His Therapist

Chapter 18

"Thea,"

Her eyes flipped up to meet his, immediately swallowing the lump in her throat once their eyes met. He rarely ever called her by her actual name and when he did, it always caught her off guard.

He was leaning on the door frame to the bathroom, watching her from the door that she forgot to close after she had gotten a change of clothes from her room. Well, technically it was his guest room. His hands were in the pockets of his sweatpants. Why was he even up so late?

"What?" She sighed, exasperated, her tone coming off much harsher than she anticipated. She looked at his reflection through the mirror as she finished brushing her teeth, now washing her hands. As she dried off her hands, her eyes remained locked with his, the tension in the air intensifying as she waited for his response. He clenched his jaw, his gaze hardening as she bit down into her bottom lip, unable to break eye contact.

Her heart skipped a beat, nervous.

"I need to tell you something." He voiced, his voice low, almost rueful. Thea made the slightest frown before she became expressionless again. She never liked that sentence. It was never good news.

"Okay." She let out slowly, unable to help the thoughts racing through her head, running through all the possible things he could say to her. This man had never seemed so serious in all the time she had known him and if she was being honest, it was beginning to scare her. Was he going to kick her out?

"You're gonna be mad about this." He warned her, pressing his lips together. The suspense was beginning to kill her but all she could do was wait for him to continue. "Do you remember the night we first met?"

"Yeah, at the bar." She replied, growing impatient. She turned away from the sink and leaned onto it so she could face him. She crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes, dying to see what was going through his head at that exact moment.

"That was planned." He emitted, his voice so perfectly even, she found it hard to fathom the words coming out of his lips.

"What do you mean?" Was her instant reply.

"Savannah was in the same bar you were at New Year's Eve," He began to explain. "And when she saw you drinking all your money away, she called me up."

Her eyes widened the slightest before she closed her eyes for a second, chuckling to herself. Of course, she had a fair share of questions but at this point, she was too drained to care about such little affairs. She had already received enough news tonight and her brain was already suffering from information overload.

She opened her eyes once again, looking at Elio hazily. She forced a lazy smile before uttering her snarky response. "Let me guess, she asked you to fuck me too?"

Elio snorted, unable to hide the smirk spreading across his lips. "No, she actually lectured me and told me not to before she let me walk over to you."

Usually, Thea was more aware of her surroundings and would've easily spotted Savannah on any regular day but that night she was too wasted to even care.

She nodded slowly, not sure how to respond. She believed his every word. After all, why would he lie to her? She didn't linger on the fact that the only reason they met was because of her boss or the fact that he had lied to her all this time. Instead, she found herself wondering why he was telling her all of this now. What did that exactly say about him?

She looked down at her fingers before she spoke up again. "Is it okay if I stay another night? I don't think I have enough energy or time to pack everything up tonight."

Although she couldn't see his face, she could already imagine the look on his face at the sudden change of topic.

"Yeah, that's fine." He spoke. "Stay as long as you need."