Fine. Whatever. If he needed this win for his ego, he could take it. It made no difference to me as long as he stayed out of my way.
Before I could attempt to pass him again, Theo’s door opened, and he stepped out into the hall wearing well-loved jeans and a grey hoodie. The ends of a mask peeked from his pocket as if he was on his way out somewhere. The trapped feeling instantly disappeared, and I drew a deep lungful of air for the first time in minutes.
The light from the brass wall sconce beside his head created subtle shadows across his features. He spotted me, and a tentative smile formed, but the moment he clocked Dustin’s presence, his eyes narrowed.?“Looks like a party out here. What’s going on?”
Dustin cleared his throat and swiped his hair from his forehead. “Miss Wentworth and I were having a discussion.”
Theo scanned my features again, paying closer attention this time. Whatever he saw had him pinning Dustin in place with just a stare. “What about?”
Dustin’s chin lifted a fraction. “Nothing that requires your input.”
The best way to create a permanent divide between Dustin and me was to throw him under the bus—and hope it reversed over him. “He accused me of opening my legs for you,” I said, my cheeks instantly flaming.
Theo choked on air and appeared genuinely surprised. It took him a matter of seconds to recover, but rather than making a joke or pointing out how red my face had become, he focused his attention where it belonged. “Any man who uses that phrase automatically outs himself as the most boring ass bag of shit in bed,ifhe ever gets to touch a woman at all.”
A thrill shot through me, and I held my breath.
Dustin’s eyes flicked from me to Theo. “I wanted to avoid being crass with my wording, which is clearly never a consideration for you.”
Theo let out a humourless laugh. “That was you not being crass? You’re lucky she didn’t slap you.” He spared me a glance before focusing on Dustin. “How does it involve you, anyway?”
He looked down his narrow nose. “I’m the manager.”
“And?”
His posture went ramrod straight. “It’s my responsibility to take care of the premises. I should know what’s happening here.”
Theo frowned and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You want to know all the ins and outs of everyone’s sex lives? Do you hear yourself?”
“I’m responsible for the people who live here—and there are children in the building. I need to know if Miss Wentworth’s behaving like a whore.”
A whore. Awhore?“Who the hell do you think you are?” My hands clenched at my sides, and it took all my willpower not to launch myself at him. If Ava had been here, she would have torn him to shreds.
Theo didn’t move, and he stared at Dustin so hard I almost cowered. “Talk about her like that again, and I’ll put you through the fucking wall.”
My stomach lurched, and heat flooded my cheeks.
“It’s so typical of men like you to resort to violence,” he said. “You lack intelligence, and your behaviour is so primitive.”
“And yet here you are, testing me.”
A long, tension-filled silence followed.
No one spoke or made a move until Dustin finally caved and took a small step backwards. But he hadn’t finished slinging insults. “How you’re able to hold your head high and call yourself a man astounds me,” he said with a sneer. “It should embarrass you being financially supported by a female, but you see no shame in having one pay your rent. No shame at all. You’re so laughably pathetic. I’m mortified on your behalf.”
“Someone paid my rent?” His eyes went wide, his gaze flicking to me. “I have a sugar mama?”
With a blank expression, I gave him a one-shoulder shrug. Now wasn’t the time to divulge that piece of information. I needed a chance to explain it properly, and I wouldn’t rush into it with an audience—especially one who’d relish Theo’s reaction.
Varesh’s voice drifted up from the foyer. “Sadie, milady! Where are you?”
If I left the two of them together, Dustin would spill my secret just to humiliate Theo, and our friendship might be ruined before it even got off the ground.
“I’m running an errand with Varesh,” I said to Theo, latching onto the only solution I could come up with under pressure. “Ineed to grab a few things, and I could use an extra pair of hands. Do you want to come?”
Theo checked behind him as if I might mean someone else, his expression so innocent and confused it bordered on adorable. “Do I want to come?”he asked.
I nodded and ignored Dustin, just in case he picked up on the panic in my eyes. In seconds at most, he’d go ahead and throw the grenade anyway. “But I need to go now.”
