His large hand cupped my face and something in my chest twisted so sharply I couldn’t tell if it hurt or healed.
“You were loud. Angry. And full of fire I didn’t know how to hold without burning. But yousawme. You called me out on every lie I’d ever told myself. And I hated you for it—until I didn’t.” He laughed, but it cracked like glass. “I think I started falling for you the moment you called me a ‘buttoned-up closet case with daddy issues’.”
Despite myself, I huffed out a chuckle. “I wasn’t wrong.”
“No,” he said, forehead pressing against mine. “You weren’t. But you also didn’t run. And every time I pushed you away, you stood your ground. Until I finally got tired of running.”
I let my eyes fall closed, fear nipping at my skin. “I’m still scared,” I confessed. “Scared I’ll mess this up. Scared I’m not good enough for this. For you.”
“You don’t have to be good enough,” he whispered. “You just have to behere.With me.”
I pulled him down onto the bed, into me, against me. We didn’t speak for a long time. We just breathed each other in. Held on. Clung to what could be, what we hoped we’d be. This wasn’t about sex, just closeness. Connection. Raw and honest. It was proof we were still here. Still real. Together. Silently vowing to stand and fight for each other.
“I’m moving out,” Theo said quietly, lips brushing my ear. “Out of my father’s house. That place…it never felt like home. For the few hours you were there, I felt what a home was meant to be like. I want that, something—somewhere—that does.” I tensed. “And when you’re ready,” he added, “I’d love for you to move in with me.” Silence. Thick and heavy drowned my lungs. “I’m not saying now. Or next week. But one day. When you’re ready. I’ll wait.”
I nodded against his chest, my voice too broken to answer. Too overwhelmed because a home of my own where someone loved me for me was all I’d ever wanted. The broken little boy inside me cried in relief that he could finally stop fighting. A shuddering breath slipped past my lips and I tasted the salt of my tears on them with the tip of my tongue.
Theo understood my silence as I processed everything he’d said and just held me tighter. Pulling me closer as if he could bury me right next to his heart and keep me safe.
“Okay,” he whispered. “We’ll table that for now.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Maybe… let’s just eat.”
Theo smiled as my stomach let out a loud, undignified growl. “I was hoping you’d say that,” he said, laughter soft in his voice.
He pulled out his phone and sent a text. “Thalia and Claire are back, by the way.”
I blinked. “When did they leave?”
He looked sheepish. “Earlier. I asked them to give us space.”
“Oh.” I swallowed. “That’s… weirdly considerate.”
He chuckled. “They don’t hate me. I think. Claire might still be deciding.”
My lips twitched despite myself. “She’s a tough one to crack.”
“Yeah,” he said, glancing at me with a sideways grin. “But I was hoping… maybe we could all eat. Together. If that’s okay?”
It was more than okay. It was terrifying. Exciting. Exactly what I needed.
“Takeout?” I asked, already imagining greasy boxes of Chinese and too-salty soy sauce.
“Obviously,” he said, grinning like the sun. “I’m not sure if I’d trust you to cook.”
I snickered into the crook of his neck, letting myself lean there for just a moment longer. That moment of levity—of unfiltered joy—was exactly what the doctor ordered. I kissed him softly, letting my lips linger.
Because I was still starving. But not just for him—for this. This life. This possibility. This strange, terrifying, beautiful thing we might be if we just stopped running.
Maybe I wasn’t ready. But maybe I didn’t need to be. Because this time, I wasn’t turning away. I’d stopped running. And now? Now it was my turn to stay.
The food arrived first—cartonsof dumplings, crispy noodles, spring rolls, and more orange chicken than four people could possibly eat.
Thalia came back into the room first, eyeing the spread like it was a trap. “This some kind of apology dinner? Or are you just trying to bribe us into not kicking your ass?”
Theo, to his credit, laughed. “Definitely the second one.”
Claire appeared next, hair pulled into a high messy bun, a skeptical eyebrow already arched. She looked from the food to Theo to me.
