Sufferable Acceptance

Twenty-Nine

Theo

I was mad at Sophia for forcing me to go out with her tonight. She owed me big this time. I was sitting in the living room waiting for everyone. Sophia came down the stairs on the phone with someone.

"Where's Amelia?" I asked her.

She gave me an annoyed look and pointed to her phone. "I don't know" She whispered, "She said she had to grab something really quick." She said as she went back to talking on her phone. Annoyed Amelia wasn't ready yet I gave a text to our drivers and told them to meet us in the driveway.

A few seconds later Amelia ran down the stairs. I looked up ready to yell at her for making us late, but I couldn't speak. She stood there all innocent waiting for the others to head out the door. I watched her walk to the car. How dare she. She knew what that dress did to me, and yet here she was wearing it. She could lie and say it was a coincidence, but I knew she wore it on purpose to drive me crazy. The way her hips swayed in that dress, damn. She looked powerful in that dress, and it reminded me of the night we first met. Amelia wearing that dress only reminded me that I still wasn't able to call her mine.

Shit. It was going to be a long night.

Wanting to create as much distance from Amelia and myself as possible I headed up to the second floor lounge. I quickly got a drink, and sat around with a few of the guys. Some time throughout the night a girl had sat next to me, but I paid little attention. I mainly focused on watching out for Amelia. I searched for her downstairs all night.

Half way into the night I saw Sophia and her friends walking up the stairs. Amelia was with them. She gave me a quick glance then headed to the bar with Sophia. I did my best to not stare, but I caught myself looking back at her every few minutes. I wanted to know where she was every second.

The next time I turned around to look for Amelia she was walking down stairs with a man I didn't recognize. He was leading her down to the first floor. Who was that? And why was Amelia with him? I was fuming. Seeing her leave the lounge, and head down stairs with a stranger made me lose it. I found my way to the balcony of the second floor, and watched that guy lead her to the dance floor. As if to piss me off she was all over him. What the hell did she think she was doing? I gripped the balcony ledge as I watched this piece of shit dance with Amelia.

I tried to keep my cool, but as I saw this man holding her closer and closer I lost my shit. I ran down stairs and found them on the dance floor. Sophia and Gio saw me on the dance floor, and tried to stop me. I brushed right past them and yanked this guy off of Amelia. I saw he was inches from kissing her, and my blood boiled. I punched him in the face knocking him back a few feet.

I looked up from the guy on the floor to see Amelia eyes wide staring at me.

"What the fuck!" she said.

"Let's go. We're leaving..." I told her.

I held onto Amelia all the way to the car. She squirmed in my grip, but I didn't let go. Gio helped Sophia and Marcus get to the car, and we drove off. I was too angry to even look back at Amelia.

As soon as we pulled up to the house I jumped out of the car and stormed up to my room.

*****

Amelia

I wanted to rip Theo's head off, but it wouldn't have been fair to everyone else in the car with us. I tried to control my anger until we got back to the house. Theo ran back to his room, and attempted to slam his door. Before it could slam I barged into his room.

"What the hell Theo!" I yelled at him. "You had no right doing that!"

Theo ignored me so I pushed his back trying to get his attention.

"What gives you the right to punch that guy? I didn't need to be saved by you, I was doing just fine!" I shouted at him.

"Oh yeah, you looked perfectly fine making out with that stranger on the dance floor. That was a really good decision Amelia!" He yelled back at me.

"How many times do I have to tell you Theo? I don't need your permission to do anything. You don't get to be mad at me." I told him.

"You made your choice when you brought home that bitch the other night!" I said.

"I made a choice? I was the one who ruined things?" Theo asked, shocked. "I wasn't the one who ruined things Amelia. You were the one running to my room every night, and I was there for you. You made a choice that day to go off and screw around with Alex. Admit that you were using me because you are too afraid to be alone with that fucked up brain of yours! Everyone goes to bed, and the lights go off and Amelia can't live with herself anymore." He yelled at me.

Alex? He was mad about Alex?

"That's what this is about?" I asked. "You think I slept with Alex, and your response was bringing someone home to piss me off?"

Theo was angry. He took off his watch and threw it onto his dresser.

He leaned onto his dresser with his back turned to me. He dropped his head in frustration.

"I don't know what you heard about me and Alex, but I sure as hell didn't sleep with that asshole. I went to dinner with him, got him drunk, and then left him alone in a bar after I got information about Nikolas." I tried to explain.

"You're lying. Alfie came back alone that night. You were nowhere to be found." He said.

"Jesus Theo. I was back at my old apartment. This may be a surprise to you, but I'm miserable here. I am drowning. After meeting with Alex I asked Alfie to take me back to my place. I had to beg him to let me go. I needed a night away from this house. And if you'd stopped and asked me where I was I would have told you!" I said.

He sat in silence.

"How would you feel if you found out the only man who'd ever shown you kindness was Dominic fucking Petrov? I didn't ask for any of this Theo! I should be out working other jobs, but no instead I've been putting up with your family's shit." I spoke, raising my voice in anger.

Wanting to get everything off my chest I continued talking.

"I wasn't using you.." I said quietly. "You hurt me that night you brought home that girl. I was an idiot for thinking the two of us would ever work."

"You should have come home to me." Theo said. "You promised you would come to me when things became too much for you. I was here waiting.. the whole night. I lied in your room waiting for you to come back, but you never showed. You ran away because you were scared."

Now it was me who was silent.

"I want you Amelia. I haven't stopped wanting you ever since we first met. I know you don't feel the same way about me, but there is nothing that could make me not want every piece of you. I want to hold you tight after a long day, I want to sneak kisses from you at dinner, and I want you to need me as much as I need you. Amelia, all I want is you." He said, staring into my eyes. "So tell me now Amelia what you want. I choose you, but if you want to run again, I'll give up. I'll let you walk out of here right now, and I'll never bother you again." Theo admitted.

He walked closer to me, shortening the distance between us. He waited for an answer from me, but I had nothing to say. I turned around and walked towards the door. I looked back at Theo. He hung his head, unable to look at me.

I stood there for a moment, and slowly pushed the door close.