AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, Theo,” I said, aching for the young child who’d been cruelly used.
“Love was conditional, Mallory. He used it as a weapon. It was when I realized he’d used it to pit me against Silas, that I saw him for what he was. Then I shut down.”
I swallowed hard, tried not to cry.
“Fun isn’t fun for me because of what that bastard did. I got serious and stayed that way. I… maybe, went to med school just to see if, one last time, he might be proud of me.”
I took his hand. I couldn’tnottouch him.
His gaze dropped to our joined hold.
“Medical school and residency isnotfun. It’s grueling and only made me more the way I am. It went on from there. Working, no life, not caring or feeling for patients. Being serious and closed off. I felt nothing.”
His eyes lifted to mine. “Until you.”
“Theo,” I began, but he shook his head.
“I stopped your date because of Tom’s… situation, but I really did it because I didn’t want anyone to have you but me. I was possessive of you even then. When I heard you wanted to have sex, I… I got jealous. Crazy. You were mine, Mallory, even then in that paper gown.”
My heart beat frantically.
“You think we had sex every day at six because I made you nothing more than an appointment, but I started thinking of it as…” He stopped talking and I could have sworn his ears turned pink.
“As what?”
“Sexo’clock.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. He smiled, but sheepishly. “I loved knowing I would have you every day, that it was guaranteed. That if you were penciled in, it wouldn’t be yanked away.”
“Oh,” I breathed, starting to understand.
“I bought you the house and met you in Vegas because you were mine to take care of. It was my way of telling you how I felt about you.”
I swallowed. “How… how do you feel about me?”
“I’m not saying this because Mav wants Bridget to go home and stop staying with you.”
“Okaaaaayy.”
“I… I think I love you, Mallory.”
Happiness gushed from me. I couldn’t help but smile, to feel… glowing. “You think?”
He shook his head, unsure. Awkward. Completely unlike him.
“I don’t know what love feels like. I care for my brothers, of course, but this is different. I want you to be safe in a house that’s yours. I don’t want you to fret or worry or work shifts with your brother to try to pay for it.”
“But I–”
“I know you want to pay your way and I love that about you.” He laughed. “See, that word again?”
I grinned.
“I’m going to buy you things to make your life easier. Starting with a car, of course. Not because you can’t do it, but because it’s how I will show you I care and want you to be happy and safe. I’m going to offer you the plane because I have one. I’m going to be grumbly and cranky and hate yoga and people and only want to be a crazy uncle. But I want to do all those things with you because you make me, make life… fun.”
Tears fell now. I couldn’t stop them.
“I can’t give you anything like that in return,” I admitted. “Unless I take up prostitution. I seem to be quite skilled at that. The first BJ I give, I get a house,” I replied playfully.
