Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Theo
I felt bad. I was the reason that Jordan was so busy but I'd been stuck in the office all morning.
After having Shea glued to my hip all week, spending a few hours away from him was torture.
Besides, I'd been waiting all week to meet Sophie, and she hadn't disappointed.
I couldn't believe she'd tracked me down.
All starting with a tiny, shitty little tattoo.
I'd have to see what the “artist” was up to these days and offer to buy her dinner…
or a house… or a plane. If Jordan thought he was going to cover up the ink up now, he had another thing coming.
I reclined on a beach towel, watching Shea and his friends splash around in the water.
It was the first time all week that Shea had been comfortable taking his shirt off, and only after I'd removed mine.
More often than not, he'd found one reason or another to weasel me away from my binder in the morning.
If I was truly uncomfortable, he'd produce it from his bag and kiss away any worries of disappointing him that may have shown on my face.
Once we were alone, he'd make up for it by going down on me until I was so overstimulated that I couldn't see straight.
Today, I'd opted to wear it. The end of camp was proving to be stressful, and the binder felt like a tight hug. I'd paired it with the denim shorts that Shea seemed to love: He would make me put them on in the mornings, and practically rip them off me at night.
It seemed as if we'd picked up exactly where we left off.
There was none of that first date awkwardness, no tense "getting to know each other" phase.
We'd already done that; spent countless hours tasting, touching—exploring.
With words, hands, and mouths. This was just…
pressing play on a movie that had been paused for years, one where you remembered every detail.
I snapped out of my trance when Sophie broke away from the boys and started my way.
My heart inexplicably began to pound against my chest. I had no reason to be nervous.
After all, she wouldn't have practically hand-delivered Shea to me if she didn’t trust me.
Then again, this was the person that had seen him through his darkest times, had helped him find his grip when he fell to rock bottom and carried him out of the darkness.
I both appreciated her… and envied her. And the small side of me that churned with jealousy fueled the hatred I had toward Shea's parents.
How they could ever put him through that… I had half a mind to track them down myself and give them a piece of my mind. After all, I wasn't a scrawny teenaged girl anymore.
"Oof," Sophie said, dropping onto the towel next to me. "I'd hate to be the person making you scowl like that." She gestured to the bag of drinks and snacks. "Can I have some of those?"
"Help yourself." I nudged it her way. Her dark hair barely held onto its bun, falling in wet coils in her face and her damp blue swimsuit shimmered in the sunlight. "Sorry. You caught me deep in thought."
"About what?"
"The poor excuse for humanity that are Shea's birth giver and sperm doner." Calling them “parents” was way too kind.
"Ah." Sophie cracked open a bottle of water and took a few long drinks of it before she continued. "I've spent so many nights convincing myself that prison orange is not my color."
"Might be mine," I scoffed.
"Shea wouldn't want you to do that."
"And that's the only thing stopping me. I can't have anything take me away from him—never again."
My eyes didn't leave the sight of Shea kicking his feet in the water. He and Tyler had sat at the water's edge, talking and splashing handfuls of it at each other.
"I've never seen him smile like that. Outside of when he talked about you."
"I'm glad he has you, Sophie," I said, and I meant it. Shea talked about her like she hung the moon, but jealousy wasn't my thing. I knew my Shea, and I trusted him when he said that Sophie was his best friend.
Sophie reached back into the bag, sifting through the snacks to find what she wanted. "There's always been something missing."
Silently, I turned to raise a brow at her. She fumbled through the snack selection, finally landing on a packet of mini cookies. Instinct made me open them for her and hand it back—she didn't even bat an eye.
"Thanks." Sophie popped one of the cookies into her mouth and stared into the distance at her friend. "In spite of everything, Shea always has a smile on his face. He's always cheerful, always helpful, but that smile never quite reached his eyes. Now it does, and it all makes sense."
I didn't get a chance to reply before a blur of blond hair launched itself into my arms, drenching me with lake water.
"Ah!" I yelped, cold droplets slung onto my face and bare stomach.
But Shea giggled, and I couldn't find it in myself to be mad at him for it.
He straddled my lap, water seeping from his trunks and into my denim shorts.
Then he wiggled, letting me feel the swollen diaper beneath.
With sparkling eyes and a cheeky grin, settled in his place—then shoved his hand into Sophie's snack.
"Hey!" I scolded, snatching his hand away. "Is that how you're supposed to ask someone to share?"
Shea's smirk faded. "Sorry."
"I'm not the one who needs to hear that, am I?"
Bashful, he turned to his best friend and repeated the apology, then asked nicely for some of her cookies.
"You'll have to teach me how to do that," Sophie said, handing the bag over. Tyler plopped himself down between her legs, leaning back and making her squeal with his wet curls against her stomach.
I didn't scold that one. Not my Little, not my business.
"So," Sophie began. Shea rested on my chest, and I resisted the urge to recoil from the freezing cold droplets falling off his hair. "When do we move?"
"'We?'" Shea echoed.
"Yeah. Do you really think I'm going to let you do this on your own?"
I wrapped my arm around my boy, nuzzling into his damp hair and inhaling the intoxicating scent of sunscreen off him. "You're not alone anymore, little one. Ever." Shea peered up at me, color tinting his cheeks that perfectly complimented the blush from the sun kissing his face.
Yeah, summer looked good on him.
I turned to Sophie. "You can stay with us until you get settled."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. I've got an in-law suite that definitely won't have any in-laws staying in it anytime soon."
Tyler spoke up. "Oh, you're lucky. Theo’s place is amazing. It's going to be so much fun to have another Little so close by."
I felt Shea sag with relief in my arms. I knew that as much as we both wanted this move to happen, it had to be scary for him. He'd already been uprooted twice, and he'd finally found his home with Sophie and the organization they both worked for.
But I'd go to the ends of the earth to make him happy. Even if that meant me uprooting my entire life and moving to Tennessee. He'd be worth it.