Dirty Little Bastard

35

"...happy birthday to you!" We finished in unison, clapping after dad blew out the candles on the cake.

I went to hug him and gave him a kiss on his cheek, "happy birthday, dad."

"Thank you. Thank you all," I could see the tears brimming his eyes, being unable to imagine how much this all meant to him.

We were gathered around the dining table once again, now eating cake and reminiscing on the few hilarious stories we had from our childhood.

Theo got along so well with my brother and father, who both idolised him, but still hadn't spoken to Lucy. She seemed very sweet, but I couldn't seem to figure her out. I'm sure she's had a rough past as well, if she's ended up in rehab, but was glad that my brother and she were seemingly now good influences on each other.

"Oh, dad! Theo and I haven't given you your gift yet!" I remembered, reaching down to grab the small gift bag I had by my chair.

"Having you all here is more than enough, there isn't a need for any gifts," he was humbly shaking his head, a gentle smile on his lips.

I handed the gift bag to him, and excitedly awaited for him to realise what was inside it.

"Chocolate," he took out a box of chocolates from Pierre Marcolini, his smile widening, "you remembered my love for chocolate."

"How could I forget? It was all the fridge was full when we were teens," I laughed a little, lacing my fingers with Theo's underneath the table.

"And what's this?" He then took out the white envelope.

I couldn't contain my excitement, knowing he would absolutely love it. I grinned over at Theo, who gave me a smile. Giving gifts gave me such happiness, I adored watching the receiver's expression.

Dad began opening the envelope.

He studied the piece of paper inside with furrowed brows before looking up at Theo and me.

"Season tickets for all our home games," Theo told him, "best seats will be reserved for you and whomever you decide to bring along."

"Is this real?" My father laughed, "I can't believe it!"

I squeezed Theo's hand gently, thanking him for enabling this. It had been incredible of him to even want to make this possible for my father, letting him come see the matches of the team Theo played for, which was his favourite team for multiple reasons.

All throughout my life, I've remembered him going on and on about how the team was leading all sorts of charts, and had some of the top players in the world playing for them.

"I can't thank you two enough, this is incredibly thoughtful," the sides of his eyes were crinkled with a wide smile.

"It's our pleasure, dad. I'm so glad you like them," I returned his smile, obliviously leaning closer to Theo, "the tickets are courtesy of Theo, though."

"I had a small hunch," he chuckled, and Theo grinned lightly.

Louis and Lucy had got dad a gorgeous assortment of flowers and the delicious chocolate cake with raspberries mixed into it.

Once the wine came out, our conversations turned even more light hearted and comedic. My father was very dear to me, and being able to make him happy just by visiting him like this was important.

The sun had already set and it would soon be time to retreat for the night once we began cleaning up the kitchen.

I excused myself to go to the bathroom and once I returned, I found Louis and dad watching the evening news.

"Where's Theo?" I asked the two, since he wasn't with them in the dim living room.

"Finishing up the kitchen with Luce," Louis told me, glancing back with a small smile. He was also aware of how happy we had made dad.

"Oh, okay," I was a little confused by Theo and Lucy being alone, but hoped they were finally talking and maybe even becoming friends.

I began making my way towards the kitchen, the few glasses of wine which I had in my system warming me up a little.

As I neared the closed door, I focused on the muffled talking I heard from behind it, instead of the weird fact that the door was closed. There was no reason for it to be closed, it had always been kept open.

"You'll need to pay more," I heard Lucy's voice once I was right by the door.

"I'm not doing this. It's illegal, you need to stop before this goes further than what you can handle," Theo's voice sounded strained, but pissed off.

My brows furrowed. What was illegal? This couldn't be about drugs, could it? There was no way an athlete like him would ever use drugs, he'd be found out and his career would go down in flames along with a scandal.

I shook my head, assuring myself this was my tipsy mind running around with movie-like scenarios.

"How do you think she'll react, baby?" Her tone was so much more different than what I'd heard from her before.

Something bubbled within me. Something which was very strongly against anyone calling my boyfriend 'baby'.

"I'll pay you, just—" Theo sighed, but I cut him off by opening the kitchen door.

My eyes landed on him sitting at the island table, while she was standing on the opposite side with her arms folded over her chest.

Both were quick to look over at me.

"I'll turn on the dishwasher, you've helped more than enough, Theo," she cleared her throat and gave him a smile.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, eyes leaving mine and focusing on the marble counter underneath his arms.

I watched as Lucy rounded her way to the kitchen and began working with the dishwasher.

I was just standing there, confused and waiting for Theo to say something.

After a moment, he got up and began walking towards me. He looked almost dangerous right now, and I couldn't help but feel hot and have my core clenching at the sight of him, despite everything.

"Theo—" I was even more confused when he just walked last me.

I turned around to see him heading towards the stairs, the muscles on his back clearly tensed.

"I'm going for a run," he told me coldly.

It ended up being the last thing he spoke to me that whole evening.