that.

“She’s in Rome,” Theo said. “There’s a time difference.”

“Oh, well,” I mumbled, settling down again. “That explains it.”

Theo appearing in my apartment—in my bed—at three in the morning wasn’t necessarily an unfamiliar occurrence. Whenever he got his heart broken—which was frequent—he came to me.

I didn’t ever want that to stop. He was my best friend in the whole world. If three in the morning was when he needed me, then I’d be there. Or here, anyway.

“Which ex is this?” I asked, brain finally registering what Theo had actually said. “And which sister?”

“Delilah,” Theo answered the second question first. I could’ve guessed that, if I’d been awake. Madelaine was unlikely to marry one of her brother’s exes. Not just on principle, but because her taste ran in different directions.

Delilah was likely to do it on purpose.

“And Corey,” Theo added.

“The Texan?”

“Yeah,” Theo murmured, sheets rustling as he shifted.

Yeah. Yeah, that tracked. I could believe that of Corey.

“Right.”

“You never liked him,” Theo said, scratching at the sheets. It was as dark as I could make it in here, but I didn’t need to be able to see Theo to picture him. Eyes downcast, curled up on himself, lower lip pouting.

I had not liked Corey. I never liked any…

Well, no, that wasn’t true. I’d liked some of Theo’s exes, which had sucked because firstly, they’d all eventually broken his heart, and secondly, I didn’t want to like them. I wanted to hate them, because they had something I couldn’t.

Because they had the most wonderful thing in the world, and they hadn’t valued it as much as I would have. Did.

I’d been in love with Theo for a decade now.

But Corey, I’d really hated.

I was used to Theo’s breakup routine, which was as frequent as it was predictable.

He showed up to tell me he’d been broken up with at whatever hour it happened—sometimes three in the morning.

I consoled him. He moped. We did ice cream and horror movies.

I mentally pictured the latest ex as whichever victim met the worst end.

I spent a few days checking up on him at regular intervals and making sure he was still eating and sleeping.

Then I heard about the next person he’d fallen desperately, instantly in love with, and it was all over.

Corey had been different.

“I…” I began, searching for a way to deny that without outright lying. I never lied to Theo.

Theo was in the habit of falling not only fast, but hard.

His exes had all been glamorous—models, actors clearly going places, human rights lawyers, Médecins Sans Frontières volunteers, clean energy entrepreneurs, and so on.

All of them beautiful, all of them impressive.

Not that they were out of his league, or anything—Theo was beautiful and impressive, too, and his family name opened doors like a social skeleton key.

The Hargraves were old, old New York money, the kind of people you’d read about in a Wharton novel or The Great Gatsby, right down to the actual mansion on Long Island. Montauk, specifically.

So his problem wasn’t that he aimed too high.

Theo’s problem was that once he’d fallen in love at first sight, as usual, he’d bend over backward to please whoever it was.

When it turned out he couldn’t be the perfect boyfriend he’d started out as forever because he was also a human being with needs, it all came crashing down.

Corey had different. Sure, he was an underwear model.

But he’d been the first person I’d ever known to date Theo who actually seemed to like him.

Maybe not as much as I did, but then he hadn’t known him nearly a decade, like I had when they met.

I’d been expecting an engagement announcement to come anytime, and dreading it.

Then it was all over. Like an atom bomb making a direct hit in the middle of the bustling population center that was both of our lives.

I’d been scared, for a few weeks. Scared that Theo had been so badly hurt I might lose him completely.

He’d recovered, mostly, but he hadn’t dated since. That had been over a year ago. His previous record for being single in all the time I’d known him had been maybe three weeks.

“You were right,” Theo said with a soul-deep sigh. “You’re always right.”

Only because Theo’s taste in romantic partners was awful.

I loved Theo. So, so much.

“I’m not,” I said. I’d been right so far, but I wouldn’t always be. One day, he’d meet someone who was ready for him.

Someone other than me.

Theo made a tiny, unhappy sound.

“Okay.” I sighed. “Climb under the covers. I need all the beauty sleep I can get.”

Theo snorted. Even if it was at my expense, I took it as a good sign.

“Thank you for not agreeing out loud.” I smiled wryly.

“I should never have moved out,” Theo responded, shuffling under the comforter. “Anytime anything goes wrong, I come running to you.”

“That’s why you have a key,” I said. “And it’s what friends are for.”

“Don’t deserve you,” Theo mumbled, wriggling closer.

I rolled over so he could take up his favorite position, curled around me with his nose poking my shoulder.

Theo was all long limbs and sharp angles, but I’d always been soft enough to cushion him.

I figured that was why he treated me like a giant, self-warming teddy bear.

“You do,” I murmured back, letting my eyes fall closed as my insides ached with tenderness.

Much as I didn’t like the thought of Theo being upset, I loved that he came to me for comfort. I never wanted that to stop.

“I don’t,” he insisted. “You’re too nice to me.”

I huffed. “You don’t want me to make pancakes in the morning, then?”

A heartbeat of silence passed, then another.

“Chocolate chip?” Theo asked.

My lips twitched into a smile. “Double chocolate chip. I’ve still got some of that fancy cocoa powder Mom gave me for Christmas.”

Theo hummed, the sound vibrating through the thin fabric of the worn-out t-shirt I’d worn to bed. His fingers curled into the fabric at my waist.

Yeah. I never, ever wanted moments like these to stop. Even at the cost of being woken up at three in the morning.

“You love me. Even when no one else does.”

“Always.” If only you knew how much.

“Night, Sy.”

“Night, Theo. Sweet dreams.”

He hummed again, shifting one last time to curl tighter around me, knee slotted between my thighs.

I lay there counting his breaths, feeling him drift off. It was only when I was sure he was asleep that I closed my eyes again to join him.