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“I’m not always rude, you know. I don’t mean to be too when I am.”
I leaned on the wall a couple feet away, examining him in that soft yellow light from his room. He was so beautiful like that, not primped or overly snotty. “Good. I get that you’re around people like that, so you think it’s okay, but there are many good people here. Be…I’d say yourself, but do you even know who that is?”
“No,” he said quickly and truthfully. “I’m a mirror of my surroundings like everyone else. I am the Snapchat generation. I heard someone say that on a podcast, where our actions are erased quickly and forgotten, but they live forever with others. That means we no longer get second chances.”
“I don’t think that’s necessarily true about the second chances. Maybe you find new people and give yourself one of those. People go searching for themselves all the time. Maybe you can find yourself here.”
“Maybe,” he whispered, more to himself than to me. “Goodnight, Monster,” he said louder, his lips twitching as he tried not to smile.
“Goodnight, pain in the ass.”
Now, I’d love to say that he made a turnaround that night, and his sudden and deep introspection made a new Theo.
I could say that, but I’d be lying.
He woke and came to the kitchen pretty and looking like he was heading out to brunch at a country club rather than eating a meal of turkey bacon and scrambled eggs. He wore a lavender tank top of silk and a wide leather belt over his bright white pants. “I thought you’d sleep in.”
“I went to bed before midnight. There was far too much quiet to sleep longer.”
He sat and scrunched his nose at the food, pushing the plate away. “Is there coffee?”
I nodded to the brewer on the counter.
“What is that?”
“It’s a coffee maker. Don’t tell me you’ve never seen one.”
“I use a French press,” he said haughtily. “I’ve never had anything from a machine.”
La-di-da, I thought to myself. “That’s all there is. Take it or leave it, and you’re making breakfast tomorrow.”
“I can’t cook. What part of that didn’t you understand? You’re not very bright, are you? Is that why you’re in the business you are?”
What a good night’s rest would do for someone. “Yes. That’s exactly it, Theo.” The worst part was Burke, Noah, and the others would be there any minute. “Theo, I don’t know why you’re being a prick, but with everyone coming soon, if you act like this, I’m doing worse than throwing you in the mud.”
His eyes turned icy as they narrowed at me. “That Eli…where was he before this?”
That came out of left field. “Why?”
“Nothing,” he said, and suddenly his eyes were no longer slits. They were innocent and wide. “Just…wondering.”
“Do not hit on him again, or his fiancé is likely to beat the crap out of you, and I would probably let him.”
“Then you will be fired.”
I was already tired of his antics. “You can’t fire me because you didn’t hire me. You know this. Javier told you that; I’m reminding you of that. Now, if you like that pretty silk shirt, I suggest you change it into something you don’t mind getting dirty.”
“You’re still insisting on making me clean like a fucking maid?”
The way his face pinched, I knew he’d shrugged off the little ground we’d gained. “Don’t bother. Go to your room and sit there, let everyone take care of things for you, and keep going with your attitude. I really couldn’t give a fuck.”
I poured out the remainder of my coffee and left the mug in the sink before storming out of the kitchen and leaving him to lord over the room.
I was so angry that I could have hurt him. Few people in the world had ever made me that angry.
After I’d sloughed off some of that while walking outside, I saw a dust cloud down the road and knew the company was arriving. Already embarrassed, I didn’t know what I’d tell them about Theo.
Then, surprising me again, he came out of the house, dressed in a black cotton tank and black jeans with a denim jacket that had an airbrushed lotus on the pocket. “They’re here. Oh, goody,” he drawled in his most sarcastic way.
