Dirty Little Bastard

75

I was completely occupied with my thoughts during the rest of the morning.

I took a shower after Elliot and Emma had left and the house was cleaned up, and got dressed.

To: Theo: Hi, Elliot and Emma have gone home. If you're free to come over, please do x

From: Theo: Ten minutes x

I was very troubled by him giving up this incredible opportunity for his career just so he could live with me.

I've never wanted to hold him back from football, knowing exactly how talented he was and able to go so incredibly far. Him being statistically the world's best football player meant he had endless opportunities available for him, and it would be a shame for him not to be able to play with the best of the best.

I had whipped up a quick lunch for us, thinking he must be hungry. Once I had set the table for us, the doorbell rang.

"Hi," I spoke after I'd opened the door and greeted Theo with a careful smile.

He looked tired, and I felt bad. He was wearing a black hoodie and jeans, with the hood of the hoodie up.

"Hi," he replied and cleared his throat.

He stepped inside and, as soon as I'd closed the door behind him, I turned towards him and was leaning up to kiss him.

I felt extremely conflicted when he avoided it, and leaned back. I understood him completely, though. If I had seen another woman kissing him, even if he had pulled back quickly like I had, the image would still be seared into my mind and it would be close to disgusting to think about.

"He kissed me, I pulled back," I reminded him, and he nodded almost dismissively, hands tucked into the front pocket of his hoodie. His body language was extremely telling right now; he felt awkward and conflicted.

"It's really good to see you again," I decided to tell him, "I've missed you a lot."

"I've missed you too," this seemed to relax Theo a bit, "I'm sorry that we haven't been able to talk often. It was so time consuming to start working with my lawyer and Real's lawyers to shorten the contract, along with the practice and league games..."

"It's fine, I understand completely," I assured him, "I've made us lunch, by the way."

"Yeah?" He gave me a small smile as I glanced back over my shoulder to see him following me after I'd begun making my way calmly toward the kitchen table.

"I thought you might be hungry. Have you had a chance to eat breakfast yet?" I asked him.

Theo shook his head, "no."

"Oh. This can be a sort of brunch, then," I decided.

We sat down at the table, opposite each other, and began eating the salad I had managed to make. Theo picked most of the pieces of chicken for himself.

"Protein," he told me when I raised my brows at him.

"Okay, fine," he gave in with a chuckle as my expression stayed challenging.

I smiled when he reached over to place a few of the pieces of chicken on to my plate.

"So..." I cleared my throat once we'd begun eating.

"I don't want the be that guy that restricts their girlfriend or fiancée, or whatever, from having certain friends. I don't want you to be friends with Elliot, though," he began, sounding as if he'd been holding this in since he'd arrived here, "I know how guys work. He could have accepted that you're with me, and that he's just a friend to you, but he kissed you. I don't like that at all."