Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Theo
The section around Cameron’s painting was crowded, and I was trying not to combust every time someone looked at the nude portrait. But each time it happened, I felt Cameron’s fingers brushing against mine, grounding me. I could hear the unspoken words.
I’ve got you.
The gallery buzzed with critics, students, artists, and influencers. My chest almost burst with pride when someone praised Cameron’s work or asked him questions.
“He’s amazing,” Max murmured next to me.
I smiled. “That he is.” The rest of Rough Harmony had turned up, gathered around Cameron and I, hovering like a protective cordon, offering support with every look, every word, every gesture.
I’d finally met Raquel, and it was obvious from watching her and Cameron together that she was good for him.
She’d also taken me aside and told me not to hurt him again. I promised her I’d do my best, and that any hurt wouldn’t be intentional. She’d studied me for a moment before nodding.
It would have to do.
Gary was there too, beaming as he watched Cameron pose for photos with the portrait. I got asked to pose too, and the first time it happened, my heart hammered, but I stood next to the painting, my head held high.
Gary smiled. “My dad has a book at home that sums you up perfectly right now.”
I arched my eyebrows. “I’m not sure I want to know.”
His eyes gleamed. “It’s called ‘Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway.’”
Yeah, I’d take that as a compliment.
Cameron nudged me. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
A well-dressed woman, possibly in her fifties, approached us. She held her hand out.
“You must be Theo.” She smiled. “AKA Cameron’s muse. I’m Nora Taylor, Cameron’s tutor.” She glanced at the portrait, then at me. “He really captured you, didn’t he?”
I smiled back. “Just don’t ask me to strip off to prove how accurately he did that,” I quipped.
Nora chuckled. “That wouldn’t be my first choice.” She gazed at the group. “Is this this a cappella group Cameron has told me about?”
Max puffed out his chest. “Rough Harmony, in the flesh.” The others beamed.
Her eyes widened. “Would your group consider performing something? Just one piece? This is after all an event celebrating creativity. I don’t think such a performance would be out of place.”
I froze, but Max’s grin was immediate. “I don’t know about the group performing, but I’m sure Theo has something he could sing.”
I shot him a murderous glare, and he winked.
Cameron squeezed my hand. “You don’t have to,” he whispered.
I looked at him, then at the painting. That was me, bare, no mask. And then it hit me.
I took a deep breath. “I want to. And Max is right—I do have a song.”
Cameron’s eyes grew large, and his breathing hitched.
I barely heard Nora announcing my performance as I pulled my phone from my pocket and scrolled to find the lyrics I’d written. A hush fell in the gallery, and my pulse quickened.
I cleared my throat. “This is a song called ‘Naked Note’.” I gestured to the portrait. “Which is appropriate, given the circumstances.” Laughter rippled through the assembled guests. Then I met Cameron’s gaze. “And I wrote it for the artist.”
Fuck, the way he stared at me…
The room was quiet. Max and the others formed a semicircle, me at the heart of it, and I knew they were trying to read the lyrics over my shoulders.
I inhaled, then let the words ring out.
[Verse 1]
I lived inside a quiet room
Drawn in lines I couldn’t bend
Kept my pulse beneath the surface
Saving breath I’d never spend
Then you walked in without permission
Lit a match inside my chest
Showed me I’d been living half a life
And called it doing my best
[Chorus]
But you…
You heard the note I buried deep
Pulled it from the dark like a secret I couldn’t keep
You saw the man beneath the armour and the choke
You held the parts I thought would break—
Made them whole
If this is love, let it stay close
Unmasked, unguarded,
Every raw and reckless hope
I’m singing now what fear once stole
You’re the reason I can
You’re my naked note
[Verse 2]
You took the lines I lived between
Traced them soft with steady hands
Made the silence feel like breathing
Made the breaking feel like chance
And I don’t care who sees me now
In paint or sound or shaking light
If what they see is what you found
Then let them look—
You made it right
When I got to the chorus, voices joined mine, Max’s, Julian’s, all of them, low at first, then increasing in volume and confidence, filling the room with their harmonies.
’Cause you…
You heard the note I buried deep
Pulled it from the dark like a secret I couldn’t keep
You saw the man beneath the armour and the choke
You held the parts I thought would break—
Made them whole
If this is love, don’t let it go
Unmasked, unguarded,
Every raw and reckless hope
I’d give you every word I never spoke…
You’re the reason I can
You’re my naked note
[Bridge]
I spent so long trying not to need
Trying not to want
Trying not to be seen
But you…
You looked at me
And I wasn’t afraid anymore
[Final Chorus]
You…
You found the note I couldn’t reach
Sang it back to me until my knees went weak
You saw a man who’d never learned he wasn’t broke
Loved the voice inside the quiet
Till it spoke
If this is love, then let it show
Unmasked, unguarded,
Every raw and reckless hope
Tonight I’m standing here because you spoke—
You’re the reason I can
You’re my naked note
Cameron
The final words echoed away.
I didn’t realise I was crying until Julian shoved a tissue at me. My chest felt full, as if my ribs couldn’t possibly hold everything inside.
Theo just sang a love song to me. In public. In front of my art. In front of my brother.
Then I caught sight of the phones held aloft, and realised Theo might be about to gain a much larger audience.
Theo walked toward me. The crowd applauded, but I barely heard it. When he stopped in front of me, shaking a little, I cupped his face.
“Did you mean all that?” I whispered.
Theo nodded. “Every last word,” he croaked.
I forgot about the guests, the students, and kissed him as the gallery erupted into applause. Gary clapped the longest.
“You’re my naked note too,” I murmured against Theo’s lips.
Theo closed his eyes and smiled.
Close by, I heard Gary, his voice tinged with awe.
“Damn. You guys are amazing. When you do your first gig, I want a ticket. Front row seat.”
“You can have the seat next to mine.” I kissed Theo again. “Because I’ll be there too.”
“What time is it?” I asked as Theo opened the door to the flat.
I’d lost all track of time. The after party had gone on longer than I’d anticipated.
All the group seemed reluctant to leave.
Gary divided his time between throwing his arm around my shoulders and hugging the life out of me, and patting Theo on the back, telling him he had a bright future.
I was exhausted, but in a way that felt earned. Theo’s song looped through my head, the way his voice had cracked just enough to give him away, the tenderness threaded through every note. The ache. The honesty.
He wrote that for me.
“About two o’clock.” Theo closed the door behind us and turned, really looked at me, as though he was seeing past my skin, past the noise in his own head. The look hit me low and hard.
“When did you write that?” I asked.
“The morning after you showed me the portrait.”
I swallowed. “You wrote that—you sang that—for me.”
Theo nodded once. “It was always yours.”
He was too far away.
I crossed the space between us and grabbed him, pulling him in, our mouths colliding with all the things we hadn’t said burning between us. His hands slid into my hair as if he needed to anchor himself.
“I keep thinking I should wait,” Theo murmured against my lips. “For the moment where it’s safer to say things.”
I smiled, breathless. “That moment doesn’t exist.”
He let out a shaky laugh. “No. It doesn’t. You’re right.” Then he stilled. “That morning was also when I knew. When I realised I was falling in love with you.”
The words hit me like a wave, knocking the air clean out of my chest. For a heartbeat, everything inside me went quiet.
This is it. This is where I stop holding back.
“I’ve felt the same way for a while,” I said, keeping my voice steady even as my heart raced. Theo jerked his head up, his eyes searching my face. “I just didn’t want to say it until you were ready to hear it.”
His breath shuddered. “Hear what?”
I leaned in until our foreheads touched, the space between us barely there.
“That I love you too.”
Theo’s arms came around me as though he’d been waiting his whole life to stop holding himself apart. We held on to each other, both of us shaking now from the sheer relief of finally saying it out loud.
“I love you,” Theo murmured between kisses. “I’m going to keep on telling you that until you’re sick of hearing it.”
My heart was so fucking light.
“Then you’re going to be saying those words for a long, long time.” I grabbed his hand. “And now we’re going to bed.”
“But we have so much to discuss,” he protested.
I nodded. “And it can wait until daylight. Right now, all I want to do is curl up with you, close my eyes, and sleep for at least eight hours.”
Theo smiled. “Just sleep?”
I laughed and tugged him toward the bedroom.