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“Yeah, of course.”
“Good. Danny may reconsider all this escalation if he knows that. Thanks, Hud.”
“Yeah, Javi. Bye.”
“Javi?” The voice came from the doorway, and I realized I hadn’t shut my door. Theo stood there, eyes glaring. “What did he want?”
“Just confirming what I already told you.”
“I’m…” He looked to the floor and shifted his feet restlessly. “I’m scared.”
“I know. Don’t be. I won’t let anything happen to you, Theo.”
Without glancing up, he drawled, “Because it’s your job. I know.”
I wanted to go to him right then and tell him that wasn’t the reason, but I had to be a fucking professional. The bullshit my head and heart were doing to me with Theo had to be placed on the back burner. First came his safety. “Yes, Theo, it is my job. Even if it wasn’t, I’d want to keep you safe.”
He entered the room and sat on the bed, staring at me. “Are we friends now?”
“I don’t usually have friends slamming doors in my face.”
“I said I was sorry for being rude.”
He had, in advance. “That’s more than rude, Theo. I don’t deserve that kind of behavior.”
“Sorry, I guess.”
God, the thoughts going through my mind. A spanking, a brutal beating on his perky little ass that would make us both better in so many ways…
“Javi is trying to cool off your cousin. Maybe you should do it. Call him. Tell him you don’t want a war started over your shit. You might save a life or ten.”
“He won’t listen to me. I’m no one.”
“You’re enough that he’s ready to start a fucking war with a rival family, Theo!”
“He’s doing that to save face, not for me. No one gives two shits about me,” he yelled, getting up from the bed. “You can go fuck yourself with your advice! You don’t care! You’re getting paid, or you’d let me rot! Like everyone else in my life!”
I stood before he could tear out the room and slam another door. I towered over him, of course, and as imposing as I was, the little bastard didn’t shrink away from me a bit. He glared up at me, daring me to hurt him. “What do you care if I like you or not?”
I watched in amazement as one tear ran down his cheek, black from his eye makeup. “I don’t care. Not even a little.” He pushed past me and left my room.
The door of his didn’t slam. In fact, the house was eerily quiet after he left my bedroom, and I feared that. For some reason, I wished him to scream for one of his patented news, curse my existence, or call me a monster or Neanderthal.
But all I got was quiet.
It was like that for days. Theo helped me cook and was uncharacteristically polite but withdrawn. Theo spent most of his days in his room or outside, sitting on the porch, and when I tried to sit with him, he’d leave.
When we went shopping, he dressed in a hat and sunglasses but still had his makeup thickly applied and wore silk. If anyone were looking for him, he would have been easily spotted in a town filled with cowboy hats and jeans.
He picked out the bathroom fixtures, and we contacted the plumber to pick them up directly from the store to install them later that week. Of course, Theo bitched; it couldn’t be sooner.
The only signs of life from him were when Joel or Eli would visit. That’s the time I heard his voice much above mumbling. He’d made friends with them by some miracle. When they were off talking, I sat with Burke on the porch and was exhausted. Of course, he saw. “You need a vacation already. Want me to assign a temp so you can take off for a few days?”
“No, boss, but thanks. He’s just…he’s angry with me. I think he wants…more from me. I’m behaving, don’t worry.”
“Yeah, I can see that. I can see it’s tearing you up. Maybe that’s why I suggested a temp.”
I turned to him to see he was earnest. “Burke…I…I’m not going for it. I know my job.”
